Formation of the Zengmu and Beikang Basins,and West Baram Line in the southwestern South China Sea margin

The Zengmu and Beikang basins,separated by the West Baram Line(WBL)in the southwestern South China Sea margin,display distinct geological and geophysical features.However,the nature of the basins and the WBL are debated.Here we explore this issue by conducting the stratigraphic and structural interpretation,faults and subsidence analysis,and lithospheric finite extension modelling using seismic data.Results show that the WBL is a trans-extensional fault zone comprising normal faults and flower structures mainly active in the Late Eocene to Early Miocene.The Zengmu Basin,to the southwest of the WBL,shows an overall synformal geometry,thick folded strata in the Late Eocene to Late Miocene(40.4-5.2 Ma),and pretty small normal faults at the basin edge,which imply that the Zengmu Basin is a foreland basin under the Luconia and Borneo collision in the Sarawak since the Eocene.Furthermore,the basin exhibits two stages of subsidence(fast in 40.4-30 Ma and slow in 30-0 Ma);but the amount of observed subsidence and heat flow are both greater than that predicted by crustal thinning.The Beikang Basin,to the NE of the WBL,consists of the syn-rift faulted sub-basins(45-16.4 Ma)and the post-rift less deformed sequences(16.4-0 Ma).The heat flow(~60 mW/m2)is also consistent with that predicted based on crustal thinning,inferring that it is a rifted basin.However,the basin shows three stages of subsidence(fast in 45-30 Ma,uplift in 30-16.4 Ma,and fast in 16.4-0 Ma).In the uplift stage,the strata were partly folded in the Late Oligocene and partly eroded in the Early Miocene,which is probably caused by the flexural bulging in response to the paleo-South China Sea subduction and the subsequent Dangerous Grounds and Borneo collision in the Sabah to the east of the WBL.

曾母拉分盆地的油气成藏规律:廷贾-西巴兰线断裂的控制

南海南部廷贾-西巴兰线断裂是一条规模巨大的北西向走滑断裂,渐新世开始活动,早期具有强烈的右旋走滑特征,晚中新世以来走滑方向变为左旋,更新世至今,走滑方向变为右旋,是曾母盆地与北康盆地、南沙海槽的分界。为了理清廷贾-西巴兰线断裂特征与曾母盆地油气成藏的关系,通过对断裂两侧地震剖面特征、重磁特征、地热流分布特征以及地壳性质和岩石圈厚度的分析,探讨该断裂在曾母盆地形成演化及油气成藏中的控制作用。研究表明:断裂活动为曾母盆地后期的沉积提供了丰富的物源,断裂走滑作用导致曾母盆地具有良好的圈闭,后期的反向走滑使得盆地的沉积中心由南向北迁移;断裂沟通深部热源,有利于油气生成,形成的伴生断层是盆地油气运移的主要通道。