| The North Luzon trough is a forearc basin extending from the subduction zone to the arc-continent collision zone, south of Taiwan. Seismic stratigraphic analysis of forearc basin sediments, combined with studies of recent sedimentation processes using SeaMARC II swath-mapping, is used to examine the evolution of this region. These sediments were derived from the volcanic arc and deposited by sediment-gravity flows and through mass wasting along the rear of the accretionary prism. Detritus from the Taiwan mountain belt is trapped in a series of satellite basins to the north of the forearc basin or directed into the backarc region as a result of seafloor deformation along the active collision suture. A decrease in thickness of the upper three seismic sequences along the western margin of the basin marks the onset of uplift of basin strata due to tectonic wedging along the rear of the accretionary prism. |
