《中国古地理图集》的历史背景和前途展望

ATLAS OF THE PALAEOGEOGRAPHY OF CHINA AND ITS PROSPECT

本文记述了20世纪80年代前期《中国古地理图集》编制过程中的历史背景、国内外学术动态、任务由来、人员组成和学术指导思想.着重分析了在板块构造理论出现后中国地质学家当时面临的任务:如何将中国境内的古地理变迁与大地构造演化史相结合?如何在古地磁资料尚不完善情况下在古地理图上反映活动论全球构造思想体系?本图集在上述领域内开展的研究和采用的一系列图面表达方式,体现了全球构造活动论和构造发展阶段论学术思想在古地理图编制中的特色和进展.也对80年代中期后我国古地理图编制方面的蓬勃发展形势以及活动论古地理图的日臻完善方向作了概括和展望.

The Atlas of the Palaeogeography of China, published in 1985, is the principal achievement of a ba-sic research project on the palaeogeographic studies of China established in 1980 and organized by the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences and the China University of Geosciences. The compiling group members of the atlas came mainly from the above two institutes and some from the Guizhou Provincial Geological Bureau. The atlas consists of altogether 116 maps of various kinds and covers a time interval of ca 1800 Ma from the Mesoproterozoic to the Quaternary in geologic history. The principal aim of the atlas consists in the mobilism of global tectonics in combination with development and tectonic evolution of China and the guiding thought consists in the mobilism of global tectonics in combination with development by stages in the earth's history. Although it was impossible at that time to make adequate reconstructions of the continental platforms and massifs through the history, attempts were made to indicate the main sutures and their opening and closing times on the map and the relevant relationships by selected cross sections. Two types of sutures are discriminated, the convergent zones that divide the main tectonic domains, and the accretionary zones that separate the massifs in the continental margins and between the continental platforms.The explanatory notes are rather detailed and includes a general account in Chinese and in English, and explanations by periods in Chinese with English abstract. Tectonic stages were emphasized, and tec-tono - palaeogeographic maps were compiled in accordance with the successive stages proposed. Special kinds of maps, magmatic, biogeographic, and palaeoclimatic, were also included while necessary and possible.After 1985, palaeogeographic maps compilation in China has proceeded on in several aspects. Litho-facies maps mainly for oil - gas prospecting were compiled by Feng Zengzhao et al. . Serial maps of South China based on sedimentary, palaeotectonic, and also sequence stratigtigraphic studies by Liu Baojun and Xu Xiaosong (1994) are quite comprehensive. Serial world maps by palaeocontinent reconstruction through rugose coral biogeography were given by Wang Hongzhen et al. in 1989, which were the first of its kind made in China after the appearance of the serial world reconstruction maps by Ziegler and Scotese in 1979. Scotese has made successful improvements of his serial maps in recent decades. A series of world palaeocontinent reconstraction maps with explanatory notes were exhibited at the 30th International Geological Congress held in August 1996, Beijing. We look forward to the appearance of more accurate and multidisciplinary world reconstruction maps in China.