Burma Plate - Tectonic History

Tectonic History

In models of the reconstructed tectonic history of the area, the generally northwards movement of the Indo-Australian Plate resulted in its substantive collision with the Eurasian continent, which began during the Eocene epoch, approximately 50-55 million years ago (Ma). This collision of the India Plate portion with Asia began the orogenic uplift which has formed the Himalaya mountains.

As the India Plate drifted northwards at a relatively rapid rate of an average 16 cm/yr, it also rotated in an counter-clockwise direction. As a result of this movement and rotation, the convergence along the plate's eastern boundary (the Burma-Andaman-Malay region) with Eurasia was at an oblique angle.

The transform forces along this subduction front started the clockwise bending of the Sunda arc; in the late Oligocene (ca. 32 Ma) further faulting developed and the Burma and Sunda microplates began to "break off" from the larger Eurasian plate.

After a further series of transform faulting, and the continuing subduction of the India Plate beneath the Burma plate, backarc spreading saw the formation of the marginal basin and seafloor spreading centre which would become the Andaman Sea, a process well-underway by the mid-Pliocene (3-4 Ma).