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Friday 1 April 2011

Collision

The collision between the Indian subcontinent and Eurasian continent, which started in Paleogene time and continues today, produced the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau, spectacular modern examples of the effects of plate tectonics. Tibetan Plateau itself is a collage of micro plates or continental fragments that were successively added to the Eurasian plate during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. Paleomagnetic analysis indicates that these older micro plates were in the southern hemisphere during the Paleozoic era. Each older fragment, like the larger Indian Plate, made a long northward journey as the intervening ocean was subducted, and was accreted to the Eurasian continent. The resulting sutures are marked by scattered occurrences of ophiolite, ocean floor material that was caught up between the crustal blocks during accretion. The collision that produced the Himalayas was only the latest, albeit climactic, episode in this long series of collisions.

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