Mount Everest - how tall (from base)?

Question

Mount Everest's tip is 8,848 meters above sea level, but how tall is it above its base?  Or to put it another way, how tall is its base?  And how are they defining its base?

This webpage:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest#Comparisons
says its base is 4,200-5,200 meters *above* sea level.

But this webpage:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topographic_prominence#Wet_prominence_and_dry_prominence
says its dry prominence is measured against the deepest point in the ocean, which is 10,911 meters below sea level.

I think they're both wrong.

busterwasmycat · Answer

I would not say they are "wrong".  They just measure against a different baseline elevation than you want.

What is the "base" for a mountain?  That is usually not really a definable term, but as a general idea, one can think of a prominence such as a mountain as rising above a surrounding plain (a flatland even if not truly flat), and then use the elevation of that plain as the baseline.  There is a lot of uncertainty involved in the definition of the elevation of a plain such as that except if the plain is truly planar, which would be very unusual.

Clearly, the Himalayas rise above surrounding "plains" whether to the north (China and Tibetan Plateau) or to the south (the Indian subcontinent), but those are at different elevations so even if you use that concept of a base being what the land would look like if the surrounding non-mountainous land continued at the same general pattern or slope, you would end up with different base elevations depending on which way you do the extrapolation.

Mount Everest - how tall (from base)?

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