Reinterpretation of the northern South China Sea pre-Cenozoic basement and geodynamic implications of the South China continent: constraints from combined geological and geophysical records

The pre-Cenozoic northern South China Sea(SCS)Basin basement was supposed to exist as a complex of heterogeneous segments,divided by dozens of N-S faulting.Unfortunately,only the Hainan Island and the northeastern SCS region were modestly dated while the extensive basement remains roughly postulated by limited geophysical data.This study presents a systematic analysis including U-Pb geochronology,elemental geochemistry and petrographic identification on granite and meta-clastic borehole samples from several key areas.Constrained from gravity-magnetic joint inversion,this interpretation will be of great significance revealing the tectono-magmatic evolution along the southeastern margin of the Eurasian Plate.Beneath the thick Cenozoic sediments,the northern SCS is composed of a uniform Mesozoic basement while the Precambrian rocks are only constricted along the Red River Fault Zone.Further eastern part of the northern SCS below the Cenozoic succession was widely intruded by granites with Jurassic-to-early Cretaceous ages.Further western part,on the other hand,is represented by meta-sedimentary rocks with relatively sporadic granite complexes.To be noted,the western areas derived higher-degree and wider metamorphic zones,which is in contrast with the lowerdegree and narrower metamorphic belt developed in the eastern region.Drastic collisions between the Indochina Block and South China continent took place since at least late Triassic,resulting in large-scale suturing and deformation zones.At the westernmost part of the northern SCS,the intracontinental amalgamation with closure of the Meso-Tethys has caused fairly stronger and broader metamorphism.One metamorphic biotite granite is located on the suturing belt and yields a Precambrian U-Pb age.It likely represents the relict from the ancient Gondwana supercontinent or its fringes.Arc-continental collision between the Paleo-Pacific and the southeast China Block,on the other hand,results in a relatively narrow NE–SW trending metamorphic belt during the late Mesozoic.Within the overall geological setting,the Cenozoic SCS oceanic basin was subsequently generated from a series of rifting and faulting processes along the collisional-accretionary continental margin.

Hydrocarbon Potential of Pre-cenozoic Strata in the North Yellow Sea Basin

The North Yellow Sea Basin ( NYSB ), which was developed on the basement of North China (Huabei) continental block, is a typical continental Mesozoic-Cenozoic sedimentary basin in the sea area. Its Mesozoic basin is a residual basin, below which there is probably a larger Paleozoic sedimentary basin. The North Yellow Sea Basin comprises four sags and three uplifts. Of them, the eastern sag is a Mesozoic-Cenozoic sedimentary sag in NYSB and has the biggest sediment thickness; the current Korean drilling wells are concentrated in the eastern sag. This sag is comparatively rich in oil and gas resources and thus has a relatively good petroleum prospect in the sea. The central sag has also accommodated thick Mesozoic-Cenozoic sediments. The latest research results show that there are three series of hydrocarbon source rocks in the North Yellow Sea Basin, namely, black shales of the Paleogene, Jurassic and Cretaceous. The principal hydrocarbon source rocks in NYSB are the Mesozoic black shale. According to the drilling data of Korea, the black shales of the Paleogene, Jurassic and Cretaceous have all come up to the standards of good and mature source rocks. The NYSB owns an intact system of oil generation, reservoir and capping rocks that can help hydrocarbon to form in the basin and thus it has the great potential of oil and gas. The vertical distribution of the hydrocarbon resources is mainly considered to be in the Cretaceous and then in the Jurassic.

Basement of the South China Sea Area:Tracing the Tethyan Realm

The basement of the South China Sea（SCS）and adjacent areas can be divided into six divisions（regions）-Paleozoic Erathem graben-faulted basement division in Beibu Gulf,Paleozoic Erathem strike-slip pull-apart in Yinggehai waters,Paleozoic Erathem faulted-depression in eastern Hainan,Paleozoic Erathem rifted in northern Xisha（Paracel）,Paleozoic Erathem strike-slip extending in southern Xisha,and Paleozoic-Mesozoic Erathem extending in Nansha Islands（Spratly）waters.The Pre-Cenozoic basement in the SCS and Yunkai continental area are coeval within the Tethyan tectonic domain in the Pre-Cenozoic Period.They are formed on the background of the Paleo-Tethyan tectonic domain,and are important components of the Eastern Tethyan multi-island-ocean system.Three branches of the Eastern Paleo-Tethys tectonic domain,North Yunkai,North Hainan,and South Hainan sea basins,have evolved into the North Yunkai,North Hainan,and South Hainan suture zones, respectively.This shows a distinctive feature of localization for the Pre-Cenozoic basement.The Qiongnan（i.e.South Hainan）Suture Zone on the northern margin of the South China Sea can be considered the vestige of the principal ocean basin of Paleo-Tethys,and connected with the suture zone of the Longmucuo-Shuanghu belt-Bitu belt-Changning-Menglian-Bentong-Raub belt,the south extension of Bitu-Changning-Menglian-Ching Mai belt-Chanthaburi-Raub-Bentong belt on the west of South China Sea,and with the Lianhua-Taidong suture zone（a fault along the east side of Longitudinal Valley in Taiwan）-Hida LP/HT（low pressure-high temperature）metamorphic belt-Hida -marginal HP/LT metamorphic belt in southwestern Honshu of Japan,on the east of the South China Sea.The Qiongbei（North Hainan）suture zone may eastwards extended along the Wangwu-Wenjiao fault zone,and connects with the Lufeng-Dapu-Zhenghe-Shangyu（Lianhuashan）deep fault zone through the Pearl River Mouth Basin.The Meso-Tethys developed on the south of the South China Sea.The Nansha Trough may be considered the vestige of the northern shelf of the Meso-Tethys. The oceanic crust of the Meso-Tethys has southwards subducted along the subduction-collision-thrust southern margin of the Nansha Trough with a subduction-pole opposite to those of the Yarlung Zangbo-Mytkyina-Bago zone on the west of the South China Sea,and the Meso-Tethyan（e.g.Northern Chichibu Ocean of the Meso-Tethys）suture zone＂Butsozo tectonic line＂in the outer belt of the Jurassic-Early Cretaceous terrene group in southwest Japan,on the east of the South China Sea.