EUROPE: A small chunk of Antarctica has helped scientists determine that the world’s highest mountain chain, the Himalayas, started forming 47 million years ago when India and Eurasia smashed into one another.
This is the first time the chain’s birth has been firmly dated and follows the discovery of the first Indian Ocean microplate, a diminutive form of the giant crustal plates on which the Earth’s continents lie.
The plate’s discovery, reported in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, led the international team of scientists to pinpoint the date of the initial collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates.
The collision led to the creation of the Himalayas – with more than 110 peaks rising to elevations of 7000 metres or more above sea level – today forming a barrier between the Tibetan plateau to the north and the Indian subcontinent’s alluvial plains to the south.
Radar beam images from an orbiting satellite were used to find the microplate and help piece together the plate tectonics jigsaw puzzle. This enabled the researchers to pinpoint the date of the Himalayas’ creation.
Previous estimates ranged from 59 to 34 million years, said lead researcher Dr Kara Matthews of Sydney University. “It reflects the fact that the India-Eurasia collision involved a long, protracted process which was not easy to unravel.”
