TECTONIC TRANSITION AND PLATE RECONSTRUCTIONS OF THE EAST ASIAN CONTINENTAL MAGIN

It is a hot debate on the Meso-Cenozoic dynamics of the East Asian continental margins, since the nature, type and evolution of its continental margins are not well-known.. This paper systematically summarizes the results of plate reconstructions on the East Asian continental margin since Permian over the past 40 years with emphasis on the new research results in the past 10 years. The paper mainly focuses on the variation in types of the East Asian continental margin since Late Triassic, the transitions among different tectonic domains. Our data suggests that the East Asian continental margins as a whole experienced a pre-Triassic passive continental margin, a Late Triassic-Early Cretaceous continental magmatic arc of the Andean-type active continental margin, a Late Cretaceous-Eocene strike-slipping Andean-type active continental margin with of pull-apart basins, and a post-Oligocene Japanese-type active continental margin successively. Tectonic trasition is important for understanding of the formation of the Bohaisx Bay, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the South China Sea basins in East China. The changes of the continent-ocean distribution, plate configuration and dynamics at the various stages are also discussed.