The Late Palaeozoic Rifting on Hainan Island, China

Abstract There occurred rifting on Hainan Island in the Late Palaeozoic. Bimodal volcanic rocks composed of basalt and rhyolite developed in the Carboniferous. Widespread in the Late Palaeozoic formations are several layers of fluvial intermontane conglomerates whose distribution is controlled by rift faults. The Late Palaeozoic deposits dominated by clastic rocks are, for a major part, of marine facies and of continental facies in the lower and upper parts. Lithological and lithochemical studies indicate that the detrital rocks were formed in a tectonic setting of continental rifting. The evolution of the rifting terminated at the stage of transition form an intra continental rift to an intercontinental one and the rift basin was a bay opening westward to the sea.