Abstract
In this article, the backstripping technique was used in studying the subsidence characters of the Qiongdongnan (琼东南) basin (QDNB) in order to understand its dynamic mechanism of formation and evolution. Meanwhile, the geothermal characteristics of this area were summarized, and the stretching factors (β) of the upper crust, the whole crust, and the whole lithosphere were calculated. The QDNB is characterized by high subsidence rate, high geothermal gradient, high geothermal heat flow, and the lithosphere stretching and thinning of this area are depth dependent. An asthenosphere zone must have been confined under the lithosphere of Southeast Asian continent because of the mutual subductions of the Eurasian plate, the Pacific plate, the Indian-Australian plate, and the Philippine Sea plate. These characters indicate that strong mantle convection occurred and the lower crust materials flowed away in the domain, which lead to the rapid flexural isostasy subsidence of the upper crust and the uplift of the asthenosphere.
Similar content being viewed by others
References Cited
Cheng, X. Q., Zhu, J. S., Cai, X. L., 2006. Mantle Flow Velocity of East Asia. Geology in China, 33(4): 896–905 (in Chinese with English Abstract)
Engebretson, D. C., Cox, A., Gordon, R., 1983. Relative Motions between Oceanic and Continental Plates in the Pacific Basins. In: Howell, D. G., Jones, D., Cox, A., et al., eds., The Circum-Pacific Terrane Conference. Stanford University Publications, Stanford. 80–82
Fang, N. Q., Yao, B. C., Wang, L., et al., 2007. The Velocity Structure of the Lithosphere and the Origin of Sedimentary Basins in the South China and Northern Margin of the South China Sea. Earth Science—Journal of China University of Geosciences, 32(2): 147–154 (in Chinese with English Abstract)
Hall, R., Morley, C. K., 2004. Sundaland Basins. In: Clift, P., Wang, P., Kuhnt, W., et al., eds., Continental-Ocean Interactions within the East Asian Marginal Seas. AGU Geophysical Monograph, 149: 55–85
He, L. J., Wang, K. L., Xiong, L. P., et al., 2001. Heat Flow and Thermal History of the South China Sea. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 126(3–4): 211–220
Huang, J. L., Zhao, D. P., 2006. High-Resolution Mantle Tomography of China and Surrounding Regions. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111: B09305
Hyndman, R. D., Shearer, P. M., 1989. Water in the Lower Continental Crust: Modelling Magnetotelluric and Seismic Reflection Results. Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 98(2): 343–365
King, G. C. P., Ellis, M. A., 1990. The Origin of Large Local Uplift in Extensional Regions. Nature, 348: 689–693
Kruse, S., McNutt, M. K., Phipps-Morgan, J., et al., 1991. Lithospheric Extension near Lake Mead: A Model for Ductile Flow in the Lower Crust. Journal of Geophysical Research, 96(B3): 4435–4456
Leloup, P. H., Lacassin, R., Tapponnier, P., et al., 1995. The Ailao Shan-Red River Shear Zone (Yunnan, China), Tertiary Transform Boundary of Indochina. Tectonophysics, 251(1–4): 3–84
Li, Z. G., Han, M. L., Zhang, G. C., et al., 2009. Sedimentological Characteristics of the Coal Seams of Yacheng Formation in Qiongdongnan Basin, China. Energy Exploration & Exploitation, 27(6): 411–424 (in Chinese with English Abstract)
Maruyama, S., Isozaki, Y., Kimura, G., et al., 1997. Paleogeographic Maps of the Japanese Islands: Plate Tectonic Synthesis from 750 Ma to the Present. Island Arc, 6(1): 121–142
Matthews, D. H., 1986. Seismic Reflections from the Lower Crust around Britain. Geological Society Special Publications, 24: 11–22
McKenzie, D. P., 1978. Some Remarks on the Development of Sedimentary Basins. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 40: 25–32
Morley, C. K., Westaway, R., 2006. Subsidence in the Super-Deep Pattani and Malay Basins of Southeast Asia: A Coupled Model Incorporating Lower-Crustal Flow in Response to Post-Rift Sediment Loading. Basin Research, 18(1): 51–84
Quinlan, G., Walsh, J., Skogseid, J., et al., 1993. Relationship between Deeper Lithospheric Processes and near Surface Tectonics of Sedimentary Basin. Tectonophysics, 226(1–4): 217–225
