Thursday, March 13, 2008

How the Himalayas were created

The Himalaya mountain range may seem old, but it’s actually one of the youngest on the planet! They were created by the collision of plates pushing against each other, and they continue to develop and shape over time. We have discovered what is beneath the top layer that we walk on, but it gets softer as you get deeper, and the rocks also change.
The two plates that collided to create the Himalayas were the Indo-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate about 70 million years ago. When they collided, neither plate got subducted, so they just toppled on each other creating folds. Neither plate got subducted because there wasn’t any difference in density. That pressure is what created the largest mountains in the world. They will probably stay the largest since the plates keep continuing to be driven at 67 millimeters per year which leads to the Himalayas rising 5 millimeters every year.
These mountains have continues to develop and shape over time. Some of the events that have helped is that the region is seismically active which leads to earthquakes and tremors. Because the plates move at about the same rate every year, that allows us to predict fairly accurately of how the mountains will develop. We have evidence to predict that in the future, the mountains will look much the same in profile that it does now and in the past. There will be tall mountains in the north, smaller one s in the south, and the north south width of the Himalayas will be the same. Since the borders of Nepal are marked on the peaks of the Himalayas and the plains of India, Nepal will become part of the Himalayas and the Himalayas will keep on growing.
What you see when you drive from the last hills of the Himalayas southward 100 kilometers are large boulders first, followed by pebbles, sand-grains, silts, and finally very fine muds. The historical record of the Himalayas can’t be seen on the surface because the sediments have buried all former traces of earlier sediments. In drill holes in the Ganges plain, the courser rocks are always on the top and the finer pebbles and muds are on the bottom, showing that the mountains are relentlessly advancing on India.
The Himalayas were created a long time ago by the collision of two plates. Since then they have been shaped and developed over time, and will continue to do so. There is more to the Himalayas than you might realize.
created by: CT3

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks I all ways woundered how the Himalayas where formed. Thanks for the info. (as4)

Anonymous said...

Great job!!!
lots of info.
i didnt know that they were still growing!!
thats awesome.
nice job!

Anonymous said...

very descriptive info!

Anonymous said...

i had the same one but different things ur was really really good
:) :)

Anonymous said...

it was the best great job!!! $$ lol

:)

-NS4