Abstract:

The South Yellow Sea is a large superimposed basin of the Paleozoic, the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic, which can be divided into four structural layers with different characteristics: Structural layer Ⅰ (ZS), Structural layer Ⅱ (DT), Structural layer Ⅲ (T3E) and Structural layer Ⅳ (NQ) The layer Ⅰ is composed mainly of a suit of basin and platform faces of the lower Paleozoic by the data from outcrops and wells in the continental area Based on the latest seismic profiles, it distributes widely and stably in the South Yellow Sea,with quite big thickness, but unclear about its tectonic characteristics The layer Ⅱ is made up of marine clastic rock and limestone of the upper Paleozoic to the Triassic, with compressive tectonic style predominantly The residual strata and the structure of the layer, however, are of much variety from the south to the north of the basin, due to the great impact of Indosinian Movement and Yan Shanian Movement in the area Comparison with its adjacent continent,the tectonic framework of Layer Ⅰ and Ⅱ in the southern Yellow Sea Basin is more stable and the deformational intension is weaker The Layer Ⅲ includes the Cretaceous and the Paleocene, and the upper Triassic to the Jurassic in some local place The former, which is a suit of continental sandstone and mudstone, distributes widely in the northern depression, with variable thickness It is a graben or semigraben in profile, with extension tectonic style predominantly The Layer Ⅳ is the result of the regional subsidence Due to the multicycle tectonic movement in the South Yellow Sea Basin, the characteristics of hydrocarbon reservoir and accumulation are different in different structural units It is suggested that the northern depression would be the most prospective area for hydrocarbon since there are different kinds of hydrocarbon plays, such as old sourceold reservoir, old sourceyoung reservoir, and young sourceyoung reservoir

Key words:

South Yellow Sea; structural layer; tectonic style; hydrocarbonbearing; hydrocarbon play