Seismic features and evolution of a late Miocene submarine channel system in the Yinggehai basin, northwestern South China Sea

Submarine channel is one of key conduits for coarse terrigenous clastic sediments to abyssal plain, which provides the possibility for deepwater hydrocarbon exploration. Recently, a new high-quality 3D seismic data is acquired in south Yinggehai basin (YGHB) and the detailed interpretations on those seismic profiles as well as RMS amplitude attributes and variance slices reveal a submarine channel system developed in late Miocene, which could be supplied from Hainan Island via turbidity currents so that it would be filled with sand-rich turbidites as good hydrocarbon reservoir. Based on the integration between regional seismic survey and some boreholes, the investigations on its infilling architectures and depositional processes are carried out. The results show that it composes two converged submarine channels with two channelized submarine fans to their west and the main submarine channel (MSC) is characterized by a downstream increasing width and is infilled by sediments with high amplitude seismic facies, which could be originated from channelized submarine fans. Furthermore, the complicated depositional processes around the confluence region of these two channels are pointed out and the interactions between the submarine channel system and nearby channelized submarine fans are discussed. The detailed illustration on the seismic features and depositional processes of the subsurface submarine system provides us better understanding deepwater sedimentary dynamics and would be more benefit for the hydrocarbon exploration in similar deepwater area around the world.