One Of The Most Powerful Quakes Ever Recorded Signals The Birth Of A New Tectonic Plate

The evidence suggests that the Indo-Australian plate began to be ripped apart between 8 million and 10 million years ago. The 2012 earthquake is just one of many that have likely ripped along the same region since this process began.

After millions more years of similar earthquakes, the ruptures will begin to favor a particular path, giving rise to a new plate boundary, and separating today's existing plate into two.

Delescluse said that the singular earthquake measured in 2012 offers a glimpse of this process in unprecedented detail.