THE NEOTECTONIC SETTING OF LATE QUATERNARY TRANSGRESSIONS ON THE EASTERN COASTAL PLAIN OF CHINA

The study of boreholes in the subsided coastal plain and in offshoe area in China shows that at the most part of Quaternary sea water had been blocked from invading the Yellow Sea Basin and Eastern China Sea Basin as a result of the uplifting of Fujian-Lingnan when the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau was rising at an unprecedented rate.The subsidence of most of Fujian-Lingnan uplift to the sea floor since Late Quaternary had kept the isostatic balance between the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and Japan-Ryukyu Island Arc.As sea water entered into the East China Sea and Yellow Sea Basins since about Late Pleistocene, China continent became closely linked to the sea, due to the crustal deformation of the subsidence of continental basins and the corresponding uplifting of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.Since then there has occurred complex land-sea interaction between the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Luanhe River and transgressions caused by the eustatic changes.