Structural geology and favorable exploration prospect belts in northwestern Sichuan Basin, SW China

The northwestern Sichuan region has experienced multi-stage tectonic evolution including marine cratonic basin from the Sinian to the Middle Triassic and intra-continental basin from the Late Triassic to the Cenozoic. Several regional tectonic activities caused complicated stratigraphic distribution and structural deformations in the deep-buried layers. During the key tectonic periods, some characteristic sedimentary and deformation structures were formed, including the step-shaped marginal carbonate platform of Dengying Formation, the western paleo-high at the end of Silurian, and the passive continental margin of the Late Paleozoic–Middle Triassic. The Meso-Cenozoic intra-continental compressional tectonic processes since the Late Triassic controlled the formation of complex thrusting structures surrounding and inside the northwestern basin. The northern Longmenshan fold-thrust belt has a footwall in-situ thrust structure,which is controlled by two sets of detachments in the Lower Triassic and Lower Cambrian and presents as a multi-level deformation structure with the shallow folds, the middle thin-skin thrusts and the deeper basement-involved folds. The thrust belt in front of the Micangshan Mountain shows a double-layer deformation controlled by the Lower Triassic salt detachment, which is composed by the upper monocline and deep-buried imbricate thrust structures. The interior of the basin is characterized by several rows of large-scale basement-involved folds with NEE strike direction. From the perspective of structural geology, the favorable exploration reservoirs and belts in northwestern Sichuan have obvious zoning characteristics. The favorable exploration layers of Dengying Formation of Upper Sinian are mainly distributed in the eastern and northern areas of the northwestern Sichuan Basin, in which the Jiulongshan structural belt, Zitong syncline and Yanting slope are the most favorable. The Lower Paleozoic was transformed by Caledonian paleo-uplift and late Cenozoic folding, and the midwest area such as the Zitong syncline is a potential area for hydrocarbon exploration. The favorable part of the Upper Paleozoic is mainly distributed in the northern Longmenshan belt and its frontal area, where the deep-buried thin-skin thrust structures in the footwall are the key exploration targets.

Geological structures and potential petroleum exploration areas in the southwestern Sichuan fold-thrust belt, SW China

Based on the latest geological,seismic,drilling and outcrop data,we studied the geological structure,tectonic evolution history and deformation process of the southwestern Sichuan fold-thrust belt to find out the potential hydrocarbon exploration areas in deep layers.During key tectonic periods,the southwestern Sichuan fold-thrust belt developed some characteristic strata and structural deformation features,including the Pre-Sinian multi-row N-S strike rifts,step-shaped platform-margin structures of Sinian Dengying Formation,the western paleo-uplift in the early stage of Late Paleozoic,the Late Paleozoic–Middle Triassic carbonate platform,foreland slope and forebulge during Late Triassic to Cretaceous,and Cenozoic multi-strike rejuvenated fold-thrusting structures.The fold-thrust belt vertically shows a double-layer structural deformation controlled by the salt layer in the Middle Triassic Leikoupo Formation and the base detachment layer at present.The upper deformation layer develops the NE-SW strike thrusts propagating toward basin in long distance,while the deeper deformation layer had near north-south strike basement-involved folds,which deformed the detachment and thrusting structures formed earlier in the upper layer,with the deformation strength high in south part and weak in north part.The southern part of the fold-thrust belt is characterized by basement-involved fold-thrusts formed late,while the central-northern part is dominated by thin-skin thrusts in the shallow layer.The Wuzhongshan anticlinal belt near piedmont is characterized by over-thrust structure above the salt detachment,where the upper over-thrusting nappe consists of a complicated fold core and front limb of a fault-bend fold,while the deep layer has stable subtle in-situ structures.Favorable exploration strata and areas have been identified both in the upper and deeper deformation layers separated by regional salt detachment,wherein multiple anticlinal structures are targets for exploration.Other potential exploration strata and areas in southwestern Sichuan fold-thrust belt include the deep Sinian and Permian in the Wuzhongshan structure,pre-Sinian rifting sequences and related structures,platform-margin belt of Sinian Dengying Formation,and Indosinian paleo-uplift in the east of the Longquanshan structure.