Episodic rifting of continental marginal basins and tectonic events since 10 Ma in the South China Sea

Integrated study on the tectonic, basin filling and thermal evolution of th e Tertiary basins on the northern margin of the South China Sea has indicat ed that the rift continental margin on the northern South China Sea is not a passive margin and that the western margin is characteristic of the trans form-extension. Episodic rifting and the thermal events since 10 Ma in the area have been documented by the integrated analysis of dynamic process. It has been clarified that the tectono-thermal events have exerted a signific ant influence on basin features and hydrocarbon accumulation, and particula rly, the westward collision of the Lusong Island Arc, the generation of den sely spaced faults in the Pearl River Mouth Basin, the rapid subsidence, hi gh heat flow and large-scale over pressure and thermal-fluid breakthrough i n the Yinggehai and the Qiongdongnan basins have proved to be the important factors determining the formation of oil and gas in these basins.