Pliocene to recent stratigraphy of the Cuu Long and Nam Con Son Basins, offshore Vietnam

Abstract

The Cuu Long and Nam Con Basins, offshore Vietnam, contain sediment dispersal systems, from up-dip fluvial environments to down-dip deep-water slope and basinal environments that operated along the southern continental margin of Vietnam during Pliocene to Recent time. The available data enabled sediment thickness patterns, sequence-stratigraphic relationships, and channel types (fluvial to deep-water channels) within the lower Pliocene to Recent stratigraphic succession in the Cuu Long and Nam Con Son basins of offshore Vietnam to be analyzed. At least nine sequences and their accompanying systems tracts exist in the Pliocene to Recent section. Shelf-edge development in the study area is limited to the Eastern Nam Con Son Sub-Basin. Overall south to southeastward migration of the shelf edge complex during Pliocene to Recent time indicates that the Paleo-Mekong River System was the dominant sediment source for the area.