This week I took a trip to the Himalayas, a mountain range that is 30-50 million years old! The Himalayas were formed during the breakup of Pangaea, when India moved northward and collided into Asia.
 |
| Image courtesy of wikitravel.org |
The continents came together, causing compression of the landmasses, forming this beautiful mountain range. The Indian portion of this collision consisted of a very strong slab of Precambrian rock which pushed it's way a great distance (2000km!) into Asia, which was more recently formed and thus not as strong.
 |
| Image courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica |
The overall result appears to be faulted rock, specifically a reverse fault, where the Tibetan plateau was lifted to it's current lofty heights after the Indian crust (and Indian-Australian plate) was pushed under the Eurasian plate.
This is yet another gorgeous area, where you can feel like there's not another person for miles (and there's a good chance there isn't!)
No comments:
Post a Comment