Abstract
Resolving the Mesozoic tectonic nature of the Jiyang Depression is critical for understanding Yanshanian tectonism in the Bohai Bay Basin and its response to regional plate reorganization. However, its tectonic evolution during the Yanshanian tectonic cycle remains debated. Here we integrate 3D seismic interpretation, drill cores data, sedimentary-facies analysis, and quantitative fault-activity analysis to reconstruct the Yanshanian evolution of the Jiyang Depression. The results show that the depression records a staged strike-slip pull-apart evolution. In the Early Yanshanian stage (J₁–₂), NW-trending faults were few and weakly active, and the basin was characterized by limited fault-controlled subsidence and deposition of coal-bearing clastic and dolomitic siliciclastic rocks in shore-shallow lacustrine, fan-delta, and alluvial-fan settings. In the Mid-Yanshanian stage (J₃–K₁), NW-trending en echelon normal faults increased markedly in number and activity, and the basin evolved into a strongly fault-controlled system characterized by braided-channel, braided-river delta, and alluvial-fan deposition accompanied by intense volcanism. In the Late Yanshanian stage (K₂), regional compression terminated the pull-apart evolution and caused widespread uplift and erosion, removing most of the Upper Cretaceous succession. These results indicate that the Jiyang Depression was a Yanshanian strike-slip pull-apart basin that evolved through weak and strong developmental stages before late compressional inversion. The timing and style of this evolution were closely linked to changes in the direction and rate of Paleo-Pacific plate subduction, highlighting a clear tectonostratigraphic response of an intraplate strike-slip basin to far-field plate reorganization.
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This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42172138), the Sinopec Shengli Oilfield Company (Grant No. 30200020-23-ZC0613-0002).
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Wang, Z., Chen, S., Zhang, R. et al. Strike-slip Pull-apart process of the Jiyang depression during the Yanshanian tectonic cycle and its response to Paleo-Pacific plate movement. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-54353-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-54353-y
