Seminar

The Cretaceous represents one of the most significant periods during the Mesozoic intra-continental orogeny of South China, especially, during which large-scale taphrogenic and magmatic activities occurred, generating a huge “South China Extensional Basin and Igneous Province” that covers an area of more than 262,920 km2. Although extensive studies have been carried out, controversies still remain regarding the Cretaceous tectonic evolution of South China. This talk attempts to give a preliminary review by synthesizing existing data related to regional structural deformation and magmatism interactively, and proposes that the Cretaceous tectonic evolution of South China was characterized by alternating compressional and extensional events, in response to variable subducted slab geometries and dynamics in the Paleo-Pacific and Tethyan tectonic domains.