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Two relatively long‐term satellite aerosol products during 1983–2020 and 2000–2020 are employed to investigate interannual relationships between anomalous aerosol loadings over the Bay of Bengal (BoB) and Arabian Sea (AS) in the early summer and Asian monsoon rainfall anomalies. It is shown that increased aerosol loading (IAL) over the BoB is primarily attributed to an intensified upstream aerosol transport by anomalous subtropical westerly winds and coincides with local sea surface temperature (SST) cooling due to intensified prevailing wind and the aerosol dimming effect, and vice versa. A deficient rainfall in India tends to concur with a BoB IAL while excessive rainfall with an AS IAL in May and June. In June, a BoB IAL coincides with significantly deficient rainfall in the southwestern China‐Huaihe River Basin primarily linked to an anomalous cyclone off the coast of Southeast China. Meanwhile a related overturning of Walker Circulation is identified to be driven by the contrast of anomalous convective activity between the southeastern Indian‐BoB and the South China Sea‐Philippine Sea. An AS IAL is associated with air warming in North India due to an elevated aerosol semi‐direct effect and remote forcing that reinforces the meridional air temperature gradient. The IAL over the respective BoB and AS in June are both preceded by cold SST anomalies in the western Indian Ocean that can be traced back to the preceding winter, but the corresponding atmospheric circulations driving aerosol‐monsoon interactions differ distinctly. The above aerosol‐monsoon relationships are sustained primarily during 2000–2020 and vague during 1983–2020. Plain Language Summary: The year‐by‐year aerosol variations over the Bay of Bengal (BoB) and Arabian Sea (AS) in early spring and their relationship to the Asian summer monsoon rainfall anomalies are studied using satellite‐observed aerosol products. Increased aerosol loading (IAL) over the BoB is revealed to be accompanied by deficient rainfall in India and excessive rainfall in the northern South China Sea‐Philippine Sea (NSCSPS), driven by the changes in Walker Circulation primarily caused by the contrast of anomalous convective activity between the southeastern Indian‐BoB and the NSCSPS. An IAL over the AS tends to concur with excessive monsoon rainfall in India in May and June and is associated with air warming in northern South Asia partially due to the aerosol semi‐direct effect that reinforces the meridional air temperature gradient. The aerosol dimming effect associated with an IAL over the BoB and AS, along with the intensified prevailing westerly, might be responsible for the cooling of the local sea surface temperature (SST) in early spring and vice versa. The SST anomaly in the western Indian Ocean, which can be traced back to the preceding winter, plays an important role in driving the aforementioned associated changes in the atmospheric circulations and monsoon rainfall anomalies. Key Points: Anomalous aerosol loadings over the Bay of Bengal concur with an out‐of‐phase rainfall change in South and East Asia in early summerAerosol‐monsoon interaction over the Arabian Sea tends to modulate Indian rainfall by changing the meridional air temperature gradientSea surface temperature anomalies in Indian Ocean play an important role in stimulation of the aforementioned aerosol‐monsoon interaction [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the shadow of the far-field effect of the India-Eurasia collision, the Tianshan orogenic belt underwent tectonic re-activation in the Cenozoic, accompanied by strong tectonic deformation and frequent large earthquakes. Bounded by two rigid cratonic blocks located in its north and south, a series of marginal foreland fold-and-thrust belts are developed within the Tianshan orogenic belt and continue to develop to the bilateral pull-apart basins. Meanwhile, the faults in the orogenic belt are reactivated. The deformation caused by thrust-related structure accounts for larger than 50% of the total convergence of the Tianshan Mountains, which results in the most active structure with large earthquakes in the Tianshan area. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the dynamic process of the newly generated and reactivated thrust-nappe structures in Tianshan orogen via numerical modeling. This paper selects a classical cross-section profile in the western segment of the Southwest Tianshan Mountains, which contains the Kalpin-Maidan-Nalati-Kemin fault system from the south to the north. We attempt to establish a two-dimensional plane strain, viscoelastic finite element model, by treating the regional faults as a whole fault system and considering the topography, fault geometry, and GPS data. The displacement and stress fields of the model are retrieved, the short-term cumulative deformation field of the overall fault system is analyzed, and the rate of Coulomb failure stress change of each fault is also considered. The results show that the deformation is concentrated in the middle and southern parts of the Southwest Tianshan Mountains. In contrast, the deformation of the Kemin fault in the north is relatively small. According to the Coulomb failure stress changes of these four faults and the historical earthquake catalog, the potential seismicity of each fault is qualitatively analyzed. Our preliminary results suggest that the possibility of large earthquake occurrence is higher in the Kalpin fault, Maidan fault, and Nalati fault but lower in the Kemin fault in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present northwest-trending Altai mountains, as far as ∼2000 km north of the Indian–Asian collision front, are dominated by a transpressional strike-slip fault system, and are generally considered as one of distant tectonic effects of the ongoing India–Asia collision. However, the Cenozoic reactivation of the Altai and its linkage with the tectonic evolution of the Tibet plateau remain mechanically challenging. Here, we constructed large-scale 2D numerical models with inherited lithospheric heterogeneities from India to Altai representing the onset of the India–Asia collision. The sensitivity of model results to variable thermo-mechanical and geometric properties of the orogen-like Tibet and Altai as well as variable thermal state of the craton-like India and Junggar reveals that both the particular lithospheric architecture of western Tibet and basement structural inheritance of central Asia regulate the long-distance deformation propagation from the India–Asia plate boundary to the Altai–Sayan region. The model results indicate that the direct collision of the underthrusting Indian lithosphere with the rigid Tarim block beneath western Tibet plays a dominant role in the ultra-long-distance deformation propagation to central Asia. As less-deformed rigid blocks, the Tarim and Junggar basins with Precambrian basements serve as secondary indenters that transfer the compressive stresses extensively to the Altai–Sayan region. Constrained by substantial surface geology and geophysical observations, this numerical study recognizes the linkage between the evolving lithospheric structure of western Tibet with the northward younging trend of reactivation of the orogenic belts in central Asia. By means of the rigid Indian–Tarim lithospheric mantle collision, the plate-convergence stress can be effectively transmitted through Tarim to Tian Shan and subsequently through Junggar to Altai, leading to successive reactivation of the Tian Shan and Altai mountains. The locations of reactivation are determined by the inherited structural zones of lithospheric weakness that formed during the Paleozoic assembly of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. [Display omitted] • India–Tarim lithospheric mantle collision triggered deformation propagation to Altai. • The Tarim and Junggar blocks serve as a secondary indenter for stress transfer. • The reactivation of Tian Shan and Altai is followed by uplift of the Tibetan plateau. • The convex structure of Tarim and Junggar is due to strong north-south compression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]