Katmandu Plateau
The Katmandu Plateau sits up on the Himalayan Mountain range. The existence of this broad, circular plain has offered man a hospitable, beautiful place to live. Across the entire Himalayan range, this is a unique, and perhaps inexplicable landform. The Indian sub-continent is colliding with the Asian continent along the broad front manifested as the Himalayan range. Given this ever-present driving force there perhaps should not be such a broad area so un-effected by the distorted geology exhibited all around it.
The Perigee: Zero research suggests that a PZ comet body struck the Katmandu Plateau. This effectively sheared off the rugged terrain in the area and left the slightly indented plateau to gather nurturing moisture and sediment. Please reference the Keyhole file for Google Earth Access.
KMZ Keyhole file
A Google Earth composite is shown here with the generic PZ Trench/Fan Terminal crater form. This is one of the few instances where a de-orbiting comet body was suddenly interrupted by hitting very high elevations after safely transitioning above a lower elevation, in this case the Indian mainland. A higher resolution graphic is available by clicking on the linker image.
Katmandu Crater with PZ fan overlay in Google Earth
The generic outline form fits extremely well, offering a high level of confidence in the assertions we make. Here is another view using GE's perspective tools.
Katmandu's bowl-shaped plateau
Supportive evidence includes a "gateway" slot opened up through the Himalayan range front, through which the comet body initially traversed as a PZ Trenching event. As the elevation increased, the comet was terminally disrupted. This created the bowl-shape Katmandu Valley. The Google Earth composite below displays the entry slot. Clicking on the graphic will open a short Quicktime Movie recreation of the approach through the comet-cut pass.
Comet Entry Movie
http://www.nepalhiking.com/nepal.htmHistory tells that once a time Kathmandu Valley was a great lake in the middle of which a brilliant flame emanating from a lotus flower was rested. Manjushri broached the valley wall with a magical sword & drained the water & the valley was empty from water. The Kathmandu Valley was created & it is said that Swayambhu appeared in a flaming spot when the Valley was formed. As far as Manjushri was a Buddhist from China as we know or perhaps it wasn’t Manjushri. According to the Hindu religion Krishna created the Valley, hurling a thunderbolt to create the Chorbar gorge.
The reader should note the historical reference to "appeared in a flaming spot when the Valley was formed". This is not of volcanic origin, so we interpret the historical record as being supportive.
From China comes a supportive legend involving the concept of mystical dragons. The lair of the most senior and all powerful dragon is said to be the Katmandu plateau.
Similar to the Central California Valley and the Rhine-Main Trench, we do expect that the bowl created by this impact would initially fill with water. Again similar to other cases, the crater wall is eventually breached, leaving the structure with a flat-bottomed fertile and hospitable environment.
The PZ investigation shows this event to be highly correlated with the "companion trench" event associated with the Big Horn/Heart Mountain PZ event.