位于南海东南缘的巴拉望微陆块自早渐新世以来伴随着南海的扩张而从华南大陆裂离出来，并于早–中中新世与卡加延海脊–菲律宾活动带发生弧陆碰撞。因此，南海东南缘的构造演化对于了解南海古地理变迁和扩张过程具有重要意义。由于弧陆碰撞，巴拉望微陆块南缘的新生代地层遭受逆冲抬升并出露于巴拉望中南部，成为了解南海东南缘构造演化的重要窗口。本项目拟对巴拉望中南部始新世–中新世地层进行详细的野外地质调查和微体化石分析，建立高分辨率的生物地层框架，并了解其沉积环境。利用碎屑组成、地球化学和碎屑锆石U-Pb年龄及Hf同位素等多种手段示踪沉积物的源区变化。本项目旨在（1）恢复南海扩张以前（始新世–早渐新世）巴拉望微陆块南缘的沉积环境和物源，（2）重建巴拉望岛不同构造单元在弧陆碰撞中的隆升剥蚀历史。这不仅可以拓宽对华南陆缘古地理格局的认识，也可以进一步认识南海东南缘弧陆碰撞的时空演化及其与南海停止扩张之间的成因联系。

The Palawan Microcontinental Block on the southeastern margin of the South China Sea was rifted from the mainland Asia since the seafloor spreading of the South China Sea in the Early Oligocene, and finally collided with the Cagayan Ridge–Philippine Mobile Belt in the Early–Middle Miocene. Therefore, the evolution of the southeastern margin of the South China Sea is of great importance for understanding the paleogeographic environment and spreading history of the South China Sea. Due to the arc-continent collision, Cenozoic strata on the southern margin of the Palawan Microcontinental Block were thrust, uplifted and cropped out on the central and south Palawan. Therefore, the central and south Palawan provides one of the best geological windows to look into the tectonic evolution of the southeastern margin of the South China Sea. Field survey and micropaleontological analysis on the Eocene–Miocene sediments will be conducted to establish a high resolution biostratigraphic framework and also constrain the sedimentary environment. We will also investigate sandstone petrography, mudstone geochemistry and as well as detrital zircon U-Pb chronology and Hf isotope to trace the provenance. Particularly, this study aims to (1) reconstruct the paleogeographical environment of the southern margin of the Palawan microcontinental block in the Eocene–Early Oligocene before the spreading of the South China Sea and (2) constrain the uplift and erosion history of the different tectonic units on the Palawan Island during the arc-continent collision. This study will improve the understanding of the paleogeographical environment of the South China continental margin, and also contribute to the knowledge of the temporal-spatial evolution of the arc-continent collision between the Palawan Microcontinental Block and the Cagayan Ridge–Philippine Mobile Belt and its relationship with termination of the spreading of the South China Sea.