‘Somalaya’: Know about the mountains that will replace the Himalayas in the future

Himalayas, the world’s tallest mountains, are a relatively new feature on the timescale of planet Earth. They began forming 50 million years ago when two pieces of the Earth’s crust, called plates, colliding with each other. About 200 million years from now, a new mountain range is expected to emerge in similar fashion, as per research by geologists at the Utrecht University published earlier in 2021. The researchers, led by geologist Dr Douwe van Hinsbergen, call these mountains of the future as the ‘Somalaya’ mountain range.  

Around 225 million years ago, India was a large island off the coast of Australia and an entire ocean used to lie between it and Asia. But a process called plate tectonics made it a part of Asia and formed the great Himalayas, as land buckled up under colliding forces.

By comparing features commonly found in mountain belts, the scientists formulated what they called the ‘rules of mountain building’. Then by using specialised software they carried out predictions of the mountains that will form in the next 200 million years. The predictions are based on Somalia breaking off from Africa and colliding with India, as is expected based on analysis of plate tectonic data.

The scientists believe that the mountain range that will form as a result of this collision, the so-called ‘Somalaya’ mountains, will the “Himalayas of their day”. Unfortunately, none of the people currently living will be able to witness and verify this in their lifetime.

The researchers also found out that northwest India will first get buried around 50 kilometers deep below Somalia during the collision process. But it will re-emerge as Somalia rotates. In geological history, such a process can be seen to have happened in western Norway some 400 million years back.