Characteristics of the Tan-Lu Strike-Slip Fault and Its Controls on Hydrocarbon Accumulation in the Liaodong Bay Sub-Basin, Bohai Bay Basin, China

Abstract

The Tan-Lu Fault, one of the major strike-slip structures in China, controlled the development of most of the Meso-Cenozoic NNE trend rifted petroliferous basins in east China. It has cut across the Bohai Bay Basin since the late Cenozoic and played an important role in hydrocarbon accumulation and distribution in the Liaodong Bay sub-basin of the Bohai Bay Basin. The purpose of this paper is to study the geometry of the Tan-Lu strike-slip and how it affected petroleum system development in the Liaodong Bay sub-basin. The innovative seismic interpretation revealed the western branch of the Tan-Lu strike-slip fault cut through the Liaozhong depression of the sub-basin and its eastern branch superimposed on the earlier extensional boundary fault of the sub-basin. The strike-slip movement is characterized by a distinctive strike-slip zone associated with the NE en echelon faults in the central part of the Liaozhong depression and also caused the formation of the Liaodong uplift and the Liaodong depression in the east Liaodong Bay Sub-basin. Rapid movement of the Tan-Lu strike-slip fault has deepened the Liaozhong depression and facilitated the maturation of source rock. Related fault movement formed a series of structural traps and paleotopographic highs and lows that subsequently controlled sediment dispersal and the distribution of stratigraphic-related traps within sequence stratigraphic framework. Exploration practice, geochemical study and petroleum system modeling demonstrate that the Tan-Lu strike-slip and its associated faults acted as good hydrocarbon migration pathways and hydrocarbon accumulated in many traps associated with the Tan-Lu strike-slip zone. Many recent discoveries along the strike-slip zone prove that the petroleum system in Liaodong Bay Sub-basin was mainly controlled by the activity of the Tan-Lu strike-slip. The resulting hydrocarbon accumulation model in this sub-basin may provide a paradigm for the prediction of hydrocarbon accumulation to other east China basins along the Tan-Lu strike-slip fault zone. Key words: Liaodong Bay Sub-basin; Tan-Lu strike-slip fault; Hydrocarbon accumulation; Petroleum system; Sequence stratigraphy