Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Bohai Bay Basin: Constraints from strike-slip activities of the Wangjiagang fault zone, NE China

[Display omitted] •The fault zone kinematic features aid in reconstructing the tectonic evolution of the Bohai Bay Basin.•The Wangjiagang fault zone is divided into three sections: strike-slip, en echelon, and overlapping.•The fault zone experienced three strike-slip motions during the late Eocene, Oligocene, and Miocene.•The extensional – dextral strike-slip faulting tectonic switch occurred at ca. 42 Ma.•The strike-slip motion of the Bohai Bay Basin was governed by plate interactions around the Pacific-Eurasian-Indian plates. The Wangjiagang (WJG) fault zone is regarded as the northward propagation of the Tan-Lu fault zone (TLFZ) in the Bohai Bay Basin (BBB). We used three-dimensional seismic and borehole data, as well as structure and isopach maps, to describe the structural properties and tectonic development of the WJG fault zone. The properties and thickness of the mechanical layer are the principal factors of differences in the deformation of the strike-slip fault zone. Extensional tectonics and strike-slip faulting occurred in WJG. Not only does strike-slip faulting regulate sand body distribution, but it also plays a critical role in oil migration. WJG provides a record of the tectonic evolution of the BBB and how it responded to plate interactions around the Pacific-Eurasian-Indian plates and/or the strike-slip faulting of the TLFZ. The BBB extended in the early Paleocene as a result of relative relaxation between the Pacific and Eurasian plates and the upwelling of the asthenosphere mantle. Before and after the late Eocene (ca. 42 Ma), the tectonic stress regimes at a nearly N-S-oriented extensional to dextral strike-slip faulting along TLFZ coincided with the strike-slip faulting of the pre-existing fault in WJG. The Pacific Plate's change in direction and rate of subduction, as well as the far-field effect of a hard collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates, caused the TLFZ's two walls to move in opposite directions. The resulting force couple caused a strong simple shear in the TLFZ and adjacent areas, including the WJG fault zone.