Six million years ago, the Philippine Sea Plate, which had already long been moving in the Pacific, smashed at an angle into the largest tectonic plate in the world, the Eurasian. Taiwan, located on the southeast edge of the Eurasian Plate, was consequently pushed up through the surface of the sea.
從大地構造上看，六百多萬年前，在太平洋上移動已久的菲律賓板塊，斜撞上地球最大的陸塊──歐亞板塊，位在歐亞板塊東南邊界上的台灣，從海中應運而生。