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Tibet could be the epicenter for one of the largest changes in continental formation since Pangaea was separated. The theory that the Earth had one massive supercontinent aligns with the current forms of the continents – if you look close enough, you could see South America fitting perfectly along the African coast. While the process to separate everything happened millions of years ago, some say the formation of the Earth is still changing, and this time, Tibet is in the middle of the separation.
Tectonic plates shaped the world as we know it, and they could end too
Tectonic plates are massive blocks of rock that are often moving underneath the surface. Their movements define everything from mountain formation to civilization extermination, and new Islands coming from the bottom of the sea. While their movements could be felt in most parts of the world, some are immune to the earthquakes or seaquakes that these plates cause when they move.
South America, for example, could be the safest place on Earth to search for a refugee in case the tectonic plates go wild. Picture this: tsunamis all over the world taking down small islands and volcanoes exploding, and people in the continent would still be safe because they are sitting right in the middle of the South American Plate, which means it’s not easy to get hammered by the aftermath of a tectonic plate moving. In other continents, on the other hand, they don’t have this luck, and Asia could feel the impact of their plate moving very soon.
Tibet is going to change: New study points out massive earthquakes
The Himalayas rose from the long collision between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates, a process that started roughly 60 million years ago when India, still an island at the time, pushed north into Asia. The pressure from that movement folded the crust upward and created the world’s tallest mountains. What happens deep beneath the surface is more complex than what we see on the peaks.
Continental plates are thicker and lighter than oceanic ones, which makes them less likely to sink into the mantle. For decades, scientists have debated how the Indian Plate behaves as it moves under Tibet. Some research suggested the plate was sliding horizontally, while other studies argued that the upper crust was crumpling at the collision front, allowing the lower section to sink.
Parts of the plate are separating: Tears are everywhere underneath India
An analysis presented at the American Geophysical Union in December 2023, and later shared as a preprint, offers a different view. According to a study from Utrecht University, seismic data and gas emissions point to a process known as delamination, where the dense lower part of the Indian Plate is separating from the lighter upper layer as it pushes beneath Eurasia. The same research also indicates a vertical tear in the plate. This is one of the first times such behavior may have been observed directly in a descending plate. While the consequences of the plates moving change from one region to another, sometimes a new part of the ocean might rise too.
It can’t be stopped: Tibet could help further research
Stanford geophysicist Simon Klemperer added that the newly identified tear might connect to a known deep fracture in the Tibetan Plateau, the Cona-Sangri rift, though its exact relationship to earthquakes remains unclear. To him, what makes this type of research so engaging is the challenge of studying continents marked by billions of years of geological events. The new finding helps geologists decode the layers of history preserved in regions like Tibet – but China is working on something that would do the opposite.
