Similarity and differentiation between the East China Sea Shelf Basin and Cenozoic basins in the northeast South China Sea

Abstract

The East China Sea Shelf Basin (ECSSB), the Pearl River Mouth Basin (PRMB) and the Taixinan Basin (TXNB) in the northern continental margin of the South China Sea (SCS) are important oil‐ and gas‐bearing basins on the Western Pacific Continental Margin. During the Paleocene to Late Miocene, their strata can be compared, and the lithofacies were continuous from the TXNB, via the Taixi Basin (TXB) to the ECSSB. The lithologies mainly consist of interbedded shale, sandstone and mudstone layers. In addition, these basins have similar tectonic and sedimentation features. The three basins had similar marine‐terrigenous facies in the Paleocene and marine–lacustrine–fluvial facies during the Eocene and Late Miocene. The basins experienced several coeval tectonic movements and episodes, and they developed a series of NE‐ and NNE‐trending faults during the Paleocene and Eocene, which controlled the structure of the basins. During the Early Oligocene and Middle Miocene, they developed a series of NW‐ and WNW‐trending strike‐slip faults, reverse folds and flower‐like strike‐slip faults. However, there were obvious differences in sedimentary and tectonic evolution since the Late Miocene. The TXNB and TXB developed marine facies after the Late Miocene, while in the Quaternary, open marine facies replaced the Pliocene terrigenous facies in the ECSSB. Since the Late Miocene, the south of the ECSSB developed into a subsidence stage, and fault activity stopped. The TXB and TXNB developed some inverse structures and then developed into a thermal subsidence episode after the Dongsha Movement. Thus, this paper proposes that the ECSSB and the Cenozoic basins in the SCS were originally a unified basin and then subsequently separated into two basins as a result of the indentation of the Philippine Sea Plate (PSP) and the arc–continent collision between the Luzon Arc and the Eurasian Plate. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Fault interaction and evolution during two‐phase rifting in the Xijiang Sag, Pearl River Mouth Basin, northern South China Sea

“…The SCS is the largest and deepest marginal sea in the western Pacific Ocean. The PRMB, Qiongdongnan Basin, Yinggehai Basin, Beibuwan Basin, and Taixinan Basin located on the northern continental margin of the SCS are Cenozoic sedimentary basins upon Mesozoic basement consisting of granites, sedimentary rocks, and metamorphic rocks (An et al, ; Cheng et al, ; Li et al, ; Sun, Wu, Cartwright, & Dong, ; Zang et al, ; Hui et al, ; He et al, ; Figure ). The PRMB is a NE–SW‐trending sedimentary basin located in the centre of the northern SCS margin and covers about 175,000 km 2 (Figure ).…”

Temporal and spatial distribution of Cenozoic igneous rocks in the South China Sea and its adjacent regions: implications for tectono‐magmatic evolution

“…W.N. The dextral right-stepping fault zone controls the migration of the igneous rocks Zang et al, 2016;Fig. The fault zone shows a tulip-like structure (Hall, 2002;Honza and Fujioka, 2004;Li et al, 2013).…”

“…The dextral right-stepping fault zone is offset by the late WNW-trending left-stepping sinistral faults, which are continuous and consistent in strike with the WNW-trending faults in the Luzon Arc. The dextral right-stepping fault zone controls the migration of the igneous rocks Zang et al, 2016; Fig. 7).…”

Large‐scale morphotectonics of the ocean‐continent transition zone between the Western Pacific Ocean and the East Asian Continent: a link of deep process to the Earth' s surface system

“…In order to understand the deep processes that occur in the OCT zone, at first, we need to restore the tectonic settings and their changes in each period. It is necessary to know not only the tectonic configuration of the Western Pacific Ocean (Li et al, 2015a, b; Zhang et al, 2016a, b), the structure of the East Asian Continental Margin (Wang et al, ; Dai et al, , ; Song et al, ; Suo et al, ; Cao et al, ; Guo et al, ; Yang et al, ; Zang et al, ; Zhang et al, 2016c, d; Zhu et al, ) and the tectonic activity and evolution of the Earth's crust but also the mechanism of the continental dynamics (Li, ). The OCT zone between the Western Pacific and the East Asian Continent is located in the active eastern margin of the Eurasian Plate, when the Pacific and Philippine Sea plates subducted beneath the Okhotsk and Eurasian plates, respectively.…”