Cretaceous and Tertiary paleomagnetic results from Southeast China and their tectonic implications

New and revised set of Cretaceous paleomagnetic poles from Hong Kong: implications for the development of southeast China

“…In fact Enkin et al (1992) and Gilder et al (1993) have drawn attention to the streaked distribution of the Cretaceous paleopoles from the South China Block, which they argue could represent within-plate deformation-rotations.…”

“…Thus regional stress could have resulted in movement of the CSEC relative to the main South China Block. Although several paleomagnetic studies have been done in this region (Chan, 1991;Gilder et al, 1993;, few studies have systematically investigated the kinematics of the CSEC and none have attempted to understand the mechanisms driving block movement.…”

New Late Cretaceous and Paleogene paleomagnetic results from south China and their geodynamic implications

“…These Chinese blocks are assumed to have been fully assembled with Eurasia and to have suffered no relative latitudinal movement by the Early Cretaceous [ Zheng et al , 1991; Huang and Opdyke , 1992; Gilder and Courtillot , 1997; Yang and Besse , 2001]. However, many local or regional vertical axis rotations have occurred in the SCB since the Cretaceous [ Enkin et al , 1991; Gilder et al , 1993; Huang and Opdyke , 1992; Otofuji et al , 1998]. Because of either the collision beginning at 55 Ma between India and Asia in the west [ Dewey et al , 1989] or the subduction of the circum‐Pacific plate beneath the Asian continental margin in the east since the Early Cretaceous, the SCB may have suffered from significant intercontinental deformation and block rotations.…”

“…(a) Simplified tectonic map of China and adjacent area showing the main sutures and faults. (b) Regional geologic map of south China [after Gilder et al , 1993]. The major blocks are Kazakhstan, Siberia, Mongolia, JUN (Junggar), NCB (North China Block), Qaidam, Tarim, Kunlun, Qiangtang, SCB (South China Block), INC (Indochina), India, Lhasa.…”

Constraining the anisotropy structure of the crust by joint inversion of seismic reflection travel times and wave polarizations

“…It is obvious that the fast P-wave direction is mainly horizontal in the upper crust, but an appreciable difference is found under Songyang, Qingtian, and Dongtou, to the southeast of the Jiangshan-Shaoxing fault, where the fast P-wave direction is clearly vertical. Just this long fault has been recognized as the natural boundary between the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks from geological, geochemical, and geophysical evidences (Hsu et al 1988(Hsu et al , 1990Gilder et al 1993Gilder et al , 1995Gilder et al , 1996Pei and Hong 1995;Chen and John 1998;Hong et al 1990Hong et al , 2002Zhang et al 2005Zhang et al , 2008Zhang and Wang 2007).…”