Taiwan Orogenic Belt

This belt refers to the Cenozoic arc-continent collisional orogenic belt comprising Taiwan Island and the nearby islands. The belt generally trends NNE, consistent with the long axis of Taiwan Island. The strata gradually become younger from the main watershed of the Central Range to the west. This structure is similar to that of the accretionary wedge and foreland basin on the front edge of the Eurasian Plate. The oldest strata belong to the Tananao Group, which is located along the eastern slope of the Central Range. This group contains a sequence of green schist, volcanic rocks and amphibolites. Its upper part contains marble containing Carboniferous-Permian shovel type fossils, which are the oldest basement rocks in this orogenic belt. Palaeogene and Neogene marine and marine-terrigenous sediments are distributed to the west of the Central Range. The coastal range east of the Central Range is part of the Philippine Sea Plate. The Taitung Longitudinal Valley between these ranges...