Sedimentary characteristics and tectonic setting of sublacustrine fans in a half-graben rift depression, Beibuwan Basin, South China Sea

Drilling has shown that there is a large petroleum reserve in the Liushagang Formation of the Fushan Depression, South China Sea from reservoirs of the sublacustrine fans. To reduce the risk associated with exploration, the sedimentary characteristics of the sublacustrine fans should be identified and described. Analysis of the drilling cores, well data and 3D seismic data was conducted to identify and interpret the sublacustrine fans which formed in a lacustrine succession as the low-stand fan of the 2nd member of Liushagang Formation (SQEls2). The reservoirs were commonly associated with pebbly conglomerates, mudstone shivers, muddy debris, various deformation structures including micro-faults, liquified deformation structure, ball and pillow structure, slump and stress-release deformation. Further contrastive analysis of sedimentary characteristics and palaeogeomorphology between the western and eastern sublacustrine fans indicates that they belong to two different types of sublacustrine system in continental basins. More specifically, the western fan, controlled by the multi-level step-fault belt, is a typical gravel-rich sublacustrine system which is characterised by structurally controlled, high gradient (2.8-3.3 degrees), admixtures of muddy debris and pebbly conglomerates and poor reservoir quality, while the eastern fan, controlled by the flexure slope-break belt, is a sand-rich sublacustrine system dominated by relatively low gradient (2.0-2.5 degrees), general fining-upwards trend with good reservoir quality. Therefore, the development of future exploration should be conducted at different levels in the Fushan Depression. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.