strength of plate coupling in the southern ryukyu subduction zone abstract understanding the strength of a plate coupling is critical for assessing potential seismic and tsunamic hazards in subduction zones the interaction between an overriding plate and the associated subducting plate can be used to evaluate the strength of plate coupling by examining the mantle lithospheric buoyancy here we calculate the mantle lithosphere buoyancy across the northern portion of the southern ryukyu subduction zone based on gravity modeling with the constraints from a newly derived p wave seismic velocity model the result indicates that the strength of the plate coupling in the study area is relatively strong which is consistent with previous observations in the southernmost ryukyu subduction zone because few large earthquakes mw 7 have occurred in the southern ryukyu subduction zone a large amount of energy is locked and accumulated by plate coupling that could be released in the near future

reconstructing subducted oceanic lithosphere by reverse engineering slab geometries the northern philippine sea plate subducting slabs commonly acquire complex geometries from the migration of subduction trenches slab mantle interaction slab tearing and collision of slabs at depth although it is possible to construct three dimensional models of subducted slabs using earthquake hypocenter locations and tomographic models it is often not possible to rigorously test their accuracy here we present a methodology for performing such a test by reverse engineering the presubduction configuration of a slab of oceanic lithosphere from interpretations of its present day morphology we illustrate our approach for the ryukyu and shikoku slabs northwest philippine sea having simulated them as viscoelastic sheets that we unfolded and floated to the surface the net strain distribution of the floated mesh indicated which parts of the original slab model were geometrically viable minimal net strain and which parts of the mesh required additional tears and or zones of localized ductile extension to have enabled the slab to deform during subduction in the instance of the ryukyu and shikoku slabs the palau kyushu and gagua ridges are shown to have both acted as planes of weakness that broke into major vertical slab tears these subducted ridges are connected by a trench parallel tear that represented the former contact between the huatung and west philippine basins the fossil spreading center of the shikoku basin formed a separate slab window upon subduction along the nankai trough the methodology presented herein is a powerful tool to evaluate complex slab morphologies infer the locations of slab tears and therefore reconstruct intricate configurations of subducted oceanic lithosphere

lithospheric stress states predicted from long term tectonic models influence of rheology and possible application to taiwan abstract the long term stress state of the lithosphere results from a combination of boundary forces surface loads and tractions from mantle flow here we have employed a numerical technique which allows for the self consistent treatment of the interaction between the lithosphere and mantle and takes into account the deformation of the free surface we have used this to study lithospheric dynamics in order to gain insights on the present day conditions of stress and deformation of the lithosphere our numerical approach takes the observed topography and far field plate velocities as input and computes the resultant deformation as a function of the rheological stratification our model application is inspired by taiwan tectonics stress data and earthquake focal mechanisms indicate that the upper crust in taiwan may be predominantly under compression the recent pingtung earthquake in 12 26 2006 however suggests that the sub moho mantle lithosphere under southern taiwan may be under extension if this earthquake indeed represents the local state of stress this raises the question as to why extension and compression can occur simultaneously in this region for addressing this issue we have performed a number of numerical simulations in which we studied the effects of rheological stratification boundary conditions and geometry on the stress state and lithospheric dynamics we have employed both layered viscosity models and models in which we use laboratory based non newtonian and temperature dependent creep laws results show that the rheological stratification plays an important role in lithospheric deformation the relatively hot lithospheric thermal state in taiwan makes it likely that part of the lower crust is relatively weak which results in decoupling from surface near deformation with deformation at depth bending of a subducting slab underneath taiwan causes an extensional stress state in the sub moho mantle lithosphere whereas the collision of the philippine sea plate with the eurasian margin is responsible for a compressional state of stress in the crust it is demonstrated that models with a weak lower crust are also in reasonable agreement with available gps data as well as with constraints on uplift rates from long term geodynamic modelling studies

new insights on 3 d plates interaction near taiwan from tomography and tectonic implications abstract recent tomographic results are used to trace the south china sea and philippine sea subducting slabs south and northeast of taiwan along the manila and ryukyu trenches respectively in particular the 3 d plates interaction beneath taiwan is discussed based on a close up view of the tomographic sections together with earthquake hypocenters distribution our study indicates that 1 the east dipping south china sea slab can be followed to the north up to the latitude of hualien 2 the eurasian plate subducts beneath most part of the taiwan island down to the 670 km depth discontinuity 3 the north dipping philippine sea slab can be followed slightly west of the longitude of hualien both plates thus interact beneath northern taiwan where the arc continent collision is paroxysmal 4 slab detachment is envisaged at the northern edge of the subducted eurasian plate beneath the coastal range of taiwan which may facilitate the northwestward motion of the philippine sea plate with respect to eurasia slabs geometries obtained from tomographic sections allow us to reconstruct the late neogene plate kinematics and dynamics in this region our main conclusions are 1 the size of the original south china sea was about twice its present size 2 the subducted part of the west philippine basin i e the largest oceanic basin of the philippine sea plate extends only 400 km north of the ryukyu trench 3 slab detachment might have occurred 3 5 my ago beneath the central and northern ryukyu arc along a weak zone that is aligned with the gagua ridge an ancient plate boundary 4 the ryukyu trench has propagated westward from 126 e of longitude southeast of miyako island to the locus of the present arc continent collision along a major lithospheric tear that cut through the continent ocean boundary first and then through the continental lithosphere as a consequence the southern ryukyu margin developed progressively from east to west as a subduction zone during the last 8 my it has been elaborated onto a passive margin which corresponded to the edge of the eurasian continental shelf bordering the south china sea prior to pliocene 5 the southern okinawa trough rifted during the last 2 1 ma following the propagation of the subduction zone 6 subduction of the eurasian margin probably stopped recently beneath northern taiwan and a flip of subduction from west to east is being initiated near hualien

melting features along the ryukyu slab tear beneath the southwestern okinawa trough 1 the present day active volcanic front associated with the ryukyu subduction zone extends from japan to the ilan plain northern taiwan and is located within the okinawa trough 80 100 km above the ryukyu slab an abnormal amount of arc volcanism which consists of basalt andesite and rhyolite occurs within the southwestern okinawa trough above a slab tear of the ryukyu subduction zone cbvt the power spectrum analysis of magnetic data shows the occurrence of a thin crust above the slab tear and a thick crust beneath this volcanic area we suggest that an excess of h2o rich fluid might occur at the slab tear and might increase the melt flux both are conveyed obliquely to the uppermost mantle and lower crust cbvt magmas after interactions basaltic magmas would rise up accounting for the contrast of magnetization between this volcanic body and the adjacent ot crust

peculiar geometry of northern luzon philippines implications for regional tectonics of new gravity and paleomagnetic data 1 the northern termination of the philippine archipelago is remarkably abrupt the distinctive almost rectangular shape of northern luzon is a consequence of the almost simultaneous disappearance near 18 n of the central cordillera the much narrower sierra madre and the broad floodplain of the cagayan river the floodplain is underlain by a deep sedimentary basin that is closed off just inland of the coast by an ene wsw structural high known as the sicalao ridge gravity surveys show that the ridge has steep flanks that are almost certainly defined by faulting in the same region there is also a dramatic change in the luzon arc which is the volcanic expression of subduction of the south china sea the volcanic centers in the central cordillera the north luzon segment of the arc are all now inactive but further north eruptions are frequent on the small eastern islands of the bashi segment the differences between the north luzon and bashi segments suggest that they had very different geological histories until the late neogene but the evolution of northern luzon is so poorly understood that it is not even known on which plate it originated new paleomagnetic data and the existence of the sicalao ridge provide important constraints on reconstructions and when combined with geological data favor the possibility that in the paleogene the central cordillera and sierra madre were combined as parts of an arc at the southern margin of the philippine sea the sicalao ridge can be interpreted as a rift margin feature created during the detachment of luzon from continental sundaland

the taiwan ryukyu subduction collision complex folding of a viscoelastic slab and the double seismic zone 1 the termination of the ryukyu trench against eurasia and the oblique subduction of the philippine sea plate create a subduction collision complex offshore taiwan which has not previously been elucidated in detail we combine traveltime data from the seismic networks in taiwan and japan to better illuminate how the subducting ryukyu slab deforms in this subduction collision zone more than 5000 events recorded by both networks were relocated with the double difference method using an optimal regional one dimensional velocity model the offshore seismicity indicates that the double seismic zone with a gap of 15 20 km exists in the subducting slab in the depth range of 40 80 km focal mechanisms suggest that the double seismic zone is caused by east west compression resulting from oblique convergence the improved hypocentral locations for the first time reveal folding of the slab into a horizontal curvature larger in magnitude than and opposite in sign to that of the ryukyu trench in the depth range 50 100 km the anomalous curvature together with the focal mechanisms suggests that the slab folds against the eurasian lithosphere and that this deformation cannot be fully elastic we model this deformation mode as the developing instability of a viscoelastic maxwell layer embedded in a viscous medium the characteristic wavelength of the instability i e 250 km is consistent with folding of a slab whose viscosity is 100 times higher than that of the surrounding mantle for an along strike elastic membrane strain as small as 0 01 or more than 3 orders of magnitude higher if 5 elastic strain is allowed

