Features and dynamic mechanisms of Cenozoic tectonic migration and its impact on the hydrocarbon accumulation in the northern South China Sea

The northern continental margin of the South China Sea (SCS) is located within the tectonic system of Southeast Asia, an area with a great deal of tectonic migration due to the regional tectonic movements. The available geological and geophysical data of the area are comprehensively analyzed in order to demonstrate the typical migration patterns of the Cenozoic tectonics in the northern SCS caused by the episodes of the Cenozoic tectonic movement. Furthermore, the lateral variation characteristics of the strata and the different evolution patterns of the main basins' features are assessed. It primarily focus on: (1) the Cenozoic episodic rifting from north to south in the continental margin of the northern SCS; (2) the rifting and depression time of the main basins progressively become younger as one goes from north to south, signifying that the migration of both the tectonics and the sediments within the northern SCS travelled from north to south during the Cenozoic; and (3) the lateral tectonic migration on the direction of EW is not regular in total, but in some local areas the trending of the tectonic migration is from west to east. The analysis of the tectonic migration features of the northern SCS, in combination with the regional tectonic evolution background, indicates that the observed remote lagging effect, resulted from the India-Eurasia plate collision, is the main dynamic mechanism involved in the tectonic migration within the northern SCS. The tectonic migration has significant influence on both the organization of petroleum deposits and on the hydrocarbon accumulation within the basins in the northern SCS; comprehensive understanding of this dynamic system is of great reference value in predicting the hydrocarbon accumulation and has the potential to have an enormous impact in discovering new deep reservoirs for the future oil-gas exploration.