India's Continental Plate splitting horizontally, finds new study

The Indian Continental Plate is potentially splitting horizontally into distinct layers. (Representational)

A new study suggests that beneath the surface of India, the Indian Continental Plate is undergoing a transformation, potentially splitting horizontally into distinct layers. This departure from conventional tectonic expectations was unveiled at the American Geophysical Union conference in December, introducing the concept of "delamination" as a novel explanation for the formation of the Tibetan Plateau.

Researchers, led by Simon Klemperer of Stanford University, presented evidence supporting the hypothesis of delamination.

Unlike the traditional visualizations of tectonic plates breaking apart laterally, the study proposes a process wherein the Indian Plate separates into higher and lower layers. This, according to the theory, elucidates the extraordinary altitude of Tibet, as the elevated section of the plate contributes to Tibet's lofty peaks, while the lower part submerges into the Earth's mantle.

Professor Douwe van Hinsbergen of Utrecht University, speaking to Science Magazine, said: “We didn’t know continents could behave this way and that is, for solid earth science, pretty fundamental.” He is not an author on the study.

Key findings from the study, which is currently undergoing the peer-review process and is accessible on ESS Open Archive, centre around the analysis of helium levels in Tibetan springs.

The researchers discovered a distinct pattern indicating the proximity of the mantle to the Earth's surface, allowing rare helium-3 to emerge through the springs in northern Tibet. In southern Tibet, the prevalence of the more abundant Helium-4 suggests an absence of plate splitting in that region.