The fluvial systems in the South China Sea have experienced prominent variations since the SCS was originally formed. During the early Oligocene, the drainage area of the Pearl River was constrained within the coastal South China. It gradually extended westward into the plateau margin of Yunnan-Guizhou during the late Oligocene. It is until Miocene that the modern Pearl River fluvial network has been well established. A source-to-sink analysis also indicates that a paleo-river "Kontum-Ying-Qiong" was originated from the western South China Sea paleo-ranges and played a significant role in the sedimentary infilling processes, but finally buried under the sediments with the following South China Sea seafloor spreading. The evolution reconstruction of the northern South China Sea fluvial systems and the sedimentary environment has provided considerable insights into the paleogeographic reconstruction of the South China Sea as well as the Eurasian southeastern margin since the early Cenozoic, as well as the petroleum exploration within the South China Sea sedimentary basins.

paleogeography  /  source to sink analysis  /  river evolution  /  South China Sea  /  sedimentaryenvironments