Dynamic Model Analysis of Formation and Evolution of the South China Sea

doi:10.19657/j.geoscience.1000-8527.2022.033

Abstract

Abstract:

The South China Sea is located in the convergence zone of three tectonic plates. Due to the wide distribution and complex geodynamic background, its genesis and dynamic model are still controversial. Based on geological data, gravity, and magnetic data from the South China Sea, the structural characteristics of the South China Sea are analyzed in plane and profile. Accordingly, numerical simulation shows that the weaker lower crust has decoupled from the crust-mantle, and the rift has migrated to one side. Due to the insufficient magmatic heat supply, the upwelled mantle has cooled and stagnated. The new magma supply may have jumped to the opposite direction and formed a new spreading center. The weak rheological lower crust and high spreading rate may have together controlled the southward ridge migration. We analyze and summarize the existing dynamic models of the South China Sea. Based on tectonic interpretation and numerical simulation, we concluded that the South China Sea formation was mainly affected by three factors: the collision between the India-Australia and Eurasia plates, the subduction drag of the Proto-South China Sea, and the upwelling of the deep mantle. The tectonic stress field in the South China Sea was controlled by the Indo-Australia-Eurasia collision and the subduction and drag of the Proto-South China Sea, and the magma migration was controlled by the deep mantle upwelling.

Key words: South China Sea, tectonic characteristic, geodynamics, genetic model, numerical simulation

CLC Number:

P541

LIU Chen, LI Jianghai, WANG Zhichen. Dynamic Model Analysis of Formation and Evolution of the South China Sea[J]. Geoscience, 2023, 37(02): 259-269.

Figures/Tables 7

Fig.1 Location of the study area and its Cenozoic tectonic background

Fig.2 Marine gravity anomalies from satellite altimetry (a), magnetic anomaly map (b), and distribution and tectonic outline of sedimentary basins in the South China Sea and adjacent regions (c) (modified from ref.[19])

Fig.3 Cenozoic tectonic events in the South China Sea and adjacent regions (modified from ref.[26])

Fig.4 South China block-Sulu block section (profile aa', modified from ref.[46])

Table 1 Numerical model parameter setting[56,58-59]

地壳分层	密度 (kg/m³)	幂律指数	活化能 (kJ/mol)	热膨胀 (1/K)	指数因子 (1·s^-1·MPa^-ⁿ)	放射热 (μW·m^-3)	伸展速率 (mm/a)
空气层	1	1	0	2×10^-5	1.0×10^-12	0	6
上地壳	2800	4	223	2×10^-5	1.1×10^-15	0.7
下地壳	2800	3	356	2×10^-5	5.6×10^-17	0.7
岩石圈地幔	3300	3.5	540	2×10^-5	2.4×10^-8	0.2×10^-6
地幔	3300	3.5	520	2×10^-5	1.9×10^-9	0.2×10^-6

Fig.5 Numerical simulation results of the rift transition

Fig.6 Schematic map for the tectonic evolution of the South China Sea (modified from refs.[10,14,24,38])

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