Abstract:

Based on the new geologicalgeophysical data and structural geometry of North Yellow Sea Basin, we have systemically analyzed the characteristics of structural kinematics of North Yellow Sea Basin using the associative method of basin inverse modeling and macroanalysis for the first time. The result shows that North Yellow Sea Basin had undergone such movements as horizontal extension, horizontal compression, relative strikeslip, vertical differential elevation and subsidence, etc. During the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, in which horizontal extensional movements and vertical differential elevation and subsidence movements played the principal parts in the tectonic movements and in the formation and evolution of North Yellow Sea Basin. The horizontal extensional movements can be divided into three main extensional events—J3K1,E2 and E3, which controlled the evolution of North Yellow Sea Basin, and the extensional intensities of southnorth direction were all strong to weak from east to west, and the biggest extensional intensities of eastwest direction migrated westward from the Mesozoic to the Cenozoic. There were two main stages of the horizontal compressional movements—the Late Cretaceous and the Late EoceneEarly Miocene. The relative strikeslip movements occurred with the horizontal extensional movements and the horizontal compressional movements, which caused the majority of NNEdirection and NWdirection faults to have the characteristics of relatively compressoshear or tensoshear strikeslip. These characteristics are more obvious for the NNEdirection faults. The vertical differential elevation and subsidence movements had the episodicprogressive feature. The Late Jurassic, Early Cretaceous, Eocene, Oligocene and MiddleLate Miocene up to now were subsidence stages, among those the Eocene had the biggest subsidence velocity. The Late Cretaceous, Paleocene and Early Miocene were the risingdenudation stages. The settling of this basin during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic had an obvious migration tendency from east to west. The settling of the east depression was most distinct in the Mesozoic; the main subsidence stage of the central depression was in the Eocene; and the rapid settling of the west depression occurred mainly in the Eocene and continued to the Oligocene.

Key words:

Key words: North Yellow Sea Basin; MesoCenozoic; horizontal extensional movements; vertical differential elevation and subsidence movements; structural kinematics