Replumaz, A., Karason, H., van der Hilst, R. D., et al., 2004. 4-D Evolution of SE Asia’s Mantle from Geological Reconstructions and Seismic Tomography. Geology, 221(1–4): 103–115
Reston, T. J., 1990. The Lower Crust and the Extension of the Continental Lithosphere: Kinematic Analysis of BIRPS Deep Seismic Data. Tectonics, 9(5): 1235–1248
Ruyama, S., Isozaki, Y., Kimura, G., et al., 1997. Paleo-geographic Maps of the Japanese Islands: Plate Tectonic Synthesis from 750 Ma to the Present. The Island Arc, 6: 121–142
Sclater, J. G., Christie, P. A. F., 1980. Continental Stretching: An Explanation of the Post Mid-Cretaceous Subsidence of the Central North Sea Basin. Journal of Geophysical Research, 85(B7): 3711–3739
Shi, X. B., Qiu, X. L., Xia, K. Y., et al., 2003. Characteristics of Surface Heat Flow in the South China Sea. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 22(3): 265–277
Shi, X. B., Zhou, D., Qiu, X. L., et al., 2002. Thermal and Rheological Structures of the Xisha Trough, South China Sea. Tectonophysics, 351(4): 285–300
Sun, Z., Zhou, D., Zhong, Z. H., et al. 2003. Experimental Evidence for the Dynamics of the Formation of the Yinggehai Basin, NW South China Sea. Tectonophysics, 372(1–2): 41–58
Wang, J. N., Hobbs, B. E., Ord, A., et al., 1994. Newtonian Dislocation Creep in Quartzites: Implications for the Rheology of the Lower Crust. Science, 265(5176): 1204–1206
Westaway, R., 1994. Evidence for Dynamic Coupling of Surface Processes with Isostatic Compensation in the Lower Crust during Active Extension of Western Turkey. Journal of Geophysical Research, 99(B10): 20203–20223
Westaway, R., Guillou, H., Yurtmen, S., et al., 2005. Constraints on the Timing and Regional Conditions at the Start of the Present Phase of Crustal Extension in Western Turkey, from Observations in and around the Denizli Region. Geodinamica Acta, 18(3–4): 209–238
Westaway, R., Maddy, D., Bridgland, D., 2002. Flow in the Lower Continental Crust as a Mechanism for the Quaternary Uplift of Southeast England: Constraints from the Thames Terrace Record. Quaternary Science Reviews, 21(4–6): 559–603
Xie, X. N., Muller, R. D., Li, S. T., et al., 2006. Origin of Anomalous Subsidence along the Northern South China Sea Margin and Its Relationship to Dynamic Topography. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 23(7): 745–765
Yuan, Y., Zhu, W. L., Mi, L. J., et al., 2009. ’Uniform Geothermal Gradient’ and Heat Flow in the Qiongdongnan and Pearl River Mouth Basins of the South China Sea. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 26(7): 1152–1162
Zhang, J., Wang, J. Y., 2000. Deep Geodynamic Characteristics of Tectonic Spreading in Continental Margin of the Northern South China Sea. Science in China (Series D), 30(6): 561–567 (in Chinese)
Zhang, X. Y., Ji, J. Q., Han, B. F., et al., 2006. Research Advances in Erosion, Rheology of the Lower Crust and Orogeny. Advances in Earth Science, 21(5): 521–531 (in Chinese with English Abstract)
Zhao, D. P., Lei, J. S., Tang, R. Y., 2004. Origin of the Changbai Volcano in Northeast China: Evidence from Seismic Tomography. Chin. Sci. Bull., 49(14): 1439–1446 (in Chinese)
Zhao, W. J., Nelson, K. D., Che, J., et al., 1993. Deep Seismic Reflection Evidence for Continental Underthrusting beneath Southern Tibet. Nature, 366(6455): 557–559
Zhu, M. Z., Graham, S., McHargue, T., 2009. The Red River Fault Zone in the Yinggehai Basin, South China Sea. Tectonophysics, 476(3–4): 397–417
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40672089), Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No. 20070491004), and National Key Basic Research Program “973” (No. 2007CB41170502).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yin, X., Ren, J., Lei, C. et al. Postrift rapid subsidence characters in Qiongdongnan Basin, South China Sea. J. Earth Sci. 22, 273–279 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-011-0180-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-011-0180-y