Discussion on the co-evolution of the Philippine Sea Plate and the South China Sea

The Philippine Sea Plate (PSP) and the South China Sea (SCS), situated at the convergent area among the Eurasian Plate, the Pacific Plate, and the Australia Plate, are of great significance for the tectonic reconstruction in Southeast Asia, West Pacific, and even the globe. Although the tectonic evolution models of the PSP and the SCS have been constructed respectively, the co-evolution relationships between them are still not clear. In this paper, based on the published paleomagnetic data, submarine magnetic anomaly, seismic tomography, and geological constraints of the PSP and the SCS, we discuss the co-evolution of these two basins. It is suggested that the Shikoku Basin (SB) and the SCS started to be dynamically connected at the beginning of the Oligocene. Due to the Australia-SE Asia collision in the early Miocene, the PSP rotated, and the SB began to separate from the SCS and gradually moved to the present position. Finally, we discuss the unresolved problems and the future research prospects of this co-evolution model of the PSP and the SCS.