Abstract
The motion of the Indian plate is determined in an absolute frame of reference and compared with the position of the southern margin of Eurasia deduced from palaeomagnetic data in Tibet. The 2,600±900 km of continental crust shortening observed is shown to have occurred in three different episodes: subduction of continental crust, intracontinental thrusting and internal deformation, and lateral extrusion. The detailed chronology of the collision and plate reorganizations in the Indian and Pacific oceans supports the hypothesis that slab-pull is a dominant driving mechanism of plate tectonics.
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Patriat, P., Achache, J. India–Eurasia collision chronology has implications for crustal shortening and driving mechanism of plates. Nature 311, 615–621 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/311615a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/311615a0
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