complexities in the tectonic evolution of the west philippine basin abstract the oceanic west philippine basin can be subdivided into a main basin a northwest sub basin and a southern sub basin these basins have undergone different tectonic histories magnetic anomalies 21 17 are present in the main basin and indicate that it formed by two limbed seafloor spreading the now extinct spreading center is located within a zone of rough topography associated with the northwest trending central basin fault cbf the morphology of the cbf is primarily the result of post spreading tectonism the magnetic anomaly pattern of the main basin does not extend into the southern sub basin or the northwest sub basin geometrical constraints indicate that the southern sub basin did not form as part of the southern limb of the main basin the southern sub basin may have formed immediately before a ridge jump to the main basin spreading axis alternatively possible shallower crustal depth in the southern sub basin may indicate that the sub basin is younger than the main basin and formed separately from it in the northwest sub basin which originated as part of the main basin the dominant topographic trends are perpendicular to those in the main basin this difference as well as higher heat flow and shallower depth in the northwest sub basin indicate that it has undergone a deformational event which did not affect the main basin this deformation may be related to subduction along the east luzon margin in mid tertiary time the gagua ridge an uplifted sliver of oceanic crust along the western edge of the northwest sub basin may have originated during this event

cenozoic plate interaction of the australia and philippine sea plates hit and run tectonics abstract recent studies in northwest new guinea have shown the presence of at least two marginal basins of different age both of which formed in back arc settings the older basin opened between the middle jurassic and early cretaceous a remnant of which is now preserved as the new guinea ophiolite its obduction started at 40 ma and it was finally emplaced on the australian margin at 30 ma the younger basin was active during the oligocene to middle miocene and was obducted in the early pliocene studies of the western edge of the philippine sea also reveal an important deformation of the philippine arc in the oligocene which hitherto has remained unexplained using information from these systems paleomagnetic results kinematic reconstructions and geochemistry of the supra subduction ophiolite we present a plate model to explain the region s eo oligocene development we suggest that an extensive portion of oceanic crust extended the australian plate a considerable distance north of the australian craton as australia began its steady 7 8 cm year northward drift in the early eocene this lithosphere was subducted thus the portion of the philippine sea plate carrying the taiwan philippine arc to its present site may have actually been in contact with the ophiolite now in new guinea and obduction led to deformation of the philippine sea plate itself neogene plate kinematics transported the deformed belt in contact with the sunda block in the late miocene and pliocene this interpretation has implications for the origin for the philippine sea plate and the potential incorporation of continental fragments against its boundaries

plate kinematics origin and tectonic emplacement of supra subduction ophiolites in se asia abstract a unique feature of the circum pacific orogenic belts is the occurrence of ophiolitic bodies of various sizes most of which display petrological and geochemical characteristics typical of supra subduction zone oceanic crust in se asia a majority of the ophiolites appear to have originated at convergent margins and specifically in backarc or island arc settings which evolved either along the edge of the sunda eurasia and australian cratons or within the philippine sea plate these ophiolites were later accreted to continental margins during the tertiary because of fast relative plate velocities tectonic regimes at the active margins of these three plates also changed rapidly strain partitioning associated with oblique convergence caused arc trench systems to move further away from the locus of their accretion we distinguish relatively autochthonous ophiolites resulting from the shortening of marginal basins such as the present day south china sea or the coral sea and highly displaced ophiolites developed in oblique convergent margins where they were dismantled transported and locally severely sheared during final docking in peri cratonic mobile belts i e the philippine mobile belt we find a series of oceanic basins which have been slightly deformed and uplifted varying lithologies and geochemical compositions of tectonic units in these basins as well as their age discrepancies suggest important displacements along major wrench faults we have used plate tectonic reconstructions to restore the former backarc basins and island arcs characterized by known petro geochemical data to their original location and their former tectonic settings some of the ophiolites occurring in front of the sunda plate represent supra subduction zone basins formed along the australian craton margin during the mesozoic the philippine sea basin the huatung basin south of taiwan and composite ophiolitic basements of the philippines and halmahera may represent remnants of such marginal basins the portion of the philippine sea plate carrying the taiwan philippine arc and its composite ophiolitic continental crustal basement might have actually originated in a different setting closer to that of the papua new guinea ophiolite and then have been displaced rapidly as a result of shearing associated with fast oblique convergence

subducting oceanic high causes compressional faulting in southernmost ryukyu forearc as revealed by hypocentral determinations of earthquakes and reflection refraction seismic data absolute earthquake hypocenter locations have been determined in the area offshore eastern taiwan at the southernmost ryukyu subduction zone location process is run within a 3d velocity model by combining the taiwanese and neighboring japanese networks and using the 3d maxi technique the study focuses on the most active seismic cluster in the taiwan region that occurs in the forearc domain offshore eastern taiwan earthquakes distribute mainly along 2 active planes the first one aligns along the subduction interface and the second one shallower affects the overriding margin focal mechanisms within the shallow group indicate that nodal planes are either compatible with high angle back thrusts or low angle thrusts the active seismic deformation exclusively indicates reverse faulting revealing that the forearc basement undergoes trench perpendicular strong compression by integrating the seismological image into the regional context we favor the hypothesis in which the dense seismicity occurring offshore marks the activity of en echelon high angle reverse faults accommodating the uplift of a broken piece of ryukyu arc basement called hoping basement rise the uplift is inferred to be caused by the subduction of an oceanic relief either exotic block seamount or oceanic crust sliver our favored solution satisfies the narrowness of epicenter s cluster along the hoping canyon and the observation of high angle active faults on seismic lines crossing the area furthermore this solution is compatible with the active uplift of the hoping rise demonstrated from morphological and sedimentological data we do not exclude the branching of the high angle reverse faults system onto a splay fault connected with the subduction interface but further investigations are needed to map precisely the 3d distribution of active faults that break the margin

radiolarian biostratigraphic data from the casiguran ophiolite northern sierra madre luzon philippines stratigraphic and tectonic implications results from the first detailed radiolarian biostratigraphic study conducted in luzon are reported the data were obtained from cherts associated with the casiguran ophiolite a dismembered ophiolite mass consisting of serpentinized peridotites gabbros dolerite dikes and pillow basalts exposed along the eastern coast of the northern sierra madre luzon philippines cherts and limestone interbeds conformably overlie the ophiolite the radiolarian assemblages from the cherts constrain the stratigraphic range of the cherts to the lower cretaceous upper barremian lower aptian to albian this new biostratigraphic result is in contrast with the upper cretaceous stratigraphic range previously reported in the region radiolarian biostratigraphic results from the casiguran ophiolite provide additional evidence for the existence of mesozoic oceanic substratum upon which luzon and neighboring regions within the philippine archipelago were likely built interestingly the result closely resembles those reported for the ophiolite in southeastern luzon as well as the oceanic crust of the huatung basin situated east of taiwan and the ophiolites in eastern indonesia in light of this along with previously gathered geochemical data from the ophiolites a common provenance is being looked into for these crust upper mantle sequences in the western pacific region

a geologic test of the kula pacific ridge capture mechanism for the formation of the west philippine basin in spite of nearly 30 yr of investigation the origin of the west philippine basin remains elusive this basin occupies nearly half of the philippine sea plate which remains one of the most poorly understood of the major lithospheric plates on earth establishing the origin of the west philippine basin is fundamental to deciphering the evolution of the western pacific basin including the india asia collision and the opening of numerous marginal basins in the region in this paper we combine new on land kinematic data from southwest japan with existing marine magnetic data from the ancient kula pacific ridge to test an early tectonic model that suggests that the west philippine basin arose by trapping of a part of the kula pacific ridge during the middle eocene the results suggest that this mechanism is viable but that the ridge capture event may have occurred during the middle eocene 10 m y earlier than originally proposed

the neoproterozoic brasiliano orogeny in northeast brazil 40ar39ar and petrostructural data from ceara abstract the borborema province in ne brazil comprises paleoproterozoic basement and its proterozoic cover that experienced a complex tectonometamorphic history during the brasiliano pan african orogeny in ceara four major domains separated by continental scale steeply dipping dextral shear zones have been identified 40 ar 39 ar step heating of mineral separates and laser probe fusion of single grains have been used in conjunction with petro structural observations to delineate the cooling tectonic history of these domains to the north of the senador pompeu shear zone spsz amphibole and biotite pairs from low pressure granulite belts exposed along the granja shear zone and spsz record plateau ages in the range 575 560 ma corresponding to cooling rates close to 20 c m y 40 ar 39 ar laser probe muscovite dates from the chaval augen gneiss point to a similar age for shearing responsible for the exhumation and fast cooling of the granulite belts a muscovite biotite pair from the central ceara high pressure nappes lying between the shear zones documents a lower cooling rate in the interval 534 525 ma related to the decompression and uplift of previously deelly buried rocks to the south of the spsz only moderate crustal thickening occurred within the various schist belts a distinct cooling pattern is indicated for these belts and the western patos shear zone attesting to a different crustal development 40 ar 39 ar dates of amphibole phlogopite muscovite and biotite range from 550 to 522 ma recording a postmetamorphic cooling rate of 6 9 c m y slower cooling rates of 3 4 c m y between amphibole and biotite closure ages in the range 540 500 ma are reported for the eastern part of the palos shear zone system the diachronous cooling recorded along this shear zone is interpreted to reflect the variations in thickness of the high temperature mylonitic belts earlier more rapid cooling occurred where the belts are narrow in the west late slower cooling occurred in wider zones to the east these thermochronological data reveal an age and cooling rate distribution at the scale of the borborema province that provides new constraints on the development of the brasiliano orogeny between 580 and 500 ma

