Identification of Potential Fault Zones and Its Geological Significance in Bogai Bay Basin
Zhou Weiwei
Wang Weifeng
An Bang
Hu Yu
Abstract：Potential fault zones refer to the fault zones which are influenced by regional or local stress field,basement rift activi-ties,buried hill blocks twist and formed in the cover layer of sedimentary basin.It is a type of fault zone associated with domi-nant fault,which is often ignored because of the absence of inherent characteristics of dominant faults.It can be identified from 7 aspects below:①large potential fault zones reflected by en-echelon,intermittent,dislocation of symmetrical arranged small dominant structure (small faults,small folds,fault blocks);②potential fault zones produced by basement rift system activities;③linear,accommodated or side arranged potential fault zones formed by buried hills and sags;④potential fault zones reflected by the dis-tribution of sandstone bodies;⑤potential fault zones reflected by the distribution,arrangement and strike of reservoirs;⑥potential fault zones reflected by coherent body slices;⑦potential fault zones formed by local stress field of overlapped fault,segment activities of deep and large faults.Taking the Bohai Bay basin as an example,a classification scheme of potential fault zone is established based on research results at home and abroad,and the characteristics of the potential faults in different levels of tectonic units are discussed. Potential fault zones are proved to be of geological significance in the following aspects.Firstly,it affects the tectonic pattern of basins by adj usting the inhomogeneous extension activities among different faulted blocks in basins and by separating the tectonic units such as sags and uplifts etc..Secondly,it determines the development and distribution of basin sedimentary facies and influences the distribu-tion range of the sandstone in faulted basin.Thirdly,it yields bead string-like,belt-like,and ring-like oil-gas accumulation zones.The activities of deep faults are prone to induce earthquake and form the potential fault zones on the surface.Therefore,identification and analysis of potential fault zones can be important in reality.
Keywords：potential fault zonebasement-involved faulten-echelonburied hilltransfer zonehydrocarbon accumulationpetroleum geology
Publication Date：2014-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：12( 1527-1538 )