Shiguo Wu

Elevated gas hydrate saturation within silt and silty clay sediments in the Shenhu area, South China Sea

Gas hydrate saturations were estimated using five different methods in silt and silty clay foraminiferous sediments from drill hole SH2 in the South China Sea. Gas hydrate saturations derived from observed pore water chloride values in core samples range from 10 to 45% of the pore space at 190-221 m below seafloor (mbsf). Gas hydrate saturations estimated from resistivity (R-t) using wireline logging results are similar and range from 10 to 40.5% in the pore space. Gas hydrate saturations were also estimated by P wave velocity obtained during wireline logging by using a simplified three-phase equation (STPE) and effective medium theory (EMT) models. Gas hydrate saturations obtained from the STPE velocity model (41.0% maximum) are slightly higher than those calculated with the EMT velocity model (38.5% maximum). Methane analysis from a 69 cm long depressurized core from the hydrate-bearing sediment zone indicates that gas hydrate saturation is about 27.08% of the pore space at 197.5 mbsf. Results from the five methods show similar values and nearly identical trends in gas hydrate saturations above the base of the gas hydrate stability zone at depths of 190 to 221 mbsf. Gas hydrate occurs within units of clayey slit and silt containing abundant calcareous nannofossils and foraminifer, which increase the porosities of the fine-grained sediments and provide space for enhanced gas hydrate formation. In addition, gas chimneys, faults, and fractures identified from three-dimensional (3-D) and high-resolution two-dimensional (2-D) seismic data provide pathways for fluids migrating into the gas hydrate stability zone which transport methane for the formation of gas hydrate. Sedimentation and local canyon migration may contribute to higher gas hydrate saturations near the base of the stability zone.

Focused fluid flow in the Baiyun Sag, northern South China Sea: implications for the source of gas in hydrate reservoirs

The origin and migration of natural gas and the accumulation of gas hydrates within the Pearl River Mouth Basin of the northern South China Sea are poorly understood. Based on high-resolution 2D/3D seismic data, three environments of focused fluid flow: gas chimneys, mud diapirs and active faults have been identified. Widespread gas chimneys that act as important conduits for fluid flow are located below bottom simulating reflections and above basal uplifts. The occurrence and evolution of gas chimneys can be divided into a violent eruptive stage and a quiet seepage stage. For most gas chimneys, the strong eruptions are deduced to have happened during the Dongsha Movement in the latest Miocene, which are observed below Pliocene strata and few active faults develop above the top of the Miocene. The formation pressures of the Baiyun Sag currently are considered to be normal, based on these terms: 1) Borehole pressure tests with pressure coefficients of 1.043–1.047; 2) The distribution of gas chimneys is limited to strata older than the Pliocene; 3) Disseminated methane hydrates, rather than fractured hydrates, are found in the hydrate samples; 4) The gas hydrate is mainly charged with biogenic gas rather than thermogenic gas based on the chemical tests from gas hydrates cores. However, periods of quiet focused fluid flow also enable the establishment of good conduits for the migration of abundant biogenic gas and lesser volumes of thermogenic gas. A geological model governing fluid flow has been proposed to interpret the release of overpressure, the migration of fluids and the formation of gas hydrates, in an integrated manner. This model suggests that gas chimneys positioned above basal uplifts were caused by the Dongsha Movement at about 5.5 Ma. Biogenic gas occupies the strata above the base of the middle Miocene and migrates slowly into the gas chimney columns. Some of the biogenic gas and small volumes of thermogenic gas eventually contribute to the formation of the gas hydrates.

Architecture and development of a multi-stage Baiyun submarine slide complex in the Pearl River Canyon, northern South China Sea

The Baiyun submarine slide complex (BSSC) along the Pearl River Canyon of the northern South China Sea has been imaged by multibeam bathymetry and 2D/3D seismic data. By means of maximum likelihood classification with slope aspect and gradient as inputs, the BSSC is subdivided into four domains, denoted as slide area I, II, III and IV. Slide area I is surrounded by cliffs on three sides and has been intensely reshaped by turbidity currents generated by other kinds of mass movement outside the area; slide area II incorporates a shield volcano with a diameter of approximately 10 km and unconfined slides possibly resulting from the toe collapse of inter-canyon ridges; slide area III is dominated by repeated slides that mainly originated from cliffs constituting the eastern boundary of the BSSC; slide area IV is distinguished by a conical seamount with a diameter of 6.5 km and a height of 375 m, and two slides probably having a common source that are separated from each other by a suite of residual strata. The BSSC is interpreted to be composed of numerous slide events, which occurred in the period from 10.5 to 5.5 Ma BP. Six specific factors may have contributed to the development of the BSSC, i.e., gas hydrate dissociation, gas-bearing sediments, submarine volcanic activity, seismicity, sedimentation rate and seafloor geomorphology. A 2D conceptual geological model combining these factors is proposed as a plausible mechanism explaining the formation of the BSSC. However, the BSSC may also have been affected by the Dongsha event (10 Ma BP) as an overriding factor.

