Cenozoic geological and plate tectonic evolution of SE Asia and the SW Pacific: computer-based reconstructions, model and animations

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Abstract

A plate tectonic model for the Cenozoic development of the region of SE Asia and the SW Pacific is presented and its implications are discussed. The model is accompanied by computer animations in a variety of formats, which can be viewed on most desktop computers. GPS measurements and present seismicity illustrate the high rates of motions and tectonic complexity of the region, but provide little help in long-term reconstruction. Plate boundaries shifted rapidly in the Cenozoic. During convergence of the major plates, there were numerous important episodes of extension, forming ocean basins and causing subsidence within continental regions, probably driven by subduction. Within eastern Indonesia, New Guinea and the Melanesian arcs, there are multiple Cenozoic sutures, with very short histories compared to most well-known older orogenic belts. They preserve a record of major changes in tectonics, including subduction polarity reversals, elimination of volcanic arcs, changing plate boundaries and extension within an overall contractional setting. Rapid tectonic changes have occurred within periods of less than 5 Ma. Many events would be overlooked or ignored in older orogenic belts, even when evidence is preserved, because high resolution dating is required to identify them, and the inference of almost simultaneous contraction and extension seems contradictory.

There were three important periods in regional development: at about 45, 25 and 5 Ma. At these times, plate boundaries and motions changed, probably because of major collision events. The 45 Ma plate reorganisation may be related to India–Asia collision, although some important intra-Pacific events, such as voluminous Eocene boninite magmatism, seem to be older and require other causes. Indentation of Asia by India modified the Asian continent, but there is little indication that India has been the driving force of tectonics in most of SE Asia. The most important Cenozoic plate boundary reorganisation was at about 25 Ma. The New Guinea passive margin collided with the East Philippines–Halmahera–South Caroline Arc system. The Australian margin, in the Bird's Head region, also began to collide with the SE Asian margin in Sulawesi. The Ontong Java Plateau collided with the Melanesian Arc. These collisions caused a major change in the character of plate boundaries between about 25 and 20 Ma. Since 25 Ma, tectonic events east of Eurasia were driven by motion of the Pacific Plate. Further, west, the movement of Australia northwards caused rotations of blocks and accretion of microcontinental fragments to SE Asia. Plate motions and boundaries changed again at about 5 Ma, for uncertain reasons, possibly as a consequence of Pacific Plate motion changes, arc–continent collision in Taiwan, or other boundary changes at the Pacific margin, for example in the Philippines.

Areas to the west and east of New Guinea, the Banda Sea and Woodlark Basin, illustrate the speed of change, the unexpected interplay of convergence and extension, and the importance of subduction as the engine of change. Subduction has been the principal driving mechanism for tectonic change, although its manifestations are varied. They include collision-related phenomena, partitioning of oblique convergence, and effects of hinge roll-back and pull forces of subducting slabs. Magmatism is not always associated with subduction, depending on the movement of subduction hinge, and there may be important extension of the upper plate both perpendicular and parallel to the length of subduction zones. Strike-slip faulting is observably very important within the Pacific–Australia–Eurasia convergent setting, yet appears in few tectonic models. Long-term strike-slip deformation can explain some of the complexities of areas such as New Guinea, including magmatism and its absence, and thermo-chronological data showing very young and rapid cooling of the mobile belt and fold belt.

The inadequacies of the tectonic model reflect in part the difficulties of applying rigid plate tectonics, when there is clear evidence of changing shapes of fragments. Geological knowledge of the region is still inadequate and significant improvements to regional data sets, such as palaeomagnetic data and isotopic ages, are required. New tomographic techniques offer an important means of testing this and other reconstructions. However, valuable insights could also be obtained from simple data sets, such as sediment volumes, if more information that is complete were available in the public domain. Two-dimensional plate tectonic cartoons of small areas are no longer adequate descriptions or tools for understanding. It is essential to test plate tectonic models by using animation techniques with reconstructions drawn at short time intervals, which expose flaws in models, show major gaps in knowledge and help identify truly regional events. Observations of present-day tectonics, and all geological evidence, indicate that the model presented here is over-simplified. Improvements in this, or new models, will inevitably be more complex than the reconstructions described here.

