Sandbox Modeling of Transrotational Tectonics With Changeable Poles: Implications for the Yinggehai Basin

The main formation of the Yinggehai Basin has been related to the rotation of the Indochina block, resulting in large-scale strike-slip motion along the Red River Fault Zone (RRFZ). Transrotational tectonics played a key role in the evolution of the Yinggehai Basin. In this study, we present analog experiments with a preexisting basal velocity discontinuity boundary, rotation of crustal blocks concerning vertical axes, and syntectonic sedimentations to evaluate how the transrotational tectonics controls the evolutionary process of the Yinggehai Basin. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) was used to monitor the deformation of the model surface. Four successive poles of rotation have been applied to the model. The basin evolution underwent two phases. An early phase of deformation is characterized by the nucleation of the main internal faults above the velocity discontinuity boundary and segmented en echelon border fault systems. In the early phase, the internal and boundary faults mainly accommodated large-scale strike-slip displacement. During progressive extension, the main internal faults deactivated, and tectonic activity is localized along the boundary and secondary internal faults in the late phase. The boundary faults in the rotating block play a dominant role in the widening and deepening of the rift zone at an accelerating rate. The model surface morphology shows similarities to the Yinggehai Basin, which is wide in the middle and converges toward the northwest and southeast. In addition, experimental profiles have been compared with seismic profiles in the Yinggehai Basin. The model results also indicate that the rotation of the Indochina block combines with strong strike-slip motion. The similarities between modeling and nature provide support for ∼250 km sinistral displacement along the RRFZ between ∼32 and ∼21 Ma.

Analysis of Natural Hydraulic Fracture Risk of Mudstone Cap Rocks in XD Block of Central Depression in Yinggehai Basin, South China Sea

The Yinggehai Basin is an important Cenozoic gas bearing basin in the South China Sea. With the gradual improvement of gas exploration and over-development in shallow layers, deep overpressured layers have become the main target for natural gas exploration. There are no large-scale faults in the strata above the Meishan Formation in the central depression, and hydraulic fracturing caused by overpressure in mudstone cap rocks is the key factor for the vertical differential distribution of gas. In this paper, based on the leak-off data, pore fluid pressure, and rock mechanics parameters, the Fault Analysis Seal Technology (FAST) method is used to analyze the hydraulic fracture risk of the main mudstones in the central depression. The results show that the blocks in the diapir zone have been subjected to hydraulic fracturing in the Huangliu cap rocks during the whole geological history, and the blocks in the slope zone which is a little distant from the diapirs has a lower overall risk of hydraulic fracture than the diapir zone. In geological history, the cap rocks in slope zone remained closed for a longer time than in diapir zone and being characterized by the hydraulic fracture risk decreases with the distance from the diapirs. These evaluation results are consistent with enrichment of natural gas, which accumulated in both the Yinggehai Formation and Huangliu Formation of the diapir zone, but it only accumulated in the the Huangliu Formations of the slope zone. The most reasonable explanation for the difference of the gas reservoir distribution is that the diapirs promote the development of hydraulic fractures: (1) diapirism transfers deep overpressure to shallow layers; (2) the small fault and fractures induced by diapir activities weakened the cap rock and reduced the critical condition for the natural hydraulic fractures. These effects make the diapir zone more prone to hydraulic fracturing, which are the fundamental reasons for the difference in gas enrichment between the diapir zone and the slope zone.

Identification and Prediction of Allo-Source Overpressure Caused by Vertical Transfer: Example from an HTHP Gas Reservoir in the Ledong Slope in the Yinggehai Basin

The Yinggehai Basin is a typical high temperature and high pressure (HTHP) gas-bearing basin. The pressure coefficient exceeds 2.2 in deeply-buried Miocene reservoirs in the Ledong Slope, a nondiapir zone in the Yinggehai Basin. Determining the overpressure mechanisms and predicting the pore pressure are key issues for natural gas exploration and development in the Ledong Slope. In this paper, overpressure mechanisms were investigated according to the analysis of vertical effective stress-logging responses and geological evaluations, and the pore pressure was predicted using the Bowers method. The loading-unloading crossplots indicated that the overpressure that existed in reservoirs mainly consists of two types: neighbor-source and allo-source overpressure. The neighbor-source overpressure is mainly caused by the pressure transmission from the adjacent mudstone to the reservoir, with a pressure coefficient less than 1.5 ~ 1.6. The high-magnitude overpressure points with pressure coefficients greater than 1.6 show a typical unloading response, indicating elevated sandstone pressures rather than in situ mudstone pressures, which are most likely to be generated by overpressure vertical transfer. The high-magnitude overpressure fluid generated by the high mature ultradeep buried N1s source rock migrated to the shallower reservoirs via hidden faults/microfractures, which led to the vertical transfer of overpressure. Vertically transferred overpressure was generated at 1.5 ~0.2 Ma, which is beneficial for the preservation of overpressure in lenticular sandbodies. The estimated pore pressure by the Bowers method is in good agreement with the measured pressure and provides a meaningful reference for predrilling pressure prediction in nondiapir or diapir zones in the Yinggehai Basin.