The Himalaya is the world's highest orogenic belt, which contains evidence of the complete cycle of the earth's movements from the Mesozoic to the Eocene, followed by post collisional deformation that is still active. Roughly, the majestic Himalaya extends from Afghanistan to Burma. The famous Mount Everest (29,028 ft/ 8,850 m) is also located on the Himalaya.

The collision between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate occured around ~50Ma ago, and surprisingly it has been continously pushing northwards, the amazing effect of which has been to deform a wide area of Asia in the late Cenozoic.

Before we go any further, lets talk about some basics on how all these collisions occured; did it really happen at all or was it just hype from geologists and geophysicists? Furthermore, is there evidence that our beloved earth has been moving ever since? How? Keep reading...

back to top

DO YOU KNOW?

The world's greatest land mountain range is the Himalayas, which contains 96 of the world's 109 peaks of over 7,315 m (24,000 ft).