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<p>Many critical stages in the Mesozoic tectonic evolution linking the western Pacific and East Asia remain missing or poorly constrained. The Huatung Basin, located between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate, is thus crucial for unraveling Mesozoic tectonic evolution in the western Pacific. In particular, its oceanic nature and tectonic attributes have remained unresolved for decades due to the lack of direct petrological constraints. The scientific ocean drilling is the most direct way to resolve both above uncertainties. The crustal structure of the Huatung Basin, usually distributing 5–7 km crustal thickness with a high-velocity layer in the lower crust, is different from that of the adjacent Cenozoic West Philippine Sea Basin. By contrast, the velocity structure of Gagua Ridge exhibits a much thicker (12–18 km) crust. Several hypotheses include remnants of an ancient spreading ridge, strike-slip transpression, and subduction initiation. These debates directly impede a comprehensive understanding of plate reorganization and subduction initiation from Mesozoic to Cenozoic in the western Pacific. To address these key scientific issues, a four-site drilling design is proposed for China’s new ocean drilling vessel <i>Mengxiang.</i> Based on deep seismic observations and historical DSDP drilling datasets, Site A (center in Huatung Basin) targets basement basalt to directly constrain the age of the ocean basin; Site B (northern Luzon Arc) aims from sedimentary stratigraphic sequences to basement nature to reconstruct the subduction-to-collision transform process between the South China Sea and the Huatung Basin; Site C (crest of Gagua Ridge) and D (basin east of Gagua Ridge) focus on elucidating the origin of Gagua Ridge and its tectonic relationship with the Huatung Basin. This proposal strives to achieve a scientific breakthrough in formation age and tectonic history by the integration of full-interval coring from sedimentary sequences to basement rocks. The proposed drilling program for Huatung Basin is not only a critical scientific action to verify the remnants of Mesozoic oceanic crust in the western Pacific and clarify the mechanism of plate subduction to collision conversion, but also a scientific opportunity to lead a new round of international ocean drilling based on the use of the Chinese <i>Mengxiang</i> drilling vessel. It has substantial scientific significance to the international scientific community.</p>

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Geodynamic evolution of the Huatung Basin and future ocean drilling sites selection

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年6月22日

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  • Minghui Zhao,
  • Jiahao Zhu,
  • Guoliang Zhang,
  • Jean-Claude Sibuet,
  • Jinhui Cheng,
  • Guangfa Zhong,
  • Hongfang Gao

摘要

Many critical stages in the Mesozoic tectonic evolution linking the western Pacific and East Asia remain missing or poorly constrained. The Huatung Basin, located between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate, is thus crucial for unraveling Mesozoic tectonic evolution in the western Pacific. In particular, its oceanic nature and tectonic attributes have remained unresolved for decades due to the lack of direct petrological constraints. The scientific ocean drilling is the most direct way to resolve both above uncertainties. The crustal structure of the Huatung Basin, usually distributing 5–7 km crustal thickness with a high-velocity layer in the lower crust, is different from that of the adjacent Cenozoic West Philippine Sea Basin. By contrast, the velocity structure of Gagua Ridge exhibits a much thicker (12–18 km) crust. Several hypotheses include remnants of an ancient spreading ridge, strike-slip transpression, and subduction initiation. These debates directly impede a comprehensive understanding of plate reorganization and subduction initiation from Mesozoic to Cenozoic in the western Pacific. To address these key scientific issues, a four-site drilling design is proposed for China’s new ocean drilling vessel Mengxiang. Based on deep seismic observations and historical DSDP drilling datasets, Site A (center in Huatung Basin) targets basement basalt to directly constrain the age of the ocean basin; Site B (northern Luzon Arc) aims from sedimentary stratigraphic sequences to basement nature to reconstruct the subduction-to-collision transform process between the South China Sea and the Huatung Basin; Site C (crest of Gagua Ridge) and D (basin east of Gagua Ridge) focus on elucidating the origin of Gagua Ridge and its tectonic relationship with the Huatung Basin. This proposal strives to achieve a scientific breakthrough in formation age and tectonic history by the integration of full-interval coring from sedimentary sequences to basement rocks. The proposed drilling program for Huatung Basin is not only a critical scientific action to verify the remnants of Mesozoic oceanic crust in the western Pacific and clarify the mechanism of plate subduction to collision conversion, but also a scientific opportunity to lead a new round of international ocean drilling based on the use of the Chinese Mengxiang drilling vessel. It has substantial scientific significance to the international scientific community.