The onset of the most intense phase of uplift in the Himalaya may have been triggered by a simultaneous strengthening of the Asian monsoons, suggests a study published online in Nature Geoscience.

Deformation and erosion of the Himalaya began around 50 million years ago, causing the mountain range to rise, but these processes accelerated much later. Peter Clift and colleagues integrated various types of data on the onset of intensification of both the Himalayan uplift and the Asian monsoons. Their results suggest that both these processes occurred at more or less at the same time, around 23 million years ago. Their results indicate that the increased erosion caused by the stronger monsoons may have contributed to the uplift of the Himalaya.