Deep structures of the Palawan and Sulu Sea and their implications for opening of the South China Sea

Liu, Wei-Nan; Li, Chun‐Feng; Li, Jiabiao; Fairhead, Derek; Zhou, Zhengchao

doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2014.06.005

Cited by 39 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…But, we have yet to see evidence for mantle exhumation at the South China Sea. Offshore NW Palawan, gravity modeling and seismic data support existence of an extremely thinned continental crust Liu et al 2014). Our observations of tilted fault blocks within syn-rift strata in the Dangerous Grounds are consistent with a wide rifted and highly thinned continental margin (Figs.…”

Section: Rifting To Drifting Transition Of the Southwest Subbasinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rifting to drifting transition of the Southwest Subbasin of the South China Sea

Song

2015

Mar Geophys Res

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Continental rupturing process and related dynamics on the onset of seafloor spreading remain poorly understood in the opening of the South China Sea. To constrain the timing and cause of major tectonic events, we focus on the rifting-to-drifting transition of the Southwest Subbasin, which has very wide extended continental margins. By carefully interpreting rifting structures and carbonate platforms and reefs, we distinguished two major unconformities, i.e., the breakup unconformity (BRU) and the mid-Miocene unconformity, in the two conjugate margins of the Southwest Subbasin. The age of the BRU in our study area is near the Oligocene/Miocene boundary (*23 Ma). Pre-stack depth migration of a recently acquired multichannel reflection seismic profile reveals complex structures and strong lateral velocity variations associated with a 3.5 km thick syn-rifting sequence developed right at the continent-ocean boundary (COB) of the Southwest Subbasin. This syn-rifting sequence is bounded landwards by a large seaward dipping fault, and tapers out seawards. An erosional truncation, which represents the mid-Miocene unconformity landwards but the older breakup unconformity on the seaward side, occurred at the top of this sequence. The overall transitional deformation style from the rifting to drifting suggests a successive episode of rifting, faulting, compression, tilting, and erosion at the COB during the crustal thinning and mantle upwelling. Localized thick syn-rifting deposition and early deposition beneath the BRU in the oceanic domain exist only at the seaward concave part of the COB, indicating discrete rifting and seafloor spreading prior to the buildup of a unified spreading center for the entire subbasin.

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Section: Rifting To Drifting Transition Of the Southwest Subbasinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rifting to drifting transition of the Southwest Subbasin of the South China Sea

Song

2015

Mar Geophys Res

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“…When the western SCS faults occurred as sinistral left-stepping faults at an earlier stage, they then changed into dextral right-stepping faults at a later stage (E.T. W.N. Liu et al, 2014;Lu et al, 2014).…”

Section: Opening Of the Scs Related Volcanism And Pull-apart Basins mentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Hui

et al. 2016

Geological Journal

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The ocean–continent transition/conjunction zone is a mysterious and significant region in global tectonics and geodynamic evolution. The South China Sea (SCS) is one of the largest marginal basins in the Western Pacific with significant Cenozoic magmatic activities. The relationship between the tectono‐magmatic evolution and the tectonic setting of these Cenozoic igneous rocks is still controversial. In this study, the interpretation of gravity data, magnetic observation and seismic profiles is combined to identify the Cenozoic igneous rocks in the SCS and adjacent regions, and more than 70 magmatic activities have been discerned. We also show how the tectonic movements control the lithology and distribution of these magmatic activities. These Cenozoic magmatic rocks are related to the pre‐spreading, syn‐spreading and post‐spreading of the SCS. We suggest a geodynamic evolution of the SCS according to the temporal and spatial distribution of the igneous rocks. (1) An early period of bimodal volcanism (>32 Ma ago) mainly happened in the Paleogene basins at the northern margin of the SCS. This earlier volcanism happened under a trans‐extensional regime, which resulted from the collision between the Indian and the Eurasian plates since the early Cenozoic. The magmatic rocks may be related to the NNE‐trending right‐stepping dextral strike‐slip faults and the syn‐kinematic pull‐apart basins. These igneous rocks are mostly NNE trending. It is consistent with the Cenozoic dextral trans‐extensional tectonic setting in the East Asian Continental Margin. (2) Syn‐spreading igneous rocks first formed in the Northwest Sub‐basin of the SCS, and then later in the Central and Southwest sub‐basins. The mechanism of the magmatic emplacement results from the NNE‐trending right‐stepping dextral strike‐slip pull‐apart tectonic activity. (3) The spatial alignment of the Quaternary post‐spreading basalts is nearly E–W‐trending, and the different magmatic zones are segmented by NNE‐trending strike‐slip faulting. These volcanics are under an extrusion regime, which resulted from the arc–continent collision between the Luzon–Taiwan Arc and the Eurasian Plate due to the continuously WNW‐directed indentation of the Philippine Sea Plate during the period 9–6 Ma ago. In addition, the nascent NNE trending and dextral Changle–Nanao Fault may have played a significant role in the southward extrusion of the Taiwan Island Arc and the southeast SCS, resulting in an E–W‐trending distribution or strike of the volcanics and normal faults. In Indochina and the Malay Peninsula, widespread Cenozoic extensional post‐spreading granitic plutons are possibly derived from the mantle plume. Magnetic anomaly interpretation and tectonic analysis on these mafic rocks suggest that they were controlled by the Ailaoshan Red River left‐lateral ductile strike‐slip fault zone. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…The formation time of the SE Sulu Sea is also in debate, either in the Early Miocene or in the Oligocene (Roeser, 1991). Using age constraints from inverted Moho and Curie-point depths, Liu et al (2014) believed that the spreading of the SE Sulu Sea started in the Early Oligocene/Late Eocene due to the subduction of the Proto-South China Sea and terminated in the Middle Miocene by the obduction of the NW Sulu Sea onto the Palawan Continental Block.…”

