Himalayas, The Crossroads of Culture!

I am just SO excited to be heading off the the Himalayan Mountains! It's a quick visit, but I will get to see Nepal, India, and Bhutan! How exciting! Of course I'm going to hit up those Indian markets for some fierce clothes and fabric, but I am also super excited to explore Buddhist traditions and temples! Also, I am meeting with some monks who have agreed to teach me how to make prayer beads (SCORE!) and take me to the first campsite of the most famous mountain ever, Mount Everest! Not only is it a beautiful sight, but it is one of the only examples on this earth of convergent collision boundaries!

Continental Collision is when two continents (plate tectonics) meet "head to head." The rocks are surprisingly light, and don't want to move downward into the earth. What happens instead, is that the crust buckles and ends up being pushed upward and or sideways. Here in the Himalayas, India and Asia collided 50 million years ago! The Eurasian Plate crumpled up and overrided the Indian Plate. Over millions of years, the  continuous convergence of the two plates has created the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau. Most of this growth has happened in just the last 10 million years! It may seem like this, "collision" may happen quickly, like a car crash, but actually, it takes lots of time!

http://www.platetectonics.com/book/page_5.asp

The Himalayas show no sign in slowing down their collision; why stop after 50 million years of success? They move on average 5 centimeters per year.

Some may say the collision is only a variation of subduction, but there are some differences. Firstly, in subduction, one plate slides beneath the other, which creates many faults. (As does collision) But in collision, the subduction zone is destroyed, and the two continents "become one" through the magic of mountains. You can think of continental collision as faulting and folding, which makes sense, because that is how the mountains are made.

Encyclopedia Britannica states, "If the rate of subduction in an ocean basin exceeds the rate at which the crust is formed at oceanic ridges, closure of the basin is inevitable, leading ultimately to terminal collision between the approaching continents."

http://www.geographicguide.net/earth/pictures/himalayas-asia.jpg

But why aren't the Himalayas formed from subduction? It seems to be the obvious choice... Both continental landmasses were made up of materials of roughly the same density, so neither could be subducted under the other.  The only way for any of the rock to go was "up" into the Himalayas.

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/himalaya.html

Right now, the movement of India continues to put enormous pressure on the Asia. The effect of plate-tectonics' forces acting on this geologically complicated region is to squeeze parts of Asia eastward toward the Pacific Ocean. One serious consequence of these processes are tremendous stresses build up within the Earth. (Which are relieved by earthquakes along the numerous faults that are in the
landscape.) Some of the world's most destructive earthquakes in history are related to continuing tectonic processes that began some 50 million years ago when the Indian and Eurasian continents first met.

I'm now off to the market! I really want some bangles! But wasn't this info interesting! I just love geology!

"The Himalayas" 28° 0′ 0″ N, 82° 0′ 0″ E