arc and backarc geochemical signatures of the proto philippine sea plate insights from the petrography and geochemistry of the samar ophiolite volcanic section abstract remnants of a cretaceous lithosphere are found at the peripheries of the west philippine basin these mesozoic fragments preserve arc affinity and include the amami plateau the east halmahera ophiolite and the ophiolites along the eastern margin of the philippine archipelago the eastern margin of the philippines is composed of early to late cretaceous ophiolites and ophiolitic complexes that exhibit strong subduction imprints the early late cretaceous samar ophiolite in the central philippines forms part of this eastern belt recent surveys in southern samar revealed the presence of peridotites gabbros and massive and pillowed flows of the samar ophiolite major trace and rare earth element signatures of the volcanic rock samples indicate moderate to strong subduction related influences and formation in an island arc setting in contrast to other similarly aged ophiolites along the eastern margin of the archipelago those to the north of samar island exhibit weak to almost mid oceanic ridge characteristics these differences in the geochemical signatures of the ophiolites and ophiolitic complexes along eastern philippines require a re evaluation of a previous model suggesting that these ophiolites originated from a single oceanic lithosphere possibly the proto philippine sea plate

crust mantle boundaries in the taiwan luzon arc continent collision system determined from local earthquake tomography and 1d models implications for the mode of subduction polarity reversal abstract in order to better understand the mode of subduction polarity reversal in the taiwan luzon arc continent collision zone we mapped its crust mantle boundaries using local earthquake tomography by contouring surfaces of constant vp 7 5 km s 1 we identified three moho discontinuities and the plate interface that juxtaposes eurasian lower crust against mantle lithosphere of the philippine sea plate the plate interface dips to the east under southeastern taiwan and steepens progressively towards north until it becomes vertical at 23 7 n from there it continues northward in a vertical orientation until the limit of the tomographic model inhibited further mapping for the moho additional depth constraints were derived from 1d models using p wave arrivals of local earthquakes the mohos of the eurasian and philippine sea plates are disconnected across the plate interface beneath southern taiwan the eurasian moho dips to the east at 50 60 following the orientation of the plate boundary and continuous with the benioff zone towards north the eurasian moho steepens into subvertical again together with the plate boundary the philippine sea plate moho exhibits a synform like crustal root interpreted as the base of the magmatic luzon arc towards the north this root deepens from 30 to 70 km underneath the ryukyu trench in northernmost taiwan the hinge of the vertically subducting eurasian slab steps westward out of the thrust belt leaving the deformation front to the east inactive and giving way to the north dipping philippine sea plate a subhorizontal moho at 30 35 km depth overlies the north dipping philippine sea slab and is interpreted as a newly formed moho established after westward rollback and delamination of the subducting eurasian slab in combination these data support a model of progressive subduction polarity reversal in which a tear within the eurasian lithosphere propagated southwestward deactivating the deformation front

holocene paleoclimate data from the arctic testing models of global climate change to evaluate the spatial variability of arctic climate change during the present interglacial cape project members compiled well dated terrestrial marine and ice core paleoenvironmental records spanning the past 10 12 thousand years ka six tundra biomes of increasing summer temperature requirements were defined based on regionally coherent pollen assemblages using a rule based approach pollen spectra were converted to tundra forest tundra or forest biomes ranked by their average growing season requirements marine sea surface reconstructions were based on proxy data following a similar rule based approach from these data based reconstructions departures in summer temperatures from modern normals were calculated in 1 ka time slices through the holocene to test predictive models data based summer temperature reconstructions were compared with general circulation model gcm simulations for 10 ka and 6 ka ago paleodata and model results both show that warming occurred earlier across beringia and asia relative to lands adjacent to the north atlantic and that late holocene cooling was most apparent in the north atlantic region however the gcm over predicts the magnitude of mid holocene warming over northern asia and underestimates the intensification of the north atlantic drift in the early holocene strong spatial variability in environmental response during the holocene despite symmetric insolation forcing suggests that any future changes whether caused by anthropogenic or natural factors are unlikely to result in a uniform change across the arctic adding additional complexity to forecasts of global impacts

paleomagnetic data from the philippine sea plate and their tectonic significance new paleomagnetic data from guam and saipan have been obtained and are used in conjunction with previously published results from around the philippine sea plate to interpret the origin and history of the philippine sea plate a lower miocene direction i 3 5 d 54 5 a95 17 4 k 20 3 and a middle oligocene direction i 5 3 d 68 4 a95 12 8 k 52 4 have been obtained from the palau islands only one reliable result a middle oligocene direction i 15 1 d 66 1 a95 11 1 k 20 1 has been obtained from guam many characteristic remanent magnetic directions have been obtained from the lower eocene facpi formation however the results are too scattered k 4 5 to be considered reliable two reliable directions have been obtained from saipan a middle miocene result i 30 7 d 28 1 a95 8 4 k 64 6 and a lower eocene result i 12 0 d 43 0 a95 12 5 k 16 0 two lower eocene results from chichijima i 9 5 d 105 3 a95 12 6 k 6 1 and anijima i 0 8 d 91 7 a95 16 9 k 4 9 are the reliable results from the bonin islands there are two end member interpretations for these data 1 small scale local rotation of blocks along the plate margin or 2 rotation of the philippine sea plate as a whole to distinguish between these interpretations we reconstructed the east philippine sea province back to its prerifting configuration the rotation caused by deformation can be estimated by comparing the paleomagnetism of guam saipan and the bonin islands to palau prior to reconstruction the older declination values are scattered closing the marginal basins reduces the declination scatter and all of the islands show increasing clockwise deflection with time this suggests that the philippine sea plate has rotated up to 80 clockwise and moved northward around 20 since the eocene and deformational rotation is a second order feature the finite pole of rotation of the philippine sea plate relative to eurasia must be somewhere near the southeast comer of the plate because this is the only location that is compatible with both the change in orientation and paleolatitude for the plate these data cannot distinguish between a backarc origin or trapped crust origin for the west philippine sea province the existing models require major modification to be consistent with the paleomagnetic data

north luzon and the philippine sea plate motion model insights following paleomagnetic structural and age dating investigations results of one of the most comprehensive paleomagnetic and supporting geological programs ever carried out in offshore se asia on north luzon northern philippines are reported six new results based on 66 sites are reported from a total collection of 243 individual sites declinations in the data subset are sometimes scattered likely reflecting combinations of major plate and local rotations in both clockwise and counterclockwise directions and thus have a somewhat limited value for tectonic modeling the inclination data are however much more valuable and can be best explained if north luzon traveled as part of the philippine sea plate for most of its history a scenario which is compatible with the known geology of the eastern philippines and broader region in the proposed model for all of its eocene pliocene history north luzon is placed on the western edge of the philippine sea plate effectively always just to the west of the site where the benham plateau formed 40 ma the paleomagnetic data indicate a substantial northward migration of the area since the start of the neogene with an earlier interval stretching back to at least the mid early cretaceous when this part of the plate occupied equatorial latitudes post 15 ma motion of the plate has involved the indentation of the palawan microcontinental block into the western side of the philippine archipelago deformations induced by this process offer the most likely explanation for the scattered declinations observed in north luzon and areas a short distance to the south

structural evolution from paleogene extension to latest miocene recent arc continent collision offshore taiwan comparison with on land geology marine structures observed in seismic profiles across the ne south china sea taiwan strait luzon arc region show that they are comparable to those observed onshore taiwan the hanjiang depression and dongsha uplift off the se china coast extend to the penghu basin and penghu platform respectively in the taiwan strait while the tainan basin in the south of penghu platform is connected to the chaoshan depression south of the dongsha uplift the hanjiang depression and the penghu basin are composed of paleogene syn rift sequences on the mesozoic basement and are uncomformably overlain by neogene post rift strata similar successions are found underneath the coastal plain or have been thrust up as a fold and thrust belt bordering the peikang basement high onshore central taiwan east of the manila trench off southwestern taiwan parts of the tainan basin are thrust into the submarine syn collision accretionary wedge the fold and thrust kaoping slope in the initial arc continent collision zone they have also been exposed in the fold and thrust western foothills south of the peikang basement high in southern taiwan during an advanced stage of arc continent collision since the late pliocene further east the pre collision accretionary wedge the hengchun ridge shoals northward to the hengchun peninsula with late miocene turbidites unconformably overlain by plio pleistocene shallow marine slope basin sequences in the arc domain cast of the arc prism boundary fault the western forearc sequences in the north luzon trough are deformed two normal faulted intra arc basins occur on the eastern part of the lanhsu island in the luzon arc the scenario of the deformed forearc sequences and the development of the two intraarc basins in the initial arc continent collision zone are analogous to the lichi melange taiyuan basin and the intra arc basins in the southern coastal range eastern taiwan additionally the lateral change in the marine structure from the passive asian continental margin to the manila subduction system is comparable to the temporal evolution from paleogene normal faulting through neogene subduction to latest miocene recent are continent collision observed onshore taiwan c 2001 elsevier science ltd all rights reserved

formation of arcs and backarc basins inferred from the tectonic evolution of southeast asia since the late cretaceous abstract results of the geological and geophysical surveys in the daito ridges and basin in the northern west philippine basin suggest that the daito ridge was an arc facing toward the south from the late cretaceous to the early tertiary the late cretaceous and tertiary history of southeast asia is evaluated based on these data in the daito ridges and basins and reconstructed based on overall plate kinematics that have operated in this area during the late cretaceous the daito ridge and the east philippine islands were positioned along the boundary between the indian and pacific plates the western half of the philippines setting on the indian plate approached from the south and collided with the east philippine daito arc either during the latest paleocene or the earliest eocene it is inferred that the bulk of the philippine archipelago rotated clockwise and borneo spun counterclockwise during the tertiary from the reconstruction the formation of backarc basins and their spreading direction are assessed as a result some primary causes and significant characteristics are suggested for the opening of backarc basins in southeast asia first opening of some backarc basins commenced with or was triggered by collisions second backarc basins opened approximately parallel to oceanic plate motion third the formation of some backarc basins was triggered by the approach of a hot spreading center fourth the spreading mode or direction of backarc basins was greatly affected by the configuration of the surrounding continent and was also rearranged to spread approximately parallel to oceanic plate motion the formation of backarc basins and their spreading direction can be reasonably explained by plate kinematics however the generative force responsible for their formation is possibly within the subduction system particularly to form horizontal tensional force in backarc side

