Rapid post-rift tectonic subsidence events in the Pearl River Mouth Basin, northern South China Sea margin

Abstract

Data from 26 drill wells and 27 regional seismic profiles were integrated to investigate the timing, phase and origin of the post-rift subsidence in the middle to eastern Pearl River Mouth Basin (PRMB) of the northern South China Sea using the traditional 1-D backstripping technique. Different from previous research of backstripped tectonic subsidence in the basin, we calculated the tectonic subsidence using the newly built local porosity-depth relationships for decompaction and updated sedimentological and paleontological data for paleobathymetry reconstruction. Well-data based subsidence curves reveal a roughly decaying pattern in both the magnitude and rate of the post-rift subsidence in the PRMB, which is in accordance with the general decreasing trend of the thermal subsidence typical of a passive margin. Two events of rapid post-rift tectonic subsidence were identified, which occurred in the Early to early Middle Miocene and the Pliocene. The timing of the first rapid post-rift subsidence event varies and is earlier in the southern rather than northern part of the basin. Additionally, the amplitude of contemporaneous tectonic subsidence is greater in the southern part of the basin. The second rapid tectonic subsidence event occurred simultaneously in both the southern and northern parts of the basin, with the amplitude of subsidence being much greater in the southern part. We associate the first rapid subsidence event with the southward jump of the South China Sea spreading ridge, which occurred between the Oligocene and Early Miocene, while the second event with the arc-continent collision at Taiwan since the latest Late Miocene. The southern PRMB in the deep-water slope area shows a much higher magnitude of tectonic subsidence in both events than its northern counterpart in the shelf area, which could be associated with its much thinner lithosphere. The latter could cause upswelling of denser lower crust and upper mantle material, resulting in more rapid tectonic subsidence in the southern PRMB.