How did the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates form the Himalayas?
The Himalayas were formed through a process of continental collision between the Indian subcontinent and the Eurasian Plate.12
Following the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana approximately 180 million years ago, the Indian plate began a northward journey toward Asia. During this time, the Tethys Sea existed between the two landmasses. As India moved northward, the oceanic crust of the Tethys was subducted beneath the southern margin of Asia.3452
The continents finally collided between 40 and 50 million years ago. Because both plates were buoyant, neither was fully subducted; instead, the intense compressional forces caused the crust to thicken, deform, and thrust upward. This collision scraped marine sediments and metamorphic rocks from the leading edge of the Indian plate, stacking them into the mountain range seen today.132
Mountain building intensified significantly during the Miocene Epoch about 20 million years ago, and the range reached its current extreme elevations during the Pleistocene Epoch. The ongoing penetration of India into Asia continues to drive crustal shortening and uplift in the region.32