Wedge tectonics in South China: constraints from new seismic data.

Collisional orogens form when tectonic forces amalgamte fragments of Earth's continental lithosphere. The sutures between individual fragments, or terranes, are potential sites of weakness that facilitate subsequent continental breakup. Therefore, the lithospheric architecture of collisional orogens provides key information for evaluating the long-term evolution of the continental interior: for example, the South China Block (SCB), where the tectonic history is severely obscured by extensive surface deformation, magmatism, and metamorphism.