Tectonic contrast between the conjugate margins of the South China Sea and the implication for the differential extensional model

The extensional model of the South China Sea (SCS) has been widely studied, but remains under debate. Based on the latest high-quality multi-channel seismic data, bathymetric data, and other obtained seismic profiles, the asymmetric characteristics between the conjugate margins of the SCS are revealed and extensional model of the SCS margin is discussed further. Spatial variation of morphology, basement structure, and marginal faults are discovered among the SCS margin profiles. As for the NS-trending variation, the basement of northern margin displays in the shape of step downwards to the sea, while the basement of southern margin is composed of wide rotated and tilted blocks, without any obvious bathymetric change. The variation also exists in the development of marginal faults between the conjugate margins, and detachment fault system is identified on the southern margin. Along the southern margin from east to west, the Eastern and Southwestern Basins developed different structural units. Based on the tectonic contrast of the conjugate margins, differential extensional model is proposed to explain the spatial variation of the SCS structure, which introduces detachment faults controlling the evolution of the SCS. The upper crust above the detachment fault was deformed by simple shear, while the lower crust and upper mantle below the detachment fault was deformed by pure shear. Because of the different lateral transfer between the upper brittle faulting and the lower ductile extensional regions, there developed marginal plateau (Liyue basin) and outer rise (Zhenghe massif) on the lower plate margin of the Eastern Basin and the Southwestern Basin, respectively. The evolution of the present SCS may be influenced by the diachronous close of the paleo-SCS.

Morphology, seismic characterization and sediment dynamics of the Baiyun Slide Complex on the northern South China Sea margin

A large submarine slope failure, the Baiyun Slide Complex, has been discovered in the northern South China Sea. We describe the slide complex morphology, the seismic character of its structural elements and the slide evolution based on high-quality seismic reflection and multi-beam bathymetry data. The Baiyun Slide Complex has three major slide scars that show differences in headwall and sidewall geometry, the nature of the basal shear surfaces and the internal architecture of the deposits. From these observations, we propose a four-phase emplacement model. An extrapolation of the post-slide drape thickness (60 m) gives a rough age estimate for the mass transport events of 0.3 Ma. Pore pressure models for the unfailed continental slope in the vicinity of the Baiyun Slide are based on porosity measurements at nearby Ocean Drilling Program Site 1146. They show that excess pore pressure in slope sediments is anomalously high at a depth around 93 m, most probably as a consequence of a dramatic increase in sedimentation rates over the past 1.8 Ma. This excess pore pressure is proposed to be the major preconditioning factor for the slide initiation, possibly aided by volcano-tectonic activity and gas hydrate dissociation. The unfailed slope is stable under static conditions. However, a near-field earthquake of Mw 5 would suffice to induce a slope instability at c. 93 m depth.

Petroleum system in deepwater basins of the northern South China Sea

The northern South China Sea margin has experienced a rifting stage and a post-rifting stage during the Cenozoic. In the rifting stage, the margin received lacustrine and shallow marine facies sediments. In the post-rifting thermal subsidence, the margin accumulated shallow marine facies and hemipelagic deposits, and the deepwater basins formed. Petroleum systems of deepwater setting have been imaged from seismic data and drill wells. Two kinds of source rocks including Paleogene lacustrine black shale and Oligocene-Early Miocene mudstone were developed in the deepwater basin of the South China Sea. The deepwater reservoirs are characterized by the deep sea channel fill, mass flow complexes and drowned reef carbonate platform. Profitable capping rocks on the top are mudstones with huge thickness in the post-rifting stage. Meanwhile, the faults developed during the rifting stage provide a migration path favourable for the formation of reservoirs. The analysis of seismic and drilling data suggests that the joint structural and stratigraphic traps could form giant hydrocarbon fields and hydrocarbon reservoirs including syn-rifting graben subaqueous delta, deepwater submarine fan sandstone and reef carbonate reservoirs.

