Formation of the Taiwan Island as a Solitary Wave along the Eurasian Continental Plate Margin: Magnetic and Seismological Evidence

The Philippine Sea plate moves northwestward, with respect to the Eurasian plate, and produces the Ryukyu subduction system (including the Ryukyu trench, the Ryukyu arc and the Okinawa trough) and the Manila subduction system (including the Manila trench and the Luzon arc) with opposite polarity of subduction on the plate boundary along the Ryukyu-Taiwan-Luzon region. The transition zone between these two subduction systems is the Taiwan island, with vigorous mountain building in the south and southwestward as a solitary wave along the Eurasian continental plate margin, with a speed of about 7cm/y. In this paper, we describe the occurrence environment for this phenomenon, with morphological, magnetic and seismological evidence.