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A new geotectonic framework of the Taiwan orogen is presented in accordance with the hypothesis of an oblique arc- arc collision. The colliding Luzon arc is physically connected to the eastern Coastal Range in which a subduction complex remnant is preserved and backthrust with intra-arc sediments in a small retroforeland basin. A southern and extinct extension of the Ryukyu arc is characterized in western Taiwan. It displays a duplex structure (Tananao and Backbone horses and Lishan triangle zone) between a buried floor thrust located in the arc crust and a roof thrust developed in the arc cover (Hsfiehshan Range and South Backbone Range). Westward the basal thrust climbs in the sedimentary series of the western proforeland (Foothills and Hengchun Peninsula) and dies out in a buried tip line. The northern part of the orogen, including all the Tananao arc core, is shown as an intra-oceanic-continental arc-arc collision belt characterized by an unroofed duplex culmination above a leading floor thrust and both proforeland and retroforeland basins. The southern part, which displays a roof thrust sequence above a buried duplex, is shown as an accretionary prism built in a transition zone between continent and oceanic subduction (transition from the Asian continental crust, including the former Ryukyu arc, to the oceanic Old Philippine Sea crust). The partition is believed to be induced by a deep intracontinental transcurrent fault zone able to influence the difference in shortening, duplex pattern, and leading thrust depth. The evolution was controlled by the Ryukyu subduction (backarc extension, arc magmatism extinction, and cooling and intra-arc collapse) until the early middle Miocene (around 15 Ma) and then it was controlled by the Luzon arc progression (continental subduction, collision, indentation, and hinterland uplift and frontal thrust propagation).

[1] The Neogene evolution of the Ene and southern Ucayali basins of the Subandes has been controlled by two stacked thrust wedges that differ in terms of tectonic styles. The lower thrust wedge is formed by deep-seated decollements within the basement related to thick-skinned foreland structures inherited from an Early Carboniferous thrust system. Seismic reflection data show that this Paleozoic compressional system has been eroded and unconformably covered by Late Carboniferous clastic sediments. It generated an irregular Paleozoic sedimentary architecture controlling the Neogene thrust propagation. The upper thin-skinned thrust wedge developed within this Paleozoic sedimentary series and constitutes the Subandean zone. Cross-section balancing shows an along-strike homogenous horizontal shortening of ∼56 km (∼30%) across the Ene−southern Ucayali thrust system. This amount of shortening was vertically partitioned onto the two stacked thrust wedges. The N-S thickness variations of the Paleozoic sedimentary prism controlled the eastward propagation of the upper thrust wedge. The southern thickening of the Paleozoic series generated major decollements and the shortening excess is of 7 km (16%) in comparison to the north. Consequently, the northern lack of shortening onto the upper thrust wedge was transferred to the Early Carboniferous compressional structures of the lower thrust wedge. We suggest that this vertical partitioning of the shortening was accommodated by a regional oblique ramp: the Tambo transfer zone. This geometrical analysis of the Ene−southern Ucayali thrust system provides new perspectives for future hydrocarbon exploration in this region.