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Post-rift tectonic reactivation and its effect on deep-water deposits in the Qiongdongnan Basin, northwestern South China Sea

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Abstract

The post-rift evolution of extensional basins is traditionally thought to be dominated by thermal subsidence due to cessation of the major fault activity during the post-rift stage. The Qiongdongnan Basin, which is located in the northwestern continental margins of the South China Sea, has exhibited significant deviations from typical post-rift characteristics. In the basin, a distinct tectonic reactivation occurred since the Late Miocene (11.6 Ma). Three notable aspects of the observed tectonic reactivation during the post-rift stage include, (1) pre-existing fault reactivation, (2) multiple large-scale magmatic intrusions, and (3) rapid post-rift subsidence. During this period the basin infill significantly changed in depositional environments shifting rapidly from littoral-neritic to bathyal-abyssal environments since Late Miocene. The pre-existing fault activity along the No. 2 fault of the basin resulted in the formation of initial shelf breaks and led to the development of continental slope. In addition, the pre-existing faults along the Central Depression zone created a small sub-basin with distinctive axial negative topography characteristics formed between structural highs. These geomorphological changes led to the formation of the Central Canyon. Large-scale magmatic intrusions occurred along the fault zone in the Central Depression of the basin during the post-rift stage. Those deviations, as evidenced from pre-existing fault reactivation, magmatic intrusions, and rapid post-rift subsidence in the Qiongdongnan Basin is believed to be related to the Hainan Plume event.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 91028009 and 41372112), the National Key Projects of Oil and Gas (No. 2011ZX05025-002-02), the Programme of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (No. B14031). We would like to acknowledge the editor Sun Zhen, the specially invited editor Hans Christian Larsen and the reviewers for their comments that significantly improved the manuscript. We are also grateful to David Van Rooij and Thomas Vandorpe (Ghent University, Belgium) for providing very useful, detailed comments and constructive remarks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Tectonics and Petroleum Resources of Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Kainan Mao, Xinong Xie, Jianye Ren & Hui Chen

  2. Renard Centre of Marine Geology, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 s8, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Kainan Mao

  3. Zhanjiang Branch of CNOOC, Zhanjiang, 524057, Guangdong, China

    Yuhong Xie

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  1. Kainan Mao
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Correspondence to Xinong Xie.

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Mao, K., Xie, X., Xie, Y. et al. Post-rift tectonic reactivation and its effect on deep-water deposits in the Qiongdongnan Basin, northwestern South China Sea. Mar Geophys Res 36, 227–242 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-015-9248-x

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