SE Asia Basin History project (South China Sea Platform and South Essay

SE Asia Basin History project (South China Sea Platform and South China Ocean Basin) - Essay Example Geologically, the nearly 3.5 million square kilometers area is primarily surrounded by a series of sedimentary successions which are highly rich in petroleum resources (IHO, 1998). According to many experts, South China Sea platform and ocean basin has a complex geologic structure comprised of folded fundament dating back to the pre-Cambrian period, Indo-china period and Herynina periods. The rhomboid shaped marine basin is largely confined by crustal structure fractures, lithospheres as well as massive tectonic belts. This paper presents the history of the South China Sea basin including its stratigraphic columns and dissects as well as the history of its deposition. South China Sea basin is locacated at a junction of three major tectonics namely; the Eurasian,Pacific-philippine and the India-Australian plates. The basin lies on top of a continental self that was drowned during the ice age. According to many experts, the oceanic as well as the stretched continental crusts that are presently underlying the South China Sea basin have always experienced a series of tectonic movements since the Cenzoic times. The basin is located within the juncture area of the Indo-Australian, Eurasian and Pacific plates and the Regional Plate Tectonic events have played crucial roles to control the formation plus evolution of continental marginal basins. It is widely speculated that the basin may have been formed by underlain by continental crust before it was affected by rifting and subsequently overprinted by forearc structural setting after the initiation of subduction. For example, the evolution of the region may have been as a result of a collusion of the Eurasian and Indian plates, the northward drifting of the Australian plate as well as the westward subdution of the Pacific continental plate during the Cenozoic period as shown in figure 1 below. With regard to its crustal structure, the basement of the basin