Restoration of the large-scale strike-slip faults and prediction of related oil and gas exploration strategic target area in China

The Altyn Tagh fault and Tanlu fault are two of the largest strike-slip faults in the Asian continent that have been active since the Late Mesozoic. The Altyn Tagh fault probably displaced and separated the Paleozoic cratonic basin and Jurassic hstric down-faulted prototype basin, while the central segment of the Tanlu fault displaced the northern Jiangsu-Jiaodong block of the Yangtze plate and the Jiamusi-Yilan fault and Dunhua-Mishan fault in the northern segment of the Tanlu fault displaced the Songliao and Pan-Sanjiang-Khabarovsk basins and sinistrally displaced the Jixi-Qitaihe and Hulin basins respectively. Therefore, exploration and evaluation of oil and gas resources in the southwestern Tarim basin should be considered to be carried out together with those in the Qaidam basin. The Alxa block covered by the Badain Jaran and Tengger deserts may corresponds with the northern Tarim block, and Paleozoic cratonic sediments might be preserved below the Jurassic-Cretaceous terrestrial sediments of the Alxa block. The desert-covered Jurassic-Cretaceous terrestrial basin and underlying Paleozoic cratonic sediments may be considered as potential strategic areas of oil and gas resources. The central uplift of the southern Yellow Sea is the eastward extension of the Jianhu uplift in the northern Jiangsu basin, in which Sinian-Triassic marine limestone oil-gas accumulations are potential targets of oil and gas exploration. The study of structural reconstruction in the northem segment of the Tanlu fault has great theoretical and practical significance for expanding oil and gas potential areas in Northeast China and re-understanding the background and mechanism of formation of the Songliao basin.