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Exotic origin of the Chinese continental shelf: new insights into the tectonic evolution of the western Pacific and eastern China since the Mesozoic

中国大陆架的外来起源和对中生代以来西太平洋和中国东部地质演化的全新认

  • Article
  • Earth Sciences
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Science Bulletin

Abstract

The effect of paleo-Pacific subduction on the geological evolution of the western Pacific and continental China is likely complex. Nevertheless, our analysis of the distribution of Mesozoic granitoids in the eastern continental China in space and time has led us to an interesting conclusion: The basement of the continental shelf beneath East and South China Seas may actually be of exotic origin geologically unrelated to the continental lithosphere of eastern China. By accepting the notion that the Jurassic–Cretaceous granitoids in the region are genetically associated with western Pacific subduction and the concept that subduction may cease to continue only if the trench is being jammed, then the termination of the granitoid magmatism throughout the vast region at ~88 ± 2 Ma manifests the likelihood of “sudden”, or shortly beforehand (~100 Ma), trench jam of the Mesozoic western Pacific subduction. Trench jam happens if the incoming “plate” or portion of the plate contains a sizeable mass that is too buoyant to subduct. The best candidate for such a buoyant and unsubductable mass is either an oceanic plateau or a micro-continent. We hypothesize that the basement of the Chinese continental shelf represents such an exotic, buoyant and unsubductable mass, rather than seaward extension of the continental lithosphere of eastern China. The locus of the jammed trench (i.e., the suture) is predictably located on the shelf in the vicinity of, and parallel to, the arc-curved coastal line of the southeast continental China. It is not straightforward to locate the locus in the northern section of the East China Sea shelf because of the more recent (<20 Ma) tectonic re-organization associated with the opening of the Sea of Japan. We predict that the trench jam at ~100 Ma led to the re-orientation of the Pacific plate motion in the course of NNW direction as inferred from the age-progressive Emperor Seamount Chain of Hawaiian hotspot origin (its oldest unsubdued Meiji and Detroit seamounts are ~82 Ma), making the boundary between the Pacific plate and the newly accreted plate of eastern Asia a transform fault at the location east of the continental shelf of exotic origin. This explains the apparent ~40 Myr magmatic gap from ~88 to ~50 Ma prior to present-day western Pacific subduction initiation. We propose that basement penetration drilling on well-chosen sites is needed to test the hypothesis in order to reveal the true nature of the Chinese continental shelf basement. This testing becomes critical and cannot longer be neglected in order to genuinely understand the tectonic evolution of the western Pacific and its effect on the geology of eastern China since the Mesozoic, including the cratonic lithosphere thinning, related magmatism/mineralization, and the mechanism of the subsequent South China Sea opening, while also offering novel perspectives on aspects of the plate tectonics theory. We also suggest the importance of future plate tectonic reconstruction of the western Pacific to consider the nature and histories of the Chinese continental shelf of exotic origin as well as the probable transform plate boundary from ~100 to ~50 Ma. Effort is needed to reveal the true nature and origin of the ~88 ± 2 Ma granitic gneisses in Taiwan and the 110–88 Ma granitoids on the Hainan Island.

摘要

从中国东部侏罗-白垩纪花岗岩的时空分布得出结论,中国大陆架基底是外来地体,与中国大陆岩石圈无关。中生代时古太平洋板块的NW向俯冲和俯冲板片在地幔过渡带的滞留和脱水, 通过“底部加水弱化”导致了中国东部广泛的岩石圈减薄, 并伴随以改造前古老岩石圈底部为源区的基性岩浆活动。这些基性岩浆底侵引起大规模地壳熔融,造就了上述花岗岩的广泛分布。最年轻的花岗岩为~88 Ma,表明最终导致这些岩浆作用的古太平洋俯冲在~100 Ma已终止。导致俯冲终止的唯一机制是俯冲海沟堵塞,而堵塞体是规模大、密度低、浮力大,不能俯冲的地体。中国大陆架的基底就是~100 Ma时伴随古太平洋板块漂来不能俯冲的地体,可能是大洋高原,也可能是微陆块,这需要大陆架基底深钻检验。这一俯冲堵塞事件引起古太平洋板块改航, 向NNW漂移(与“皇帝海山链”方向一致)。 从~100 Ma到~50 Ma,古太平洋板块与新增生的亚洲大陆为转换断层关系,所以西太平洋在这段时间 (~80 – ~50 Ma) 没有岩浆作用。从~50 Ma到~43 Ma,这个边界演化为斜交俯冲。从~43 Ma至今,太平洋板块沿NW垂向俯冲(与“夏威夷海山链”方向一致)。

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41130314, 91014003), Chinese Academy of Sciences Innovation (Y42217101L), grants from Regional and Local Authorities (Shandong Province and City of Qingdao) and supported by National Oceanography Laboratory in Qingdao. The principal ideas in this paper were previously presented by the senior author at the annual national symposia on Destruction of the North China Craton (December 2012 & 2014, Beijing), at a workshop in the First Institute of Oceanography (December 2013, Qingdao), at the Western Pacific land–ocean-geo-dynamics workshop (March 2015, Qingdao), and at the thematic conference. The connection of the North China Craton destruction with the Paleo-Pacific subduction (March 26–27, 2015, Beijing) organized and supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), for which we thank Professors Jin Zhenmin, Zhang Guowei and Zhu Rixiang for invitation. We thank Professors Xiaolong Huang and Shuguang Song for constructive reviews and Professor Zhidan Zhao for suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Yaoling Niu, Fengli Shao, Shuo Chen, Hongmei Gong, Yan Hu, Juanjuan Kong, Jiyong Li, Pu Sun, Wenli Sun & Yuanyuan Xiao

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

    Yaoling Niu

  3. School of Earth Science and Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100083, China

    Yaoling Niu, Yi Liu, Qiqi Xue & Meng Duan

  4. Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, 572000, China

    Pengyuan Guo

  5. School of Earth Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Zhenxing Hu, Jinju Liu, Lei Ye & Yu Zhang

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Niu, Y., Liu, Y., Xue, Q. et al. Exotic origin of the Chinese continental shelf: new insights into the tectonic evolution of the western Pacific and eastern China since the Mesozoic. Sci. Bull. 60, 1598–1616 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-015-0891-z

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