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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
AAPG Bulletin
Abstract
AAPG Bulletin, V.
2014. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.
DOI: 10.1306/11131313087
Cenozoic fault systems in southwest Qaidam Basin, northeastern Tibetan Plateau: Geometry, temporal development, and significance for hydrocarbon accumulation
Lei Wu,1 Ancheng Xiao,2 Dade Ma,3 Hongge Li,4 Bo Xu,5 Ya Shen,6 and Liguang Mao7
1Zhejiang University, Department of Earth Sciences, Hangzhou 310027, China; Research Center for Structures in Oil & Gas Bearing Basins, Ministry of Education, Hangzhou 310027, China; E-mail: [email protected]
2Zhejiang University, Department of Earth Sciences, Hangzhou 310027, China; Research Center for Structures in Oil & Gas Bearing Basins, Ministry of Education, Hangzhou 310027, China; E-mail: [email protected]
3Research Institute of Oil & Gas Exploration and Exploitation of Qinghai Oilfield Company, PetroChina, Dunhuang 736202, China.
4Dunhuang Branch of Geological Center of the Eastern Geophysics Company, PetroChina, Dunhuang 736200, China.
5Zhejiang University, Department of Earth Sciences, Hangzhou 310027, China; Research Center for Structures in Oil & Gas Bearing Basins, Ministry of Education, Hangzhou 310027, China.
6Dunhuang Branch of Geological Center of the Eastern Geophysics Company, PetroChina, Dunhuang 736200, China.
7Zhejiang University, Department of Earth Sciences, Hangzhou 310027, China; Research Center for Structures in Oil & Gas Bearing Basins, Ministry of Education, Hangzhou 310027, China.
ABSTRACT
We present a detailed structural analysis of geometry and temporal development of the Cenozoic faults in the southwestern part of the Qaidam Basin—the largest petroliferous sedimentary basin and the only one producing oil and gas within the Tibetan Plateau, northwest China—based on three-dimensional (3D) seismic and well-log data. The Cenozoic faults are mostly steep (50–70°), basement-involved reverse faults trending primarily west-northwest and secondarily north–south. The two fault sets are commonly linked to each other by west-northwest-oriented faults bending either southward at their eastern tips or northward at the western tips, and originated possibly from inversion of pre-existing extensional faults in response to the far-field effect of the Cenozoic India–Eurasia collision. Faults or fault segments active during different time periods were identified from isopach maps and verified via seismic 
reflection
profiles, showing that the faults became active as early as the Paleocene in the southern part of the southwest Qaidam Basin and propagated dominantly northward and subordinately eastward over time. Measurement of throws on major faults indicates that fault activity intensified over time and culminated since the mid-Miocene. These faults have been an important factor in forming the oil fields in the southwest Qaidam Basin by improving permeability, forming anticlinal traps, and acting as conduits for oil migrating from source rocks to the reservoirs.
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