The eastern segment of Eastern Tethys is located in the present South China Sea and its surrounding areas. As the petrological record of the occeanic crust,the ophiolite belt is distributed like the letter "U". It was formed by contortion of the Tethyan tectonic belt during the collision of the Indian plate and the Eurasian plate,spreading of the South China Sea and west-directed compression of the Phillipine-Pacific plate.Its position and shape in the terminal Cretaceous-initial paleogene reconstruct ed based on the paleo-magnetic and petrological records indicate that it was nearly E-W trending compressive tectonic belt which extended from the south end of the present Indian subcontinent eastward through the northern margin of Kalimantan to the southeastern Phillipine Archipelago by the end of the Late Cretacous.Towards the west it linked with the Qinghai-Tibet area and then the central Asian Zagros Mountains and the European Alps Mountains to form a global Tethyan tec tonic belt.It is controlled by the global latitudinal tectonic system.Study indicates that Gondwana dispersion,Asian accretion and geological evolution of the Tethyan tectonic belt were controlled by the global latitudinal tectonic system.The global latitudinal tectonic system is one of the important forces controlling the plate boundary and movement.
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