How did the collision of India and the Eurasian Plate form the Himalayas?

The formation of the Himalayas is a classic example of continental collision, a process occurring at convergent margins where two buoyant plates meet and neither is fully subducted.12

Beginning approximately 40 to 50 million years ago, the Indian subcontinent—a fragment of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana—collided with the southern margin of the Eurasian Plate. Prior to this, the Tethys Ocean existed between these landmasses; as India moved northward, the ocean floor was subducted, eventually leading to the closure of the sea.13

As the plates converged, the intense compressive forces caused the crust to thicken and deform. Sedimentary rocks from the Tethys seafloor and the northern margin of India were scraped off, folded, and thrust onto one another. This process created massive nappes and forced the crust skyward. The continued penetration of India into Asia—estimated at over 2,000 kilometers—has resulted in the ongoing uplift of the mountain range and the formation of the Plateau of Tibet.143