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Rift–drift transition in the Dangerous Grounds, South China Sea

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Abstract

The South China Sea (SCS) has a long record of rifting before and after subsequent seafloor spreading, affecting the wide continent of the Dangerous Grounds, and its scissor-shape opening manner results in the rifting structures that vary along this margin. Some 2000 km of regional multichannel seismic data combined with borehole and dredge data are interpreted to analyze the multistage rifting process, structural architecture and dynamic evolution across the entire Dangerous Grounds. Key sequence boundaries above the Cenozoic basement are identified and classified into the breakup unconformity and the rift end unconformity, which consist of the rift-related unconformities. Reflector T70 in the east of the Dangerous Grounds represents the breakup unconformity, which is likely corresponding to the spreading of the East Subbasin. T60 formed on the top of carbonate platform is time equivalent to the spreading of the Southwest Subbasin, marking the breakup unconformity of the central Dangerous Grounds. The termination of the spreading of the SCS is manifested by the rift end unconformity of T50 in the southwest and the final rift occurring in the northwest of the Dangerous Grounds is postponed to the rift end unconformity of T40. On the basis of the stratigraphic and structural analysis, distinct segments in the structural architecture of the syn-rift units and the ages of rift–drift transition show obvious change from the proximal zone to the distal zone. Three domains, which are the Reed Bank-Palawan Rift domain, the Dangerous Grounds Central Detachment domain and Nam Con Son Exhumation domain, reflect the propagation of the margin rifting developed initially by grabens formed by high angle faults, then large half-grabens controlled by listric faults and detachments and finally rotated fault blocks in the hyper-extended upper crust associated with missing lower crust or exhumed mantle revealing a migration and stepwise rifting process in the south margin of the SCS.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciated CNOOC for their granting permission to obtain and use these data. This work was supported by the Key Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 91528303) and the Fundamental Research Fund for the Central Universities, China University of Geosciences Wuhan, (No. 201536), the Outstanding Youth Funding of Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (No. 2016CFA055), the Wuhan Science and Technology Project (No. 2016070204010145). We want to express many thanks to the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions that certainly improved the final manuscript.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Tectonics and Petroleum Resources of Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Xi Peng, Chuanbo Shen & Lianfu Mei

  2. CNOOC Research Institute, Beijing, 100028, China

    Zhigang Zhao & Xiaojun Xie

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Peng, X., Shen, C., Mei, L. et al. Rift–drift transition in the Dangerous Grounds, South China Sea. Mar Geophys Res 40, 163–183 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-018-9353-8

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