A study of the stretching behavior of the Yinggehai Basin

The Yinggehai Basin is an important integral part of the northern shelf bas ins of the South China Sea. Based on McKenzie's (1978) uniformly stretching model and using the approach similar to that adopted by Middleton (1984) i n the seismic geohistory analysis, we take the observed seismic reflection data as the stratigraphy data employed in the correction of decompaction. T hrough decompaction and backstripping technique, the stratigraphic burial h istory and the thermal subsidence history for some profiles of the basin ar e obtained. The distribution of the stretching factor is then determined in terms of a comparison of the thermal subsidence history with the McKenzie' s theoretical curves. The results show that the Yinggehai Basin is a basin coinciding with the McKenzie's model and that the two identified spreading events in the South China Sea played a significant role in the formation of the basin.