GEOLOGY OF PASSIVE CONTINENTAL MARGINS

According to the main achievement published in "AAPG Education Course Note Series No. 19" and other works, this paper systematically introduces the geology of passive continental margins, including its geometric pattern, structu- re and evolution and the identification of its ancient counterparts. The regional uplift of eastern North China in the Early to Middle Triassic, followed by vast volcanic eruption and deposition of red coarse clastic rocks in the Jurassic along the graben system, indicates that there had been a northeasteast ritf extending from northern Shanxi through Hebei, Liaoning and Jilin provinces to Shikhote-Alin in the early Mesozoic. Considering that more and more ar- tioles point out that the structural framework of the whole of China Could be regarded as a composite composed of several continental blocks and various terranes progressively accreting from the late Precambrian to the Cenozoic, it is very important to clarify the nature of the ancient continental margins which now transect the continent and their history of transformation.