Where Are the Proto-South China Sea Slabs? SE Asian Plate Tectonics and Mantle Flow History From Global Mantle Convection Modeling

Abstract

The plate tectonic history of the hypothesized “proto-South China Sea” (PSCS) ocean basin and surrounding SE Asia since Cenozoic times is controversial. We implement four diverse proto-South China Sea plate reconstructions into global geodynamic models to constrain PSCS plate tectonics and possible slab locations. Our plate reconstructions consider the following: southward versus double-sided PSCS subduction models; earlier (Eocene) or later (late Oligocene) initiation of Borneo counterclockwise rotations; and larger or smaller reconstructed Philippine Sea plate sizes. We compare our modeling results against tomographic images by accounting for mineralogical effects and the finite resolution of seismic tomography. All geodynamic models reproduce the tomographically imaged Sunda slabs beneath Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, and Java. Southward PSCS subduction produces slabs beneath present Palawan, northern Borneo, and offshore Palawan. Double-sided PSCS subduction combined with earlier Borneo rotations uniquely reproduces subhorizontal slabs under the southern South China Sea (SCS) at ~400 to 700 km depths; these models best fit seismic tomography. A smaller Philippine Sea (PS) plate with a ~1,000-km-long restored Ryukyu slab was superior to a very large PS plate. Considered together, our four end-member plate reconstructions predict that the PSCS slabs are now at <900 km depths under present-day Borneo, the SCS, the Sulu and Celebes seas, and the southern Philippines. Regardless of plate reconstruction, we predict (1) mid-Cenozoic passive return-flow upwellings under Indochina; and (2) late Cenozoic downwellings under the SCS that do not support a deep-origin “Hainan plume.” Modeled Sundaland dynamic topography strongly depends on the imposed plate reconstructions, varying by almost 1 km.