The peopling of the Philippines: theories, literature, evidence

Theories on the geological emergence of the Philippine islands

There are several theories, agreeing on some aspects and conflicting on others, about how the various geological (including tectonic and climatic) forces resulted in the emergence and shaping of the Philippine islands, as well as the time scales involved.

On vast time scales of millions of years, it is now established that tectonic plate movements shaped much of the geological structure that underlies the Philippines. The plate tectonic reconstructions of SEARG [1] show these movements in a graphic way that's easily grasped even by ordinary people.

Sources

• New Definition of Philippine Plate Boundaries and Implications to the Philippine Mobile Belt [2]
• Philippine Sea and East Asian plate tectonics since 52 Ma constrained by new subducted slab reconstruction methods [3]
• Timing and tectonic controls in the evolving orogen of SE Asia and the western Pacific and some implications for ore generation [4]