English 中文   Site Map



Earth Evolution
Earth Materials

Earth Evolution
Reconstruct
Geological History
Solar System
Formation
Archean Proterozoic Early
Paleozoic
Late Paleozoic Mesozoic Cenozoic

Cenozoic 65 million years ago to present
Continents in Collision
3. 35 million years ago - Indian Continent – Asian Continent Collision

35 million years ago the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere between Asia and India was consumed and the two continents had begun to collide. Because the two colliding continents are of similar buoyancy the subduction ceased. Instead continental rocks were brought up to the surface by great thrust faults causing crustal thickening and the rise of the Himalayan mountain belt. Some of the Tethys oceanic crust and sediments were caught up and squeezed in the collision zone and the two continents became sutured together. The fast uplift allowed massive erosion to remove large amount of bedrock to be deposited as collision-related Molasse sediments in the foreland basin of the mountain belt.

2. Indian Continent – Tethys Oceanic Arc Collision