India collides with Asia
The Himalaya rises and changes half the planet's climate
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The Indian plate moved unusually fast, up to 15 cm a year, before striking Eurasia. Because both plates are made of buoyant continental crust, neither could subduct — instead the crust thickened to over 70 km. The Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau created the Asian monsoon system, which now waters roughly two billion people. Intense weathering of that fresh rock also draws CO₂ from the atmosphere, and is considered a contributing cause of the long cooling that ended in the ice ages.
For children
India was once its own island sailing north across the ocean. When it slammed into Asia, the ground was pushed up into the world's highest mountains. The Himalaya is still growing a few millimetres a year — the collision is not over.
Connects to
Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org