Baiyun Slide and Its Relation to Fluid Migration in the Northern Slope of Southern China Sea

A large-scale submarine landslide (Baiyun Slide) covering an area of 10,000 km2 was identified from the multibeam bathymetric data, high-resolution 2D and 3D seismic data acquired in the Baiyun Sag, Pearl River Mouth Basin, northern South China Sea (SCS). Numerous polygonal faults are also found below the translational domain of the Baiyun Slide. Enhanced reflections, bright spots and pull-down reflection have been illustrated from the 2D and 3D seismic data, indicating the presence of gas. The headwall scarps of the slide are located stratigraphically above the sediments where the amplitude anomalies are identified. The focused fluid flow maybe leak from the gas reservoir and migrate upward into the base of the Baiyun Slide. Though the triggering mechanism of the Baiyun Slide is still poorly known, the fluid trapped below the slide will reduce the strength of the sediments and trigger the slope failure. We propose a conceptual model of the relationship between fluid migration and slope stability.

Balanced cross section for restoration of tectonic evolution in the southwest Okinawa Trough

On the basis of the multi-channel seismic data and the other data, using 2DMove software, the tectonic evolution in three seismic profiles was restored since Pliocene. The tectonic restoration results show that: (1) the initial active center lay in the west slope and then was transferred to east and south via trough center during the evolution process; (2) several main normal faults controlled the evolution of the southern Okinawa Trough; (3) since Late Pliocene, the southern Okinawa Trough has experienced two spreading stages. The early is depression in Early-Middle Pleistocene and the late is back-are spreading in Late Pleistocene and Holocene, which is in primary oceanic crust spreading stage.

Crustal structure and extension mode in the northwestern margin of the South China Sea

Combining multi-channel seismic reflection and gravity modeling, this study has investigated the crustal structure of the northwestern South China Sea margin. These data constrain a hyper-extended crustal area bounded by basin-bounding faults corresponding to an aborted rift below the Xisha Trough with a subparallel fossil ridge in the adjacent Northwest Sub-basin. The thinnest crust is located in the Xisha Trough, where it is remnant lower crust with a thickness of less than 3 km. Gravity modeling also revealed a hyper-extended crust across the Xisha Trough. The postrift magmatism is well developed and more active in the Xisha Trough and farther southeast than on the northwestern continental margin of the South China Sea; and the magmatic intrusion/extrusion was relatively active during the rifting of Xisha Trough and the Northwest Sub-basin. A narrow continent-ocean transition zone with a width of ∼65 km bounded seaward by a volcanic buried seamount is characterized by crustal thinning, rift depression, low gravity anomaly and the termination of the break-up unconformity seismic reflection. The aborted rift near the continental margin means that there may be no obvious detachment fault like that in the Iberia-Newfoundland type margin. The symmetric rift, extreme hyper-extended continental crust and hotter mantle materials indicate that continental crust underwent stretching phase (pure-shear deformation), thinning phase and breakup followed by onset of seafloor spreading and the mantle-lithosphere may break up before crustal-necking in the northwestern South China Sea margin.

Tomographic evidence for a slab tear induced by fossil ridge subduction at Manila Trench, South China Sea

A tomographic travel-time inversion has been applied to trace the subducted slab of the South China Sea (SCS) beneath the Manila Trench. The dataset, taken from the International Seismological Centre (1960–2008), is composed of 13,087 P-wave arrival times from 1401 regional earthquakes and 8834 from 1350 teleseismic events. The results image the different morphology of the subducted SCS slab as a high-velocity zone. The subducting angle of the slab varies along the trench: at 16° N and 16.5° N, the slab dips at a low angle (24° ~ 32°) for 20–250 km depth and at a moderate angle (50°) for ~250–400 km depth. At 17° N, the slab dips at a low angle (32°) to near 400 km depth, and at 17.5° N and 18° N the slabs are near vertical from 70 ~ 700 km depth, while at 20° N the high-velocity anomalies exhibit features from horizontal abruptly to near vertical, extending to 500 km depth. The dramatic steepening of the slab between 17° N and 17.5° N may indicate a slab tear, which is coincident with the axis of a fossil ridge within the SCS slab at around 17° N. In addition, low-velocity zones in the three profiles above 300 km depth may represent the formation of the slab window, induced by ridge subduction and slab tear, initiating upward mantle flow and resulting in the partial melting of the edge of the slab. The slab tear could explain the volcanic gap and geochemical difference between the extinct Miocene and Quaternary volcanoes in the Luzon Arc, the much higher heat flow around the fossil ridge, and the distribution of most of the adakites and the related porphyry Cu-Au deposits in the Luzon area. Based on the geometry and morphology of the subducted slab and certain assumptions, we calculate the initial time of ridge subduction, which implies that ridge subduction and slab tear possibly started at ~8 Ma.