Describe the formation of India from gondwanaland
Answers
According to the theory of plate tectonics , the crust of the earth is broken into major and minor plates , called the tectonic plates . The movement of tectonic plates is responsible to agreat extent for the formation of India and its landforms.
About 150 million years ago , there was a super - continent called Pangaea . It was divided in two parts . The northern part , called Laurasia or Angarland , had the present North America and Eurasia . The southern part , called Gondwanaland , had the present South America , Africa , South Africa , Australia and Antarctica . Between Angarland and Gondwanaland , there was a long narrow and shallow sea of Tethys .
About 70 million years ago , the Indo - Australian plate was separated from the Gondwanaland and drifted northwards . It collided with the much larger Eurasian plate . This caused the folding of sedimentary rocks which accumulated in the sea of the Tethys . This formed the mountain systems of Western Asia and the Himalayas.
The uplift of the Himalayas out of the sea of Tethys and the subsidence of the northern part of peninsular plateau created a large depression , which was later on filled with sediments brought by the rivers from the Himalaya mountains and the peninsular plateaus . These deposits created the northern plains of India .