Late Eocene–early Miocene provenance evolution of the Crocker Fan in the southern South China Sea

Yuchi Cui; Lei Shao; Wu Tang; Peijun Qiao; Goh Thian Lai; Yongjian Yao

doi:10.1007/s13131-023-2148-z

Volume 42 Issue 3

Mar. 2023

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Yuchi Cui, Lei Shao, Wu Tang, Peijun Qiao, Goh Thian Lai, Yongjian Yao. Late Eocene–early Miocene provenance evolution of the Crocker Fan in the southern South China Sea[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2023, 42(3): 215-226. doi: 10.1007/s13131-023-2148-z

Citation:

Yuchi Cui, Lei Shao, Wu Tang, Peijun Qiao, Goh Thian Lai, Yongjian Yao. Late Eocene–early Miocene provenance evolution of the Crocker Fan in the southern South China Sea[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2023, 42(3): 215-226. doi: 10.1007/s13131-023-2148-z

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Late Eocene–early Miocene provenance evolution of the Crocker Fan in the southern South China Sea

doi: 10.1007/s13131-023-2148-z

Yuchi Cui^{1, 2},
Lei Shao^{1
,
,},
Wu Tang³,
Peijun Qiao¹,
Goh Thian Lai⁴,
Yongjian Yao⁵

1.
State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
2.
Earth Dynamics Research Group, The Institute for Geoscience Research (TIGeR), School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Australia
3.
China National Offshore Oil Corporation(CNOOC) Research Institute Co., Ltd., Beijing 100028, China
4.
Department of Earth Sciences and Environment, Faculty of Science and Technology, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia
5.
Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, Ministry of Natural Resources, Guangzhou 510075, China

Funds: The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 42076066, 92055203 and U20A20100.

More Information

Corresponding author: E-mail: lshao@tongji.edu.cn
Received Date: 2022-03-01
Accepted Date: 2023-01-31

Available Online: 2023-02-24

Publish Date: 2023-03-25

Abstract

Abstract

There are many large-scale Cenozoic sedimentary basins with plentiful river deltas, deep-water fans and carbonate platforms in the southern South China Sea. The Crocker Fan was deposited as a typical submarine fan during the late Eocene–early Miocene, and stretches extensively across the entire Sarawak–Sabah of the northern Borneo area. However, systematic analyses are still lacking regarding its sediment composition and potential source suppliers. No consensus has been reached yet on the provenance evolution and sedimentary infilling processes, which seriously impeded the oil-and-gas exploration undertakings. By combining with sedimentary-facies identification, heavy mineral assemblages, elemental geochemistry and detrital zircon U-Pb dating, this paper aims to generalize an integrated analysis on the potential provenance terranes and restore source-to-sink pathways of the Crocker Fan. In general, the Crocker Fan was initially formed over the Cretaceous–lower/middle Eocene Rajang Group by an angular Rajang unconformity. The continual southward subduction of the proto-South China Sea resulted in magmatic activities and subsequent regional deformation and thrusting along the Lupar Line in the northern Borneo. The lowermost Crocker sequence is featured by a thick conglomerate layer sourced from in-situ or adjacent paleo-uplifts. From the late Eocene to the early Miocene, the Crocker Fan was constantly delivered with voluminous detritus from the Malay Peninsula of the western Sundaland. The Zengmu Basin was widely deposited with delta plain and neritic facies sediments, while the Brunei-Sabah Basin, to the farther east, was ubiquitously characterized by turbiditic sequences. The Crocker Fan successions are overall thick layers of modest-grained sandstones, which formed high-quality reservoirs in the southern South China Sea region.
- source-to-sink analysis,
- zircon U-Pb age,
- submarine fan,
- Malay Peninsula,
- southern South China Sea

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References(50)

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