海洋构造地球物理或构造物理学是海洋地球科学研究的前沿。它是构造地质学和地球物理学互相渗透、互相促进的一门很有前景的新兴边缘学科。80年代这一新兴学科有较明显的发展，90年代这一学科在板块运动、驱动机制的定量研究以及在巨型断裂、造山带与盆地形成机理等方面的研究将有重要的突破，我国在90年代应加强对南海这一西太平洋最大的边缘海的构造地球物理研究。

 Marine tectonogeophysics, or marine tectonophysics, is the frontier of marine geosciences. This is a newly developed marginal discipline of research，resulting from the impact and infiltration between tectonics and geophysics. This research discipline has developed rapidly during the 80' s and is expected to have important breakthrough during the 90' s in quantitative studies of plate movement and its driving forces, and in the studies of formation mechanism of giant faults, orogenic belts, and sedimentary basins.
    The South China Sea (SCS)，as the largest marginal sea in west Pacific，is an important area for marine tectonogeophysical researches in the 90'  s   with complicated geological structures,  SCS is a miniature  of  the  global  tectonics  and  meanwhile  possesses  unique  characteristics  of  marginal seas. Abundant petroleum resources found under the shelf of SCS make the area even important both politically and economically. As Chinese marine tectonogeophysicists,we must study the area systematitally and comprehensively，and put forward our view in the following fourteen principal aspects ; thetectonic affiliation of SCS,the comparison of northern and southern shelves,geological features of slope basins, Manila Trench, Nansha Trough，Xisha Trough,"Dongsha Massif, East Vietnam Fault，Littoral Fault belt，island and reef areas, and the spreading center of the Central Basin, the formation and evolution of SCS, the deep geological processes for hydrocarbon cumulation under northern and southern shelves,  and the crustal structure and dynamic characteristics of SCS.