Two crustal cross sections through the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau are jointly determined from deep seismic sounding. The E–W trending line AA’ passes through the western Sichuan plateau (including the Songpan‐Garze terrane and the Longmenshan fault belt) and ends in the Sichuan basin (a part of the Yangtze craton). Line BB’ has a trend of NNE and crosses the Songpan‐Garze terrane. Two‐dimensional crustal structures along the profiles were jointly determined by the additional use of existing deep seismic sounding data. Our seismic velocity models indicate that the western Sichuan plateau and the Sichuan basin have crustal thicknesses of 62 and 43 km, average crustal P wave velocities of 6.27 and 6.45 km/s and lower crustal (Vp > 6.5 km/s) thicknesses of 27 and 15 km, respectively. Density models constructed from the seismic velocity models are consistent with observed Bouguer gravity anomalies. We infer that collision between the Tibetan Plateau and the Yangtze craton has caused thickening of the lower crust and uplift of the western Sichuan plateau. We detect a low‐velocity layer in the upper crust of the western Sichuan plateau but observe no equivalence in the Sichuan basin; west dipping thrusts may detach into this low‐velocity layer. The seismic phase PmP in the western Sichuan plateau has low amplitude, suggesting high attenuation in the lower crust (Qp of 100–300). We suggest that the high attenuation is a consequence of lower crustal flow caused by the large lower crustal thickness beneath the western Sichuan plateau.

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Based on the first arrival P and S data of 4 625 regional earthquakes recorded at 174 stations dispersed in the Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces, the 3-D velocity structure of crust and upper mantle in the region is determined, incorporating with previous deep geophysical data. In the upper crust, a positive anomaly velocity zone exists in the Sichuan basin, whereas a negative anomaly velocity zone exists in the western Sichuan plateau. The boundary between the positive and negative anomaly zones is the Longmenshan fault zone. The images of lower crust and upper mantle in the Longmenshan fault, Xianshuihe fault, Honghe fault and others show the characteristic of tectonic boundary, indicating that the faults likely penetrate the Moho discontinuity. The negative velocity anomalies at the depth of 50 km in the Tengchong volcanic area and.the Panxi tectonic zone appear to be associated with the temperature and composition variations in the upper mantle. The overall features of the crustal and the upper mantle structures in the Sichuan-Yunnan region are the lower average velocity in both crust and uppermost mantle, the large crustal thickness variations, and the existence of high conductivity layer in the crust or/and upper mantle, and higher geothermal value. All these features are closely related to the collision between the India and the Asia plates. The crustal velocity in the Sichuan-Yunnan rhombic block generally shows normal value or positive anomaly, while the negative anomaly exists in the area along the large strike-slip faults as the block boundary. It is conducive to the crustal block side-pressing out along the faults. In the major seismic zones, the seismicity is relative to the negative anomaly velocity. Most strong earthquakes occurred in the upper-mid crust with positive anomaly or normal velocity, where the negative anomaly zone generally exists below.

We present how to detect reservoirs by the 3‐D normalized full gradient (NFG) of gravity anomalies constrained by seismic and drilling data. The normalized full gradient represents the full gradient of the gravity anomaly at a point divided by the average of the full gradient at the datum. The closed minima on an NFG map indicate the occurrence and horizontal locations of the centers of mass of density anomalies related to oil reservoirs. This information can be used to select well locations in an oil field. On a cross‐section, the closed minima can be used to estimate the depth to centers of mass of possible hydrocarbon reservoirs. Some characteristics of the NFG are calculated for a hypothetical case of an anticline saturated with oil and gas. The relationship of these characteristics to the geometry and physical parameters of the anticline is studied. Modeling studies show that the NFG largely depends on the number of terms in the Fourier series used to calculate it, and it closely related to the length of the gravity profile or the size of the study area. Applying the NFG method to the Shengli oil field, i.e., using closed minima of NFG alongside drilling data, showed an effectiveness of up to 70%. These results were used to select well locations with the result that some high‐production gas‐bearing strata were discovered by drilling.

The crustal structure of the northwestern sub-basin area of the South China Sea was modeled by inverting a wide-angle seismic survey line across the entire region and on both sides of its bounding continental margins. The survey line extended over 484 km. A total of 14 Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBS) were deployed at intervals of 30 km to record air-gun array sources with a combined volume of 5160 in 3 . The crustal velocity structure of the northwestern sub-basin area was acquired through the integration of multi-channel seismic data. OBS data were processed and modeled initially using ray tracing inversion techniques. Results indicate that crustal thickness under the continental slope decreases from 21 to 11 km, crustal thickness of the northwestern sub-basin is 7.7 km, and the depth to the Moho ascends from 21 km under the upper continental slope to 11 km under the middle basin. The crust of the northwestern sub-basin is similar to that of the eastern sub-basin in its oceanic crustal structure. This structure has a thicker layer 1 (sedimentary layer) and a thinner layer 2. These characteristics are especially clear in the eastern sub-basin, which differs somewhat from typical oceanic crust. The tectonic geometry and velocity structure of the northwestern sub-basin and its margins comprise a symmetrical conjugate and indicate a pure shear mode with regard to the continental margin rifting mechanism. We did not find clear seismic signals from high velocity layers under the lower crust of the continental margin in the northern part of the northwestern sub-basin, which provides new evidence for the idea that the western part of the northern continental margin of the South China Sea constitutes non-volcanic crust. Because the seafloor spreading period of the northwestern sub-basin was short, layer 2 might have experienced asymmetrical basalt magma flows, which may have blurred the magnetic anomaly lineations of the northwestern sub-basin.wide-angle seismic, crustal structure, South China Sea, tectonic evolution Citation:Wu Z L, Li J B, Ruan A G, et al. Crustal structure of the northwestern sub-basin, South China Sea: Results from a wide-angle seismic experiment.