TECTONIC CHARACTERISTICS AND EVOLUTION OF THE M UPLIFT IN THE EAST AREA OF NORTH YELLOW SEA BASIN

The North Yellow Sea Basin, a Mesozoic rift basin, has experienced times of igneous activities and tectonic inversions and documented complex information on tectonic activities in the east of China. The M uplift lies to the east of the North Yellow Sea Basin and there the geological records are more detailed than those in surrounding depressions. In order to fully understand the relationship between geological structure and sedimentary response of the M uplift, recently acquired seismic data, well data and regional tectonic settings are integrated. In addition, tectonic evolutionary stages are discussed and analyzed according to the kinematics and dynamics of structure, aiming at providing new tectonic evolution evidence for the North Yellow Sea Basin, and even the whole east China. Recently acquired high resolution three-dimensional seismic data and the geological interpretation reveals that there are five typical unconformities on the M uplift which divided the sequence into five structural layers in vertical direction. Based on the integration of tectonic location, tectonic deformation, sedimentary filling characteristics, plate movement and regional tectonic evolution of the North Yellow Sea Basin, the evolution of the M uplift may be divided into five stages or a total of nine periods since Middle Jurassic:the rifting stage (the period of stable deposition, the period of tilting and the period of deposition in early Cretaceous); the tectonic inversion stage (the period of Late Cretaceous elevation and erosion); the further rifting stage (the depositional period of the beginning of early Oligocene, the denudation period by end of early Oligocene, the period of F2 activity); the further tectonic inversion stage (the period of integral elevation); and the regional subsidence stage(the period of regional subsidence).