The Crustal Structure Character of East China Sea

摘要

This paper presents actuality of investigation and study of the crustal structure characters of East China Sea at home and abroad. Based on lots of investigation and study achievements and the difference of the crustal velocity structure from west to east, the East China Sea is divided into three parts — East China Sea shelf zone, Okinawa Trough zone and Ryukyu arc-trench zone. The East China Sea shelf zone mostly has three velocity layers, i.e., the sediment blanket layer (the velocity is 5.8-5.9 km/s), the basement layer (the velocity is 6.0-6.3 km/s), and the lower crustal layer (the velocity is 6.8-7.6 km/s). So the East China Sea shelf zone belongs to the typical continental crust. The Okinawa Trough zone is located at the transitional belt between the continental crust and the oceanic crust. It still has the structural characters of the continental crust, and no formation of the oceanic crust, but the crust of the central trough has become to thinning down. The Ryukyu arc-trench zone belongs to the transitional type crust as a whole, but the ocean side of the trench already belongs to the oceanic crust. And the northwest Philippine Basin to the east of the Ryukyu Trench absolutely belongs to the typical oceanic crust.