--> ABSTRACT: Petroleum Potential of the Sedimentary Basins of the Chinese Continental Shelf, by Chenggao Gu, Robin W. Renaut; #91020 (1995).

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Petroleum Potential of the Sedimentary Basins of the Chinese Continental Shelf

Chenggao Gu, Robin W. Renaut

Before the initiation of the Asian monsoon in the Late Eocene, the inland basins in eastern China had arid climates. Lacustrine source rocks were rarely formed and preserved. In contrast, the alternating arid and humid climates in the near-shore basins favored the formation and preservation of the source rocks. With the development of the monsoon, large quantities of source rocks began to form in the inland basins, but the monsoon also had a negative effect on the preservation of lacustrine source rocks in some near-shore basins.

Well-developed Paleogene lacustrine sediments are present in the offshore basins of China. Preservation of source rocks in these basins must have been controlled by the same factors as those in the inland and near-shore basins. Thus, we predict that the offshore basins in the South China Sea are very promising in hydrocarbon potential because they were dominated by wet and hot climates throughout the Tertiary. Because the East China Shelf Basin was located in relatively high latitudes, permanently stratified freshwater lakes may not have been established during the Oligocene due to post-Eocene global cooling. Thus, large amounts of organic matter could not be preserved. The southern part of the South Yellow Sea basin was dominated by the monsoonal climate in the Oligocene, thus the so rce rocks are likely confined to the Paleocene and Eocene. However, an arid climate may still have occurred in the northern part of the basin at the time, which favoured the preservation of organic matter in chemically stratified lacustrine environments.

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