A buried submarine canyon in the northwest South China Sea:architecture,development processes and implications for hydrocarbon exploration |
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| Authors: | Bin Wang Fuliang Lyu Shuang Li Jian Li Zhili Yang Li Li Xuefeng Wang Yintao Lu Taotao Yang Jingwu Wu Guozhong Sun Hongxia Ma Xiaoyong Xu |
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| Institution: | 1.Petrochina Hangzhou Research Institute of Geology, Hangzhou 310023, China2.University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China3.Key Laboratory of Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China4.Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China |
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| Abstract: | High-resolution multichannel seismic data enables the discovery of a previous, undocumented submarine canyon (Huaguang Canyon) in the Qiongdongnan Basin, northwest South China Sea. The Huaguang Canyon with a NW orientation is 140 km in length, and 2.5 km to 5 km in width in its upper reach and 4.6 km to 9.5 km in width in its lower reach. The head of the Huaguang Canyon is close to the Xisha carbonate platform and its tail is adjacent to the central canyon. This buried submarine canyon is formed by gravity flows from the Xisha carbonate platform when the sea level dropped in the early stage of the late Miocene (~10.5 Ma). The internal architecture of the Huaguang Canyon is mainly characterized by high amplitude reflections, indicating that this ancient submarine canyon was filled with coarse-grained sediments. The sediment was principally scourced from the Xisha carbonate platform. In contrast to other buried large-scale submarine canyons (central canyon and Zhongjian Canyon) in the Qiongdongnan Basin, the Huaguang Canyon displays later formation time, smaller width and length, and single sediment supply. The coarse-grained deposits within Huaguang Canyon provide a good environment for reserving oil and gas, and the muddy fillings in Huaguang Canyon have been identified as regional caps. Therefore, Huaguang Canyon is potential area for future hydrocarbon exploration in the northwest South China Sea. Our results may contribute to a better understanding of the evolution of submarine canyons formed in carbonate environment. |
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| Keywords: | South China Sea Qiongdongnan Basin submarine canyon evolution |
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