Cenozoic tectonic evolution in the Tonkin Gulf
Abstract
SummaryThe gulf of Tonkin is one of the areas with complex geological structures and evolutionary history. This area has ex-perienced many development periods and was aff ected by various regional tectonic events. Studying the geological structure and stratigraphy of this area can help us reconstruct the tectonic regime controlling geological settings in the region for basic researches and oil and gas exploration. In this paper, the authors present some study results on the tectonic evolution of the gulf of Tonkin based on 2D seismic data. The results show that the continental shelf within the Tonkin Gulf has evolved on the pre-Cenozoic basement, which was supposed to start in the Eocene. The tectonic evolution of the region has undergone 4 periods: (1) intracontinen-tal rifting (Eocene - Late Oligocene); (2) Thermal subsidence (Early Miocene); (3) Regional inversion (Middle Miocene) and (4) Subsidence due to sediment load (After Middle Miocene).Apart from the regional inversion event, the northwestern part of Tonkin Gulf was aff ected by at least 2 local uplifting events, which occurred in the Oligocene - Early Miocene. In contrast, the southeastern part was dominated by subsid-ing process.
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