neotectonic architecture of taiwan and its implications for future large earthquakes the disastrous effects of the 1999 chi chi earthquake in taiwan demonstrated an urgent need for better knowledge of the island s potential earthquake sources toward this end we have prepared a neotectonic map of taiwan the map and related cross sections are based upon structural and geomorphic expression of active faults and folds both in the field and on shaded relief maps prepared from a 40 m resolution digital elevation model augmented by geodetic and seismologic data the active tandem suturing and tandem disengagement of a volcanic arc and a continental sliver to and from the eurasian continental margin have created two neotectonic belts in taiwan in the southern part of the orogen both belts are in the final stage of consuming oceanic crust collision and suturing occur in the middle part of both belts and postcollisional collapse and extension dominate the island s northern and northeastern flanks both belts consist of several distinct neotectonic domains seven domains kaoping chiayi taichung miaoli hsinchu ilan and taipei constitute the western belt and four domains lutao lanyu taitung hualien and ryukyu make up the eastern belt each domain is defined by a distinct suite of active structures for example the chelungpu fault source of the 1999 earthquake and its western neighbor the changhua fault are the principal components of the taichung domain whereas both its neighboring domains the chiayi and miaoli domains are dominated by major blind faults in most of the domains the size of the principal active fault is large enough to produce future earthquakes with magnitudes in the mid 7 values

evidence for early cretaceous oceanic crust trapped in the philippine sea plate abstract the huatung basin is a small oceanic basin located east of taiwan previous age estimates from magnetic lineation studies indicated an eocene age for the basin and formation from the central basin spreading center of the west philippine basin during the last phase of spreading in middle eocene new ar ar ages obtained on gabbros dredged on oceanic basement highs of the huatung basin are early cretaceous these old ages are consistent with early cretaceous ages determined on radiolarian assemblages from lanyu island luzon arc we have performed magnetic anomalies modeling for an early cretaceous oceanic crust our results are in good agreement with new ar ar ages determinations the best fit is indeed obtained with an opening of the huatung basin during the early cretaceous from 131 to 119 ma with a half spreading rate varying between 25 and 30 mm yr the spreading center appears to be located south of the actual basin the abnormal depth 5500 m instead of 5900 m and thickness 12 km instead of 6 km of the crust beneath the basin indicate that there was probably an excess supply of magma during its formation we propose that the basin is a fragment of the former proto south china sea or possibly the new guinea basin that has been trapped by the philippine sea plate

origin of the southern okinawa trough volcanism from detailed seismic tomography 1 magmatism associated with subducting plate edges or slab tears has been suggested in the southern okinawa trough the cross back arc volcanic trail which consists of a cluster of about 70 seamounts is located above a ryukyu slab tear lying along the 123 3 e meridian in november 2003 more than 3300 earthquakes recorded in this area by 15 ocean bottom seismometers and surrounding land stations during a period of 12 days were used to determine the three dimensional vp and vs velocity structures and vp vs ratios a mantle inflow characterized by low vp and vs and high vp vs passing through the slab tear is imaged the fluid and or melt component is rising obliquely from the slab tear in the directions of the cross back arc volcanic trail the northern slope of the southern okinawa trough and to north of iriomote island the asthenospheric intake is also imaged by an inclined chip like high vp vs and low vp and vs body dipping northerly which might be linked to the slab retreat west of the slab tear most of the earthquakes are located around low vp and vs and high vp vs bodies which suggests that the seismicity is related to magmatic and or fluid activities east of it earthquakes are concentrated in an area characterized by high vp and vs velocities and low vp vs suggesting that the magma chamber is absent beneath the axial part of the trough and that normal faulting is the main factor controlling the seismicity

miocene to recent calc alkalic volcanism in eastern taiwan k ar ages and petrography abstract k ar radiometric datings are presented for volcanic rocks from the coastal range of taiwan and from lanhsu and lutao islands the samples involved are basalts andesites and dacites which show the main petrological and geochemical characteristics of island arc magmas the k ar data show that volcanic activity occurred from early miocene to early pliocene times in the coastal range and in lanhsu island and during pliocene times ca 1 3 4 3 ma in lutao island the geological significance of early and middle miocene ages is discussed with respect to hydrothermal metasomatic alterations which have affected most of the samples a significant increase in incompatible elements e g k and sr is shown to have occurred during pliocene to recent times and is exemplified by the compositions of the lanhsu and lutao volcanic rocks the origin of these chemical variations is related to the magmatic effects of crustal thickening linked to the transition from subduction to collision regimes

philippine sea and east asian plate tectonics since 52 ma constrained by new subducted slab reconstruction methods we reconstructed philippine sea and east asian plate tectonics since 52 ma from 28 slabs mapped in 3 d from global tomography with a subducted area of 25 of present day global oceanic lithosphere slab constraints include subducted parts of existing pacific indian and philippine sea oceans plus wholly subducted proto south china sea and newly discovered east asian sea mapped slabs were unfolded and restored to the earth surface using three methodologies and input to globally consistent plate reconstructions important constraints include the following 1 the ryukyu slab is 1000 km n s too short to account for 20 philippine sea northward motion from paleolatitudes 2 the marianas pacific subduction zone was at its present location 200 km since 48 10 ma based on a 1000 km deep slab wall 3 the 8000 2500 km east asian sea existed between the pacific and indian oceans at 52 ma based on lower mantle flat slabs 4 the caroline back arc basin moved with the pacific based on the overlapping coeval caroline hot spot track these new constraints allow two classes of philippine sea plate models which we compared to paleomagnetic and geologic data our preferred model involves philippine sea nucleation above the manus plume 0 150 e near the pacific east asian sea plate boundary large philippine sea westward motion and post 40 ma maximum 80 clockwise rotation accompanied late eocene oligocene collision with the caroline pacific plate the philippine sea moved northward post 25 ma over the northern east asian sea forming a northern philippine sea arc that collided with the sw japan ryukyu margin in the miocene 20 14 ma

propagators and ridge jumps in a back arc basin the west philippine basin we explore the tectono magmatic processes in the western west philippine basin philippine sea plate using bathymetric data acquired in 2003 and 2004 the northwestern part of the basin formed through a series of northwestward propagating rifts we identify at least five sequences of propagating rifts probably triggered by mantle flow away from the mantle thermal anomaly that is responsible for the origin of the benham and urdenata plateaus gravitational forces caused by along axis topographic gradient and a similar to 30 degrees ridge reorientation appear to also be driving the rift propagations the along axis mantle flow appears to be reduced and deflected along the luzon okinawa fracture zone because the spreading system remained stable west of this major fault zone north east of the benham plateau a left lateral fracture zone has turned into a ne sw trending spreading axis as a result a microplate developed at the triple junction

plate tearing in the northwestern corner of the subducting philippine sea plate the philippine sea plate phs simultaneously subducts northwestward and collides eastward with the eurasian plate eu in northeast taiwan these two tectonic events induce high seismic activity which makes northeastern taiwan one of the most seismically active zones in the world to understand the mechanical processes at work we used existing geophysical data and the aftershocks recorded following a recent large strike slip event occurring within the phs oceanic crust during this event a nw se trending left lateral sub parallel to the phs eu convergence vector was active as a consequence of the collision subduction plate geometry we show that the lithosphere of the northwestern corner of the phs has been torn in a nw se orientation this tectonic feature is associated with an abrupt tectonic stress boundary and could generate large intra plate earthquakes

taiwan mountain building insights from 2 d thermomechanical modelling of a rheologically stratified lithosphere summary the taiwan orogen has long been regarded as a case example for studying mountain building in association with subduction processes in this paper we present a fully coupled thermomechanical modelling of the taiwan collision based on a realistic viscous elastic plastic rheology it satisfactorily reproduces available thermochronometric data long short term deformation patterns heat flux and erosion sedimentation distribution across the taiwan orogeny we found that a deep seated flux of asian crustal material into the orogenic wedge should be invoked to counter balance observed exhumation and erosion in the central range however in contrast with recent thermokinematic models of exhumation and deformation suggesting that underplating plays a significant role we show that most constraints on exhumation and deformation can be more straightforwardly interpreted by the frontal accretion of the rheologically layered asian crust we finally infer that such a model is in better agreement with the basic expectation that the hot young and buoyant chinese continental margin should hardly be subducted beneath the cold old and dense oceanic plate of the philippines sea

constraints on backstop geometry of the southwest ryukyu subduction based on reflection seismic data abstract based on the analysis of 45 seismic reflection profiles the top of the ryukyu arc basement is mapped in the forearc region east of taiwan the ryukyu arc slope dips 10 trenchward while beneath the forearc basins the arc basement shows a series of morphologic along arc highs and lows one of the basement highs the nanao basement rise has been described as an area uplifted by the subduction of the gagua ridge the other one the hoping basement rise is suggested in this study to be an uplifted feature caused by the subduction or the underplating of some local asperity the nature of this asperity could either be a detached block of the luzon arc an isolated seamount or some material removed from the frontal part southernmost extremity of the ryukyu margin from seismic reflection profiles we infer that the right lateral transcurrent fault system located at the rear of the accretionary wedge defines the surface projection of the southern termination of the ryukyu arc basement two crustal sections across the ryukyu subduction system demonstrate that the backstop terminates in the form of a near vertical wall with its height over 5 km such an unusual geometry could be produced by crustal truncation at the toe of the backstop

