India tectonic plate is very thin

2007/12/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Geologia

The mountains of Himalaia are the highest on Earth, not only because India's plate of tectonics collided with that of Eurasia, but because it came to that collision with great speed. But how did the Indian plate have so much speed? A group of geologists from India and Germany found an answer: Because the plate of India is very thin, much thinner than the plates that formed with it.

This plaque arises as a result of the breakage of another major plaque, called the Gondwanaland plaque, on which the lands of today settle in Africa, Australia, Antarctica and India. It broke 130 million years ago and each fraction made its own way. Antarctica took the place of the plate of origin, Africa and Australia moved slowly and India headed north at a speed of 20 centimeters annually.

The speed is very fast, considering that the other plates do not exceed 8 centimeters per year. The Indian left at that speed for being very thin, just 100 kilometers. Other plates coming from the Gondwanaland plate have thicknesses between 180 and 300 kilometers.