Crustal structure in an onshore–offshore transitional zone near Hong Kong, northern South China Sea

Abstract

To study the crustal structure beneath the onshore–offshore transitional zone, a wide-angle onshore–offshore seismic experiment was carried out in northern South China Sea near Hong Kong, using large volume airgun sources at sea and seismic stations on land. The crustal velocity model constructed from traveltime fitting shows that the sedimentary thickness abruptly increases seaward of the Dangan Islands based on the characteristics of Pg and Multiple Pg, and the crustal structure beneath the sedimentary layer is relatively simple. The Moho depth is about 25–28 km along the profile and the P-wave velocity increases gradually with depth. The velocities in the upper crust range from 5.5 to 6.4 km/s, while that in the lower crust is 6.4–6.9 km/s. It also reveals a low velocity zone with a width of more than 10 km crossing the crust at about 75–90 km distance, which suggests that the Littoral Fault Zone (LFZ) exists beneath the onshore–offshore transitional zone. The magnetism anomalies, bouguer gravity anomalies and active seismic zone along the coastline imply the LFZ is a main tectonic fault in the onshore–offshore area. Combined with two previously published profiles in the continental South China (L–G profile) and in the northern margin of South China Sea (OBS1993) respectively, we constructed a land-sea super cross-section about 1000 km long. The results show the onshore–offshore transitional zone is a border separating the unstretched and the stretched continental crust. The low velocity layer (LVL) in the middle crust was imaged along L–G profile. However, the high velocity layer (HVL) in the lower crust was detected along OBS1993. By analyzing the mechanisms of the LVL in the middle crust and HVL in the base of crust, we believe the crustal structures had distinctly different attributes in the continental South China and in the northern SCS, which indicates that the LFZ could be the boundary fault between them.