Section: The Sulu Sea Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From the above brief analysis, we find that there are many disputes on the origin of marginal basins in the NW Pacific (Tapponnier et al, 1982;Rangin, 1989;Tatsumi et al, 1989;Glatzmaier et al, 1990;Jolivet et al, 1990;Smith et al, 1990;Rangin and Silver, 1991;Lee and Lawver, 1995;Royden et al, 2008;Yin, 2009;Hall, 2012;Morley, 2012;Xu et al, 2014), but these marginal basins generally had a similar (or compatible) tectonic evolutionary history, although there were some differences in the rifting history between the major basins or their sub-basins due to local differences in tectonic setting (Nichols and Hall, 1999;Hall, 2002;Xu et al, 2014). The formation and evolutionary history of the basins approximately comprises three (or four) first-order stages in the Cenozoic: (i) rifting period (pre-Middle Eocene) of continental margin, (ii) drifting period (Middle Eocene to the Early Miocene), (iii) subsidence (post-drifting or drift cessation) period (the Middle Miocene to Late Miocene or present day) and/or (iv) basin destruction and even convergent period (later Early Miocene to present day) (Nichols and Hall, 1999;Honza and Fujioka, 2004;Hutchison, 2004;Hall, 2012;Liu et al, 2014;Yoon et al, 2014;Cukur et al, 2015) (Fig. 5).…”

Section: Summary Of Basinsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The margin of the South China Sea Basin experienced a long history related to the Palaeo-Pacific subduction , continental marginal rifting and Cenozoic subduction of the Proto-South China Sea (PSCS) and its interactions with the Sulu Sea to the south (Hall, 2002;Savva et al, 2014). Different types of terrains (oceanic crust, continental-ocean transition zone, continental block and island arc) amalgamated around the South China Sea Basin (Franke et al, 2008(Franke et al, , 2011Chen et al, 2014;Liu et al, 2014) accompanied by a complicated rifting of continental margin, drifting of oceanic crust and collision processes.…”

Section: Sequential Stratigraphy Of the South China Sea Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sequential patterns in Cenozoic marginal basins of the Northwest Pacific

Somerville

et al. 2016

Geological Journal

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By using magnetic anomaly identifications, onshore and offshore exploratory wells, ODP drillings, isotopic dating and orthochronology results, this paper summarizes the tectonic event sequence (including extension, back‐arc spreading, subsidence, convergence/compressive deformation and thrusting) of the marginal basins of the NW Pacific and extracted sequence patterns of the marginal basins according to the tectonic event sequence from an array of oil company regional seismic lines and other geological data. Three important evolutionary stages of the Northwestern Pacific (NW Pacific) marginal sea basins are distinguished: from the Palaeocene to Eocene, from Oligocene to Middle Miocene and from the later Middle Miocene to the present day. Each stage corresponds to a rifting sequence (Palaeocene to Eocene), a drifting sequence (Oligocene to Middle Miocene) and a subsidence/convergence sequence (later Middle Miocene to the present day). The rifting sequence and drifting sequence developed sequentially in the South China Sea Basin, from Palaeocene to Eocene and from Oligocene to Middle Miocene, while in the Japan and Okhotsk Sea basins, an early stage rifting sequence was not developed in the Palaeocene to Eocene interval. However, the drifting and rifting sequence developed synchronously from the Oligocene to Middle Miocene. From the Later Miocene time, all the marginal basins of the Northwest Pacific basically stopped drifting and began to enter the subsidence (post‐drifting) stage. An arc‐continent collision from the south caused the formation of a convergence sequence in the southern margin of each marginal basin. The NW Pacific Plate collision with the Kuril–Kamchatka Arc led to the deformation of the subsidence sequence in the southern margin of the Kuril Sea Basin. The NW Pacific Plate convergence with the Japan Arc led to the formation of a convergence sequence in the southern margin of the Japan Sea Basin. The Borneo–Palawan Arc convergence with the Dangerous Grounds–Reed Bank Block in the South China Sea Basin from 15 Ma led to the formation of the convergence sequence in the southern margin of the South China Sea Basin. The degree of thrusting deformation of the convergent sequence increased gradually from north to south in the marginal basins of the Northwest Pacific. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Deep structures of the Palawan and Sulu Sea and their implications for opening of the South China Sea

Cited by 39 publications

References 76 publications

Rifting to drifting transition of the Southwest Subbasin of the South China Sea

Rifting to drifting transition of the Southwest Subbasin of the South China Sea

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

Sequential patterns in Cenozoic marginal basins of the Northwest Pacific

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