Geologists Confirm India Is Splitting In Two

A team of geophysicists has presented a new study that suggests one of the world's largest countries is splitting in two.

The geological society said 'the Himalayan mountain range and Tibetan plateau have formed as a result of the collision between the Indian Plate and Eurasian Plate.

The theory was first presented at the American Geophysical Union conference which took place in December 2023, Poppy Bilderbeck reported for Unilad.

The study - entitled “Slab tearing and delamination of the Indian lithospheric mantle during flat-slab subduction, southeast Tibet” - looks into the formation of the Himalaya. The Himalayas span five countries - India, Pakistan, Nepal, China, and Bhutan.

The geological society said 'the Himalayan mountain range and Tibetan plateau have formed as a result of the collision between the Indian Plate and Eurasian Plate which began 50 million years ago and continues today.”

The study - led by Lin Liu, Danian Shi, Simon L Klemperer et al. - started by investigating the levels of helium present in the Tibetan springs and presented a new theory about the plates that lie underneath the mountain range.

The study found the levels of helium were higher in southern Tibet compared to northern Tibet, suggesting the Indian tectonic plate is splitting in two underneath the Tibetan plateau.

"The inferred boundary between the two lithospheres is corroborated by more subjective mapping of changing SWS parameters, and by independent interpretations of the mantle suture from mantle degassing patterns and the northern limit of sub-Moho earthquakes.

The southern limit of Tibetan lithosphere and subjacent asthenosphere is at 31°N west of 90°E but steps south by >300 km to ~28°N east of 92°E likely representing a slab tear," the study said.

Basically, this means the Indian Plate would peel into two, as opposed to breaking into two. The study suggests the upper part would pop up and cause Tibet to rise higher, and the lower half would sink down further into the mantle.

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