Abstract
Paleomagnetic data from the Philippine Sea Plate indicate clockwise rotation since Oligocene time. This has rotated the Central Basin Spreading Center from being parallel to the Asian shoreline to its present NW/SE strike. The initial configuration is consistent with a back-arc origin of the West Philippine Sea Province. The subsequent clockwise rotation has defined a sinistral shear zone between the Philippine Sea Plate and Asia.
The Philippines lie at present in the region of sinistral shear. Within a substantial part of Luzon, paleomagnetic results reveal a Late Miocene/Pliocene clockwise rotation compatible with Philippine Sea Plate motion. Prior to that, this same region exhibited a period of rapid counterclockwise rotation from about 20 to 10 Ma. which is incompatible with Philippine Sea plate motion. This counterclockwise rotation coincided with the collision of the Philippine archipelago with the Palawan microcontinent, as it was carried south by sea floor spreading in the South China Sea. Between Late Eocene and Early Miocene, additional counterclockwise rotation was accompanied by northward motion of the region. It therefore appears that at least substantial parts of Luzon had an origin on a counterclockwise rotating plate, or microplate to the west of the Philippine Sea Plate.
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Fuller, M., Haston, R., Schmidtke, E. (1989). Paleomagnetism in SE Asia: Sinistral Shear Between Philippine Sea Plate and Asia. In: Kissel, C., Laj, C. (eds) Paleomagnetic Rotations and Continental Deformation. NATO ASI Series, vol 254. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0869-7_25
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0869-7_25
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