<p>Mount Everest - the world's highest mountain - may have been born as Asia was squeezed like a tube of toothpaste after India smashed into the rest of the continent, scientists say. </p>.<p>The unexpectedly prolonged collision led to the formation of the Himalayas and then caused them to grow ever taller, researchers said.<br /><br />These mountains are home to the world's 100 highest mountain peaks, including the Everest, 'New Scientist' reported.<br /><br />"The obvious big grand challenge problem of tectonics has always been the Himalayas, and how India hits Eurasia," said Louis Moresi of the University of Melbourne.<br /><br />Moresi and colleagues have developed a computer model that explains what happens when continents collide. The model shows that when one continent bears thick or buoyant crust that blocks subduction, the other continent gets squeezed like a tube of toothpaste and folds around the blockage, creating a complex array of geophysical features.<br /><br />It suggests that as India shoves into Eurasia, China and South-East Asia initially resist being pushed underneath, and then get pushed aside instead.<br /><br />The process unclogs the subduction zone and allows India to keep pushing into Eurasia, raising up Mount Everest and its towering siblings, the report said.<br /><br />"Without this process, India almost certainly would have stopped moving northwards," said David Foster of the University of Florida in Gainesville. </p>
<p>Mount Everest - the world's highest mountain - may have been born as Asia was squeezed like a tube of toothpaste after India smashed into the rest of the continent, scientists say. </p>.<p>The unexpectedly prolonged collision led to the formation of the Himalayas and then caused them to grow ever taller, researchers said.<br /><br />These mountains are home to the world's 100 highest mountain peaks, including the Everest, 'New Scientist' reported.<br /><br />"The obvious big grand challenge problem of tectonics has always been the Himalayas, and how India hits Eurasia," said Louis Moresi of the University of Melbourne.<br /><br />Moresi and colleagues have developed a computer model that explains what happens when continents collide. The model shows that when one continent bears thick or buoyant crust that blocks subduction, the other continent gets squeezed like a tube of toothpaste and folds around the blockage, creating a complex array of geophysical features.<br /><br />It suggests that as India shoves into Eurasia, China and South-East Asia initially resist being pushed underneath, and then get pushed aside instead.<br /><br />The process unclogs the subduction zone and allows India to keep pushing into Eurasia, raising up Mount Everest and its towering siblings, the report said.<br /><br />"Without this process, India almost certainly would have stopped moving northwards," said David Foster of the University of Florida in Gainesville. </p>