| Figure 4. Configuration of the Philippine Sea plate around the subduction zone with the Eurasian plate. (Zheng et al. 2013)Figure 5. Illustration of the tear in the northwestern portion of the Philippine Sea plate due to the variations in stress along the convergent boundaries (Source: Lin et al., 2013). | In the northern region of the Philippine Sea plate, part of the Eurasian plate is being subducted beneath the Philippine Sea plate (Figure 4). This is surprising because the Eurasian plate is mostly continental crust, which is typically more buoyant than oceanic crust. However, the subduction is enabled by the South China sea floor, at the southern edge of the Eurasian plate, being more dense and moving at a faster rate than the Philippine Sea plate (Wang et al., 2009). This drags the Eurasian plate underneath the Philippine Sea plate, creating a unique subduction zone suggesting the presence of a tear in the northern region of the Philippine Sea plate. The variations in stress along the boundary may be linked to the growth of this tear which can be seen in Figure 5 (Lin et al., 2013). However, to the east of this, around northern Taiwan, the Philippine Sea plate is subducting beneath the Eurasian plate making this region considerably the most active collisional orogen in the world for ocean-continent interactions. Large earthquakes (Mw8.1) have occurred along the Nankai trench in 1944 and 1946 as well as several others due to the subduction of the Philippine Sea plate along its boundaries |
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