The SE Asian Gateway: History and Tectonics of the Australia–Asia Collision

Abstract

Collision between Australia and SE Asia began in the Early Mioceneand reduced the former wide ocean between them to a complexpassage which connects the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Today, theIndonesian Throughflow passes through this gateway and plays animportant role in global thermohaline flow. The surrounding regioncontains the maximum global diversity for many marine and terrestrialorganisms. Reconstruction of this geologically complex region isessential for understanding its role in oceanic and atmospheric circulation, climateimpacts, and the origin of its biodiversity.The papers in this volume discuss the Palaeozoic to Cenozoic geological background toAustralia and SE Asia collision. They provide the background for accounts of the modernIndonesian Throughflow and oceanographic changes since the Neogene, and consideraspects of the region’s climate history.