Hiya Himalayas!

Ahhh, wasn’t New Zealand nice? The pretty views, the perfect weather, and let’s not forget the science!!! Can you guess what country I’m in now? Well, somewhere in Asia…..the country is shaped like a triangle…. *drum roll please* India! India is a great place to research tectonics in depth. I’ve learned so much and am so excited to share it with you!

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=india&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&tbm=isch&tbnid=qpeSrbA88nF7dM:&imgrefurl

Ok! I’m gonna jump a little deeper into this so hold your hats! India is just one of the many places that the Himalayan Mountains run through. The Himalayan mountain range is the largest mountain range in the world! That’s really something, but there’s a big question, how were they formed?

 http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&biw=1440&bih=705&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=himalayas&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=

 

Their formation was a result of a continental collision along the convergent boundary. PAUSE! What’s a convergent boundary you say? Convergent plate boundaries are locations where lithospheric plates move toward each other. These collisions may cause earthquakes, volcanic activity and crustal deformation. RESUME! As I said before, the Himalayans were a result of the collision between the Indo-Australian Plate and the Eurasian Plate. 

 https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi968C0-gi-KGuoSTUw2_bIARGzrhsxGmbxcabyqmhujgtHbGanzWVD6fLoB_BzCAarvWMNgeX0tTS8gf1QE1mTkJt2yTicEzKVwKQ0G_QS7FuGBrk-MqPi_zglSNWBIfx0lGAeTG26nKI/s1600/Convergent_Boundary%252B1.jpg 

This collision began about 70 million years ago. Back then, the Indo-Australian plate moved at a rate of about 15cm per year until it eventually collided with the Eurasian plate. Currently, the Indo-Australian plate is moving at 67 mm per year and over the next 10 million years it will travel about 1,500 km into Asia. 

 http://www.google.com/imgres?q=eurasian+plate&um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbnid=Ir_dkakCAb5WkM:&imgrefurl=http://www.abovetopsecret.com/

Thanks for reading about my Himalayan experience and check out my future posts for where I’m heading next! See ya!