Characteristics, structural styles and tectonic implications of Mesozoic-Cenozoic faults in the eastern Heilongjiang basins (NE China)

Abstract The Eastern Heilongjiang Basins (EHBs) are the assemblage of a series of meso-Cenozoic residual basins located in the northeastern corner of China. The deformation pattern of the EHBs has significant implications for the history of the Pacific Plate subduction beneath the Eurasia since the Late Mesozoic. In this paper, research on the characteristics and structural styles of the meso-Cenzoic faults in the EHBs has been conducted on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of field geology, drilling data and seismic reflection profiles. As a result, five different stages of the meso-Cenozoic faults in the EHBs have been recognized. These are in accordance with the time and relevant characteristics of fault movements, i.e. the early-stage of the Early Cretaceous normal fault, the early-stage of the Late Cretaceous thrust fault, the late-stage of the Late Cretaceous thrust fault, the Cenozoic synsedimentary normal fault and the late-stage Cenozoic shear fault. A regional geological section has been generated across the EHBs by linking four local seismic profiles together. A step-by-step reconstruction has been made to help better understand the Mesozoic-Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the EHBs. Two phases of extension (rifting) in the early Cretaceous Period and the Paleogene, respectively, are demonstrated to be interfered with two phases of regional uplift (compression) and erosion in the Late Cretaceous Period. The complicated development of multiple fault systems within the EHBs has reflected the evolution of a complex tectonic subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the Eurasia since the Cretaceous Period.