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    Himalaya Formation

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    MARINER
    The Himalayas formed as a result of the collision between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates around 50 million years ago. As India drifted northward over 100 million years, it collided with and crumpled the Eurasian plate, pushing up the crust to form the Himalayan mountain range. The thickened crust now reaches 75km and rises over 1cm per year as the plates continue colliding, though weathering and erosion lower the mountains at about the same rate. The Himalayas extend 2,900km east-west and contain the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest.

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    Himalaya Formation

    Uploaded by

    MARINER
    254 views2 pages
    The Himalayas formed as a result of the collision between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates around 50 million years ago. As India drifted northward over 100 million years, it collided with and crumpled the Eurasian plate, pushing up the crust to form the Himalayan mountain range. The thickened crust now reaches 75km and rises over 1cm per year as the plates continue colliding, though weathering and erosion lower the mountains at about the same rate. The Himalayas extend 2,900km east-west and contain the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest.

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    272. Himalaya formation (1)

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    The Himalayas formed as a result of the collision between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates around 50 million years ago. As India drifted northward over 100 million years, it collided with and crumpled the Eurasian plate, pushing up the crust to form the Himalayan mountain range. The thickened crust now reaches 75km and rises over 1cm per year as the plates continue colliding, though weathering and erosion lower the mountains at about the same rate. The Himalayas extend 2,900km east-west and contain the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    254 views2 pages

    Himalaya Formation

    Uploaded by

    MARINER
    The Himalayas formed as a result of the collision between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates around 50 million years ago. As India drifted northward over 100 million years, it collided with and crumpled the Eurasian plate, pushing up the crust to form the Himalayan mountain range. The thickened crust now reaches 75km and rises over 1cm per year as the plates continue colliding, though weathering and erosion lower the mountains at about the same rate. The Himalayas extend 2,900km east-west and contain the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest.

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    Model Answers (Geomorphology)

    by Vineet Thaploo

    Q. Explain the detailed mechanism of the Formation of Himalayas?

    The Himalayan mountain range and Tibetan


    plateau have formed as a result of the collision
    between the Indian Plate and Eurasian Plate which
    began 50 million years ago and continues today.

    225 million years ago (Ma) India was a large island


    situated off the Australian coast and separated
    from Asia by the Tethys Ocean. The supercontinent
    Pangea began to break up 200 Million years ago and
    India started a northward drift towards Asia. 80

    million years ago India was 6,400 km south of the 
    Asian continent but moving towards it at a rate of 
    between 9 and 16 cm per year.

    At this time Tethys Ocean floor would have been


    subducting northwards beneath Asia and the plate
    margin would have been a Convergent oceanic-
    continental one just like the Andes today.

    As per the figure not all of the Tethys Ocean floor


    was completely subducted; most of the thick
    sediments on the Indian margin of the ocean
    were scraped off and accreted onto the Eurasian

    continent in what is known as an accretionary 
    wedge. These scraped-off sediments are what 
    now form the Himalayan mountain range.

    From about 50-40 Million years ago the rate of


    northward drift of the Indian continental plate
    slowed to around 4-6 cm per year. This slowdown
    is interpreted to mark the beginning of the
    collision between the Eurasian and Indian
    continental plates, the closing of the former
    Tethys Ocean, and the initiation of Himalayan
    uplift. 



    1
    MECHANISM OF THE FORMATION OF HIMALAYAS


    The Eurasian plate was partly crumpled and 
    buckled up above the Indian plate but due to their
    low density/high buoyancy neither continental
    plate could be subducted.

    This caused the continental crust to thicken due


    to folding and faulting by compressional forces
    pushing up the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau.
    The continental crust here is twice the average
    thickness at around 75 km.


    The thickening of the continental crust marked 
    the end of volcanic activity in the region as any
    magma moving upwards would solidify before it
    could reach the surface.

    The Himalayas are still rising by more than 1 cm per


    year as India continues to move northwards into
    Asia, which explains the occurrence of shallow focus
    earthquakes in the region today. However the forces
    of weathering and erosion are lowering the
    Himalayas at about the same rate. The Himalayas
    and Tibetan plateau trend east-west and extend for
    2,900 km, reaching the maximum elevation of 8,848
    metres (Mount Everest – the highest point on Earth).

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