Introduction

The Cenozoic was a period of major tectonic events, which influenced life and climate in SE Asia and the SW Pacific. Early in the Cenozoic, the collision of India with Eurasia enlarged the area of land in SE Asia. Later, the continuing collision with Australia led to connections between Australia, Eurasia and the Pacific, accompanied by the disappearance of some volcanic arcs and initiation of others. Subduction maintained volcanic arcs, which formed discontinuously emergent island chains crossing the region. The geological evolution of this region is complex, fascinating and important. Many geological ideas of great significance have originated here, from the links between gravity and ocean trenches of Vening Meinesz (1934), the mobilist ideas of Carey (1958), to the development of island arcs in the West Pacific (Karig, 1974). It is neither coincidence that Wallace's ideas on evolution developed here, nor that these original thoughts were closely linked to ideas of geological evolution (Wallace, 1869). Much of the region has emerged from the sea very recently, providing opportunities for new life and the incredible diversity of plant and animal species (e.g. Fischer, 1960, Stehli, 1968, Briggs, 1974, Brown, 1988, Gentry, 1988, Paulay, 1997, Morley, 1999), and the region continues to change at a rapid rate. Although it is a spectacular region of volcanic activity and seismicity, this wonderful natural laboratory is still not geologically well known.

This paper attempts to give an account of the Cenozoic evolution of this vast region (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3), using computer animations to illustrate its plate tectonic evolution. Because the region is so large, there is extensive literature (the Royal Holloway SE Asia Research Group's bibliography, primarily concerned with SE Asia, contains approximately 18,000 references). The coverage of the region is not even. For some areas like the Banda Arcs, the amount of geological literature is daunting, whereas for similar sized and equally complex parts of New Guinea, there is very little. I have tried to provide a basic commentary on the regional geology and constraints on reconstructions, before discussing the sequence of events. In order to do this, I have often cited references, which provide some of this information and review earlier literature, but may not be the primary work (for example, there are large amounts of important data in early Dutch publications, which are generally not cited here). This has been done to keep the reference list manageable, while providing adequate information on the background, justification for the interpretations made, and to provide a starting point for those who wish to research specific areas in more detail. Important sources for information on regional tectonics, and overviews of the geology of different parts of SE Asia and the SW Pacific, can be found in Visser and Hermes, 1962, van Bemmelen, 1970, Dow, 1977, Hamilton, 1979, Hayes, 1980, Hayes, 1983, Kroenke, 1984, Hutchison, 1989, Hutchison, 1996b, Mitchell and Leach, 1991, Hall and Blundell, 1996.

Section 2 of the paper briefly discusses present-day plate motions, as known from global plate models, GPS and tomography, considers the limitations of plate tectonics for continental and oceanic parts of the region, and discusses the value of a plate tectonic model for SE Asia and the SW Pacific. Section 3 summarises the techniques used in constructing the model, the value and sources of information and outlines routine features of the animations, such as the colours used on the maps and their meaning, and the file types and animation software. 4 Circum-Asia regions, 5 Asia–Pacific–Australia margins, 6 Circum-Australia regions then summarise the present tectonic and geological background for the many geographical sub-areas between Asia and the SW Pacific, and the essential features of the model for these areas. For this purpose, I have subdivided the region into three major sub-regions, and then discussed areas within these sub-regions. Section 4 deals with mainland Asia, areas peripheral to Asia, and the Sundaland region. Section 5 deals with Asia–Pacific–Australian margins and considers the smaller plates at these plate boundaries, including the Philippine Sea Plate, the Philippines and eastern Indonesia. Section 6 deals with the smaller plates and arcs around northern and eastern Australia, including New Guinea, the Caroline Plate and the Melanesian Arcs. 7 The plate tectonic model, 8 Cenozoic history discuss the plate tectonic model and Cenozoic history of the region for time slices of 5 million years from 55 Ma to the present. Section 9 discusses the implications of the interpretations for the region and attempts to draw some more general conclusions of relevance to other orogenic belts.

