Question

Describe how himalayas were formed?
Answer for 5 marks

Answer 1

Answer:

The Himalayas were formed as a result of the collision between the Indian Plate and Eurasian Plate. ... As a result of this collision, the sedimentary rocks which were settled in the large-scale depression in the Earth's crust called Tethys were folded and formed the Himalayas.

Answer 2

Explanation:

225 million years ago (Ma) India was a large island situated off the Australian coast and separated from Asia by the Tethys Ocean. The supercontinent Pangea began to break up 200 Ma and India started a northward drift towards Asia. 80 Ma India was 6,400 km south of the Asian continent but moving towards it at a rate of between 9 and 16 cm per year. At this time Tethys Ocean floor would have been subducting northwards beneath Asia and the plate margin would have been a Convergent oceanic-continental one just like the Andes today.

As seen in the animation above not all of the Tethys Ocean floor was completely subducted; most of the thick sediments on the Indian margin of the ocean were scraped off and accreted onto the Eurasian continent in what is known as an accretionary wedge (link to glossary). These scraped-off sediments are what now form the Himalayan mountain range.

From about 50-40 Ma the rate of northward drift of the Indian continental plate slowed to around 4-6 cm per year. This slowdown is interpreted to mark the beginning of the collision between the Eurasian and Indian continental plates, the closing of the former Tethys Ocean, and the initiation