Depositional Features and Source and Reservoir Rocks of Tertiary Age in Northern Part of South China Sea: ABSTRACT

Abstract

The northern part of the South China Sea covers an area of about 400,000 km/sup 2/. Tertiary deposits more than 10,000 m in thickness are widely distributed there. The area has sedimentary rocks more than 1000 m thick covers more than 300,000 km/sup 2/. Five sedimentary basins have been established in this area: Beibu Bay, Yinggehai, Southeastern Qiong, Pearl River Mouth, and Southwestern Taiwann basins. The primary source and reservoir rocks for oil and gas prospects are of Tertiary age. Tertiary rocks underwent three stages of development, each forming a specific sedimentation system: (1) a system of fluviolacustrine deposits in rift depressions from the Paleocene to early Oligocene; (2) a system of semiclosed-sea deposits from the late Oligocene to early Miocene; and (3) a system of deltaic open-sea deposits from the middle Miocene to Pliocene. These three sedimentation systems resulted in three suites of source rocks, three suites of reservoir rocks, and three groups of independent oil pools, complete with source, reservoir, and cap rocks. The three suites of source rocks are as follows: (1) the Eocene Liushagang Formation in the Beibu Bay basin, which is believed to be the best source rock discovered in the area; (2) the Oligocenemore » Zhuhai Formation in the Pearl River Mouth basin; and (3) the lower Miocene series in the Pearl River Mouth basin. The Eocene formation is probably the principal source rock of regional scale in the northern part of the South China Sea. The three suites of reservoir rocks are as follows: (1) the fluviolacustrine sandstone bodies in the Liushagang Formation; (2) the fluviolacustrine sand bodies and shallow-sea sandstone bodies in the Zhuhai Formation and Lingshu Formation; (3) the deltaic, littoral, and shallow-sea sand bodies and bioherms of Neogene age, with the middle Miocene sandstone reservoirs having the best physical properties.« less