New Insights into the Genetic Mechanism of the Miocene Mounded Stratigraphy in the Qiongdongnan Basin, Northern South China Sea

Litao Xu, Wanzhong Shi (), Ren Wang, Jinfeng Ren, Yulin He, Hao Du, Tingna Zuo, Jin Huang and Yang Dong
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Litao Xu: Key Laboratory of Tectonics and Petroleum Resources, Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Wanzhong Shi: Key Laboratory of Tectonics and Petroleum Resources, Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Ren Wang: Key Laboratory of Tectonics and Petroleum Resources, Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Jinfeng Ren: Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, China Geological Survey, Guangzhou 510075, China
Yulin He: Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, China Geological Survey, Guangzhou 510075, China
Hao Du: Key Laboratory of Tectonics and Petroleum Resources, Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Tingna Zuo: Key Laboratory of Tectonics and Petroleum Resources, Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Jin Huang: Key Laboratory of Tectonics and Petroleum Resources, Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Yang Dong: Key Laboratory of Tectonics and Petroleum Resources, Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 24, 1-18

Abstract: The origin of deep-water mounds has been a topic of debate in recent years. In this study, newly collected seismic data were employed to characterize the mounds within the Meishan Formation in the Qiongdongnan Basin and a novel model was proposed. The result showed that pervasive mounds and ‘V’-shaped troughs were alternately distributed at the top of the Meishan Formation. They appeared as elongated ridges flanked by similarly elongated gullies, with the trending parallel with the strike of the basinward slope. The mounded features were considered to be formed in response to the tectonically induced seabed deformation. The differential subsidence steepened the slope that was equivalent to the top of the Meishan Formation (ca. 10.5 Ma), which offered sufficient driving forces triggering the slope’s instability. Correspondingly, the uppermost deposits glided along a bedding-parallel detachment surface, creating a number of listric detachment faults that ceased downward to this surface. The uppermost layer was cut into a range of tilted fault blocks with tops constituting a seemingly mounded topography. Some of the downfaulted troughs between mounds steered the gravity flows and were filled by sand-rich lithologies. The differential subsidence played a decisive role in the formation of a mounded stratigraphy, which in turn acted as clues to the important tectonic phase since the late Miocene.

Keywords: mounded stratigraphy; genetic mechanism; slope instability; gravity gliding; detachment faults; Qiongdongnan Basin (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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