Control of differential tectonic evolution on petroleum occurrence in Bohai Bay Basin

Abstract

The Bohai Bay Basin (BBB) is the most petroliferous Cenozoic basin in the east of China. It consists of seven depressions. Each depression has been subjected to different stress states and then has experienced varying faulting processes since the Neogene, especially during the Neotectonism (from the Pliocene to the present). On the basis of the investigation of fault patterns, fault densities and fault activity rates (FARs) for each depression, this paper demonstrates the discrepancy of faulting development and evolution across the BBB. The dynamic mechanism for the differences in faulting is also discussed by the analysis of the regional stress state. The Bozhong Depression is just situated in the transtensional zone induced by the two active strike-slip faults, namely Yingkou-Weifang and Beijing-Penglai. In this depression, the major faults which cut through the Paleogene or the Cenozoic have had higher than 10 m/Ma FARs since the Neogene, and the highest FARs have reached or exceeded 25 m/Ma during the Neotectonism. As a result, most of the petroleum has migrated along these major faults and accumulated within the Neogene. In contrast, in the other depressions of the BBB away from the Bozhong Depression, the FARs of the major faults were decreased to lower than 10 m/Ma since the Neogene, and tended to be zero during the Neotectonism. Therefore, the major faults could not serve as vertical conduits for petroleum migration, and the petroleum was entrapped in the Paleogene. Consequently, the faulting since the Neogene, especially during the Neotectonism, controlled the petroleum richness in vertical strata.