Abstract
This is a review paper presenting an original regional plate-tectonic model based on the data recently obtained on the geological structure and history of the Sea-of-Japan region. Several paleogeographic schemes for the Jurassic-Cretaceous time represent the author's geodynamic model for the development of this region. This model is clearly distinctive from the previous ones by postulating that the Californian-type transform margin has been one of the most significant geodynamic settings in the Mesozoic-Cenozoic East Asia. The author's paleogeodynamic model includes a geologic reconstruction of the pre-Neogene position of the Japanese Islands according to which the Central Sikhote-Alin, Tanakura and Median faults were parts of a single Early Cretaceous tectonic line. In addition, Early Cretaceous and Paleogene transform plate boundaries, Jurassic and Late Cretaceous supra-subduction continental margins, and Early Cretaceous island arc are recognized. The Early Cretaceous strike-slip movements likely resulted in a gigantic S-form structure of Sikhote Alin. Some Early Cretaceous and Paleogene magmatic rocks are recognized to indicate specific geodynamic structures, namely "slab windows".
