Tectono-stratigraphic evolution and hydrocarbon exploration in the Eocene Southern Lufeng Depression, Pearl River Mouth Basin, South China Sea

Sequence architecture and depositional evolution of the late Palaeogene in southwestern slope of Lufeng Depression, Pearl River Mouth Basin: Responses to tectonic processes and base‐level changes

“…The fossils predominantly consist of Neogloboquadrina acostaensis, Globorotalia siakensis, Globigerina nepenthis . The Upper Miocene Yuehai Formation and the Pliocene Wanshan Fomation are generally composed of thick‐bedded mudstones, siltstones, and fine‐grain sandstones resulted from shelf margin to shelf slope deposits (Figure ; Ge, Zhu, Li, et al, ; Ge, Zhu, Zhang, et al, ; W. L. Zhu et al, ). The lithology in Yuehai Formation is composed of marine greyish‐green mudstone and grey siltstone with non‐marine thick‐bedded sandstone, while it consists of marine grey‐greyish green mudstone with thin siltstone.…”

“…The South China Sea (SCS), as a marginal sea among the Indian, Pacific, and Eurasian plates, has arisen its fame due to special tectonic settings and abundant hydrocarbon discoveries (Figure a; J. J. Chen, Ma, Chen, & Sun, ; S. Chen, Zhang, & Zhang, ; Cullen, Reemst, Henstra, Gozzard, & Ray, ; Hayes & Nissen, ; Hall, Van Hattum, & Spakman, ; Ren, Pang, Lei, et al, ; P. X. Wang & Li, ; X. D. Wang, Zhang, Lin, Que, & Li, ; X. N. Xie, Ren, & Lei, ; X. N. Xie, Ren, Wang, Li, & Lei, ; W. L. Zhu, Wu, Zhang, et al, ; W. L. Zhu, Zhang, & Gao, ; H. T. Zhu et al, ). And thereby, it has attracted wide and intense attentions from scholars and oil industries from home and abroad (Ge, Zhu, Li, et al, ; Ge, Zhu, Zhang, et al, ; Jiao et al, ; Y. H. Xie, ; G. C. Zhang et al, ; Q. Zhang, Lv, He, Wang, & Sun, ; G. C. Zhang, Qu, et al, ; X. T. Zhang, Wang, et al, ; G.C. Zhang, Wang, Wu, Liu, & Xie ; W. L. Zhu, Mi, Gao, Zhong, & Gao, ).…”

“…The southwestern slope of Lufeng Depression (Figure b), where significant hydrocarbon discoveries have been found in the deep target interval (the Palaeogene) proves to be the most potential oil and gas reserves for the coming future in the Pearl River Mouth Basin (Luo et al, , ; Z. H. Wang, Guo, Liu, Jiao, & Yu, ; Xia, Dong, et al, ; Xia, Liu, et al, ; K. P. Yu & Ding, ; Q. Zhang, Lv, et al, ; X. T. Zhang, Wang, et al, ). During the past few decades, researches on the fault modelling and depositional characteristics of various geological times in the study area have been carried out and fruitful results have been achieved (Ge, Zhu, Li, et al, ; Ge, Zhu, Zhang, et al, ; Jiao et al, ; Wan et al, ; F. S. Yu, Koyi, & Zhang, ). However, there are few public reports on the sequence architecture and depositional evolution of the late Palaeogene, let alone their integrated responses to the controlling factors of tectonic processes and base‐level changes.…”

Fault interaction and evolution during two‐phase rifting in the Xijiang Sag, Pearl River Mouth Basin, northern South China Sea

“…Controlled by two groups of faults with ENE and NW strikes, the PRMB presents a segmental and zonal structural framework in the ENE and NW directions, respectively (Cheng et al, ; Zhong et al, ; Xie, Ren, Wang, Xushen, & Chao, ; Figure ). The basin can be divided into five structural units of the Northern Fault‐terrace Belt, Northern Depression Zone (Zhu I and Zhu III depressions), Central Uplift Belt (Shenhu Uplift, Panyu Lower Uplift, and Dongsha Uplift), Southern Depression Zone (Zhu II and Chaoshan depressions), and Southern Uplift Belt (Pang, Chen, & Shi, ; Cui, He, & Chen, ; Ge et al, ; Figure ). The study area is in the southwest part of the Zhu I Depression, which has been confirmed to be the best commercial exploration area within the PRMB (Shi et al, ; Shu, Shi, Du, Lei, & Zhang, ; Figure ).…”

“…Five prominent unconformities relating to the seismic surfaces of Top Basement, Bottom Wenchang Formation, Top Wenchang Formation, Top Enping Formation, and Top Hanjiang Formation (“Top” and “Bottom” denote the top and bottom surfaces of the formations throughout this paper) represent the Shenhu, Zhuqiong I, Zhuqiong II, Nanhai, and Dongsha movements, respectively (Robison, Elrod, & Bissada, ; Cui et al, ; Zhong et al, ; Ge et al, ; Figure ). The previous studies have essentially clarified that the PRMB has experienced multiphase rifting in different directions during the Palaeocene to the early Oligocene (Cullen et al, ; Hu et al, ; Li et al, ; Li et al, ; Li & Rao, ; Ru, ; Wu et al, ; Zhou et al, ; Zhu et al, ).…”