In the framework of the IDOE-SEATAR (International Decade of Ocean Exploration - Studies of East Asia Tectonics and Resources) Program, the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources carried out a geophysical survey in the Sulu Sea during the period from March 11, 1982 to April 15, 1982 using the German research vessel R/V SONNE. The SONNE cruise no. SO-23 continued SEATAR-related studies of BGR which have been carried out during the Southeast Asian Cruise of the VALDIVIA (VA-16) in 1977. During SONNE cruise no. SO-23, multi-channel reflection measurements were carried out in parallel with magnetic, gravimetric, and sea-beam measurements on 21 lines with a total length of 3,300 km in the Sulu Sea. In the NW Sulu Basin, situated between the shelf of East Palawan in the north and the volcanic Cagayan Ridge in the south, a 50 - 100 km wide graben-like basin exists which is filled with thick Neogene and pre-Middle Miocene sediments. The basin trends east-northeast. At longitude 119°E it bends to a north-south direction. The dominating structural element within the sedimentary graben-like basin is a diapiric-chaotic zone about 25 km wide, which was only detectable west of longitude 120°E. The base of the elongated diapiric-chaotic zone, which might represent a tectonically mobilized equivalent of the Crocker Formation (Middle Miocene - Lower Oligocene) is difficult to define in the seismic monitor records. The configuration and the internal structural style of individual structures of the diapiric-chaotic zone, which can be followed over length of about 150 km, seem to resemble those of the oil-bearing province offshore western Sabah. In the eastern part of the NW-Sulu Basin east of longitude 119°E, several north-trending anticlines of presumably Middle Miocene age and locally volcanic intrusions of presumably Plio-Pleistocene age have been observed. During the second leg of the cruise SO-23 in the southeastern part of the South China Sea (April 16, 1982, to May 9, 1982) multi-channel seismic reflection measurements were carried out in parallel with magnetic, gravimetric, and sea-beam measurements on 19 lines with a total length of 3,570 km in the southeastern part of the South China Sea, including the area of the Dangerous Grounds. In addition, 2,280 km of profile was surveyed with only magnetics, gravity, and sea-beam measurements. A complex structural style was observed in the investigated part of the Dangerous Grounds, South China Sea, which is believed to be part of a microcontinental block which rifted from the continental margin of Asia in the Early Paleogene/Late Mesozoic time. There are prospective depocenters and structures trending NE-SW, E-W, and N-S in the southwestern part, i.e. the area west of longitude 117.5°E (units 2, 3, 4). Unit 4 contains a series of half-grabens with thick sedimentary infill. An imbricated melange of pre-Middle Miocene age seems to exist only off southern Palawan. The dominating structural trend in the area northeast of Reed Bank is NW-SE. Oceanic crust characterized by NW-trending magnetic lineations (anomalies 8 to 12 ?) was observed north of latitude 12°N and between longitude 118°E and the Manila Trench.
As recommended by the Joint CCOP-IOC Working Group on Post-IDOE Studies on East Asia Tectonics and Resources and the proposal of the Bureau of Mines and Geosciences of the Philippines to extend the research of the previous R/V SONNE survey SO-23, the Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) carried out a geophysical survey in the southeastern part of the South China Sea (Dangerous Grounds) and in the northwestern part of the Sulu Sea in two legs from 29th April to 29th June 1983 on SONNE cruise SO-27. Multichannel reflection seismic measurements were carried out in parallel with magnetic, gravimetric, Sea-Beam, and 3.5 kHz subbottom profiler measurements on 34 lines with a total length of 7,204 km. In addition, 26 lines with a total length of 2,800 km were surveyed with only the last four named methods. SONNE cruise SO-27 was financed by the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology (BMFT). Six seismic sequences (DG-1 to DG-6) (DG = Dangerous Grounds) could be distinguished in the surveyed part of the South China Sea. The oldest recognizable sequence is the sequence DG-6, an equivalent of the Pre-Nido Formation of the northwest shelf of Palawan. Seismic unconformity Violet marks the top of the DG-6 sequence, which consists of a complex system of tilted horsts and half-grabens. The half-grabens are presumably filled with clastic sediments of Eocene age (seismic sequence DG-5). The top of seismic sequence DG-5 is bounded by unconformity Blue, which is interpreted as representing the end of the rift phase and the onset of seafloor spreading in the South China Sea about 32 m.y. ago. The overlying seismic sequence DG-4 is characterized by an internal reflection pattern with low frequencies. Lithologically, this sequence consists of shallow-water carbonates with reef complexes of Oligocene to Early Miocene age and has to be regarded as equivalent to the oil-containing Nido Formation of the Palawan shelf. A rapid subsidence of large parts of the survey area during the late (?) Early Miocene ended the growth of the shallow water carbonate platform, indicated by the unconformity Blue. The overlying seismic sequence DG-3 is interpreted as consisting of a transitional facies between a shallow water and a bathyal depositional environment. The top of this sequence is marked by unconformity Red, which most probably represents the end of the drifting phase (seafloor spreading) in the South China Sea during the Middle Miocene. The most prominent structural feature of the shelf and slope of central and southern Palawan is a thick sedimentary wedge originally interpreted as a melange. Our data show that the Oligocene to Early Miocene carbonate platform of the Dangerous Grounds extends beneath the Palawan Trough, as well as beneath the central and southern Palawan shelf, underlying the melange. Based on the finding that i) Rhaeto-Liassic rocks are present in the Dangerous Grounds, ii) the Oligocene to Early Miocene carbonate platform continues from the Dangerous Grounds through the Palawan Trough to the central and southern Palawan shelf, and iii) there is thinned continental crust 20 km thick below the continental slope of southern Palawan, we believe the Dangerous Grounds, together with Palawan and the Caiman Islands belong to a uniform continental fragment which separated from the proto-chinese continental margin when the South China Sea opened during the Oligocene. Previously, the melange of central and southern Palawan, which contains ophiolites, was interpreted as being autochthonous. In our opinion, the melange is an allochthonous mass which has been overthrusted onto the eastern margin of the Dangerous Grounds-Palawan-Caiman microcontinent from the Northwest Sulu Basin. The Ulugan Bay fault is interpreted as the northeastern front of this allochthonous mass. The area of prospective carbonate plays is considerably enlarged by the discovery that the Oligocene to Early Miocene carbonate platform with Nido-type reef structures extends below the allochthonous sediments of central and southern Palawan. We expect that hydrocarbon-bearing structures of the Sabah-type, i. e. thick, folded Neogene sediments, will be found in the western part of the northwestern Sulu basin. If our interpretation is correct, a new chapter of hydrocarbon exploration may be about to begin around Palawan in the Philippines.
