3D analogue modeling of the South China Sea: A discussion on breakup pattern |
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| Authors: | Zhen Sun Zhihong Zhong Myra Keep Di Zhou Dongsheng Cai Xushen Li Shimin Wu Jianqun Jiang |
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| Affiliation: | 1. CAS Key Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China;2. Department of Geophysics, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan;3. Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya 572000, China;4. CNOOC Nanhai East Petroleum Bureau, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518054, China;1. CAS Key Laboratory of Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China;2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;3. Institute of Science and Technology, Shenzhen Branch, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Guangzhou 510420, China;1. Ifremer Centre de Brest, BP 70, 29280 Plouzané Cedex, France;2. 44 rue du Cloître, Plouzané, France;3. Taiwan Ocean Research Institute, 219, Sec. 1 Dongfang Rd., Qieding Dist., Kaohsiung 852, Taiwan;4. Institute of Applied Geophysics, National Taiwan Ocean University, 2 Pei-Ning Road, Keelung 202, Taiwan;1. Key Laboratory of Marine Geology and Environment, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China;2. Sanya Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya 572000, China;3. Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin (R2200), 10100 Burnet Road, Austin, TX 78758-0000, USA;4. Exploration Department, China National Offshore Oil Corporation Ltd., Beijing 100010, China;5. Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey Bureau, Ministry of Land and Resources, Guangzhou 510075, China;6. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China |
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| Abstract: | The opening of the South China Sea is one of the most important Cenozoic events in SE Asia. In order to investigate its tectonic evolution, three analogue modeling experiments were compared. The modeling results suggest that rifting pattern and orientation change of the rift zone were related to initial rheological stratification. Affected by the ductile flow of silicone (lower crust) and honey (asthenosphere), the faults became flattened, especially close to the breakup area. We conjecture that the slope area may bear relatively hotter and thinner lithosphere than the shelf area from the beginning of rifting due to stretching and mantle upwelling associated with this regional extension, which in turn lead to the change in initial rheological stratification and therefore the rifting pattern from shelf to slope. In the experiments, breakup developed first at isolated points, which grew and coalesced to become a single spreading area. The conjugate boundaries were either all concave or all convex. Where a rigid massif was located at the divergent boundary, stretching history was different. In this case, the northern and southern areas thinned rapidly and developed into two deep troughs, which may finally evolve into spreading centers. The shape of the massif controls the orientation and boundary shape of the spreading area. It is interpreted that crustal breakup was more viscous in style, and the NW sub sea basin developed along the northern trough of the Zhongsha-Xisha massif (Macclesfield Bank). |
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