Searching for the remains of subducted continental slabs

On the basis of oceanic geological and geophysical observations the global plate tectonics theory was put forward in the late 1960s.It inherited the essence of mobilism of continental drift and sea-floor spreading,caused a revolution of earth sciences in the twentieth century.But plate tectonics cannot satisfactorily explain the complicated geological phenomena of continents,it fails in elucidating the formation and evolution process of continents.Therefore,the formation and evolution of continents have been the hot topics explored by earth scientists in recent years.As far as China is concerned,the opening and closing of Tethys are related to the formation,evolution,and compressional reformation of Chinese continent in the Mesozoic period,hence have important implications.