About This Item

Share This Item

The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

AAPG Bulletin

Abstract

AAPG Bulletin, V. 101, No. 2 (February 2017), P. 265-288.

Copyright ©2017. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1306/06281615008

Influence of normal fault growth and linkage on the evolution of a rift basin: A case from the Gaoyou depression of the Subei Basin, eastern China

Yin Liu,1 Qinghua Chen,2 Xi Wang,3 Kai Hu,4 Shaolei Cao,5 Lin Wu,6 and Feng Gao7

1State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, No. 163 Xianlin Road, Zhugongshan Building 305, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210093, China; present address: School of Geosciences, China University of Petroleum (East China), No. 66 Changjiang West Road, Engineering Building C649, Qingdao, Shandong 266580, China; [email protected]
2School of Geosciences, China University of Petroleum (East China), No. 66 Changjiang West Road, Engineering Building C714, Qingdao, Shandong 266580, China; [email protected]
3State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, No. 163 Xianlin Road, Zhugongshan Building 238, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210093, China; [email protected]
4State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, No. 163 Xianlin Road, Yangzhou Building 338, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210093, China; [email protected]
5Institute of Geophysical Prospecting, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, Sinopec, No. 219 Shanggao Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210014, China; [email protected]
6Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, China National Petroleum Corporation, No. 20 Xueyuan Road, Experimental Building 317, Beijing 100083, China; [email protected]
7Geological Scientific Research Institute of Jiangsu Oilfield Company, Sinopec, No. 188 Weiyang Road, Research Building 4030, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225009, China; [email protected]

ABSTRACT

It is widely acknowledged that the growth and linkage of a boundary fault affects the evolution of the accompanying sedimentary basin and exerts a strong influence on its sedimentary characteristics. In this study, we attempt to discuss the evolution of a boundary fault and rift basin by using seismic interpretation, incremental fault throw, and growth rate–distance (G–d) profile, which are more suitable parameters than the expansion index in rift basins where footwall strata are missing because of erosion or a depositional hiatus. Therefore, the Gaoyou depression is taken as an example. The Gaoyou depression is the largest hydrocarbon-bearing depression in the Subei Basin, which is a representative rift basin in eastern China. The depression is bounded to the south by the Jiangdu–Wubao fault zone, which includes the Zhen 1–Wu 1, Zhen 2, and Wu 2 faults. Using high-resolution, three-dimensional seismic data, the Zhen 1–Wu 1 fault can be subdivided into four segments based on its G–d profile: the Shaobo, Fanchuan, Liuwushe, and Liulu segments. Growth rates indicate that the Zhen 1–Wu 1 fault and the Zhen 2 and Wu 2 faults developed successively from the Late Cretaceous to the Miocene during rifting of the Gaoyou depression and that development of the Zhen 2 and Wu 2 faults was controlled by the Zhen 1–Wu 1 fault. The four segments of the Zhen 1–Wu 1 fault were linked with each other by the time the Zhen 2 and Wu 2 faults formed in the Late Paleocene. An evolution model of the Gaoyou depression is set up in this study. Integrating the fault activity with previous sedimentological studies, we suggest that the evolution of the Gaoyou depression was controlled by the Jiangdu–Wubao fault zone rather than by a single fault. Successive slip of the Zhen 1–Wu 1 fault and the Zhen 2 and Wu 2 faults caused subsidence and migration of the depocenters. This study presents a case investigation of the effects of boundary faults on rift basins in eastern China.

Pay-Per-View Purchase Options

The article is available through a document delivery service. Explain these Purchase Options.

Watermarked PDF Document: $14
Open PDF Document: $24

AAPG Member?

Please login with your Member username and password.

Members of AAPG receive access to the full AAPG Bulletin Archives as part of their membership. For more information, contact the AAPG Membership Department at [email protected].