Indian tectonic Plate is splitting

According to a recent analysis, the Indian tectonic Plate is splitting into two beneath Tibet.

Researchers from US and Chinese institutions described a disintegration of the Indian continental plate as it grinds along the basement of the Eurasian tectonic plate that sits atop it last December at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.

It's an unexpected compromise between the two theories that are now preferred to explain the massive Himalayan mountain range and the lifting of the Tibetan plateau.

The cause of both instances is a collision between the crustal fragments of Eurasia and India. Molten rock currents under the mantle began to push the Indian plate beneath its northern neighbor some 60 million years ago.

Earth's highest peaks are found on the shoulders of a drowned giant, which has slowly pulled the Eurasian land mass skyward.

The very buoyant Indian continental plate shouldn't descend that quickly, according to studies of the mantle and crust's densities, hence the crust's submerged regions probably should still.