Geology of the China Seas represents the first English-language synthesis of the available research into the geology of the South and East China Seas. Among the marginal basins worldwide, these areas have been the focus of extensive research activities in the last three decades, and are now among the global hot spots in hydrocarbon explorations and scientific investigations. The region is experiencing rapid economic development with the offshore petroleum industry providing approximately one third of the domestic hydrocarbon production for mainland China. Gas hydrates have been successfully recovered from the China Seas for the first time.
Over the years, many volumes on the geology of the China Seas have been published in Chinese. Although an increasing number of papers in English have appeared recently, the majority deal with local or regional paleo-environment and sedimentology, and are scattered in different journals. This book brings together this rich data in one resource, particularly that generated by Chinese marine geologists and petroleum geologists, and provides the very first synthesis of the geology off China.
Li, Chun-Feng: - Chun-Feng Li is the professor and deputy director of State Key Lab of Marine Geology at Tongji University. He received a BS in geology from China Univ. of Geosciences (Wuhan), an MS in tectonophysics from Institute of Crustal Dynamics and Graduate School Academia Sinica, an MS in geophysics from the University of Houston, and a PhD in geophysics from the University of Tulsa. His main research interests are tectonophysics and geodynamics. He has been the principle investigator of over 10 major research projects, and has published over 70 papers and coauthored two books. He was a shipboard scientist in IODP Expedition 316 and a co-chief scientist in IODP Expedition 349. He received an excellent New-Century Scholar award from MOEC and a high-level scholar by Tongji University, and received the Liu Guangding Medal for Young Geophysicists. He is the first inventor of a US patent on seismic attribute. He currently serves as a council member of the Chinese Geophysical Society, and as an editorial board member of Journal of Geodynamics, and Marine Geophysical Research.
Li, Qianyu: - Qiyanu Li has been professor of marine geology at Tongji University since 2004, after ten years association with Adelaide University as a researcher. He received his MSc from University College London in 1986 and his PhD from Imperial College in 1991, majoring in marine geology and micropaleontology. He was awarded QE II Fellow by Australian Research Council during 1998-2002. His main research areas include micropaleontology, stratigraphy and paleoceanography. He sailed three cruises on the JOIDES Resolution: ODP 182, IODP 308 and IODP 349. He was also involved in post-cruise studies of ODP 120 and ODP 184. He has published two co-authored/edited books and over 100 papers on stratigraphy and paleoclimate changes mainly in two geographic regions: southern Australia and the South China Sea.
Wang, Pinxian: - Pinxian Wang graduated from the Moscow State University in 1960, majoring in paleontology, and was Alexander von Humboldt Fellow in 1981-82 in Kiel, Germany. He is now Professor at the Tongji University, where he was Director of the Department and Laboratory of Marine Geology for years. His research fields are basically paleoceanography and micropaleontology in the Western Pacific and paleo-monsoon studies in East Asia, especially in the South China Sea. He was co-chief scientist of the Ocean Drilling Program Leg 184 in 1999 and the Marco Polo Cruise in 2005, both to the South China Sea. He initiated the series of "Asian Marine Geology Conference" in 1988, and led the international working groups on paleo-monsoons. Currently he is leading a major research program "The South China Sea Deep" founded by the Chinese NSF.
He was elected into the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1991. He is Honorary Fellow of the Geological Society, London, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was awarded the Milutin Milankovitch Medal in 2007 by the European Geoscience Union.
