Plate Tectonic Tour: Post #6: Himalayas

Yo what is up!!! Alright so I just left Africa, and said goodbye to my friend Dawit... I will never ever forget that sunset... unless I suddenly forget... ok I'm not even making sense anymore. I flew all the way to the Himalayas to show ya'll something special. Himalayan mountain range, aka home of the yeti. Ha ha I'm risking my life for you guys so you better appreciate it... I heard that when one of those giant monkeys get a hold of you, there's no letting go... So let's see. Ok. Convergent plate boundaries.

First of all, mountain ranges are convergent plate boundaries. Here crust is destroyed and recycled back into the interior of the Earth as one plate dives under another. These are known as Subduction Zones - mountains and volcanoes are often found where plates converge. There are 3 types of convergent boundaries: Oceanic-Continental Convergence; Oceanic-Oceanic Convergence; and Continental-Continental Convergence. While new ocean crust is constantly being created at mid-ocean ridges, old crust must either be destroyed or reduced at the same rate (or else the planet would be continually expanding and increasing in volume). The plates, therefore, emerging along mid-ocean ridges, sliding over the athenosphere, and grinding past other plates along transform faults, are almost all headed on a collision course. When two continents carried on converging plates ram into each other, they crumple and fold under the enormous pressure, creating great mountain ranges. The highest mountain range in the world, the snow-capped Himalayas, is an example of a continent-to-continent collision. This immense mountain range began to form when two large landmasses, India and Eurasia, driven by tectonic plate movement, collided. Because both landmasses have about the same rock density, one plate could not be subducted under the other. The pressure of the colliding plates could only be relieved by thrusting skyward. The folding, bending, and twisting of the the collision zone formed the jagged Himalayan peaks. This string of towering peaks is still being thrust up as India, embedded in the Indo-Australian Plate, continues to crunch relentlessly into Tibet, on the southern edge of the Eurasian Plate.

Ok let me tell you some facts about this mountain range that Mrs.Bayarmaa Anil who works at a research facility in the Tibetan military. Awesome... I'm sooo jealous... I would like to shoot a PSG1 or a g11 assault rifle in real life... instead of pwning nOObs on call of duty black ops... anyways. Welllllll I'll say facts in the next post.