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Deep-sea geohazards in the South China Sea

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Abstract

Various geological processes and features that might inflict hazards identified in the South China Sea by using new technologies and methods. These features include submarine landslides, pockmark fields, shallow free gas, gas hydrates, mud diapirs and earthquake tsunami, which are widely distributed in the continental slope and reefal islands of the South China Sea. Although the study and assessment of geohazards in the South China Sea came into operation only recently, advances in various aspects are evolving at full speed to comply with National Marine Strategy and ‘the Belt and Road’ Policy. The characteristics of geohazards in deep-water seafloor of the South China Sea are summarized based on new scientific advances. This progress is aimed to aid ongoing deep-water drilling activities and decrease geological risks in ocean development.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the authors and reviewers for their assistance with this special issue. We also thank editor office, Dr. Chen Wenwen, for her outstanding work. This study was funded by the MOST 973 program (No. 2015CB25 1201), the Guangzhou Marine Geology Survey project (Nos. GZH201400210 and GZH201601040), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 912282 08 and 41666012).

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Correspondence to Shiguo Wu or Dawei Wang.

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Wu, S., Wang, D. & Völker, D. Deep-sea geohazards in the South China Sea. J. Ocean Univ. China 17, 1–7 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-018-3490-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-018-3490-1

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