Numerical modeling of Late Miocene tectonic inversion in the Xihu Sag, East China Sea Shelf Basin, China

•The range of inversion was confined by faults and basement buckling in the ECSSB.•The intensity of inversion decreased from north to south in the Xihu Sag.•The formation of the inversion zone was related to the direction of compression.•The structural patterns of the inversion were controlled by the Xihu–Jilong Fault.

The East China Sea Shelf Basin is an important oil- and gas-bearing basin in the West Pacific continental margin. This region was affected by subduction of the Pacific Plate and the Philippine Plate in Cenozoic and experienced multi-stage tectonic inversions. This paper presents results from a numerical simulation by finite element method to the Xihu Sag in the East China Sea Shelf Basin and neighboring areas in an attempt to evaluate the WNW-directed compression on the sag during Late Miocene. Based on comprehensive structural analysis of a large number of seismic profiles, we determine the structural geometry of the sag, including the basement of the basin, the sedimentary cover, and 29 major faults in the Xihu Sag. Simulation results show that under continuous WNW-directed compression, tectonic inversion occurred firstly in the Longjing and Yuquan tectonic zones in the sag. Based on quantitative analysis of vertical displacement field of the Xihu Sag and peripheral areas and its stress intensity evolution, we identify a compressional regime in the Longjing Anticline Zone with a gradually propagated uplifting from south to north; whereas the propagation of uplifting in the Yuquan Anticline Zone is from north to south. The inversion intensity decreases from north to south. The formation of the tectonic inversion zone in the Xihu Sag is not only correlated to the direction of compression and fault patterns in the basin, but also closely related to the spatial configuration of fault surfaces of the Xihu–Jilong Fault in the Xihu Sag.