在南海形成演化过程中热活动起到重要的作用,蕴含了丰富的地质信息;要系统了解南海的演化过程,认识和研究南海及邻近区域热状态、岩石圈热结构和构造热演化具有十分重要的科学意义。本文回顾了近40年来中外科学家在南海地热流探测及研究中取得的一些主要成果,重点介绍了对南海热状态、深部热结构以及热演化的研究进展,针对目前存在的主要问题:(1)早期的南海热流数据分布不匀,来源不同,质量良莠不齐;虽可反映出特征值的分布趋势,但难以准确反映出现今地热场实际情况。(2)以往对深部热结构及其热演化过程的研究基于宏观大尺度,而盆地热模拟研究主要集中在南海共轭陆缘北侧;此外,研究时间段也只聚焦在南海大陆破裂及海底扩张期间,因而在时空方面均具有一定的局限性。展望今后南海的地热流探测和研究工作应从以下几个方面去落实:(1)在进一步完善区域地热流资料的基础上,加强资料甄别及其相应的地质环境分析,对影响因素进行校正以反映真实的地热背景;并将热流异常从区域热流背景场中分离出来。(2)从不同尺度、多视角去认识深部构造的热结构特征及热演化过程的运动学和动力学机制。要获得一个“活”的南海演化史,通过以“热”研究为主线,与地球物理探测的岩石圈结构、地球化学研究成果相结合,可得到南海的物质组成-结构特征-能量分布的综合信息。这种多学科交叉、多方法融合可以避免解释结果的多样性和不确定性,有助于完整地认识南海的地质成因和构造演化的动力学机制。 The thermal activity plays an important role in the evolution of the South China Sea and contains rich geological information. To understand the evolution of the South China Sea, it is very important to understand and study the thermal state in the South China Sea and its adjacent areas, the thermal structure of the lithosphere and the thermal evolution of the tectonics The scientific significance. In this paper, we reviewed some major achievements made by Chinese and foreign scientists in the exploration and study of the geothermal flow in the South China Sea in the past 40 years. The progress of the study on the thermal state, deep thermal structure and thermal evolution in the South China Sea are reviewed. The main problems are as follows: (1) The early South China Sea heat flow data are unevenly distributed, with different origins and different qualities. Although the distribution of eigenvalues ​​may be reflected, it is difficult to accurately reflect the current geothermal field. (2) In the past, the research on deep thermal structure and its thermal evolution process was based on macroscopic and macroscopic scale. However, the thermal simulation of the basin mainly concentrated on the north side of the South China Sea conjugate continental margin. In addition, the study period was only focused on the rupture of the South China Sea and the seabed During the expansion, it has certain limitations in terms of space and time. Looking forward, the exploration and research on geothermal flow in the South China Sea should be carried out from the following aspects: (1) On the basis of further improvement of geothermal flow data in the region, the data screening and its corresponding geological environment analysis should be strengthened to correct the influencing factors to reflect The true geothermal background; and the heat flow anomalies from the regional heat flow background field separation. (2) Recognize the thermal structural features of deep tectonics and the kinematic and kinetic mechanisms of thermal evolution from different scales and perspectives. To obtain a “living” evolutionary history of the South China Sea, we can obtain the composition of the South China Sea - structural features by combining the “hot” research with the lithospheric structure and geochemical research results of geophysical exploration - Comprehensive information on energy distribution. This multidisciplinary and multi-method fusion can avoid the interpretation of the diversity and uncertainty of results and contribute to a complete understanding of the geological mechanism of the South China Sea’s geological formation and tectonic evolution.