In southern Asia, there are three large-scale wave-like mountains ranging from the Tibetan Plateau westward to the Iranian Plateau and the Armenian Plateau. On the southern side between plateaus, there are the Indian Peninsula and the Arabian Peninsula. What dynamic mechanisms form the directional alignment of the three plateaus with the two peninsulas remains a mystery. In the early stages of the Earth’s geological evolution, the internal structure of the Earth was that the center was a solid core, and the outmost layer was a thin equatorial crust zone separated by two thick pristine continents in polar areas, while the middle part was a deep magma fluid layer. Within the magma fluid layer, thermal and dynamic differences triggered planetary-scale vertical magma cells and led to the core-magma angular momentum exchange. When the core loses angular momentum and the magma layer gains angular momentum, the movement of upper magma fluids to the east and the tropical convergence zone (TCZ) drives the split and drift of two thick pristine continents, eventually forming the current combination of these plateaus and peninsulas and their wave-like arrangement along the east-west direction. Among them, the horizontal orthogonal convergence (collision) of upper magma fluids from the two hemispheres excited the vertical shear stress along the magma TCZ, which is the dynamic mechanism of mountain uplifts on the north side and plate subductions on the south side. To confirm this mechanism, two examples of low-level winds are used to calculate the correspondence between cyclone/anticyclonic systems generated by the orthogonal collision of airflows along the atmospheric TCZ and satellite-observed cloud systems. Such comparison can help us revisit the geological history of continental drift and orogeny.
Neill, I., Meliksetian, K., Allen, M.B., Navasardyan, G. and Kuiper, K. (2015) Petrogenesis of Mafic Collision Zone Magmatism: The Armenian Sector of the Turkish-Iranian Plateau. Chemical Geology, 403, 24-41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2015.03.013
Phartiyal, B. and Kothyari, G.C. (2012) Impact of Neotectonics on Drainage Network Evolution Reconstructed from Morphometric Indices: Case Study from NW Indian Himalaya. Zeitzchrift Fur Geomorphologie, 56, 121-140. https://doi.org/10.1127/0372-8854/2011/0059
Kumar, A., Srivastava, P. and Devrani, R. (2020) Using Clast Geometries to Establish Paleoriver Discharges: Testing Records for Aggradation and Incision from the Upper Indus River, Ladakh Himalaya. Geomorphology, 362, Article ID: 107202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.107202
Molnar, P. and Tapponnier, P. (1975) Cenozoic Tectonics of Asia: Effects of a Continental Collision. Science, 189, 419-426. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.189.4201.419
England, P. and Houseman, G. (1989) Extension during Continental Convergence, with Application to the Tibetan Plateau. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 94, 17561-17579. https://doi.org/10.1029/JB094iB12p17561
Rowley, D.B. (1996) Age of Initiation of Collision between India and Asia: A Review of Stratigraphic Data. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 145, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0012-821X(96)00201-4
Gao, X., Yin, A., Chen, B., et al. (2017) Oblique Stepwise Rise and Growth of the Tibet Plateau. Nature, 543, 705-709.
Guillot, S. and Replumaz, A. (2013) Importance of Continental Subductions for the Growth of the Tibetan Plateau. Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France, 184, 199-223. https://doi.org/10.2113/gssgfbull.184.3.199
Replumaz, A., Funiciello, F., Reitano, R., Faccenna, C. and Balon, M. (2016) Asian Collisional Subduction: A Key Process Driving Formation of the Tibetan Plateau. Geology, 44, 943-946. https://doi.org/10.1130/G38276.1
Molnar, P. and Tapponnier, P. (1975) Cenozoic Tectonics of Asia: Effects of a Continental Collision. Science, 189, 419-426. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.189.4201.419
Xu, Z. Q., Jiang, M., Yang, J.S., et al. (2004) Mantle Structure of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: Mantle Plume, Mantle Shear Zone and Delamination of Lithospheric Slab. Earth Science Frontiers, 11, 329-343. (In Chinese)
Van Hinsbergen, D.J.J., Steinberger, B., Doubrovine, P.V. and Gassmoller, R. (2011) Acceleration and Deceleration of India-Asia Convergence since the Cretaceous: Roles of Mantle Plumes and Continental Collision. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 116, B06101. https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JB008051
Peng, H.C., Hu, J.F., Yang, H.Y. and Badal, J. (2023) Remnants of Magma Underplating by the Emeishan Mantle Plume within the Lithosphere beneath Southeastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau. Tectonophysics, 858, Article ID: 229886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2023.229886
Houseman, G., McKenzie, D. and Molnar, P. (1981) Convective Instability of a Thickened Boundary Layer and Its Relevance for the Thermal Evolution of Continental Convergent Belts. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 86, 6115-6132. https://doi.org/10.1029/JB086iB07p06115
Steinberger, B. and Calderwood, A.R. (2006) Models of Large-Scale Viscous Flow in the Earth’s Mantle with Constraints from Mineral Physics and Surface Observations. Geophysical Journal International, 167, 1461-1481. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2006.03131.x
Liu, M. and Chase, G.C. (1991) Boundary-Layer Model of Mantle Plumes with Thermal and Chemical Diffusion and Buoyancy. Geophysical Journal International, 104, 433-440. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.1991.tb05691.x
Gillian, R.F. (2010) Plates vs Plumes: A Geological Controversy. Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken, 364 p.
