Eons ago, Everest was taller!

Rock samples found by Chinese geologists recently around Everest, indicate that the world's highest peak was much higher some 13 mn yrs ago.

Rock samples found by Chinese geologists recently around Mount Everest, indicate that the world's highest peak once exceeded 12,000 metres in height.

Ding Lin, a leading geologist for the fourth scientific expedition on Mount Everest and also a senior researcher of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said they found many stretched cracks in the north slope of Mount Everest.

The stratum was stretched some 13 million years ago. 'It means that the mount was much higher at that time than right now,' Ding was quoted by saying by the People's Daily.

After careful calculation, Ding said they assumed that the height might have gone beyond 12,000 metres.

The Himalayas, of which Mount Everest is a part, are the result of a 65-million-year-old collision between the Indian plate and Eurasian plate.

The officially-recognised altitude of Mount Everest is 8,848 metres.