I wrote to you two days ago when we first arrived in Nepal and now I'm writing to you on day 3! Yesterday we slept in from a long day of traveling the day before, ate a late breakfast and got to know our guides for while we're in Nepal named Angie and Gleb. Right now I'm eating a late lunch in the hotel with Leah, Angie and Gleb. Angie and Gleb and teaching us all about the Himalayas and the collision boundary that is the Himalayas (27°59'N, 86°55'E). They taught us (and students this is what you'll be learning about next year so read closely!) that collision boundaries are where two continents are becoming welded into a single, larger continent. The collision of these two continents causes the crust at the boundary to be pushed upward into a mountain range. The Himalayas are a collision boundary where India and China are pushing against each other. The Indian subcontinent is pushing northward towards the Eurasian subcontinent at a rate of 5 centimeters per year. As the Himalayas are growing higher and higher, many earthquakes happen when the two plates push against each other. The most recent earthquake in the Himalayas was on June 22, 2008. It was a 3.7 magnitude in XiZang (The Nepal border region). On October 19, 1991 there was a massive earthquake in Uttaranchal, India that was a 7.0 magnitude! Hopefully while we're here we won't experience any dangerous earthquakes like that!
The attached picture shows a diagram of the collision boundary in the Himalayas. It shows that the crust is being pushed up forming the mountain range.
- Kathy
- Kathy
 |
| http://geolojay.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/himalayan_plates.jpg |