On the tectonic events correlation in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and Asian continental margin

Abstract

We consider the correlation of Cretaceous-Cenozoic tectonic events in the oceanic and continental parts of the northwestern Pacific. The first results are based presumably on the data about Sikhote Alin, Sakhalin, Japan, the Japan Sea and Okhotsk Sea, the Kuril-Kamchatka arc and trench, and the northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean. The subjects of discussion are the structural rebuildings at the age boundaries of 100–110 and 25–30 Ma, connected with the fundamental changes of the northwestern Pacific tectonic plan and replacing of the continent-ocean boundary to the east. When correlating the tectonic events we discovered not only the coincidence in time of the major structural rebuildings but also the affinity of the stress fields and counter movements of the ocean and continental margin structures, with some signs of compression on their boundary. These structural peculiarities, the data about the source regions in the sedimentation process, the preliminary comparison of paleolatitude data allow us to question that the relative movements of the Pacific and Asian structures may possibly be limited. Inside the Pacific plate we found some signs of the considerable dislocations and the layering of the lithosphere. For every tectonic stage we discuss the succession of tectonic events on the ocean-continent boundary which result in the continental crust formation. The connection of major moments of the structural rebuildings with the reorganisation of the lithospheric plates boundary is emphasized.