Once, all the world’s landmass was connected, forming one super-continent known as Pangea
About 200 million years ago, tectonic forces broke apart this giant continent into pieces, eventually forming the continents that are known today
As convection currents worked independently on the plates associated with these new continental pieces, the plates and their respective continents began to drift across the globe to their present-day geographical locations
Eighty million years ago, India was approximately 6400 km south of the Eurasian plate, separating the two was the Tethys Sea
The Indo-Australian tectonic plate – containing the continent of Australia, the Indian subcontinent, and surrounding ocean – was pushed northward by the convection currents generated in the inner mantle
For millions of years, India made its way across the sea toward the Eurasian plate
As India approached Asia, around 40 million years ago, the Tethys Sea began to shrink and its seabed slowly pushed upwards
The Tethys Sea disappeared completely around 20 million years ago and sediments rising from its seabed formed a mountain range
When India and Tibet collided, instead of descending with the plate, the relatively light sedimentary and metamorphic rock that makes up the subcontinent of India pushed against Tibet, forcing it upwards, and created a massive mountain fold, The Himalayas
This process hasn’t stopped, the Indo-Australian plate is still moving toward Eurasia, still pushing Tibet upwards
The Himalayas continue to rise by an average of 2 cm each year and the highest mountains are only getting higher
