The early-middle Miocene submarine fan system in the Pearl River Mouth Basin, South China Sea

Based on a large amount of seismic, drilling and core data, the characteristics of the early-middle Miocene submarine fans in the Baiyun Sag, northern South China Sea are investigated. By analyzing the sedimentary processes of submarine fans in SQ21 (SQ21 refers to the 3rd-order sequence with its bottom boundary 21 Ma), a sedimentary model of the sand-rich fans is established and the main factors controlling fan deposition are detailed. The results indicate that from early to middle Miocene the Pearl River Mouth Basin developed seven 3rd-order sequences in all, with each lowstand systems tract (LST) of the sequence corresponding to submarine fans. However, only the fans in SQ13.8 and SQ21 are sand-rich fans, the others being mud-rich fans. The cores reveal that the submarine fans in the Pearl River Mouth Basin developed five lithofacies: (1) mud clast-bearing sandstone, interpreted as channel deposits; (2) typical turbidite sandstones, also interpreted as channel deposits; (3) thin-bedded sandstone and mudstone, interpreted as channel-levee complex deposits; (4) massive sandstones, interpreted as lobe deposits; (5) massive mudstone, interpreted as hemipelagic mud. The sand-rich submarine fans in the Pearl River Mouth Basin mainly developed in LST, and in LST reverse faults were active, which led to the formation of accommodation on the shelf. Different from the theory of classic sequence stratigraphy, the accommodation on the shelf captures terrigenous debris transported by the Pearl River, and the uplift at the edge of shelf serves as a “Linear Source” for the deep water area instead of the Pearl River. Therefore, the fans mainly derived from the eroded debris from the uplift. Factors controlling fan deposition include the basin’s tectonic framework, the evolution of the slope break, relative sea-level changes as well as the evolution of the fault system, and the fans are formed under the combination of the above factors.