The rift architecture and extensional tectonics of the South China Sea

• Main Authors: Cameselle, Alejandra L., Ranero, César R., Barckhausen, Udo, Franke, Dieter
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: European Geosciences Union 2016
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/162124

European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2016 (EGU2016), 17-22 April 2016, Vienna, Austria.-- 1 page Non-volcanic rifted continental margins are classically described as the product of lithospheric stretching and breakup leading to mantle exhumation, and subsequent seafloor spreading. However, recent studies question this model and indicate a wider range of structural evolutions, that challenge the existing model (e.g. Australia-Antarctic Rift System (Direen et al. 2007, 2011); the Tyrrhenian basin (Prada et al., 2014) or the South China Sea (Cameselle et al. 2015)). Rifting in the South China Sea developed from a series of extensional events, from early Eocene to Late Oligocene, resulting in a V-shape oceanic basin affected by the occurrence of several spreading centers, ridges, transform faults and post-spreading volcanism. In recent years, this marginal basin - the largest in East Asia - has increasingly become one of the key sites for the study of rifting and continental break-up. Its relative small size - compared to many classic, Atlantic-type continental margin settings - allows to easily match conjugated rifted margins and its relative youth promotes the preservation of its original nature. To examine the rifting evolution of the South China Sea, we have reprocessed with modern algorithms multichannel seismic profiles acquired during Sonne49 and BGR84 cruises across the three major subbasins: NW, SW and East subbasins. State-of-the-art of processing techniques have been used to increase the signal to noise ratio, including Tau-P and Wiener predictive deconvolution, multiple attenuation by both radon filtering and wave-equation-based surface-related multiple elimination (SRME) and time migration. To complement seismic interpretation, available vintage multichannel seismic data have been reprocessed with a post-stack flow, including Wiener deconvolution, FK-filtering, space and time variant band-pass filter and time migration. The improving quality of the seismic images shows a range of features ...