A new study has revealed that India is changing under the surface of the Earth, as the Indian Continental Plate could be splitting in two.
While you might picture a tectonic plate breaking into two pieces and separating sideways, the change is happening horizontally and the plate is splitting into separate layers, scientists have claimed.
There’s been much debate in the scientific community about what could be behind the formation of the Tibetan Plateau.
Simon Klemperer of Stanford University and co-authors on the study drew their arguments after studying levels of helium present in the Tibetan springs.
According to their research in the study, yet to be peer reviewed, a pattern was discovered which suggested the mantle was close enough to the Earth’s surface for the rare helium-3 to emerge through the springs in northern Tibet.
In southern Tibet, though, the more abundant Helium-4 is more apparent, which suggests that the plate has not split there yet.
Speaking to Science Magazine, Professor Douwe van Hinsbergen of Utrecht University spoke about the concept. Van Hinsbergen, who is not an author on the study, said: ‘We didn’t know continents could behave this way and that is, for solid earth science, pretty fundamental.’