FIGURE 9 in A molecular phylogenetic hypothesis for the Asian agamid lizard genus Phrynocephalus reveals discrete biogeographic clades implicated by plate tectonics

FIGURE 9. Movements of tectonic plates. During the middle Eocene, 50–45 MYBP, India first contacted Eurasia. Since that time, India and Laurasian plates have converged 2365 km in the west, 2475 in the center, and 2750 km in the east (Dewey et al. 1989; Molnar et al. 1987; Royden et al. 2008; Windley 1988). The high altitudes now present in the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, Tien Shan, and Pamir are attributed to the Indian collision (Dewey et al. 1988, 1989). The Hindu Kush between the Helmand and Farah blocks is associated with the uplift of the trans-Himalaya, which includes the Karakoram and is one of the earlier uplifting events. The Tien Shan and Pamir, which now separate the Taklimakan Desert (Tarim Plate) from the Caspian Basin and Farah Block, were formed approximately 10 MYBP (Abdrakhmatov et al. 1996; Tapponier et al. 1981). Crustal shortening and deformation rates are from Dewey et al. (1989). The map is modified from Tapponier et al. (1981).