Abstract:
About 55 Ma ago, the India plate collided with the Asian plate, forming the E-W-trending Yarlung Zangbo drainage system and Himalaya mountain range. According to recent studies, the authors propose the following new view: a similar collision between the above-mentioned plates had already taken place 200 Ma ago (in the Early Jurassic), which put a Gondwana dinosaurs fauna originating in Africa and South America on the Asian continent, forming a Lufengosaurus-Shunosaurus-Omeisaurus-Mamenchisaurus fauna in southwestern China. This event not only brought Asia dinosaurs but also gave rise to the S-N-trending Hengduan Mountains and such longitudinal drainage systems as the Irrawaddy River, Nujiang River, Lancang-Mekong River and Jinsha River in South Asia and the Sichuan basin in China.