the west philippine basin an eocene to early oligocene back arc basin opened between two opposed subduction zones 1 based on geological and geophysical data collected from the west philippine basin and its boundaries we propose a comprehensive cenozoic history of the basin our model shows that it is a back arc basin that developed between two opposed subduction zones rifting started around 55 ma and spreading ended at 33 30 ma the initial spreading axis was parallel to the paleo philippine arc but became inactive when a new spreading ridge propagated from the eastern part of the basin reaching the former one at an r r r triple junction spreading occurred mainly from this second axis with a quasi continuous counter clockwise rotation of the spreading direction the gagua and palau kyushu ridges acted as transform margins accommodating the opening arc volcanism occurred along the palau kyushu ridge eastern margin during the whole opening of the basin whereas the paleo philippine arc decreased its activity between 43 and 36 ma the western margin underwent a compressive event in late eocene early oligocene time leading to the rising of the gagua ridge and to a short subduction episode along eastern luzon in the western part of the basin the spreading system was highly disorganized due to the presence of a mantle plume overlapping spreading centers and ridge jumps occurred toward the hot region and a microplate developed shortly after the end of the spreading a late stage of amagmatic extension occurred between 30 and 26 ma in the central part of the basin being responsible for the deep rift valley that cut across the older spreading fabric

anthropogenic trace metals in the sedimentary record of the llobregat continental shelf and adjacent foix submarine canyon northwestern mediterranean abstract anthropogenic trace metal concentrations and inventories were studied on the llobregat continental margin from the llobregat river mouth to the foix submarine canyon a prodelta sedimentary depocentre was identified along with a previously known canyon depocentre significant upward increases in trace metal contents were detected in sediment cores of the prodelta and upper part of the canyon down to 860 m depth metal enrichment factors ranged between 1 8 and 10 on the continental shelf and between 1 2 and 2 7 in the submarine canyon these metal enrichments occurred during the 20th century and can be correlated with the period of maximum increase of population and industrial activities in the barcelona area and the consequent anthropogenic metal inputs maximum trace metal enrichments are located in the prodelta depocentre and significant enrichments were also measured in the southern prodelta and in the foix upper canyon as a consequence of efficient shelf canyon sediment and metal transfer deeper in the canyon at 1370 m depth no metal enrichments were detected probably because of particle dispersion and dilution with uncontaminated sediment within the canyon this study shows that in some mediterranean sedimentation systems anthropogenic trace metal contamination is affecting not only the littoral and the continental shelf but also the adjacent continental slope sediments through submarine canyons

cenozoic motion of the philippine sea plate palaeomagnetic evidence from eastern indonesia the history of motion of the philippine sea plate is poorly known because it is isolated from the oceanic ridge system interpretation of palaeomagnetic results from the plate has been controversial because declination data have been obtained only from the eastern margin where subduction related tectonic processes may have caused local rather than plate wide rotations new palaeomagnetic data relevant to the problem have been obtained from 34 sites north of the sorong fault and 29 sites within the sorong fault system these sites record south ward movement during the eocene and northward movement during the neogene sites within the sorong fault system record both counterclockwise and clockwise rotations interpreted as the result of neogene block movements at the southern boundary of the philippine sea plate north of the sorong fault all sites record clockwise declinations neogene rocks have small deflections consistent with rotation about the present day eurasia philippine sea plate pole oligocene middle eocene rocks show consistent clockwise declination deflections of 40 o declinations of lower eocene rocks indicate 90 o of clockwise rotation we propose that the entire area north of the sorong fault in east indonesia has always been part of the philippine sea plate and that the whole plate has rotated clockwise in a discontinuous manner by approximately 90 o since the early eocene the new data from north of the sorong fault provide a basis for determining rotation poles which satisfy all the palaeomagnetic data from the philippine sea plate and permit its reconstruction

cenozoic tectonic evolution of asia a preliminary synthesis abstract asia has been a major testing ground for various competing models of continental deformation due to its relatively well understood plate boundary conditions in the cenozoic exceptional exposure of active structures and strain distribution and widespread syn collisional igneous activity as a proxy for the thermal state of the mantle and crust two cenozoic orogens dominate the continent the himalayan tibetan orogen in the east induced by the india asia collision and the turkish iranian caucasus orogen in the west induced by the arabia asia collision the development of the two orogens was accomplished by shortening in the early stage followed by strike slip faulting and extension in the late stage in the himalayan tibetan orogen shortening across two discrete thrust belts at 55 30 ma in southern and northern tibet created a large intracontinental basin the paleo qaidam basin in between subsequent crustal thickening and a possible thermal event in the mantle e g convective removal of central tibetan mantle lithosphere may have raised the elevation of this early intra plateau basin up to 2 3 km to its current height collision between india and asia also caused lateral extrusion of southeast asia between 32 ma and 17 ma the latest stage of the india asia collision was expressed by north trending rifting and the development of trench facing v shaped conjugate strike slip faults in central mongolia central tibet eastern afghanistan and southeast asia in the turkish iranian caucasus orogen early crustal thickening in the orogenic interior began at or prior to 30 20 ma this style of deformation was replaced by strike slip faulting at 15 5 ma associated with further northward penetration of arabia into asia westward extrusion of the anatolia turkey block and rapid extension across the sea of crete and sea of aegean the late stage extension in both orogens was locally related to extensional core complex development the continental margin extension of east asia was developed in two stages initially in a widely distributed zone that has an east west width of 500 800 km during 65 35 ma which was followed by localized extension and opening of back arc basins associated with the development of spreading centers at 32 17 ma e g japan sea or east korea sea bohai bay and south china sea opening of the back arc basins could be induced by 1 rapid eastward migration of the western pacific trench system or 2 oblique subduction of pacific plate beneath asia that had produced a series of en echelon right slip primary shear zones linking with back arc spreading centers oriented obliquely to the strike of the nearby trench since 15 ma the eastern margin of asia became contractional in the east west direction as indicated by the collapse of back arc basins in the western pacific and the development of fold thrust belts along the eastern continental margin coeval with the contraction is widespread east west extension in siberia north china and the tibetan plateau the above observations can be explained by a change in boundary condition along the eastern margin of asia that allowed the thickened asian continent to spread eastward causing east west extension in its trailing edge and east west compression in its leading edge in west asia continental margin extension started at about 25 20 ma in the aegean and cretan regions which was associated with a rapid southward retreat of the hellenic arc the complex evolution of cenozoic deformation in asia may be explained by a combined effect of temporal changes in plate boundary conditions thermal evolution of the upper mantle perturbed by collisional tectonics and the built up of gravitational energy through crustal thickening and thermal heating although the past research in asia has treated the india asia and arabia asia convergence as separate collisional processes their interaction may have controlled the far field cenozoic deformation in asia the most pronounced result of this interaction is the creation of a northeast trending 300 400 km wide and 1500 km long zone of northwest striking right slip faults which extends from the zagros thrust belt in the south to western mongolia in the north and links with the active tian shan and altai shan intracontinental orogens cenozoic deformation and coeval igneous activity spatially overlap with one another in the himalayan tibetan and turkish iranian caucasus orogens a large cenozoic magmatic gap exists between tibet in the south and mongolia in the north where cenozoic deformation has not been associated with any coeval igneous activity finally cenozoic igneous activity is always associated with jurassic cretaceous magmatic arcs suggesting a causal relationship between the early arc magmatism and later syn collisional magmatism

earthquakes along the ryukyu kyushu arc strain segmentation lateral compression and the thermomechanical state of the plate interface we systematically determined the focal depths and mechanisms of 49 large to moderate sized earthquakes mb 5 4 that occurred along the ryukyu kyushu arc since 1963 by inverting the waveforms and amplitudes of p and sh wave trains at teleseismic distances the results are sufficiently precise to delineate seismogenic structures near the plate interface in detail revealing features not predicted by plate kinematics in contrast to previous studies of this arc and those along other subduction zones shallow seismicity along the plate interface is systematic showing two distinct layers of activities the second layer of seismicity is delineated by a few earthquakes that occurred at depths between 50 and 65 km some 10 20 km directly beneath the seismogenic portion of the interplate thrust zone these earthquakes indicate lateral compressional strain within the subducted slab as their p axes are subparallel to the local strike of the arc not perpendicular to the arc as one would expect from the direction of plate convergence the occurrence of these events cannot be accounted for by membrane stress due to the geometry of the subducted slab to our knowledge similar earthquakes occurred only beneath the northern indoburman ranges and along the banda arc where subducted slabs as part of the indian plate are being dragged northward with their northern edges bumping into east west trending collision zones nearby by drawing an analogy between the tectonic settings of these three regions we interpret events beneath the plate interface along the ryukyu kyushu arc as a consequence of ongoing collision between the philippine sea plate and eurasia near taiwan the interplate thrust zone is largely aseismic down to a depth of approximately 30 km a large number of earthquakes showing low angle thrust faulting commence at this depth and are accompanied by two events that show antithetic thrust faulting at a slightly shallower depth of 20 25 km these observations suggest that the strength of the plate interface increases significantly below the depth of proximately 25 5 km based upon available heat flow measurements between the trench axis and the volcanic arc we estimated the temperature field and magnitude of shear traction along the interplate thrust zone the deepest interplate earthquakes 40 50 km correspond to temperatures of approximately 730 980 c comparable to the limiting temperature of intraplate mantle earthquakes 800 c and that of intermediate and deep focus earthquakes at wadati benioff zones potential temperature 900 k therefore the cessation of seismicity in general is probably controlled by similar temperature conditions regardless of the tectonic settings of source regions the magnitude of shear traction along the seismogenic portion 40 50 km depth of the interplate thrust zone seems to be of the order of 100 mpa which in turn implies a low average coefficient of friction of only 0 10 0 05 considerably less than those observed for laboratory specimens the inception of intermediate focus earthquakes within the subducted slab is at a depth of about 100 km whereas shallow earthquakes show no apparent variations along the entire arc intermediate depth earthquakes indicate downdip extension along the northern end of the arc near kyushu but abruptly change to downdip compression along the rest of the arc all available evidence indicates that this is a spatial pattern unrelated to earthquake cycles at the moment tectonic interpretation of such a distinct strain segmentation along the arc is enigmatic without the presence of clear discontinuities in the age of the subducted slab the sudden switch in the strain field of the slab is difficult to explain by the continuously varying rate of subduction along the arc in any case this pattern of strain segmentation requires the presence of a major accommodation structure such as a tear fault in the subducted slab near the tokara channel appendix is available with entire article on microfiche order from american geophysical union 2000 florida ave n w washington dc 20009 document b91 004 2 50 payment must accompany order

