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Naturefrom c. 50 million years ago

India meets Asia — the Himalaya rise

Racing north, India began to collide with Asia about 50 million years ago, raising the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau. India is still pushing north today.

The Himalaya seen from the International Space Station — mountains pushed up as India drives into Asia (NASA)
The Himalaya seen from the International Space Station — mountains pushed up as India drives into Asia (NASA)

NASA · Public domain · Source

Broken away from Gondwana, India crossed the Tethys Sea northward and began to collide with Asia some 55–50 million years ago (estimates of the timing vary). The sea floor between them was thrust upward and the crust folded layer upon layer, raising the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau — which is why the limestone at the summit of Everest holds fossils of sea creatures.

India still pushes into Asia by 4–5 cm a year, so the Himalaya are still slowly rising and great earthquakes are frequent in the region; the 2015 Nepal earthquake came from this movement.

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The map in c. 50 million years ago

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Places
Mount Everest

Before and after

Later
2500 BC Indus Valley Civilization

Themes that include this event

  • Drifting Continentsc. 335 million years ago – 1912

    From the single landmass of Pangaea to the opening of the Atlantic and India’s collision with Asia that raised the Himalaya — with the great extinctions and the dinosaurs along the way, and Wegener, who first said the continents move