Geological Characteristics of Mud Volcanoes and Diapirs in the Northern Continental Margin of the South China Sea: Implications for the Mechanisms Controlling the Genesis of Fluid Leakage Structures

Figure 1

Distribution of mud volcanoes and mud diapirs in the northern margin of the South China Sea. Grey parts indicate mud diapirs of Yinggehai Basin (YGHB), Qiongdongnan Basin (QDNB), and Pearl River Mouth Basin (PRMB); grey triangles indicate mud volcanoes in the Dongsha Islands and Southwest Taiwan Basin (SW-TWB). Red lines indicate the location of seismic lines. Different colors (pink, yellow, and green) represent uplift, bulge, and depression areas, respectively (modified from [13, 49]). Black solid lines with numbers represent Cenozoic sediment thickness (modified from “Map of Cenozoic Sediment Thickness 1:2 000 000,” Atlas of geology and geophysics of the South China Sea, compiled by Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey); mud volcanoes and mud diapirs are found in areas of thick sediment.