Lower Cretaceous stratigraphic characteristics and tectonic control of the eastern depression, North Yellow Sea Basin, North China

Abstract

The Lower Cretaceous of the eastern depression in the North Yellow Sea Basin is a set of residual strata that can be divided into K1sq1 and K1sq2 sequences. There are four lithology–lithofacies architectures summarized in the third-order sequences of wells W5, W3, W1, W9, W16, W7, W8, and W10, and they are the coarse–fine–coarse, asymmetric coarse–fine, asymmetric fine–coarse, and interbedded coarse and fine. F1, F4, F6, and F7, which are strike-slip faults, were dominant during the Early Cretaceous, and controlled the eastern depression to undergo right-lateral movement from transtension to transpression. The tectonic movement controlled different stratigraphic structure in different areas, and the fan bodies deposited along the basin margin and progradated into the basin center. The sequence models under extensional and strike-slip setting were established respectively. The transtension–transpression movement controlled the development of the sandstones in the Lower Cretaceous and improved the quality of the reservoir rocks.