Section snippets

The region discussed

The region of SE Asia and the SW Pacific (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3) includes two major continental regions, Sundaland–Eurasia and Australasia, separated by oceanic plates. The whole of the western Pacific region is a mosaic of microplates, mainly of oceanic character, but at the margins of Australia, Sundaland and Asia are numerous small fragments of broadly continental character. How useful can a plate tectonic model be for such a region? The following parts of Section 2 consider present plate

Plate model

This paper gives an account of a plate tectonic model for the Cenozoic development of the region, based on my interpretations of a large range of geological data. It summarises the regional tectonic development of SE Asia and the SW Pacific, using a plate model which has been animated using 1 Ma time-slices. The animations are provided on a CD, which accompanies this paper, and it is intended that the paper will be read in conjunction with these, which can be run on any modern personal computer.

Eurasia

Although there is considerable evidence for Cenozoic deformation within eastern Asia (Fig. 6, Fig. 7), most strain seems to have been concentrated south of the Red River Fault (e.g. England and Houseman, 1986, Peltzer and Tapponnier, 1988, Huchon et al., 1994, Jolivet et al., 1994, Houseman and England, 1993, Wang and Burchfiel, 1997). In all the reconstructions, South China is fixed to Eurasia, and is considered as a rigid plate. Deformation of Asia north of South China is not included in the

The Philippine Sea Plate

Today, south of Japan the Philippine Sea Plate and Philippine islands separate the Asian margin from the Pacific Plate (Fig. 1, Fig. 3, Fig. 6, Fig. 9). It is the major plate separating the Pacific, Australian and Eurasian plates, and therefore it must be considered in order to understand Australia–Pacific and Australia–Eurasia boundaries. The Philippine Sea Plate is clearly of great importance to models of the western Pacific, but it is difficult to link to the global plate circuit because it

Eastern Australia

At present the eastern Australian margin (Fig. 2, Fig. 3, Fig. 11, Fig. 12) consists of a wide region of marginal basins whose history is still not well known. The margin was essentially in its present form by the early Eocene. Recent work by Gaina et al., 1998, Gaina et al., 1999 has modified early tectonic models (Weissel and Hayes, 1977, Weissel and Watts, 1979). The Coral Sea was fully open by 52 Ma according to Gaina et al. (1999) and the Tasman Sea ceased spreading at around 52 Ma (Gaina et

The plate tectonic model

Below, the geological evolution of the region, based on the information summarised earlier, is described for 5 Ma intervals. In this section, I have deliberately avoided re-citing references which have been discussed earlier in the paper, in the hope that it will be easier to follow. It is hoped and assumed that the reader will use the computer animations when reading this account. Throughout the text the ages given should all be accompanied by the word ‘about’, although the resolution of this

Reconstruction at 55 Ma (Fig. 14)

At 55 Ma the Asian margin from Japan northwards was an active continental margin. Further south the situation is less clear, and different plate boundaries can be inferred from the limited evidence that exists. It seems plausible that Taiwan, Palawan and the now extended crust of the South China Sea margins formed a passive margin, established during the late Cretaceous after the cessation of earlier subduction. Ru and Pigott, 1986, Zhou et al., 1995 report the earliest episode of extension of

Discussion

There were three important periods in the regional development of SE Asia and the SW Pacific. At about 45 Ma plate boundaries changed, probably as a result of India–Asia collision, but possibly after Pacific Plate motion change. At about 25 Ma plate boundaries and motions changed again, perhaps due to Ontong Java–Melanesian Arc collision, Australia–Philippine Sea Arc collision, and/or changes related to India–Asia collision. Plate motions and boundaries changed again at about 5 Ma, for uncertain

Acknowledgements

Financial support has been provided at different times by NERC, the Royal Society, the London University Central Research Fund, and the London University and Royal Holloway SE Asia Research Groups, supported by a number of industrial companies. Work in Indonesia has been facilitated by GRDC. I am especially grateful to Alan Smith and Lawrence Rush for advice, discussion and considerable practical support in using the ATLAS program and their constant willingness to modify the application to help

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