Numerical modeling of failed rifts in the northern South China Sea margin: Implications for continental rifting and breakup

Li, Yaqing; Abbas, Aqeel; Li, Chun‐Feng; Sun, Tienan; Zlotnik, Sergio; Song, Taoran; Zhang, Lulu; Yao, Zewei; Yao, Yongjian

doi:10.1016/j.jseaes.2020.104402

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…A third scenario simulates the emplacement of underplating material below the lower crust (Figure 9). In seismic sections further to the north in the South China Sea, lower‐crust high‐velocity anomalies have been observed and related to magmatic underplating at depths of about 25–30 km (Li et al., 2020). In this model a pulse of heating is set to 1,500°C between depths of 25 and 35 km from 40 to 38 Ma and this simulates a change in temperature at the base of the crust associated with rifting.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of the Continental Margin of South to Central Vietnam and Its Relationship to Opening of the South China Sea (East Vietnam Sea)

Huu

Carter

Hoàng³

et al. 2022

Tectonics

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The continental margin of Indochina represents the westernmost margin of the South China Sea, a wide continental rift that in the west is mostly submerged. In the region of south to central Vietnam, the location of this study (Figure 1), the continental margin extends offshore for >100 km before oceanic crust is reached. The extension that led to continental break-up has yet to be fully explained but is known to be related to the subduction of the paleo-Pacific plate, which at the time formed a wide Cretaceous magmatic arc with widespread calc-alkaline magmatism across south to central Vietnam and southern China. Subduction was directed to the northeast beneath southern China and westwards below Vietnam, the eastern margin of the Indochina block (Hall, 2012;Hennig-Breitfeld et al., 2021;Zhu et al., 2004).Extension is imprinted on the landscape and geology of Vietnam but to what extent is not yet clear. It also remains uncertain as to when surface uplift took place. Was uplift staggered over a long time or did it occur within a short

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of the Continental Margin of South to Central Vietnam and Its Relationship to Opening of the South China Sea (East Vietnam Sea)

Huu

Carter

Hoàng³

et al. 2022

Tectonics

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“…Different from the PRMB and SWTB, where the crust has been highly faulted, detached, and depressed [15,16], the CSD remains, for the most part, less rifted and subsided [10]. It has developed with thin (~1 km) Cenozoic and thick (~5 km or more) Mesozoic Erathem [9][10][11].…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The Chaoshan Depression (CSD) is neighbored by two major Cenozoic rift basins, the Pearl River Mouth Basin (PRMB) to the west and Southwest Taiwan Basin (SWTB) to the east, respectively. The PRMB is filled with thick Cenozoic sediments [15,16] and has become a major petroleum and gas production region. In the SWTB, many gas-seeping mud volcanoes are found along the northernmost accretion-subduction zone of the Manila Trench, due to convergence of the Philippine Sea Plate and the South China Sea [5].…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Velocity Structure Revealing a Likely Mud Volcano off the Dongsha Island, the Northern South China Sea

Yan

Liao

et al. 2021

Energies

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The Dongsha Island (DS) is located in the mid-northern South China Sea continental margin. The waters around it are underlain by the Chaoshan Depression, a relict Mesozoic sedimentary basin, blanketed by thin Cenozoic sediments but populated with numerous submarine hills with yet less-known nature. A large hill, H110, 300 m high, 10 km wide, appearing in the southeast to the Dongsha Island, is crossed by an ocean bottom seismic and multiple channel seismic surveying lines. The first arrival tomography, using ocean bottom seismic data, showed two obvious phenomena below it: (1) a low-velocity (3.3 to 4 km/s) zone, with size of 20 × 3 km2, centering at ~4.5 km depth and (2) an underlying high-velocity (5.5 to 6.3 km/s) zone of comparable size at ~7 km depth. MCS profiles show much-fragmented Cenozoic sequences, covering a wide chaotic reflection zone within the Mesozoic strata below hill H110. The low-velocity zone corresponds to the chaotic reflection zone and can be interpreted as of highly-fractured and fluid-rich Mesozoic layers. Samples dredged from H110 comprised of illite-bearing authigenic carbonate nodules and rich, deep-water organisms are indicative of hydrocarbon seepage from deep source. Therefore, H110 can be inferred as a mud volcano. The high-velocity zone is interpreted as of magma intrusion, considering that young magmatism was found enhanced over the southern CSD. Furthermore, the origin of H110 can be speculated as thermodynamically driven, i.e., magma from the depths intrudes into the thick Mesozoic strata and promotes petroleum generation, thus, driving mud volcanism. Mud volcanism at H110 and the occurrence of a low-velocity zone below it likely indicates the existence of Mesozoic hydrocarbon reservoir, which is in favor of the petroleum exploration.

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“…Long‐term rifting resulted in the formation of several NE‐trending rifted basins within the margin, comprising the SWTB, the PRMB, and the QDNB (Figure 1a). Several failed rifts were formed in these basins due to the intense stretching and thinning of the crust (Hu et al., 2009; Lester et al., 2014; Y. Q. Li et al., 2020; McIntosh et al., 2014; J. H. Wang et al., 2018; Yeh et al., 2012; C. M. Zhang et al., 2013; Zhao et al., 2019).…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seismically Imaged Crustal Breakup in the Southwest Taiwan Basin of the Northeastern South China Sea Margin

Chen,

Yan,

et al. 2023

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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The Southern Depression of the Southwest Taiwan Basin is an ENE‐trending wide rift in the northeastern South China Sea margin. Though known as highly thinned, the maximum degree of crustal extension remains unclear. Here, we present three NW‐trending multi‐channel seismic profiles crossing the depression askew, and another profile traversing it, all of which image the basement and Moho clearly. The basement deepens toward the rift axis while the Moho shoals toward the axis, indicating significant crustal thinning. Faults appear with only small throws and are usually untraceable to depth. As the integral fault offset seems insufficient to match the horizontal crustal extension, the high crustal thinning is mainly accommodated by detachment faults. Only small‐scale post‐rift magmatic bodies and sporadic sills are observed, and syn‐rift magmatism is poor. The depression shows a recumbent V‐shaped valley opening to the northeast with the width increasing from 50 km on the southwestern profile to 96 km on the northeastern profile. Along the valley axis, the crust thins from 8.1 to 3.6 km and more thinner to the northeast, demonstrating enhanced extensional degree toward the northeast. A unique conch‐shaped package (up to ∼2 s two‐way travel time thick) with moderately coherent reflections is imaged atop the axial mantle on the northeastern profile. It was possibly formed by mantle exhumation, syn‐rift sedimentary uplift, or volcanic eruption. All these possibilities indicate that the crust probably broke up there, which represents a special style of crustal thinning different from other magma‐poor margins.

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Numerical modeling of failed rifts in the northern South China Sea margin: Implications for continental rifting and breakup

Cited by 11 publications

References 79 publications

Evolution of the Continental Margin of South to Central Vietnam and Its Relationship to Opening of the South China Sea (East Vietnam Sea)

Evolution of the Continental Margin of South to Central Vietnam and Its Relationship to Opening of the South China Sea (East Vietnam Sea)

Velocity Structure Revealing a Likely Mud Volcano off the Dongsha Island, the Northern South China Sea

Seismically Imaged Crustal Breakup in the Southwest Taiwan Basin of the Northeastern South China Sea Margin

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