Yangtze Plate

Taiwan is part of the collision zone between the Yangtze Plate and Philippine Sea Plate.

The Yangtze Plate was formed by the disaggregation of Rodinia Supercontinent 750 million years ago, in the Neoproterozoic era.

In Triassic the Yangtze Plate collided with the North China Plate and formed the Sichuan basin.

Distinct from western lands of Taiwan, it is a part of Philippine Mobile Belt instead of the Yangtze Plate.

It lies on major faultlines on the diverging belt between the Qinghai-Tibet Plate and the Yangtze Plate, and earthquakes have also shaped the landscape.

The Yangtze Plate, also called the South China Block or the South China Subplate, comprises the bulk of southern China.

In Cenozoic the Yangtze Plate was influenced by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates creating the uplifting of the Longmen Mountains.

It is formed back from the western edge Philippine Sea Plate as it overrides the Yangtze Plate which is subducted in the Manila Trench.

It is separated from the Yangtze Plate (often considered part of the Eurasian Plate) by a rift that forms the Okinawa Trough which is a Back arc basin.

The island of Taiwan lies in a complex tectonic area between the Yangtze Plate to the west and north, the Okinawa Plate on the north-east, and the Philippine Mobile Belt on the east and south.