On the origin of the North Pacific arcs

We present a new hypothesis that relates global plate tectonics to the formation of marginal basins, island arcs, spreading ridges and arc-shaped mountain belts around the North Pacific Ocean. According to our model, the ellipsoidal-shaped Paleogene basins of the South China Sea, Parece-Vela Basin,...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Gelabert Ferrer, Bernardí, Sàbat i Montserrat, Francesc|||0000-0002-9188-2234, Rodríguez Perea, Antonio, Fornós, Joan J.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2004
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:86072
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/86072
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1344/105.000001427
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Island arcs
North Pacific
Plate convergence
Back-arc basins
Descripción
Sumario:We present a new hypothesis that relates global plate tectonics to the formation of marginal basins, island arcs, spreading ridges and arc-shaped mountain belts around the North Pacific Ocean. According to our model, the ellipsoidal-shaped Paleogene basins of the South China Sea, Parece-Vela Basin, Shikoku Basin, Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk in addition to those of the North American Cordillera can be attributed to the change in plate convergence direction at 42 Ma between the Indoaustralian and Eurasian plates. The new direction of convergence was parallel to the eastern continental margin of Asia and resulted in widespread extension perpendicular to this margin and to the western margin of North America. Both margins form part of a circle parallel to the Indoaustralian-Eurasian direction of convergence.