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The Mesozoic geology of SE China is characterized by intensive and widespread magmatism. However, the tectonic regime that accounted for the Mesozoic magmatism has been an issue with little consensus. A comprehensive study of 40Ar-39Ar dating, geochemistry and Sr-Nd isotopes has been conducted on basalts from southern Hunan and syenite intrusions from eastern Guangxi. Three episodes of Jurassic magmatism, i.e. alkaline basalts of c.175 Ma in age, syenitic intrusions of c.160 Ma and high-Mg basalts of c.150 Ma, are identified. The older, c.175 Ma alkaline basalts are characterized by low Sr (ISr = 0.7035–0.7040) and high Nd (εNd(T) = 5 to 6) isotopic compositions and OIB-like trace-element patterns (e.g. Nb/La > 1). In contrast, the younger, c.150 Ma high-Mg basalts have high Sr (ISrc.0.7054) and low Nd (εNd(T) c.-2) isotopic compositions and incompatible trace-element patterns of arc affinity. The c.160 Ma syenitic intrusions display a relatively large range of Sr and Nd isotopic compositions (ISr = 0.7032–0.7082, εNd(T) = 5.5 to −4.1), with the Qinghu syenites having the lowest ISr, highest εNd(T) and OIB-type incompatible trace-element patterns analogous to the c.175 Ma alkaline basalts. Such a secular variation in rock types and geochemical and isotopic characteristics reveals changes in melt segregation depth and mantle sources, which are inferred to have resulted from the post-Indosinian orogenic lithosphere extension and thinning. The c.175 Ma alkaline basalts are suggested to have formed by small degrees of decompression melting of the asthenosphere or an enriched lithospheric mantle source accreted by asthenosphere-derived melts during the initial extension. The c.160 Ma syenitic and c.150 Ma high-Mg basaltic rocks mainly originated from the enriched lithospheric mantle that melted owing to a raised geotherm caused by lithosphere thinning. This interpretation is at odds with the active continental margin related to the subduction of palaeo-Pacific plate, but consistent with continental rifting and extension for the Mesozoic of SE China.

Little has been known about the earliest Toba eruptive episodes that created the largestknown caldera complex of Quaternary age. Here we report evidence for the eastward dispersal of the oldest Toba tuff in South China Sea sediments to 2500 km away from the source. The tephra deposits occur below the Brunhes-Matuyama geomagnetic boundary (778 ka) and slightly above the Australasian microtektite layer (793 ka). Calibrated by astronomically tuned oxygen isotope stratigraphy, the middle Pleistocene Toba eruption occurred during the deglaciation at 788 ؎ 2.2 ka, according to the tephra occurrence between marine isotope stages 20 and 19. This refined age is in good agreement with the 40 Ar/ 39 Ar date of 800 ؎ 20 ka for the Toba tephra (layer D) from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 758, but significantly younger than the commonly cited Ar/Ar age of 840 ؎ 30 ka. The eruption expelled at least 800-1000 km 3 dense-rock-equivalent of rhyolitic magma on the basis of the widespread tephra-fall deposit in the basins of the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. In spite of its exceptional magnitude, the timing of this major eruption does not indicate a causal linkage between this event and a long-term global climatic deterioration.

[1] New chemical and isotopic analyses of the tephra layers plus deep-sea tephrostratigraphic record from two cores from either side of Luzon Island (Philippines) have allowed the identification of two periods of explosive volcanic activity originating from the Macolod Corridor in the southwestern part of the Luzon. The first period extended from prior to 1355 ka to 1977 ka, and the second period extended from 478 ka to the present, separated by a period of relative quiescence. The time intervals between large explosive eruption events in each period were 31 ± 15 ka and 156 ± 52 ka, respectively. Combined with published chronological and geochemical data from onshore volcanic deposits, the tephrostratigraphic record shows that the locus of large explosive eruptions has migrated southwestward from the northeastern section to the middle and southwestern sections of the Macolod Corridor. The period of relative quiescence is characterized by monogenetic volcanism in the central section of the corridor. The migration of active volcanism across the southwestern part of Luzon during the Quaternary is used to infer the evolution of the subducting South China Sea crust. The period of relative quiescence represents a period of adjustment of the subducted slab by steepening, which began around 1355 ka or shortly thereafter and finished at around 478 ka.