The Indian Plate Making the Himalayas Grow Might Be Splitting Tibet

 

Scientists have figured out that the movement of the Indian tectonic plate is not only making the Himalayas grow, but it might also be splitting Tibet in two. It's like a puzzle being solved by geophysicists.

We already knew that the Himalayas are getting bigger because the Indian and Eurasian continental tectonic plates are crashing into each other beneath the mountains. When plates collide, usually the heavier one goes under the other, like one sliding beneath. But these continental plates are both pretty heavy, so scientists are scratching their heads about which one is going to end up on top.

Unlike the denser ocean plates, continental plates are thick and floaty. This means they don't easily sink into the deeper part of the Earth during collisions. Some scientists think the Indian plate might be pushing against going deep into the Earth, choosing instead to slide sideways under Tibet.

A bunch of geophysicists from different parts of the world looked at earthquake waves under Tibet. They suggested another possibility – that the Indian plate is kind of "delaminating" as it moves under the Eurasian plate. This means the bottom part of the Indian plate is peeling away from the top. They even found signs of a tear where the peeled-off part meets the intact Eurasian plate.

The researchers say this way of continents behaving was not really known before, and it could change how we understand Earth sciences. They talked about this discovery at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Understanding how the Himalayas form better might also help us be smarter about earthquake risks in the future.

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