page_title: Paleogeography of the India–Asia collision system
section_title: Common consensus
hierarchical_section_title: Paleogeography of the India–Asia collision system / Paleo-elevation of Tibetan Plateau / Common consensus
caption_attribution_description: English: Modified after Royden, Burchfiel &amp; van der Hilst, 2008.
context_page_description: The paleogeography of the India–Asia collision system is the reconstructed geological and geomorphological evolution within the collision zone of the Himalayan orogenic belt. The continental collision between the Indian and Eurasian plate is one of the world's most renowned and most studied convergent systems. However, many mechanisms remain controversial. Some of the highly debated issues include the onset timing of continental collision, the time at which the Tibetan plateau reached its present elevation and how tectonic processes interacted with other geological mechanisms. These mechanisms are crucial for the understanding of Mesozoic and Cenezoic tectonic evolution, paleoclimate and paleontology, such as the interaction between the Himalayas orogenic growth and the Asian monsoon system, as well as the dispersal and speciation of fauna. Various hypotheses have been put forward to explain how the paleogeography of the collision system could have developed. Important ideas include the synchronous collision hypothesis, the Lhasa-plano hypothesis and the southward draining of major river systems.
context_section_description: Although the actual timing of occurrence of various geological events involving the Tibetan Plateau remains widely debated, there is a common consensus on the evolution of continental block configuration through time among what different studies have put forward.  Royden et al. (2008) suggested a tectonic reconstruction model to illustrate how continental blocks of North and South Tibet has evolved throughout the Indian-Asian collision. 
  This model also emphasizes the point that the Lhasa block is first deformed, followed by the North Tibet block. Moreover, the collision between the Lhasa block and the North Tibet block occurred later in the East than in the South. This suggests that detail collision mechanisms could be complicated and require further investigation. A single tectonic model is not likely to be able to explain the whole process. For example, although the above-mentioned Mesozoic uplift model is consistent with the onset timing of South Tibet crustal shortening, other details need to be refined.
caption: Generalized paleogeographic evolution of the Tibetan Plateau. Only tectonic blocks of interest, i.e. Lhasa block representing the S. Tibet (in yellow) and the simplified N. Tibet block (in blue) are shown. The inferred age in this model is not necessarily consistent with the timing of collisional onset as discussed in above sections. Modified after Royden et al. (2008)[39]
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