Dynamic Analysis of Yinggehai Basin through Analogue Modeling

The Yinggehai basin lies in the northwestern shelf of the South China Sea. The maximum depth of the Cenozoic sediments is 17 km. Present gas exploration was mainly in the Neogene strata. But it is estimated that the Paleocene sediments (~8 km in thickness) has productive potential. So research on the Paleogene rifting structure will greatly enlarge the exploration area. 3D scaled sandbox is the analogue model for the Yinggehai basin. Comparing modeling with the basin by the positions and movement of depocenters, the geometric similarity, we aim to summarize the dynamic situation of Yinggehai basin during the rifting stage and to cast an objective prediction on the structures in the areas without data.