* Astronomy

Mantle plume propelled India towards Asia

Evidence of historical irregularities in the motions of both the Indian and African tectonic plates bolsters the contention that plumes of hot rock rising from deep within Earth's mantle can drive the planet's tectonic plates.
About 68 million years ago, the tectonic plate that includes the Indian subcontinent - which, at that time, had yet to slam into southern Asia - lay northeast of Madagascar and was moving north-eastward at a tectonically typical few centimetres per year. Then, it suddenly surged forward, racing along at an average annual speed of more than 10 centimetres for about 15 million years, before gradually slowing to its earlier pace.
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