The Size of Greater India: Estimates by Comparing the Apparent Polar Wander Paths of the Tethyan Himalaya and the Indian Craton

Abstract The northern extent of Greater India is a critical, yet highly debated, parameter for reconstructing the India‐Asia collision. Previous paleomagnetic estimates, including the fill‐the‐gap and fixed great circle approaches, yield widely varying results, spanning from ∼200 to ∼3,000 km. These large discrepancies stem principally from two primary issues: the inherent uncertainties associated with both the Tethyan Himalaya (TH) and Indian apparent polar wander paths (APWP) based on paleomagnetic and geochronologic data, and India's complex kinematic history, particularly the large rotation in the Early Cretaceous followed by rapid northward translation in the Late Cretaceous. Because of limited data coverage from TH, discrete age‐matched comparisons between them compound these uncertainties. To address this, we introduce a refined APWP‐constrained approach that evaluates the TH paleomagnetic record as a temporal sequence. Assuming a coherent rigid attachment, this framework iteratively translates the TH northward, systematically quantifying the discrepancies between its restored paleomagnetic poles and the coeval poles expected from the updated Indian APWP while propagating uncertainties in both pole position and age using Monte Carlo simulations. Applying this to paleomagnetic data from the Jurassic–Paleocene units with age reassessment, we identify a statistically minimized discrepancy following a 7.9 ± 1.2° northward shift, which likely represents the pre‐shortening northern margin of Greater India. This optimal shift translates directly to a crustal shortening estimate of ∼880 km, consistent with geologic records of Greater India. This refined estimate provides a constraint for the India‐Asia collision and facilitates improved tectonic models of the Tibetan Plateau.