“…Although extensive research has focused on the origin of the widespread Cenozoic rifting and volcanism in eastern China (e.g., Flower et al, 2001;Ren et al, 2002;Liu et al, 2004;Niu, 2005;Tang et al, 2006;Xu, 2007;Li et al, 2010Li et al, , 2013Li et al, , 2015bLi et al, , 2016bYin, 2010;Zhao et al, 2011;Xu et al, 2012;Suo et al, 2012Suo et al, , 2014Kuritani et al, 2013;Sakuyama et al, 2013;Gong and Chen, 2014;Wang et al, 2015;Zhao et al, 2016;Chen et al, 2017;Sun et al, 2017), controversy remains and two alternative models are currently invoked. These two competing models have evoked fundamentally different lithospheric and asthenospheric processes as they involve different driving forces ( Fig.…”