a cretaceous and jurassic geochronology an integrated geomagnetic polarity and geologic time scale for the jurassic and cretaceous periods is presented based on various methods according to the availability of definitive isotopic ages an age calibrated sea floor spreading model is used to interpolate the ages of the kimmeridgian to barremian and the campanian to maestrichtian stages numerical age estimates for the aptian to santonian stage boundaries follow published isotopic age determinations the hypothesis of equal duration of ammonite zones is employed as a vernier to apportion time for the hettangian to oxfordian stages the new scale results in ages of 208 ma for the base of the jurassic 144 ma for the jurassic cretaceous boundary and 66 5 ma for the top of the cretaceous the integrated biostratigraphic magnetostratigraphic and geochronometric record serves as a working hypothesis for geologic correlation of jurassic and cretaceous strata

tectonic setting of eocene boninite magmatism in the izu bonin mariana forearc abstract middle eocene boninites were simultaneously generated over a large region during the early history of the izu bonin mariana ibm arc however widespread boninite magmatism is not recognised in younger subduction zones of similar dimensions this suggests that an additional tectonic or thermal factor influenced the generation of the ibm boninite suite regional uplift ocean island basalt style magmatism and high heat flow also characterised the northern philippine sea plate psp at the start of the middle eocene these features are similar to those observed in large volume basaltic volcanic provinces such as the early tertiary north atlantic and suggest that the ibm boninite suite may have been produced because there was already a thermal anomaly in the mantle beneath the psp the reconstructed middle eocene location of the ibm arc and west philippine basin lies close to the present day manus basin where petrological and geochemical evidence indicate the presence of a mantle plume a calculated plume track linking these locations through time also passes close to the eauripik rise an aseismic ridge on the caroline plate during the oligocene and miocene therefore we propose that a thermal anomaly or mantle plume influenced the magmatic and tectonic development of the western pacific from the middle eocene until the present day

two station measurement of rayleigh wave phase velocities for the huatung basin the westernmost philippine sea with obs implications for regional tectonics summary a broad band ocean bottom seismometer obs deployed 180 km east of taiwan provides a first glimpse into the upper mantle beneath the westernmost section of the philippine sea or the huatung basin hb we measured interstation phase velocities of rayleigh waves between the obs and stations on the eastern coast of taiwan the phase velocities show smooth variations from 3 8 to 3 9 km s 1 for periods of 25 40 s in this short period range phase velocities are comparable to those characterizing the 15 30 ma parece vela basin of the philippine sea modelling of the finite frequency effect proves the validity of the measurement for the average hb the shear wave velocity models inverted from the 25 to 40 s dispersion show a velocity at lithospheric depths about 0 1 km s 1 lower than that of the west philippine sea which agrees with the age effect derived from the pacific pure path model inversions incorporating the less reliable data above 40 s yield a shear velocity 4 0 km s 1 below 150 km an unrealistic value even for a hotspot plume environment the seismological evidence together with the correlation in seafloor depth suggests that the hb and the parece vela basin may have a similar age this is at odds with the previous geochronological study suggesting an early cretaceous age for the hb thermal rejuvenation of the lithosphere was examined as a potential solution to reconciling the two age models

pollen based summer temperature reconstructions for the eastern canadian boreal forest subarctic and arctic pollen based paleoclimate reconstructions using response surface and modern analog methods reveal an 8000 year record of july temperature fluctuations for 25 eastern canadian lake sites located from the forest tundra to the high canadian arctic postglacial conditions characterized by warmer than present summer temperatures prevailed in baffin island and ne labrador beginning about 7500 and 7000 14c yr bp respectively resulting in warmer than present conditions throughout the region by 6000 14c yr bp 0 5 c to 1 c further south in quebec and w labrador july temperatures were 1 2 c colder than present until after 6000 14c yr bp and only reached modern values after all residual laurentide ice had melted increased summertime insolation and the final disappearance of laurentide ice during the middle holocene probably caused july temperatures throughout eastern canada to peak between approximately 5000 and 3500 14c yr bp mid holocene warming relative to today was more pronounced in baffin island and ne labrador 1 c to 2 c compared to the boreal and subarctic regions of quebec and w labrador 1 c over the past 4000 years decreasing summertime insolation and colder sea surface temperatures in the davis strait and labrador sea contributed to a decline in july temperatures of 1 2 c throughout baffin island and the tundra regions of n quebec and labrador the absence of similar cooling in the records from the boreal forest may support the notion that the mean position of the summertime polar front blocked the colder arctic air during the late holocene

a double island arc between taiwan and luzon consequence of ridge subduction analysis of geomorphological geochronological geochemical and geophysical features in the segment of the taiwan luzon arc between taiwan and luzon the bashi segment allows the recognition of a double arc structure the two volcanic chains are separated by 50 km just north of luzon 18 n and converge near 20 n islets in the western chain are older and largely composed of volcanic rocks of miocene to pliocene age they all show low relief lateritic platforms and wave cut terraces and are covered by massive recrystallized limestone in contrast all active volcanoes in this segment of the taiwan luzon arc belong to the eastern chain where most islets are quaternary in age the volcanoes have well developed cone shapes and well preserved deposits of near vent facies magmas of the eastern chain have higher ksi la n la yb n and lowerend than their counterparts at the same latitude in the western chain therefore the magmas erupted in the eastern chain were derived from more enriched mantle sources than the magmas erupted in the western chain moreover the available seismological data seem to suggest an abrupt increase of the dip angle from 30 at 18 n to 80 at 20 n thus the double arc structure is located in the region where the benioff zone suddenly changes in analogy with the lesser antilles arc we propose a geodynamic model in which the double arc in the bashi strait is the tectonic manifestation of the subduction of the aseismic scarborough seamount chain the extinct mid ocean ridge of the south china sea before that ridge reached the manila trench the western chain was the volcanic front when the ridge reached the subduction zone at 5 4 ma its buoyancy temporarily interrupted the subduction thus causing a time gap in magmatic activity furthermore this ridge arc collision was probably also responsible for regional uplift causing extensive sub aerial weathering and erosion as well as massive reef formation in the western chain when subduction started again the dip angle became shallower in response to the extra buoyancy of the downgoing ridge if the depth of magma generation remained constant the shallower dip angle would have naturally led to an eastward shift of the volcanic front thus producing the younger eastern chain moreover we speculate that the abrupt change of the dip angle may have torn the downgoing slab thus allowing more enriched continental lithospheric material to invade the mantle wedge from the northwest thus imprinting a geochemically more enriched signature on the magmas of the eastern chain

vertical crustal motion of active plate convergence in taiwan derived from tide gauge altimetry and gps data abstract located at the converging junction between the eurasian and philippine sea plates the island of taiwan is subject to an active lithospheric deformation as well as seismicity taking the difference between the satellite altimetry data alt that give the absolute sea level variation and the tide gauge data tg that record the relative sea level variation we obtain the absolute vertical crustal motion of the tide gauge sites we use 20 tg stations along the west and east coasts of taiwan along with the alt measurements from the topex poseidon jason satellites in the nearby waters the alt tg results are compared with vertical gps measurements in discussing vertical motion we find a general subsidence of the entire taiwan coast during the past two decades the west coast sees no prominent vertical motion but with a severe local subsidence due to the over withdrawal of groundwater on the east coast the alt tg results in the northern section demonstrate a northward dipping motion the elastic thickness of the neighboring oceanic lithosphere modeled as an elastic plate with the flexure of the subducting plate shows that the adjacent philippine sea plate should be an old thick oceanic plate which could drag the slab into the mantle as manifested in a gentle northward subsidence in the northeast taiwan in the southern section of the east coast the alt tg results reveal a segmented or undulating pattern in the vertical motion rates judging from the different behaviors between the co seismic and interseismic vertical motions marked by the major earthquakes during the studied period we postulate a temporal saw tooth scenario for the deformation in phases it demonstrates the opposite motions under different mechanisms in the frontal sections of the subduction zone which can be understood with lateral collision and slab dragging subject to varied temporal and spatial dependences

late cretaceous and cenozoic seafloor and oceanic basement roughness spreading rate crustal age and sediment thickness correlations abstract single channel seismic data from the south australian basin and argentine basin and bathymetry data from the flanks of the mid atlantic ridge east pacific rise and southwest indian ridge are analysed to determine the root mean square rms roughness of the seafloor and oceanic basement created at seafloor spreading rates ranging from 3 to 80 km ma half rate for these data crustal ages range from near zero to 85 ma and sediment thicknesses range from near zero to over 2 km our results are consistent with a negative correlation of basement roughness and spreading rate where roughness decreases dramatically through the slow spreading regime

