Formation, tectonic evolution and dynamics of the East China Sea Shelf Basin

Abstract The East China Sea Shelf Basin (ECSSB) is located on the southeastern continental margin of the Eurasian Plate. The basement of the ECSSB is an extension of the Cathaysian Block as well as an important part of the West Pacific or East Asian Continental Margin tectonic domain. By the analysis of global plate tectonic evolution, the ECSSB is situated in the eastern part of the West Pacific triangle region, as a huge convergence zone between the Indian‐Australian, Pacific and Eurasian plates, as well as a global convergence centre. The ECSSB is closely related to the evolution of the Tethyan and West Pacific tectonic domains. Overall, the ECSSB is a pull‐apart basin under the transtensional tectonic setting of a continental margin, which is contributed to by the combination of subduction retreat and back‐arc spreading between the Eurasian Plate and the Pacific Plate, and the far‐field effect of the collision and extrusion between the Indian‐Australian and Eurasian plates, and deep mantle dynamics. The formation mechanism of the ECSSB is under passive extension. The eastward mantle flow and the asthenospheric upwelling in the deep Earth are the main driving forces of the basin jumping and eastward tectonic migration. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.