Mondo Knows Facts
India colliding with Asia raised the Himalaya
The impact crumpled crust upward and the mountains are still rising India drifted north at an unusual speed and began pressing into Eurasia around 50 million years ago. The collision thickened the crust, pushing up the Himalaya and the Tibetan plateau behind them. The range still rises by a few millimetres a year, even as erosion wears it down. It sits in Mondo's science collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
Where this comes from
Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
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More facts like this
Subduction recycles old ocean floorDense seafloor sinks into the mantle and its water triggers volcanic arcsSeafloor spreading builds new ocean crustMagma rises at mid ocean ridges and pushes the older plates outwardWegener proposed that continents driftMatching fossils and coastlines convinced him, but he lacked a mechanismThe Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the longest mountain range on EarthThis underwater rift mountain chain runs for roughly 16 thousand kilometresMount Everest continues to grow taller every yearContinuous tectonic collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates causes Mount Everest to rise by several millimetres annually.The Alps are the highest mountain range situated entirely in EuropeExtending 1,200 kilometres across eight Alpine countries, the range was shaped by tectonic plate collision.
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Tags: geology, mountains, tectonics
India colliding with Asia raised the Himalaya: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- The impact crumpled crust upward and the mountains are still rising. The figure is taken from USGS, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a science fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Science shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.