| Abstract: | As one of the main controlling factors of oil and gas accumulation, faults are closely related to the distribution of oil and gas reservoirs. Studying how faults control petroliferous basins is particularly important. In this work, we investigated the plane positions of major faults in the China seas and its adjacent areas using the normalized vertical derivative of the total horizontal derivative (NVDR-THDR) of the Bouguer gravity anomaly, the fusion results of gravity and magnetic anomalies, and the residual Bouguer gravity anomaly. The apparent depths of major faults in the China seas and its adjacent areas were inverted using the Tilt-Euler method based on the Bouguer gravity anomaly. The results show that the strikes of the faults in the China seas and its adjacent areas are mainly NE and NW, followed by EW, and near-SN. Among them, the lengths of most ultra-crustal faults are in the range of 1 000–3 000 km, and their apparent depths lie between 10 km and 40 km. The lengths of crustal faults lie between 300 km and 1 000 km, and their apparent depths are between 0 km and 20 km. According to the plane positions and apparent depths of the faults, we put forward the concept of fault influence factor for the first time. Based on this factor, the key areas for oil and gas exploration were found as follows: the east of South North China Basin in the intracontinental rift basins; the southeast region of East China Sea Shelf Basin, the Taixinan and Qiongdongnan basins in the continental margin rift basins; Zhongjiannan Basin in the strike-slip pull-apart basins; the Liyue, Beikang, and the Nanweixi basins in the rifted continental basins. This work provides valuable insights into oil and gas exploration, mineral resource exploration, and deep geological structure research in the China seas and its adjacent areas. |
