alb3883051

View of the Indian subcontinent during the Late Cretaceous period.

This is how the Indian subcontinent may have appeared 70 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period. Looking north, immediately to India's west is the island continent of Madagascar and further west is the eastern coast of southern Africa.. . In the distant past India and Madagascar formed a single continent, however India was part of a separate tectonic plate that subsequently began to drift northward. This northward motion (covering about 8 inches per year making it among the fastest on the Earth's lithosphere) split India from Madagascar and carried it north across the Tethys Ocean until it collided with Eurasia about 50 to 35 million years ago. This collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates joined India to South Asia and created the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalaya Mountains, a process which is still evolving to this day.

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Title: View of the Indian subcontinent during the Late Cretaceous period.

Caption: This is how the Indian subcontinent may have appeared 70 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period. Looking north, immediately to India's west is the island continent of Madagascar and further west is the eastern coast of southern Africa.. . In the distant past India and Madagascar formed a single continent, however India was part of a separate tectonic plate that subsequently began to drift northward. This northward motion (covering about 8 inches per year making it among the fastest on the Earth's lithosphere) split India from Madagascar and carried it north across the Tethys Ocean until it collided with Eurasia about 50 to 35 million years ago. This collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates joined India to South Asia and created the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalaya Mountains, a process which is still evolving to this day.

Category: Space

Credit: Album / Walter Myers/Stocktrek Images

Image size: 4260 × 4260 px | 51.9 MB

Print size: 36.1 × 36.1 cm | 1677.2 × 1677.2 in (300 dpi)

Keywords: AFRICA • AFRICAN CONTINENT • AFRICAN • ASTRONOMIA • ASTRONOMY • BEGINNINGS • CHANGING FORM • COLOR IMAGE • COLOUR IMAGE • CONTINENT • CONTINENTAL DRIFT • CREATION • CRETACEOUS • DECCAN TRAPS • EARTH SCIENCE • EARTH • EVOLUTION • FAULT • FLEET • GEOGRAFIA • GEOGRAPHY • GEOLOGIA • GEOLOGY • HISTORY • INDIA • INDIAN • ISLAND • LANDFORM • LANDMASS • LIFE • LITHOSPHERE • MADAGASCAR • MARINE • MERGING • MESOZOIC ERA • NATURAL HISTORY • NATURAL SCIENCES • NATURE STUDY • NATURE • NAVY • OCEAN • OCEANS • ORIGIN • OUTERSPACE • PALEOGEOGRAPHY • PART OF • PAST • PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY • PLANET • PLANETS • PLATE TECTONICS • PREHISTORIC ERA • SCIENCE • SCIENCE: EVOLUTION • SEA • SEA. • SEAFLOOR SPREADING • SEAS • SINGLE OBJECT • SOLAR SYSTEM • SPACE (COSMOS) • SPACE ART • SPACE • SPATIAL • SQUARE IMAGE • SUBCONTINENT • TECTONOPHYSICS • TETHYS OCEAN • WILDERNESS