Discovery of pockmarks in the Zengmu Basin, southern South China Sea and the implication

Yanlin WANG; Guanghong TU; Junhui YU; Pin YAN; Yongbin JIN; Changliang CHEN; Jie LIU

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Discovery of pockmarks in the Zengmu Basin, southern South China Sea and the implication

Sedimentary processes and resource potential in the South China Sea | Updated：2024-10-12

- Discovery of pockmarks in the Zengmu Basin, southern South China Sea and the implication
- Journal of Oceanology and Limnology Vol. 41, Issue 2, Pages: 757-768(2023)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Key Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China
  2.Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou 511458, China
  3.Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, China Geological Survey, Ministry of Natural Resources, Guangzhou 511458, China
  4.University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Author bio：
  
  yanlinw@scsio.ac.cn
  tgh519@163.com
- Funds：
- DOI：
  CLC：
- Received：01 March 2022，
  
  Published：01 March 2023
- Accepted：
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WANG Yanlin,TU Guanghong,YU Junhui,et al.Discovery of pockmarks in the Zengmu Basin, southern South China Sea and the implication[J].Journal of Oceanology and Limnology,2023,41(02):757-768.
DOI：

WANG Yanlin,TU Guanghong,YU Junhui,et al.Discovery of pockmarks in the Zengmu Basin, southern South China Sea and the implication[J].Journal of Oceanology and Limnology,2023,41(02):757-768. DOI：

摘要

Abstract

The Zengmu Basin located in the shallow water area of the southern South China Sea

is rich in oil and gas resources

within which faults and mud-diapir are developed

but it is unknown whether oil and gas migrate to the seafloor surface. The newly collected multibeam data across the Zengmu Basin reveal a large number of depressions

with depths of 2–4 m

widths of several tens of meters

large distribution range of 1.8–8 km along survey line

up to ~50 km

and their backscatter intensity (-26 dB) is much greater than that of the surrounding area (-38 dB). Combined with the developed mud-diapir and fracture structures

and abundant oil and gas resources within this basin

these depressions are pr

esumed to be pockmarks. Furthermore

more than 110 mono-sized small circular pockmarks

with a depth of less than 1 m and a width of 5 m

are observed in an area of less than 0.03 km

which are not obliterated by sediment infilling with high sedimentation rate

implying an existence of unit-pockmarks that are or recently were active. In addition

seismic profiles across the Zengmu Basin show characterization of upward migration of hydrocarbons

expressed as mud-diapir structures

bright spots in the shallow formation with characteristics of “low frequency increase and high frequency attenuation”. The sub-bottom profiles show the mud-diapir structures

as well as the gas-bearing blank zones beneath the seafloor. These features suggest large gas leaking and occurrence of large amounts of carbonate nodules on the seafloor. This indicates the complex and variable substrate type in the Zengmu Basin

while the area was once thought to be mainly silty sand and find sand. This is the first report on the discovery of pockmarks in the Zengmu Basin; it will provide basic information for submarine stability and marine engineering in China’s maritime boundaries.

关键词

Keywords

references

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