Tectonic Evolution Of Southeast Asia

SE Asia is probably the finest natural geological laboratory in the world, yet is still not geologically well known. It is a spectacular region in which the manifestations and processes of plate collision can be observed at present and in which their history is recorded. It is a region that must be understood if we are to understand mountain belts, arc development marginal basin evolution and, more generally, the behaviour of the lithosphere in collision settings. The volume will be of interest to all geologists working in SE Asia, particularly those involved in the petroleum industry.

This is the first comprehensive synthesis of all aspects of the geology of South-east Asia, a region extending from Tibet and Taiwan southward through the Malay Peninsula into the Indonesian archipelago. The region is significant as the eastern extremity of Tethyan geology and the type locality of the Triassic Indonesian Orogeny. It is also the world's foremost field laboratory for convergent and "escape" tectonics. The active plate margins are described in detail, and the past history of drifting of microcontinents from Gondwanaland is traced to their eventual collision to form Eurasia.

The papers in this volume explore the tectonic evolution of south-eastern Asia

Intended as a companion or sequel to the atlas " A Geophysical Atlas of East and South East Asia Seas" Provides the first interpretation of data contained in the atlas. It also presents many of the results obtained during the last several years of IDOE-supported feild experiments as well as imporatant and closely coordinated Deep Sea Drilling Project investigations developed during the international phase of Ocean Drilling.

Non-marine Late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic formations are widespread in mainland SE Asia. Although the first reports on fossils from some of these formations were published as early as the 1890s, it is only since 1980 that floras and faunas from the Permian, Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous of SE Asia have received the attention they deserve. Fieldwork in various parts of Thailand and Laos has revealed a succession of fossil assemblages that now allows a reconstruction of the evolution of continental ecosystems in that part of the world during the Late Palaeozoic and the Mesozoic. The first papers in this book present the geological background of these floral and faunal successions, as well as historical aspects of their discovery. Descriptions of new taxa and review papers deal with plants, sharks, bony fishes, turtles, crocodilians, dinosaurs and mammal-like reptiles. Papers about the Mesozoic palaeobiogeography, environments and climates of Asia conclude the volume.

The evolution of Asia has largely occurred over the last 400 million years, and continues today. Seeing a continent in the act of assembly provides a rare opportunity to study the processes by which continents are constructed and internally modified. This book is a collection of twenty-one contributions on the tectonic evolution of Asia. The book is divided into five parts: geodynamic models of the Cenozoic deformation in Asia, seismotectonics, geological evolution of the Himalaya–Karakoram Ranges, tectonics of the Cenozoic Indo–Asia collision, and Mesozoic–Paleozoic assembly of Asia. Several important problems are addressed in detail, including the origin of the Tibetan Plateau, the nature of ultra-high pressure metamorphism in east-central Asia, the accretion of microcontinents to Asia, and the accommodation mechanisms of the Indo-Asian collision. The Tectonic Evolution of Asia provides an authoritative description of our current understanding of Asian tectonics and continental growth for graduate students and researchers.

Collision between Australia and SE Asia began in the Early Miocene and reduced the former wide ocean between them to a complex passage which connects the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Today, the Indonesian Throughflow passes through this gateway and plays an important role in global thermohaline flow. The surrounding region contains the maximum global diversity for many marine and terrestrial organisms. Reconstruction of this geologically complex region is essential for understanding its role in oceanic and atmospheric circulation, climate impacts, and the origin of its biodiversity. The papers in this volume discuss the Palaeozoic to Cenozoic geological background to Australia and SE Asia collision. They provide the background for accounts of the modern Indonesian Throughflow and oceanographic changes since the Neogene, and consider aspects of the region's climate history--