Reply to Comment by Hetényi and Cattin on: “Raising the Roof of the World: Intra-Crustal Asian Mantle Supports the Himalayan-Tibetan Orogen”

We welcome the critique of Hetényi and Cattin on Sternai et al. (2025, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025tc009057), as it brings to light evaluative issues that require clarification and offers an opportunity to articulate more clearly how our work advances understanding of Himalayan-Tibetan geodynamics. In this Reply, we clarify that most of the criticism arises from evaluating our process-oriented geodynamic models as if they were intended to reproduce present-day lithospheric structures, rather than to test the mechanical plausibility of Paleogene crustal-doubling mechanisms. Moreover, non-unique interpretations of present-day geophysical data are treated in the Comment as definitive constraints and used as benchmarks to dismiss alternative physically viable scenarios, leading to circular reasoning. When the content and objectives of our study are correctly considered, the critiques do not invalidate our results or conclusions. More broadly, this Reply underscores the importance of reassessing established models when fundamental limitations are identified, as a constructive pathway toward progress in Earth sciences.