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Effect of natural prolongation with geological features on maritime delimitation

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Abstract

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea entitled the coastal States to naturally extend the continental shelf, which has caused more drastic disputes of maritime delimitation. This paper devotes to clarifying the significant concept of natural prolongation through an effect method combing the legal principles and technical analysis. Firstly, the classic samples with respect of the development of geological features are traced. Based on these samples, the classification with a model is proposed in order to affirm the concept’s significance under certain geomorphologic situations. Lastly, scientific analysis is used to present two potential prolongation situations and emphasize that all the technical analysis on maritime delimitation should be complied with international law and protect the common interest of all the mankind.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guanghua Law School, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310008, China

    Wenxian Qiu

  2. Key Laboratory of Submarine Geosciences, Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Hangzhou, 310012, China

    Xianglong Jin & Yinxia Fang

  3. Key Laboratory of Marine Ecosystem and Biogeochemistry, Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Hangzhou, 310012, China

    Kui Wang

Authors
  1. Wenxian Qiu
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  2. Xianglong Jin
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  3. Yinxia Fang
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  4. Kui Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wenxian Qiu.

Additional information

Foundation item: The National Social Science Foundation of China under contract No. 16CFX069; China Postdoctoral Science Foundations under contract Nos 2015M581913 and 2016T90531; the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

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Qiu, W., Jin, X., Fang, Y. et al. Effect of natural prolongation with geological features on maritime delimitation. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 36, 35–42 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-017-1002-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-017-1002-6

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