Depositional models of tertiary rift basins, eastern China, and their application to petroleum prediction

The Tertiary Bohai rift system of the eastern part of China consists of several rift basins and represents one of the important petroleum provinces of China. Four major aspects of sedimentology of the rift basins are summarized and discussed in this paper: (1) facies types and their characteristics; (2) the pattern of spatial distribution and temporal evolution of sedimentary facies, facies associations and sequences of the basins; the typical depositional models and facies associations have been established and are illustrated according to different evolutionary stages of the rift basins; (3) two main controlling factors—tectonics and paleoclimate; and (4) relationships between the distribution of oil and gas and the sedimentary facies and depositional models of the rift basins and how to apply them to predict the occurrence of oil and gas.