Geologists have for the first time determined how coastal mountains in eastern Asia formed, resulting in significant changes to the continent’s climate more than 100 million years ago.
Until now, there were questions around the Asian climate during this time, commonly referred to as the Cretaceous period.
New research published in Science Advances shows the sudden movement of tectonic plates that join beneath the continent about 120 million years ago resulted in the thickening of the Earth’s crust on the eastern and south-eastern coast of China, forming mountain ranges peaking at up to 2500m above sea level.
Peter Cawood, a Professor of geology in Monash University’s School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, collaborated with researchers in China and Canada to complete the research.
