Slab Pull Driven South China Sea Opening Implies a Mesozoic Proto South China Sea

Abstract

Abstract Most paleo‐reconstruction models agree that the South China Sea (SCS) opens within a continental domain located at the trailing edge of the subducting plate of a vanished ocean named Proto South China Sea (PSCS). Existing models do not agree on the age, size, and location of the putative oceanic domain, thus hindering the reconstruction of the plate circuit in the distant past. In this study, we test the relevance and implication of the opening of the SCS in the downgoing plate with a series of thermomechanical simulations which appear to impact the possible age of the PSCS. Our findings suggest that the oceanic domain must be stronger than the continental margin for the slab pull force to be transmitted to the continental margin, resulting in continental breakup. Our simulations support a Cretaceous age, rather than an Eocene, for at least part of the PSCS sea‐floor spreading.

Keywords

• South China Sea
• numerical modeling
• continental breakup
• subduction