India-Eurasia convergence speed-up by passive-margin sediment subduction.

The fast increase of convergence rate between India and Eurasia around 65 million years ago (Ma)-from approximately 8 cm yr to a peak rate of approximately 18 cm yr-remains a complex geological event to explain, given the inherent uncertainty surrounding the tectonic history and the intricate interplay of forces influencing plate speed. Here we use a combination of geochemical analysis and geodynamic modelling to propose that this rapid convergence can be explained by sediment subduction derived from the northern Indian passive margin. Through isotope and trace element analysis, we find an enhanced contribution of terrigenous sediment melt to the mantle source of the Gangdese magmatic rocks around 65 Ma, concurrent with the acceleration of India-Eurasia convergence.

The Deep-Time Digital Earth program: data-driven discovery in geosciences.

Current barriers hindering data-driven discoveries in deep-time Earth (DE) include: substantial volumes of DE data are not digitized; many DE databases do not adhere to FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) principles; we lack a systematic knowledge graph for DE; existing DE databases are geographically heterogeneous; a significant fraction of DE data is not in open-access formats; tailored tools are needed. These challenges motivate the Deep-Time Digital Earth (DDE) program initiated by the International Union of Geological Sciences and developed in cooperation with national geological surveys, professional associations, academic institutions and scientists around the world. DDE's mission is to build on previous research to develop a systematic DE knowledge graph, a FAIR data infrastructure that links existing databases and makes dark data visible, and tailored tools for DE data, which are universally accessible.

Rapid drift of the Tethyan Himalaya terrane before two-stage India-Asia collision.

The India-Asia collision is an outstanding smoking gun in the study of continental collision dynamics. How and when the continental collision occurred remains a long-standing controversy. Here we present two new paleomagnetic data sets from rocks deposited on the distal part of the Indian passive margin, which indicate that the Tethyan Himalaya terrane was situated at a paleolatitude of ∼19.