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On the Geotectonics of Southern China
Author(s) -
Jishun Ren
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
acta geologica sinica ‐ english edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.444
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1755-6724
pISSN - 1000-9515
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-6724.1991.mp4002001.x
Subject(s) - geology , tectonics , paleontology , china , phanerozoic , continental margin , geosyncline , craton , fold (higher order function) , structural basin , cenozoic , geography , archaeology , mechanical engineering , engineering
The tectonic nature of southern China has changed again and again in the Phanerozoic. In the Caledonian cycle, there existed three tectonic units‐the Yangtze paraplatform, Indosinian‐South China Sea paraplatforrn and Caledonian South China fold belt, of which the last unit is not a collisional orogenic belt but a scissor‐shaped aulacogen‐ type geosyncline opening towards Yunnan and Vietnam. In the Indosinian cycle, South China belonged to the Tethyan tectonic domain, and no abyssal oceanic basin existed there. Since the Late Triassic, especially in the Yanshanian orogenic stage, it became a component part of the peri‐Pacific continental‐margin activation belt of eastern Asia. No Alpine‐type orogenic belt occurs in the interior of the continent of southern China.