South China Sea Tectonics and Magnetics: Constraints from IODP Expedition 349 and Deep-tow Magnetic Surveys

Jian Lin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole, United States, Chun-Feng Li, Tongji University, school of ocean and earth science, Shanghai, China, Denise K Kulhanek, Texas A&M University, International Ocean Discovery Program, College Station, TX, United States, Xixi Zhao, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States, Qingsong Liu, Southern University of Science and Technology, Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Shenzhen, China, Xing Xu, Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, Ministry of Land and Resources, Guangzhou, China, Zhen Sun, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou, China, Jian Zhu, Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst, Woods Hole, MA, United States and Expedition 349 Scientists and Science Party of R/V HaiYangLiuHao
Abstract:
The South China Sea (SCS) is the largest low-latitude marginal sea in the world. Its formation and evolution are linked to the complex continental-oceanic tectonic interaction of the Eurasian, Pacific, and Indo-Australian plates. Despite its relatively small size and short history, the SCS has undergone nearly a complete Wilson cycle from continental break-up to seafloor spreading to subduction. In January-March 2014, Expedition 349 of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) drilled five sites in the deep basin of the SCS. Three sites (U1431, U1433, and U1434) cored into oceanic basement near the fossil spreading center on the East and Southwest Subbasins, whereas Sites U1432 and U1435 are located near the northern continent/ocean boundary of the East Subbasin. Shipboard biostratigraphy based on microfossils preserved in sediment directly above or within basement suggests that the preliminary cessation age of spreading in both the East and Southwest Subbasins is around early Miocene (16–20 Ma); however, post-cruise radiometric dating is being conducted to directly date the basement basalt in these subbasins. Prior to the IODP drilling, high-resolution near-seafloor magnetic surveys were conducted in 2012 and 2013 in the SCS with survey lines passing near the five IODP drilling sites. The deep-tow surveys revealed detailed patterns of the SCS magnetic anomalies with amplitude and spatial resolutions several times better than that of traditional sea surface measurements. Preliminary results reveal several episodes of magnetic reversal events that were not recognized by sea surface measurements. Together the IODP drilling and deep-tow magnetic surveys provide critical constraints for investigating the processes of seafloor spreading in the SCS and evolution of a mid-ocean ridge from active spreading to termination.
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