Cenozoic fault characteristics and hydrocarbon accumulation potential of the Panyu Low Uplift in the Pearl River Mouth Basin

The potential for oil and gas accumulation in the Panyu Low Uplift is strongly controlled by the development and activity of faults. At present, research on its fault characteristics and evolution process is relatively scarce. Using three-dimensional seismic data covering the Panyu Low Uplift, the structural characteristics, fault plane distribution, and the deformation styles at fault profile of the study area were analyzed. The activity rates of boundary faults in various sags since the Cenozoic were calculated based on the division of the fault activity periods. The evolution process of the Cenozoic in the research area was reconstructed and the dynamic causes of fault development in different periods were analyzed. Results show that all the sags in the Panyu Low Uplift are characterized by faulting in the south and stratigraphic overlapping in the north, and the discontinuous distribution of depression-controlling faults along the strike leads to multiple subsidence centers of depression. The Cenozoic activity of depression-controlling fault could be divided into periods from initial rift, accelerated rift, post rift, tectonic reactivation, to tectonic quiescence. The sedimentation periods of the Wenchang Formation and the lower Hanjiang Formation are two peak periods of faulting. The development of the Cenozoic faults in the Panyu Low Uplift is strictly controlled by the pre-existing faults in the basement, and the fault direction deviates clockwise from deep to shallow in depth, which is closely related to the deviation of the stress field of the South China Sea. The strong activity of faults during rifting in this area has given the low uplift the potential to develop high-quality source rocks.