Cenozoic Volcanism in South China Sea and Its Vicinity and South China Sea Spreading

The rock series, rock types and Sr-Nd isotopic dating of the Cenozoicvolcanic rocks in the South China Sea are similar to those in its vicinity. On the basis of thespreading age of the South China Sea, the Cenozoic volcanic rocks are divided into three stages: thepre-spreading stage, the spreading stage and the post-spreading stage. The deep processcharacteristics of the asthenosphere and lithosphere may be inferred from the study on primarybasaltic magma. The top layers of the asthenosphere both in the spreading stage and in thepre-spreading stage are closer to the earth surface than that in the post-spreading stage. From thepre-spreading stage to the spreading stage, the top layer of the asthenosphere decreased in depth,while the amount of interstitial partial melts increased. The evolution of the primary basalticmagma shows a progressive evolution sequence of the rifting volcanism and a faster lithosphericspreading velocity. From the spreading stage to the post-spreading stage, the top layer of theasthenosphere gradually increased in depth, but the amount of interstitial partial melts decreased.The evolution of primary basaltic magma shows a retrogressive evolution sequence of the riftingvolcanism and a gradual decrease in the lithospheric spreading velocity. The depth recognized by thestudy on the Cenozoic volcanism demonstrates the deep environment for the formation and evolutionof the South China Sea.

Expansion of the South China Sea basin:Constraints from magnetic anomaly stripes,sea floor topography,satellite gravity and submarine geothermics

The widely distributed E-W-trending magnetic anomaly stripes in the central basin and the N-Etrending magnetic anomaly stripes in the southwest sub-basin provide the most important evidence for Neogene expansion of the South China Sea.The expansion mechanism remains,however,controversial because of the lack of direct drilling data,non-systematic marine magnetic survey data,and irregular magnetic anomaly stripes with two obvious directions.For example,researchers have inferred different ages and episodes of expansion for the central basin and southwest sub-basin.Major controversy centers on the order of basinal expansion and the mechanism of expansion for the entire South China Sea basin.This study attempts to constrain these problems from a comprehensive analysis of the seafloor topography,magnetic anomaly stripes,regional aeromagnetic data,satellite gravity,and submarine geothermics.The mapped seafloor terrain shows that the central basin is a north-south rectangle that is relatively shallow with many seamounts,whereas the southwest sub-basin is wide in northeast,gradually narrows to the southwest,and is relatively deeper with fewer seamounts.Many magnetic anomaly stripes are present in the central basin with variable dimensions and directions that are dominantly EWtrending,followed by the NE-,NW- and NS-trending.Conversely such stripes are few in the southwest sub-basin and mainly NE-trending.Regional magnetic data suggest that the NW-trending Ailaoshan-Red River fault extends into the South China Sea,links with the central fault zone in the South China Sea,which extends further southward to Reed Tablemount.Satellite gravity data show that both the central basin and southwest sub-basin are composed of oceanic crust.The Changlong seamount is particularly visible in the southwest sub-basin and extends eastward to the Zhenbei seamount.Also a low gravity anomaly zone coincides with the central fault zone in the sub-basin.The submarine geothermic distribution demonstrates that the southwest sub-basin has a higher geothermal value than the central basin,and that the central fault zone is defined by a low thermal anomaly.This study suggests that NW-SE expansion of the southwest subbasin is later than the N-S expansion of the central basin with the sub-basin extending into the central basin and with both expansions ending at the same time.The expansion of southwestern sub-basin,similar to the Japanese Sea,is likely caused by left-lateral strike slip on the central fault zone in the South China Sea,which may have significance for finding oil and gas in this region.