A volcanic chain has been discovered beneath the Sichuan Basin in southern China. (Image credit: View Stock/Alamy)
Scientists have identified a 400-mile-long chain of extinct fossilized volcanoes buried deep beneath southern China. In a new study, the researchers report that the volcanoes were created by the collision of two tectonic plates during the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia hundreds of millions of years ago. These ancient volcanoes extend the region's volcanic activity by hundreds of miles and may have influenced Earth's climate.
About 800 million years ago, in the early Neoproterozoic, southern China was located on the northwestern edge of Rodinia. The movement of tectonic plates caused this region to split into what is now known as the Yangtze Plate and push it against the oceanic China Plate. The collision of the plates caused the denser oceanic crust to sink beneath the lighter continental crust, causing it to sink deep into the Earth's crust, a process known as subduction.
As the oceanic crust subducts, it heats up and releases water, which helps form magma. The magma rises to the surface, forming a long, narrow chain of volcanoes that forms a curved line above the subduction zone. This phenomenon is called a volcanic arc.
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