Molnar, P. and England, P. (1990) Late Cenozoic Uplift of Mountain Ranges and Global Climate Change: Chicken or Egg? Nature, 346, 29-34. https://doi.org/10.1038/346029a0
Molnar, P., Boos, W.R. and Battisti, D.S. (2010) Orographic Controls on Climate and Paleoclimate of Asia: Thermal and Mechanical Roles for the Tibetan Plateau. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 38, 77-102. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-040809-152456
Valdiya, K.S. (1999) Rising Himalaya: Advent and Intensification of Monsoon. Current Science, 76, 514-524.
Molnar, P., England, P. and Martinod, J. (1993) Mantle Dynamics, Uplift of the Tibetan Plateau, and the Indian Monsoon. Reviews of Geophysics, 31, 357-396. https://doi.org/10.1029/93RG02030
Wang, G.C., Cao, K., Wang, A., et al. (2014) On the Geodynamic Mechanism of Episodic Uplift of the Tibetan Plateau during the Cenozoic Era. Acta Geologica Sinica-English Edition, 88, 699-716. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-6724.12223
Bougeois, L., Dupont-Nivet, G., de Rafelis, M., et al. (2018) Asian Monsoons and Aridification Response to Paleogene Sea Retreat and Neogene Westerly Shielding Indicated by Seasonality in Paratethys Oysters. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 485, 99-110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2017.12.036
Coleman, M. and Hodges, K. (1995) Evidence for Tibetan Plateau Uplift before 14-Myr Ago from a New Minimum Age for East-west Extension. Nature, 374, 49-52. https://doi.org/10.1038/374049a0
Zheng, B.X. (1989) Controversy Regarding the Existence of a Large Ice-Sheet on the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau during the Quaternary Period. Quaternary Research, 32, 121-123. https://doi.org/10.1016/0033-5894(89)90039-2
Qian, W.H. and Du, J. (2023) A Study on the Plate Tectonics in the Early Earth Period Based on the Core-Magma Angular Momentum Exchange. Open Journal of Geology, 13, 598-621. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojg.2023.136026
You, X.T., Qian, W.H. and Zou, Y.R. (1998) A Numerical Simulation of the Effect of Global SSTA on the Low-Level Atmospheric Circulation and Precipitation Anomalies. Acta Meteorologica Sinica, 12, 300-310. (In Chinese)
Qian, W.H. and You, X.T. (1998) Southern Oscillation Forced by Heat Source and Topography. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 20, 33-40. (In Chinese)
Qian, W.H. and Chou, J.F. (1996) Atmosphere-Earth Angular Momentum Exchange. Science in China (Series D), 39, 215-224.
Gong, H., Huang, M., Zhu, L. and Shao, Y.P. (2019) Long-Term Variations of Atmospheric Angular Momentum and Torque. Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics, 131, 1697-1711. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-019-00663-y
Zatman, S. (2001) Phase Relations for High Frequency Core-mantle Coupling and Earth’s Axial Angular Momentum Budget. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 128, 163-178. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9201(01)00284-9
Vine, F.J. and Matthews, D.H. (1963) Magnetic Anomalies over Oceanic Ridges. Nature, 199, 947-949. https://doi.org/10.1038/199947a0
Gibney, E. (2022) How the Revamped Large Hadron Collider Will Hunt for New Physics. Nature, 605, 604-607. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01388-6
Normile, D. and Cho, A. (2019) Physicists Brace for Decision on Japan’s International Linear Collider. Science, 363, 911-912.
Qian, W.H. (2022) Orthogonal Collision of Particles Produces New Physical State. Journal of Modern Physics, 13, 1440-1451. https://doi.org/10.4236/jmp.2022.1311089
Qian, W.H. (2023) On the Physical Process and Essence of the Photoelectric Effect. Journal of Applied Mathematics and Physics, 11, 1580-1597. https://doi.org/10.4236/jamp.2023.116104
Qian, W.H., Leung, J.C.-H., Luo, W.M., Du. J. and Gao, J.D. (2019) An Index of Anomaly Convective Instability to Detect Tornadic and Hail Storms. Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics, 131, 351-373. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-017-0576-z
Qian, W.H., Du, J. and Ai, Y. (2021) A Review: Anomaly-Based versus Full-Field-Based Weather Analysis and Forecasting. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 102, E849-E870. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0297.1