Taiwan lies on the western edge of the Philippine Plate.3D block diagram showing plate tectonic setting of Taiwan
The island of Taiwan was formed approximately 4 to 5 million years ago at a convergent boundary between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate. In a boundary running the length of the island and continuing southwards, the Eurasian Plate is sliding under the Philippine Sea Plate. In the northeast of the island, the Philippine Sea Plate slides under the Eurasian Plate.[1][2]
Most of the island comprises a huge fault block tilted to the west.[3]
The island is active geologically, formed on a complex convergent boundary between the Yangtze Subplate of the Eurasian Plate to the west and north, the Okinawa Plate on the north-east, the Philippine Sea Plate on the east and south, and the Sunda Plate to the southwest. Subduction changes direction at Taiwan.
The upper part of the crust on the island is primarily made up of a series of terranes, mostly old island arcs which have been forced together by the collision of the forerunners of the Eurasian Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate, which is moving to the northwest. These have been further uplifted as a result of the detachment of a portion of the Eurasian Plate as it was subducted beneath remnants of the Philippine Sea Plate, a process which left the crust under Taiwan more buoyant.[4]
South of Taiwan, the Sunda Plate is subducting under the Philippine Sea Plate, forming the Luzon Volcanic Arc (including Green Island and Orchid Island). The east and south of the island are a complex system of belts formed by, and part of the zone of, active collision between the North Luzon Trough portion of the Luzon Volcanic Arc and the Eurasian Plate, where accreted portions of the Luzon Arc and Luzon forearc form the eastern Coastal Range and parallel inland Taitung Longitudinal Valley of Taiwan respectively.[5]
From the northeast of Taiwan and continuing eastwards in the Ryukyu Volcanic Arc, the Philippine Sea Plate is subducting under the Okinawa Plate, forming the Ryukyu Volcanic Arc.
External image
Geology Map of Taiwan
Taiwan seismicity, showing both magnitude and depth of earthquakes.
^"The Geology of Taiwan". Department of Geology, National Taiwan Normal University. Archived from the original on 22 February 2008.
^"Geology of Taiwan". Department of Geology, University of Arizona. Archived from the original on 2017-04-13. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
^Williams, Jack Francis; Chang, David (2008). Taiwan's Environmental Struggle: Toward a Green Silicon Island. Routledge. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-415-44723-2.
^"Geology of Taiwan — University of Arizona". Geo.arizona.edu. Archived from the original on 13 April 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
^Clift, Schouten and Draut (2003) in Intra-Oceanic Subduction Systems: Tectonic and Magmatic Processes, ISBN 1-86239-147-5 p84–86
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Global Information
Geology Map of Taiwan