STRUCTURE OF THE EASTERN PART OF THE ALPINE BELT OF EURASIA ACCORDING TO THE COSMOGEOLOGICAL DATA

Abstract

The Alpine belt of Southeast Asia lies between the Tarim, Bayshan-Alashan and Ordos blocks of the Sino-Korean craton in the north, the Yangtze craton and the Indochinese massif in the east and the Indian craton in the south. We have attempted to establish to what degree this inhomogeneity, which was discerned both by direct geologic observations and on the basis of theoretical considerations, is confirmed by analysis of satellite photographs and what new elements such an analysis can contribute to the interpretation of the structure and neotectonic evolution of this complicated region. Thus a space-geological analysis, carried out for the first time for the whole eastern part of the Eurasian Alpine belt, confirms the discrete structure of this global tectonic body and the differentiated character of the movements of its different blocks. Such movements have taken and are taking place against the background and under the influence of the interaction of both the major lithosphere plates and the separate microplates in their marginal parts.