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Depositional characteristics and spatial distribution of deep-water sedimentary systems on the northwestern middle-lower slope of the Northwest Sub-Basin, South China Sea

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Abstract

Based upon 2D seismic data, this study confirms the presence of a complex deep-water sedimentary system within the Pliocene-Quaternary strata on the northwestern lower slope of the Northwest Sub-Basin, South China Sea. It consists of submarine canyons, mass-wasting deposits, contourite channels and sheeted drifts. Alongslope aligned erosive features are observed on the eastern upper gentle slopes (<1.2° above 1,500 m), where a V-shaped downslope canyon presents an apparent ENE migration, indicating a related bottom current within the eastward South China Sea Intermediate Water Circulation. Contourite sheeted drifts are also generated on the eastern gentle slopes (~1.5° in average), below 2,100 m water depth though, referring to a wide unfocused bottom current, which might be related to the South China Sea Deep Water Circulation. Mass wasting deposits (predominantly slides and slumps) and submarine canyons developed on steeper slopes (>2°), where weaker alongslope currents are probably dominated by downslope depositional processes on these unstable slopes. The NNW–SSE oriented slope morphology changes from a three-stepped terraced outline (I–II–III) east of the investigated area, into a two-stepped terraced (I–II) outline in the middle, and into a unitary steep slope (II) in the west, which is consistent with the slope steepening towards the west. Such morphological changes may have possibly led to a westward simplification of composite deep-water sedimentary systems, from a depositional complex of contourite depositional systems, mass-wasting deposits and canyons, on the one hand, to only sliding and canyon deposits on the other hand.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 91028009), the Key project of Hubei Natural Science Foundation (No. 2008CDA095), the Ph.D. Program Foundation of Ministry of Education (No. 20100145110002) and the National Key Projects of Oil and Gas (No. 2011ZX05025-002-02). This article is also a contribution to IGCP project 619 and INQUA project 1204. We would like to acknowledge the Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, Nanhai West Oil Corporation for providing geophysical data. The exchange-student programme for H. Chen was framed under the Cooperation Agreement between the China University of Geosciences (P. R. China) and Ghent University (Belgium). We appreciate Mr. Jing-Liang Guo’s help for English improvement. We thank the reviewers for their comments that significantly improved the manuscript.

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

    Hui Chen, Xinong Xie, Li Huang & Laiyuan Guo

  2. Department of Geology and Soil Science, Renard Centre of Marine Geology, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 s8, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Hui Chen, David Van Rooij & Thomas Vandorpe

  3. Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy and Gas Hydrate, Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Ming Su

  4. Guangzhou Center for Gas Hydrate Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Ming Su

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Chen, H., Xie, X., Van Rooij, D. et al. Depositional characteristics and spatial distribution of deep-water sedimentary systems on the northwestern middle-lower slope of the Northwest Sub-Basin, South China Sea. Mar Geophys Res 34, 239–257 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-013-9191-7

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