Formation of the Himalayas. Artwork showing a sequence of four images of the Indian landmass (yellow) colliding with Asia to form the Himalayas mounta

---

Formation of the Himalayas. Artwork showing a sequence of four images of the Indian landmass (yellow) colliding with Asia to form the Himalayas mountain range, which contains the highest and youngest mountains on Earth. Plate tectonics caused the Indo-Australian Plate (moving north) to collide with the Eurasian Plate. This collision began around 70 million years ago, during the Cretaceous. From bottom to top, the time periods shown for the positions of the Indian landmass are: 71 million years ago, 55 million years ago, 38 million years ago, and the modern era. North of the Indian landmass is the Tibetan plateau.

---

Size: 3942px × 5361px
Photo credit: © CLAUS LUNAU/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: artwork, asia, asian, building, colliding, collision, continent, continental, cretaceous, diagram, drift, earth, eurasian, formation, forming, geologic, geological, geology, himalayan, holocene, illustration, impact, impacting, india, indian, indo-australian, landmass, million, millions, mountain, mya, ocean, orogeny, plate, plateau, plates, prehistoric, prehistory, science, sequence, subcontinent, tectonic, tectonics, tibet, tibetan, time, year, years