India is the seventh largest country in the world, after Russia, China, the US, Canada, Brazil and Australia.
With an area of about 3.287 million km2, if divided vertically, it could become two countries, each with an area of Mongolia.
But India is not expected to be separated vertically, instead, scientists believe it has the potential to be separated vertically.
This hypothesis was first presented at the American Geophysical Association conference in December 2023. The study looked at the formation of the Himalaya.
Himalaya is a mountain range stretching across five countries - India, Pakistan, Nepal, China and Bhutan. The Himalaya and Central Highlands were formed by a collision between the Indian and Asian regions 50 million years ago and continue to exist today.
authors Lin Liu, Danian Shi, Simon L Klemperer of Stanford University (USA) started research by looking at the level of helium in streams in Tibet and making new theories about tectonic plates located below the mountain range.
According to research, heli gas content in southern Tibet is higher than in northern Tibet, showing that the Indian tectonic plates are splitting in half below the highest plateau of Tibet.
The study then used S 3D wave capture capabilities to analyze the Indian region.
The S 3D wave capture feature uses information from remote earthquakes to record the Earth's structural image and its internal boundaries.
The study, published in ESS Open Archive, wrote: "Our S 3D wave capture functions reveal the square division or curvature of the Indian plate."
One of the images shows the upper and lower planks of the Indian plate seemingly separated.
The authors have objectively mapped the depth to distinguish the petrocosm- atmospheric boundary of India and Tibet over a large area in southeastern Tibet.
The authors of the study concluded that the Indian region may be divided vertically rather than vertically.
