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Seismic analysis of early-mid Miocene carbonate platform in the southern Qiongdongnan Basin, South China Sea

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Abstract

The southern uplift of the Qiongdongnan Basin is a deepwater area in which no wells have beens drilled. The Miocene-Quaternary strata in the Xisha Islands, which are located 40–100 km to the south, are composed of carbonate reef formations. Paleotectonic and paleogeographic analyses of the basin suggest that the southern uplift experienced favorable geological conditions for the development of carbonate reefs during the Miocene. The high-impedance carbonates have high amplitudes and low frequencies on seismic profiles. The reefs are distributed on paleotectonic highs and are thicker than the contemporaneous formations. A forward model of the variation in carbonate thickness based on lithological and velocity information from wells in nearby regions can simulate the seismic response of carbonates with different thicknesses. We identified several important controlling points for determining the thickness of carbonates from seismic profiles, including the pinchout point, the λ/4 thickness point, and the λ/2 thickness point. We depict a carbonate thickness map in the deepwater area of the southern Qiongdongnan Basin based on this model. The carbonate thickness map, the paleotectonic and paleogeographic background, and the seismic response characteristics of reefs suggest that the carbonates that developed on the southern uplift of the Qiongdongnan Basin during the Miocene were mainly an isolated carbonate platform peninsula and ramp deposits. It consisted of gentle ramp platform, steep slope platform, platform depression, gravity flow, and reef bank facies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, China

    Xiaochuan Wu, Renhai Pu & Hongjun Qu

  2. CNNOOC Research Institute, Beijing, 100028, China

    Ying Chen & Huailei Shen

Authors
  1. Xiaochuan Wu
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  2. Renhai Pu
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  3. Ying Chen
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  4. Hongjun Qu
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  5. Huailei Shen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Renhai Pu.

Additional information

Foundation item: The National Science and Technology Major Project of China under contract No. 2011ZX05025-006-02; the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. 41390451.

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Wu, X., Pu, R., Chen, Y. et al. Seismic analysis of early-mid Miocene carbonate platform in the southern Qiongdongnan Basin, South China Sea. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 37, 54–65 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-017-1128-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-017-1128-6

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