How were the Himalayan ranges formed?
- 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 India was a large island situated off the Australian coast and separated from Asia by the Tethys Ocean.
- The Indo-Australian tectonic plate collided with the Euroasian plate after many hundreds of millions of years of slow migration, forcing the land up and forming the area that is now India pushed against Tibet. This created the massive mountain fold that is known as the Himalayas, some of the tallest mountains in the world. The mountain range extends for more than 1,500 miles, with the highest peak, Mount Everest, rising 29,029 feet above sea level.
- Tectonic plates are located in the earth's lithosphere. These plates move at different rates through a process of convection. In the Earth's inner mantle - which is directly below the lithosphere - molten rock forms and pushes hot gas and liquid upward. The hot materials displace cooler gases and liquids and create convection currents that push the tectonic plates.
- Due to the continued plate movement, the Himalaya region also experiences many earthquakes. Some of these earthquakes are some of the most destructive natural disasters on record.