Strike-Slip Faulting and the Evolution of Mesozoic-Cenozoic Hydrocarbon Basins in NE Asia

Mark B. Allen, David I. M. Macdonald, Christine Brouet-Menzies, Stephen J. Vincent, Larisa Voronova, Zhao Xun, Olga K. Bazhenova, Boris A. Sokolov

Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous extension and sinistral strike-slip faulting created a series of hydrocarbon basins in NE China and Eastern Russia.

The main basins in the northern part of the area are Songliao - Zeya Bureya, which lies to the west of the Tan-Lu Fault, and Sanjiang - Mid Amur, which lies between the northern continuation of the Tan-Lu Fault (Yilan-Yitong Fault) and the Mishan-Fushun Fault. These sinistral faults strike NE-SW, and dissected earlier Mesozoic arc complexes that represented accretionary growth on the eastern side of the Asian continent. Basin formation may have been triggered by two complementary mechanisms: (1) realignment of oceanic plate motions east of Asia, that converted the active continental margin from a compressive to an extensional regime (2) body forces from within the initially thick Asian crust ("orogenic collapse"). The main source rocks are lacustrine shales that were deposited within inked normal and sinistral strike-slip fault systems. Fluvial clastics form the main reservoirs.

Mesozoic accretionary complexes form the basement of the Mid Amur Basin; these formed in an oblique subduction regime. After basin formation, continuance of the non-orthogonal stress field into the Cenozoic has induced strike-slip faulting. This has created elongate intra-basinal highs and depressions between major structures; they have been further dismembered by secondary strike-slip faults oblique to the main faults. This partitioning has significantly affected the hydrocarbon potential of the region.

Further south, Eocene E-W extension in NE China caused the first Tertiary sedimentation in the Bohai Basin. Continued extension in the Oligocene was accompanied by dextral strike-slip motion along the Tan-Lu Fault, that forms the eastern margin to much of this basin. These combined movements created the accommodation space for the deposition of thick organic-rich lacustrine shale successions (Shahejie Formation) in several depocentres, but particularly the Bozhong Depression.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91020©1995 AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas, May 5-8, 1995