No Red River capture since the late Oligocene: Geochemical evidence from the Northwestern South China Sea

Abstract

Rare earth elements (REE) in the sediment samples of six industrial wells from the Yinggehai-Song Hong Basin in the Northwestern South China Sea were analyzed and compared with the detrital zircon U–Pb data from earlier studies to extrapolate sediment provenance. The results reveal that the Red River (Song Hong River), Hainan Island and Central Vietnam have been the main provenances of the Yinggehai-Song Hong Basin since the late Oligocene. The Red River has been supplying sediments with positive Eu anomalies from basic–ultrabasic metamorphic and volcanic parent rocks to most parts of the basin, while Hainan Island has delivered sediments with negative Eu anomalies from granitic and sedimentary parent rocks to the eastern slope area of the basin. The progradational downlap structures in the seismic profiles also support the finding that the sediment supply is mainly from the Red River and from Hainan Island. The metamorphic rocks, which are widespread within the Red River drainage, not only provided high volumes of sediments to the basin but also contributed to the positive Eu anomalies observed. Because their REE and U–Pb signatures are similar to those of the Red River source, the metamorphic and igneous rocks of the Song Ma Suture Zone, Kontum Massif, and Jinghong area were probably parts of a large basic provenance region before being separated by strike-slip movements along the Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone. Furthermore, our results indicate that the Red River drainage area has been relatively stable since the late Oligocene. Therefore, if a drainage capture from the Red River occurred, it is likely to have taken place before the late Oligocene.