Active continental subduction and crustal exhumation: the Taiwan orogeny |
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| Authors: | Cheng-Horng Lin |
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| Institution: | Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, PO Box 1–55, Nankang, Taipei, Taiwan |
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| Abstract: | ABSTRACT A tectonic model of active continental subduction followed by crustal exhumation is proposed to explain the orogeny in Taiwan. The subducted crust is represented by a low-velocity zone dipping eastwards beneath the major part of Taiwan, while the exhumed crust is marked by a high-velocity bulge, high heat flow and absence of seismicity beneath the eastern Central Range. The boundary between the subducted and exhumed crust has been identified from surface geology and analyses of thermal history across the Central Range. The dynamic force that has been driving the exhumed crust is identified by results from focal mechanisms, structural geology and geodetic survey in the eastern Central Range. Such a tectonic model may provide a good explanation for the evolution of the Taiwan Orogeny, as well as an active case for studying other long-extinct systems of continental subduction and exhumation. |
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