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Inversion of satellite-derived free-air gravity-anomaly data has been used to map crustal thickness and continental lithosphere thinning in the South China Sea. Using this, we determine the ocean–continent transition zone structure, the distal extent of continental crust, and the distribution of oceanic lithosphere and continental fragments in the South China Sea. We construct a set of regional crustal cross-sections, with Moho depth from gravity inversion, spanning the South China Sea from offshore China and Vietnam to offshore Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines to examine variations in ocean–continent transition structure and ocean-basin width. Our analysis shows a highly asymmetrical conjugate margin structure. The Palawan margin shows a narrow transition from continental to oceanic crust. In contrast, the conjugate northern margin of the South China Sea shows a wide region of thinned continental crust and an isolated block of continental crust (the Macclesfield Bank) separated from the Chinese margin by a failed oceanic rift. The Dangerous Grounds are predicted to be underlain by fragmented blocks of thinned continental crust. We use maps of crustal thickness and continental lithosphere thinning from gravity inversion together with free-air gravity- and magnetic-anomaly data to identify structural trends and to show that rifting and the early seafloor-spreading axis had an ENE–WSW trend while the later seafloor-spreading axis had a NE–SW trend.

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