The aims of cruise SO197 RISE (Rift Processes in the South China Sea) with RV SONNE from Manila, 28th March 2008 to Singapore, 2nd May 2008 are (1) To gain a better understanding of the processes leading to continental breakup and subsequently formation of oceanic crust. (2) To study the evolution of the South China Sea oceanic basin. The South China Sea is particularly well suited for studying rift processes at the transition from extension of continental lithosphere to the formation of oceanic crust. This relatively young marginal basin is currently in a stadium which is characterised by still preserved differences in subsidence and thermal history resulting from rifting. The initial, complex and hardly quantifiable rift processes, however are long enough ago. The area under study comprises the eastern subbasin of the South China Sea, the West Luzon Basin and the transition area from oceanic crust to extended continental crust between the continental blocks of Reed Bank and the islands of Palawan/Calamian Group. By including existing data of earlier cruises (SO-23, -27, -49) a comparison of conjugated margin transects is intended later within the project. A major goal of the project is to study structures at the transition from continental rifting to oceanic spreading and processes resulting from extension of continental lithosphere to the formation of oceanic crust in time and space. The sequence stratigraphy of the synrift and drift sediments will give insights into the formation and evolution of the individual rift basins. The distribution and thickness of the postrift sediments on the continental fragment of the NW Palawan area define the subsidence history. The depth and topography of the Moho show the location of the stretched and thinned crust. By a joint interpretation of the structural setting, the position, distribution and architecture of the basin bounding faults a reasonable rift model will be derived. In addition, we will investigate the transition of a passive rifted margin (off Palawan) to a convergent margin (off Luzon). The timing of the evolution of the South China Sea basin will be more exactly determined by comparing the magnetic anomalies from the eastern subbasin of the South China Sea with existing data from the central/western basin. Particularly the question of a symmetric/asymmetric opening of the oceanic basin and the timing and location of the individual rift/drift episodes will be investigated. Therefore, we investigated rift structures at the southeastern margin of the South China Sea by means of reflection seismology, gravity, magnetics, bathymetry and sediment echosounder and we performed magnetic measurements to identify seafloor spreading anomalies in the eastern subbasin of the South China Sea.
In the southwestern part of the Sulu Sea and in the southeastern part of the South China Sea, between NW Palawan and the northwestern part of the Reed Bank the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Hannover carried out the geophysical survey BGR84 from 11th October, 1984 to 23rd November, 1984. This work was done in close cooperation with the Bureau of Mines and Geosciences (BMG), Manila, using the German seismic vessel EXPLORA chartered from PRAKLA-SEISMOS GmbH, Hannover. Multichannel reflection seismic measurements were carried out on 40 lines with a total length of 4,467 km simultaneously with magnetic measurements on 19 lines with a total length of 3,047 km. The Oligocene to lower Miocene Nido-carbonates of the South China Sea that have been proven during the SONNE cruises SO-23 and SO-27 beneath the allochthonous and chaotically deformed complex which was overthrusted from the Sulu Sea terrane, could be correlated up to the Balabac Straits. The three major unconformities of the Sulu Sea, unconformity A (Early Pliocene), unconformity B (mid Middle Miocene) and unconformity C (lower Middle Miocene) have been correlated over extensive areas by tying into the Sulu Sea well Coral-1. In the Sulu Sea reflection horizon C forms the top of a chaotic bedded rock complex and presumably represents an equivalent to the unconformity "Red" of the South China Sea, in the west of Palawan. There, the unconformity "Red" forms the surface of a highly deformed rock complex which has been interpreted as an allochthonous mass accumulation (HINZ, 1983; HINZ & SCHLÜTER, 1985). It is assumed that pronounced magnetic anomalies, approximately 140 - 160 km off NW Palawan as well as a change in the reflection seismic pattern of the acoustic basement, associated with diapiric structures which are interpreted as intrusions represent the ocean-continent boundary in this part of the South China Sea. In the Reed Bank area the basement type which is interpreted as continental crust (transitional crust?) extends as far as 160 km to the northwest, towards the South China Sea Basin. The northern part of the Reed Bank is characterized by intense downfaulting and rotated fault blocks with reef complexes ontop. In contrast to results from the Dangerous Grounds of the previous SONNE cruises, the deeper lying coherent reflections could be recognized in the monitor records off the northwestern Reed Bank area. It might be that these parts of the Reed Bank block consists of metamorphized and/or highly consolidated rocks of pre-Tertiary age which originally formed part of the Chinese back country, and which was effected by previous orogenies prior to the rifting of the proto-China continental margin.