India, Somalia and Madagascar could be part of to turn out to be one continent in 200 million years: Study

Talking to indianexpress.com, Geologist from Utrecht University Prof. Douwe van Hinsbergen, who led the staff, mentioned: ‘We now have the reply to what the mountains and continents of the long run will appear to be.

“I reconstructed the previous – of a continent that disappeared within the Mediterranean, one other main continent that disappeared in Southeast Asia, the stays of which we discover all through Indonesia. But I’ve by no means imagined the long run. But the query caught my consideration and I mentioned it with my scholar and nearly two years later we now have the reply,” mentioned Dr. van Hinsbergen.

The analysis staff famous that the Seychelles and Mauritius islands can be pushed up and that Mumbai can be situated on the backside of the Somalaya vary, as New Delhi is situated on the foothills of the Himalayas at the moment.

“You will find depression in southwest India, all the way from Trivandrum to Karachi. And the Horn of Africa which includes Somalia will dominate or bulldoze southwest India and form this large mountain belt,” defined Dr van Hinsbergen.

How did they arrive to this conclusion?

Thomas Schouten, PhD scholar at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, and one of many authors, defined: “We have lots of research which have reconstructed the previous, for which we now have data of how tectonic plates moved – how briskly, what the best way they moved and so forth. In our research, we assumed that the rift passing via the African continent and beneath the East African lakes would proceed to divide the 2 halves of Africa and kind an ocean over the following 200 million years.

this was good! Just gave my first pitch at a scientific convention concerning the mountains of the long run! #Somalaya #EGU2021 https://t.co/fXn86NxdPw

— Thomas Schouten (@Thomas_Geosc) April 29, 2021

He mentioned that when this place has been created in Africa, then we now have to take away the place within the Indian Ocean. “So basically the beaches of Malabar will be scooped up like bulldozers, and coral reefs, beaches and low-lying areas will be turned into high peaks. Seychelles will also be located next to Lakshadweep and the Malabar sediments as well. They could become mountain ranges up to eight kilometers high, similar to the Himalayas, where we find old coral reefs on top of mountains like Everest,” explains Schouten.

Why break Africa?

The staff defined that the fault line that collided two historic continents prior to now stays weak. “So, modern continents like Africa can break those old fault lines. And this is similar to how India separated from Madagascar 90 million years ago,” explains Dr. van Hinsbergen. “Most importantly, the continent don’t exist ceaselessly. India has existed as we all know it at the moment, just for the previous few tens of million years. Before that, it was an island. The Indian Ocean will certainly someday shut. And then from India There will probably be one continent colliding, and it’s both Africa or Antarctica, or it could possibly be Australia.

In constructing the long run, the staff regarded to Africa. He mentioned he ignored Southeast Asia, which might possible collide with East India. Dr. van Hinsbergen mentioned, “India may sometimes look like Mongolia in the future – situated right in the middle of a vast continent surrounded by high mountain ranges, of which Somalaya may be one.”

The staff mentioned the principle aim was to consider which options of the fashionable Indian Ocean can be preserved in mountainous areas and which might not. It helps to higher reconstruct the historical past of Earth’s plates and surfaces of the geological previous, which is vital for serving to to know the evolution of local weather, life and assets.