strain modes within the forearc arc and back arc domains in the izu japan and taiwan arc continent collisional settings in this study i examine the strain modes of the forearc arc and back arc domains in arc continent collisional settings leading to arc material subduction delamination and or accretion the study focusses on two well documented colliding island arcs the izu bonin mariana ibm arc in japan and the luzon arc in taiwan both carried by the philippine sea plate firstly there is a body of evidence that both the ibm and the luzon arcs were built on the same late jurassic to early cretaceous proto philippine sea plate crust their internal structure is thus more heterogeneous than expected from paleogene or neogene supposedly intra oceanic island arcs secondly those arc systems and proximal back arcs have similar seismic characteristics attesting either for the presence of a middle crust with continental velocities and or serpentinized uppermost mantle that facilitate crustal shortening slivering and subsequent decoupling from the rest of the subducting plate it is shown that the proximal back arc domain called rear arc in case of paleoarc activity overlying the mantle wedge and the subducting slab may lose its strength if slab derived hydration occur decoupling then occurs below the moho arc delamination likely occurs in mid crustal levels because middle crust heated by nearby magmatism becomes weak accretion of arc material onto the upper plate depends on the characteristics of the arc itself and the geodynamic configuration most of the accreted material is probably underplated rather than frontally accreted

origin and time evolution of subduction polarity reversal from plate kinematics of southeast asia we present a regional model of plate geometry and kinematics of southeast asia since the late cretaceous embedded in a global plate model the model involves subduction polarity reversals and sheds new light on the origin of the subduction polarity reversal currently observed in taiwan we show that this subduction zone reversal is inherited from subduction of the proto south china sea plate and owes its current location to triple junction migration and slab rollback this analysis sheds new light on the plate tectonic context of the taiwan orogeny and questions the hypothesis that northern taiwan can be considered an older more mature equivalent of southern taiwan

indentation of the philippine sea plate by the eurasia plate in taiwan details from recent marine seismological experiments abstract we analyze in this study a new set of marine data including 3d local tomography 1992 2008 relocated earthquakes and two recent multichannel seismic lines to characterize the deformation style in the collision area offshore east taiwan we have mapped in detail the mohos of the converging plates as well as the subduction interface with a resolution never reached before we show that the sharp continental subduction of the eurasia plate beneath the middle part of the central range indents the philippine sea plate psp as attested by intra oceanic slicing and incipient subduction of the psp beneath the east coast of taiwan the westernmost part of the psp slab is probably experiencing a beginning of break off as attested by nw trending en echelon shear zones beneath the southern slope of the southern ryukyu arc sra these en echelon shear zones have a sinistral component favored by the collision free subduction of the psp north of 24 30 n the down faulting of the subduction interface forms ramps along which earthquakes clusterize three m7 subduction earthquakes occurred offshore suao city along these ramps with a recurrence interval of about 40 years 1920 m w 7 7 1963 m w 7 2 and 2002 m w 7 1 events the 1966 m w 6 0 7 5 earthquakes sequence likely outlines a wnw ese left lateral intra slab shear zone the sra upper plate accommodates the complex geometry and deformation of the subducting psp through seismic deformation shallow high velocities fringing the luzon volcanic arc lva beneath the longitudinal valley and north of the southernmost ryukyu forearc basins are interpreted as relics of the lva forearc basement squeezed in the collision zone based on the accommodation of a large part of the convergence through shortening within the psp and the subsequent segmentation of the shallow subduction interface we consider that the nucleation of a m w 8 earthquake along the southernmost ryukyu megathrust is unlikely

the geochemistry and formation of ferromanganese oxides on the eastern flank of the gagua ridge abstract ferromanganese oxides on the eastern flank of the gagua ridge were collected from a water depth of 4071 m by tv grab in 2016 and analyzed for their mineralogical and chemical compositions these oxide fragments were broken from a large poly core crust and can be divided into three parts a dense inner nodule a radial middle crust and a loose outer crust the close proximity of the nodule and crust is similar to that observed in the amalgamated deposits from the shatsky rise nw pacific all samples are mainly composed of fe rich vernadite amorphous feooh and associated quartz plagioclase pyroxene and mg titanomagnetite the mineralogy mn fe ratios rare earth element patterns and slow growth rates with a mean value of 6 2 mm myr of the samples reflect their predominantly hydrogenetic origin co ni cu rey and other critical metals are most enriched in the mn rich inner nodule samples which also have the highest fe contents in contrast the si and al contents in the samples of the middle and outer crusts are very high up to 19 wt and 6 29 wt respectively correlation analysis indicates that li sc cr rb and cs tend to concentrate in detrital silica aluminosilicate phases the gagua ridge samples generally have lower metal contents than the hydrogenetic crusts and nodules from other open ocean regions which can be attributed to their dilution by detritus and the poor development of a mid water oxygen minimum zone however the incorporation of detritus has little effect on the generation of fe mn oxides in the gagua ridge based on their mineralogy textures and chemical variations the accretion of the hydrogenetic fe mn oxides was initiated in the late miocene and the formation of the amalgamated fe mn deposits comprised three stages

dynamics of the ryukyu izu bonin marianas double subduction system trench motions represent the surface expression of the interaction between subducting plates and the underlying mantle but the inherent dynamics are not fully understood one interesting case is the migration of the izu bonin marianas trench ibm that accommodates the subduction of the pacific beneath the philippine sea plate psp which is in turn subducting beneath the eurasian plate along the ryukyu trench the history of the ibm trench is dominated by fast episodic retreat from 40 to 15 ma however around 10 5 ma the ibm trench reversed its motion from retreat to advance the switch in trench motion occurred soon after the breakoff of the psp slab along the ryukyu trench and the onset of new subduction and represents a fundamental change in the dynamics of the western pacific subduction zones here following the modelling study of ci kova and bina 2015 which suggested a link between ibm trench advance and ryukyu subduction we run 2 d numerical experiments to test the influence of a newly formed ryukyu slab on the established ibm subduction zone we run two dimensional numerical experiments to test the influence of this newly formed ryukyu slab on the ibm subduction zone the results from our geodynamic model compare favourably with the reconstructed trend indicating that the switch in trench motion along the ibm trench may indeed be related to the onset of a new subduction zone along the ryukyu trench our analysis substantiates the idea that advancing trench motions in the western pacific are due to the establishment of a double subduction system further analysis of such dynamics provides insights for the mechanisms controlling subducting plate and trench motions and mantle force transmission

new geophysical constraints on a failed subduction initiation the structure and potential evolution of the gagua ridge and huatung basin we modeled the velocity structure of the huatung basin and gagua ridge using offshore wide angle seismic data along four e w transects these transects are accompanied by several multichannel seismic reflection mcs profiles that highlight the shallow deformation in this area east of taiwan although it is agreed that the gagua ridge was the product of a transient compressional episode in the past relatively few data have been collected that reveal the deeper structure resulting from this enigmatic process the velocity models show evidence for normal to thin oceanic crustal thicknesses in the huatung basin and west philippine basin moho reflections from the associated mcs profiles confirm the thickness observed in the velocity models the velocity models indicate significant crustal thickening associated with the gagua ridge to 12 18 km along its entire length most importantly the two central velocity models also show a significant asymmetry in the crustal thickening suggesting a westward underthrusting of 20 km of wpb oceanic crust beneath that of the huatung basin this geometry is extremely unexpected given interpretations that indicate the huatung basin could be significantly older than the west philippine basin early cretaceous versus eocene our observations along with recent geophysical data concerning the age of the huatung basin indicate that the gagua ridge was the result of a failed subduction event during the miocene that may have existed simultaneously and for a short time competed with the manila subduction zone to the west in accommodating convergence between the eurasia and philippine sea plates in this scenario the present day gagua ridge represents a snapshot of a failed subduction initiation preserved in the geologic record

east asia plate tectonics since 15 ma constraints from the taiwan region abstract 15 ma ago a major plate reorganization occurred in east asia seafloor spreading ceased in the south china sea japan sea taiwan sea sulu sea and shikoku and parece vela basins simultaneously shear motions also ceased along the taiwan sinzi zone the gagua ridge and the luzon ryukyu transform plate boundary the complex system of thirteen plates suddenly evolved in a simple three plate system eu ph and pa beneath the manila accretionary prism and in the huatung basin we have determined magnetic lineation patterns as well as spreading rates deduced from the identification of magnetic lineations these two patterns are rotated by 15 they were formed by seafloor spreading before 15 ma and belonged to the same ocean named the taiwan sea half spreading rate in the taiwan sea was 2 cm year from chron 23 to 20 51 to 43 ma and 1 cm year from chron 20 43 ma to 5b 15 ma five plate kinematic reconstructions spanning from 15 ma to present show implications concerning the geodynamic evolution of east asia amongst them the 1000 km long linear gagua ridge was a major plate boundary which accommodated the northwestward shear motion of the ph sea plate the formation of taiwan was driven by two simple lithospheric motions i the subduction of the ph sea plate beneath eurasia with a relative westward motion of the western end a of the ryukyu subduction zone ii the subduction of eurasia beneath the philippine sea plate with a relative southwestward motion of the northern end b of the manila subduction zone the luzon arc only formed south of b the collision of the luzon arc with eurasia occurred between a and b east of a the luzon arc probably accreted against the ryukyu forearc

