Controlling factors on the submarine canyon system: A case study of the Central Canyon System in the Qiongdongnan Basin, northern South China Sea

Based on an integrated analysis of high-resolution 2D/3D seismic data and drilling results, this study analyzes the tectonicsedimentary evolution of the Qiongdongnan Basin(QDNB) since the late Miocene, and discusses the controlling factors on the formation and development of the Central Canyon System(CCS). The sediment failures caused by the relative sea level falling might have discharged deposits from the slope to the canyon. The two suits of the infillings, i.e., turbidites and mass transport complex(MTC), were derived from the northwestern source and northern source, respectively. The sediment supplies, which differ significantly among different areas, might have led to the variations observed in the internal architectures. Tectonic transformation around 11.6 Ma had provided the tectonic setting for the CCS and formed an axial sub-basin in the central part of the Changchang Depression, which could be called the rudiment of the CCS. The tectonic activity of the Red River Fault(RRF) at about 5.7 Ma might have strengthened the hydrodynamics of the deposits at the junction of the Yinggehai Basin(YGHB) and the QDNB to trigger a high-energy turbidity current. The MTC from the northern continental slope system might have been constrained by the Southern Uplift, functioning as a barrier for the infillings of the CCS. Thanks to a sufficient sediment supply during the Holocene period and the paleo-seafloor morphology, the relief of modern central canyon with the starving landform in the eastern Changchang Depression might have been accentuated by deposition of sediments and vertical growth along the canyon flanks, where collapse deposits were widely developed. Corresponding to the segmentation of the CCS, the forming mechanisms of the canyon between the three segments would be different. The turbidite channel in the head area had likely been triggered by the abundant sediment supply from the northwestern source together with the fault activity at about 5.7 Ma of the RRF. The formation and evolution of the canyon in the western segment were caused by combined effects of the turbidite channel from the northwestern source, the MTC from the northern continental slope, and the paleo-seafloor geomorphology. In the eastern segment, the canyon was constrained by the tectonic transformation occurring at approximately 11.6 Ma and the insufficient sediment supply from the wide-gentle slope.

Geochemistry of Pore Water and Associated Diagenetic Reactions in the Diapiric Area of Yinggehai Basin, Northwestern South China Sea

This study examined the geochemical features of pore water in the diapiric area of the Yinggehai Basin, northwestern South China Sea, and illuminated the origin and evolution of basin fluids. Pore water with low salinity occurs in marine sediments in the diapiric area even without meteoric water infiltration. The presence of low-salinity water within deep, overpressured compartments is assumed to be due to smectite-illite transformation. Howerver, in shallow portions（less than 2 000 m） of diapiric areas with normal pressure, pore water has a much wider variation and much lower salinity than that in the overpressured intervals. Its total dissolved solid（TDS） content is ~5 336 to 35 939 mg/L. Moreover, smectite and chlorite content sharply decreases as kaolinite and illite content increase in shallower intervals. The geochemical variation of pore water in diapiric structures indicates the expulsion of low-salinity, overpressured fluids along vertical faults. Strong injection of hot fluids from deep overpressured sediments results in rapid clay mineral transformation in shallow reservoirs. Consequently, fluid mixing due to fluid expulsion from deeper overpressured deposits leads to variation in salinity and ionic composition as well as some diagenetic reactions. This includes transformation of clay minerals caused by the higher temperatur of deeper hot fluids, e.g., the transfromation of smectite to illite and chlorite to kaolinite. Therefore, variations in salinity and ionic compositions in various pressured systems provide a clue to flow pathways and associated diagenetic reactions.