Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2012, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (3): 1-9.doi: 10.11978/j.issn.1009-5470.2012.03.001cstr: 32234.14.j.issn.1009-5470.2012.03.001

• Review •     Next Articles

Important processes of deep seismic surveys in the South China Sea: Retrospection and expectation

QIU Xue-lin1, ZHAO Ming-hui1, XU Hui-long1, LI Jia-biao2, RUAN Ai-guo2, HAO Tian-yao3, YOU Qing-yu3   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China; 2. Key Laboratory of Submarine Geoscience, The Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Hangzhou 310012, China; 3. Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources Research, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
  • Received:2011-10-24 Revised:2011-12-13 Online:2012-09-11 Published:2012-09-11

Abstract: The South China Sea (SCS) is one of the biggest marginal seas in western Pacific Ocean. Research on its deep crustal structures would improve our knowledge on tectonic attributes of the conjugate continental boundaries, the formation and evolution of the SCS, and formation mechanisms of oil- and gas-bearing sedimentary basins. The deep seismic survey areas can be divided geologically into northern continental margin, southern continental margin, and the central deep ocean basin. The deep seismic experiments of crustal studies have gone through three stages, namely, the sonobuoy, two-ship expanding spread profile (ESP), and ocean bottom seismometer (OBS). Especially in the past two decades, OBS surveys flourished from northern to southern SCS, then moved to the central SCS. The survey patterns developed from 2D straight lines to 3D grid lines. These surveys and studies have provided invaluable information on deep crustal structures and evidence for the formation and evolution theories of the SCS. They have also pushed applications of domestically-made OBS and training of our scientific teams. The 3D OBS surveys in the deep ocean basin just finished recently marks a new historical progress and will have profound scientific impact on future research.

Key words: the South China Sea, deep seismic survey, crustal structure, continental margin, deep ocean basin

CLC Number: 

  • P738.4