multiple ophiolite generation preserved in the northern philippines and the growth of an island arc complex abstract although all oceanic arcs grow through the addition of subduction generated magmas the geology of the northern philippines demonstrates that a major contribution to arc crustal growth can come from repeated episodic intra arc back arc and or fore arc oceanic crust generation with subsequent preservation of the basic ultrabasic units in the arc complex at least five episodes of oceanic crust generation are represented in the northern philippines by preserved ophiolitic sequences and recent intra arc seafloor spreading each episode is distinct in age as confirmed by modern dating techniques with the ages ranging from pre jurassic to quaternary although the philippines is widely regarded as an amalgamation of allochthonous terranes a review of the available data shows that there is currently no compelling evidence that these ophiolites are of exotic origin and that they have been tectonically accreted to the philippine arc complex rather the evidence suggests that most and possibly all of the ophiolites were generated as back arc fore arc or intra arc crust within the philippine arc complex hence there is a close spatial association of several ophiolitic terranes of diverse ages spanning 150 myr that formed as part of the arc complex such an association may have arisen from episodic generation of oceanic crust during periods of local extension in a suprasubduction zone setting which has experienced changing and possibly overlapping subduction from the east and west sides in the current reference frame disruption of the ophiolitic basement terranes has been and continues to be effected primarily by wrench faulting this style of arc growth has implications for the paleotectonic interpretation of ancient ophiolite arc terranes in continents and the petrologic evolution of island arcs

paleomagnetism of the samar ophiolite implications for the cretaceous sub equatorial position of the philippine island arc abstract samar island in the eastern part of central philippines is underlain by a complete ophiolite suite the samar ophiolite we present the first geochronological and paleomagnetic data for the samar ophiolite whole rock k ar dating of two basalt samples yielded an age of 100 2 2 7 ma and 97 9 2 8 ma thirteen sites in four localities yielded characteristic remanent magnetization with in situ direction of d 340 i 24 k 15 95 11 and tilt corrected direction of d 342 i 27 k 15 95 11 these values suggest that the ophiolitic basement rocks of samar formed in the late cretaceous at a paleolatitude of 14 s 6 the paleolatitude is several degrees south of the sub equatorial positions calculated for the three other mesozoic ophiolites of the philippine mobile belt pmb whose paleomagnetism had been previously studied the pmb ophiolites in eastern and central philippines share a common age geochemistry and paleolatitude with the halmahera ophiolite suggesting that they originated from a mesozoic supra subduction zone that spanned a few degrees north of the equator to around 15 s

transition from oblique subduction to collision earthquakes in the southernmost ryukyu arc taiwan region tectonic characteristics of the region between taiwan and the southernmost ryukyu arc are inferred from a detailed analysis of local seismicity and source parameters of 62 recent earthquakes of 5 5 mb 6 6 five major seismogenic structures can be delineated the collision seismic zone csz the interface seismic zone isz the wadati benioff seismic zone wbsz the lateral compression seismic zone lcsz and the okinawa seismic zone osz in the csz located along the east coast of taiwan and offshore earthquake focal mechanisms show horizontal p axes distributed in two directions 287 10 and 333 16 possibly reflecting a strain partition associated with the relative plate convergence between the eurasia plate and the philippine sea plate the corresponding seismic strain tensor indicates a maximum compressive strain rate of 1 2 10 7 yr 1 along 293 and a comparable extension in vertical direction presumably resulted from plate collision in the region the geometry of the isz which is distorted significantly at its westernmost end can be approximated by a north dipping plane that is gradually pushed northward with increasing dip the seismogenic portion of the interface spans a short depth range from 10 km to 35 km a clear pattern of earthquake slip partition is observed the average slip vector residual is as large as 35 seismic strain patterns within the subducted philippine sea slab show predominantly downdip extension between 80 and 120 km and downdip compression at 270 km different from the pattern of strain segmentation observed for the rest of the ryukyu arc where the northern and southern portions are dominated by downdip extension and compression respectively owing to the large convergence obliquity the slab is descending at a rate significantly slower near taiwan than in the southern ryukyu thus we interpret the appearance of downdip extension within the subducted lithosphere as a combined result of oblique subduction and the slab s negative buoyancy a number of thrust or oblique strike slip earthquakes between isz and wbsz show a consistent pattern of lateral compression with p axes oriented roughly parallel to the local strike of the trench arc system they are probably due to the compressive strain originated from the collision and transmitted laterally within the lithosphere shallow normal faulting earthquakes show successive rotation of t axes from approximately n s in the okinawa trough to approximately e w in northeast taiwan possibly as a result of interaction between the extension from the opening of the okinawa trough and the compression from collision one normal event january 18 1991 mb 5 9 occurred in the central range with t axis roughly parallel to the structural trend of taiwan implying that the nature of the orogeny in taiwan has changed from thin skinned deformation to lithospheric collision involving the whole crust and uppermost mantle

accreted terranes in the northern part of the philippine archipelago the philippine archipelago consists of a complex array of ophiolites continental fragments and island arc elements that can be identified as accreted terranes similar to those increasingly recognized as components of orogenic zones the northern philippines including luzon mindoro and nearby smaller islands can be divided into at least six of these tectonic elements from west to east across central luzon there are the neogene accretionary prism of the west luzon arc the eocene zambales ophiolite the cretaceous angat ophiolite and a late cretaceous early paleogene volcanic arc built on an older metamorphic basement this arc terrane is repeated by offset along the philippine fault to the south the western luzon terranes are juxtaposed against the metamorphic basement block of mindoro which itself is colliding with the north palawan microcontinental fragment the ophiolites appear to have originated in back arc basins rather than in oceanic plateaus and the metamorphic belts have protoliths indicating deformation along active margins perhaps deep within accretionary prisms the philippine terranes are interpreted as fragments that originated within the complex pacific eurasian plate boundary rather than as intra pacific basin units these terranes have been assembling at least since the oligocene by strike slip and convergent displacements strike slip displacement either along transcurrent faults or as a component of convergence played a very important if not dominant role in this assembly most terranes identified in the northern philippine appear to be plate fragments with attached crust and upper mantle their characteristics contrast with those usually interpreted for terranes in the north american cordillera where near orthogonal convergence and shallow dipping terrane sutures are favored

thermal modeling of the sw ryukyu forearc taiwan implications for the seismogenic zone and the age of the subducting philippine sea plate huatung basin subduction mega thrust earthquakes in the sw ryukyu trench pose a seismic and tsunami hazard one of the objectives of this study is to estimate the downdip width of the seismogenic zone using numerical modeling to determine the temperature distribution along the plate interface however this approach depends strongly on the thermal parameters of the subducting slab while the philippine sea plate psp subducting beneath the central and eastern ryukyu arc is of eocene age 35 50 ma its age west of the gagua ridge is uncertain with proposed ages ranging from lower cretaceous 140 ma to upper eocene 35 ma since the sparse available heat flow data are insufficient to resolve this debate both end member hypotheses are tested as input parameters we examined two transects at 122 5 e and 123 5 e on either side of the n s trending 4 km high gagua ridge the shallow forearc geometry is obtained from wide angle seismic data the deep slab geometry was obtained from hypocenter distribution and tomography for an eocene slab age we obtain a 100 km and 110 km wide seismogenic zone between the 150 c and 350 c isotherms west and east of gagua ridge respectively this is in good agreement with the observed distribution of hypocenters using a cretaceous slab west of gagua ridge predicts a deep seismogenic zone 25 km 60 km depth inconsistent with observed thrust earthquakes tomographic images at 122 5 e and 123 5 e show a similar slab thickness of 70 80 km suggesting that the oceanic lithosphere has a young eocene thermal age the westernmost psp huatung basin may have been thermally rejuvenated by mantle convection near the slab corner the tectonic history since 6 ma transition from subduction to collision beneath taiwan may have also perturbed the thermal structure

postglacial changes of terrestrial and marine environments along the labrador coast palynological evidence from cores 91 045 005 and 91 045 006 cartwright saddle the palynology of cores from cartwright saddle led to reconstruction of sea surface conditions on the basis of transfer functions using dinoflagellate cyst assemblages and to correlations with vegetational history on adjacent land as derived from pollen assemblages from deglaciation to about 8000 bp dinoflagellate cyst assemblages dominated by algidasphaeridium minutum indicate arctic type sea surface conditions and pollen assemblages reveal tundra vegetation in southeastern labrador codominance of a minutum and brigantedinium spp indicate persistence of cold sea surface conditions august temperature 3 c and extensive sea ice cover up to 11 months year until ca 6000 bp however the occurrence of abies which reached a maximum abundance at ca 7000 6000 bp and increasing percentages of alnus indicate northward tree migration and development of shrub tundra as a result of warmer terrestrial conditions around 6000 bp the significant occurrence of peridinium faeroense and nematosphaeropsi

testing inferences from palaeocurrents application of zircon double dating to miocene sediments from the hengchun peninsula taiwan detrital zircon provenance studies that combine low temperature fission track and hightemperature u pb single grain age dating are powerful in constraining sediment provenance by documenting the tectono thermal evolution of the sediment source s we apply these techniques to miocene 12 6 ma sandstones of the hengchun peninsula southern taiwan which based on diametrically opposite palaeocurrents have a controversial provenance upb grain ages range from miocene 8 ma to archaean 2 5 ga cretaceous thermal cooling is recorded by detrital zircon fission tracks at loshui and lilongshan permian fission track grain ages account for 33 of zircon ages from loshui while at lilongshan jurassic triassic grain ages account for 33 66 of all zircon fission track ages minor 12 miocene age components are detected in both formations these new data suggest that the primary source of these miocene sediments was similar a simple model is proposed invoking sediment reworking in this complex tectonic setting author final draft or post print version the final version was published in terra