Post-rift uplift and focused fluid flow in the passive margin of northern South China Sea

- Post-rift uplift in Dongsha characterized by unconformity, faulting and fluid flow.
- Geothermal activity in the Liuhua platform lead to carbonate collapse.
- Post-rift uplift may be caused by subduction of low density transition crust.

An important post-rifting tectonic event with extensive uplift and fluid flow took place at the northern margin of the South China Sea (SCS) during the late Miocene. Based on an analysis of two- and three-dimensional seismic data plus drilling well data, the tectonic event mainly affected the Dongsha Rise and the adjacent depressions. Tectonic deformation likely occurred in the Dongsha Rise, the eastern part of the Panyu Swell and several depressions of the Zhu I Sag. The post-rifting deformation in the study area was characterized by faulting, erosion, igneous activity and hydrothermal fluid flow. The tectonic movement caused abundant secondary NW and WNW tensional and transtensional faults, with lengths of 1 to 10 km. It also created a clear angular unconformity which marks the time of the tectonic movement. Late Neogene igneous rocks are found in the strata in the Dongsha Rise only close to the continent-ocean transition zone. Geothermal activity occurred in the Liuhua carbonate platform and adjacent depressions. Deformation is more intense in the eastern area than in the western area. According to sequence stratigraphy, we infer that the tectonic event mainly occurred in the late period of Late Miocene and ended at the Mio/Pliocene boundary (5.5 Ma). The dynamic mechanism for tectonic movement could be associated with subduction of the South China Sea slab beneath the Philippine Sea Plate at the Manila trench. When subduction of lower density crust within the continental-ocean transition zone was initiated, large resistance stresses may have led to lithosphere bending and crustal uplift in the Dongsha area.