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How did India’s movement lead to the formation of the Himalayas?

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Watch Earth's Continents Move — paleogeography Watch a time-lapse of Earth changing through geologic time, from the Cambrian Era to the projected period of Pangea Proxima.

The formation of the Himalayas is a direct result of the northward movement of the Indian subcontinent following the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana approximately 180 million years ago.12

As the Indian plate moved northward, it gradually closed the Tethys Sea, a vast body of water separating India from the Eurasian Plate. About 40 to 50 million years ago, India collided with Eurasia, initiating a process of intense crustal deformation. Because the Indian plate continued to penetrate deep into Asia, it "bulldozed" the southern margin of the continent, causing massive horizontal shortening and the formation of thrust sheets.3241

Beginning in earnest about 20 million years ago, this collision forced the topmost layers of ancient metamorphic rocks to peel back and thrust over one another, creating the mountain range. The ongoing northward movement of India—at a rate of about 2.4 inches per year—continues to drive the uplift of the Himalayas and the Plateau of Tibet today.24