Mesozoic to Cenozoic tectonic transition process in Zhanhua Sag, Bohai Bay Basin, East China

The Zhanhua sag is part of the Bohai Bay intracontinental basin system that has developed since the Mesozoic in East China. The timing of this basin system coincides with the final assembly of East Asia and the development of Western Pacific-type plate margin. Here we use 3-D seismic and core log da...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Tectonophysics 2018-04, Vol.730, p.11-28
Main Authors: Cheng, Yanjun, Wu, Zhiping, Lu, Shunan, Li, Xu, Lin, Chengyan, Huang, Zheng, Su, Wen, Jiang, Chao, Wang, Shouye
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cenozoic
Compression
Cratons
Cretaceous
Deformation
Deformation mechanisms
Evolution
Fault activity
Fault lines
Faults
Geological faults
Geological time
Jurassic
Mesozoic
Mesozoic and Cenozoic
Neogene
Paleogene
Plate margins
Plate tectonics
Plates (tectonics)
Sag
Seismic reflection
Seismology
Shearing
Slip
Strike-slip faults
Subduction
Subduction (geology)
Tectonic transitions
Thrust
Thrust faults
Triassic
Zhanhua Sag
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Summary:The Zhanhua sag is part of the Bohai Bay intracontinental basin system that has developed since the Mesozoic in East China. The timing of this basin system coincides with the final assembly of East Asia and the development of Western Pacific-type plate margin. Here we use 3-D seismic and core log data to investigate the evolution of this basin and discuss its broad tectonic settings. Our new structural study of Zhanhua sag suggests that there are four major tectonic transitions occurred in the Bohai Bay Basin during Mesozoic and Cenozoic: (1) The first tectonic transition was from stable Craton to thrusting during the Triassic, mainly caused by the South China Block's subduction northward beneath the North China Block, which induced the formation of the NW-striking thrust faults. (2) The second tectonic transition was mainly characterized by a change from compression to extension, which can be further divided into two-stages. At the first stage, two episodes of NW-SE shortening occurred in East Asia during Early-Middle Jurassic and Late Jurassic-earliest Cretaceous, respectively. At the second stage, the extension and left-lateral shearing took place during Early Cretaceous while compression occurred during Late Cretaceous. The NW-striking thrust faults changed to normal faults and the NNE-striking left-lateral strike-slip faults started to influence the eastern part of the basin. (3) The third transition occurred when the NW-SE extension and NNE-striking right-lateral shearing started to form during Paleogene, and the peak deformation happen around 40 Ma due to the change of the subduction direction of Pacific Plate relative to Eurasia Plate. The NE-striking normal faults are the main structure, and the pre-existing NNE-striking strike-slip faults changed from left-lateral to right-lateral. (4) The fourth transition saw the regional subsidence during Neogene, which was probably caused by the India-Asia “Hard collision” between 25 and 20 Ma. •Several tectonic transitions occurred in the Zhanhua sag, similar to the BBB.•Shift from stable Craton to thrusting during T.•Shift to two episodes of NE-SW shortening during J.•Shift to extension and left-lateral shearing during Early K and compression during Late K.•Shift to NW-SE extension and NNE-strike right-lateral shearing during E.•Change to depression during N + Q.
ISSN:0040-1951
1879-3266
DOI:10.1016/j.tecto.2018.02.010