Zhiyuan Ge

• PhD
• Professor (Full) at China University of Petroleum, Beijing

Deep-water fold and thrust belts are generally composed of networks of folds that have a major influence on the pathways and deposition of turbidite systems. However, the detailed hydraulic responses and associated depositional patterns of a turbidity current within such fold networks, particularly segmented fold topography have not been well under...

The deposition of a classic turbidite by a surge-type turbidity current, as envisaged by conceptual models, is widely considered a discrete event of continuous sediment accumulation at a falling rate by the gradually waning density flow. Here, we demonstrate, on the basis of a high-resolution advanced numerical CFD (computational fluid dynamics) si...

Tectonically controlled topography influences deep-water sedimentary systems. Using 3-D seismic reflection data from the Levant Basin, eastern Mediterranean Sea, we investigate the spatial and temporal evolution of bedforms on a deep-water fan cut by an active normal fault. In the footwall, the fan comprises cyclic steps and antidunes along its axi...

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Understanding the evolution of submarine channel‐lobe systems on salt‐influenced slopes is challenging as these systems react to subtle, syn‐depositional changes in sea‐floor topography. The impact of large blocking structures on individual deep‐water systems is well documented, but our understanding of the spatial and temporal evolution of extensi...

In passive margin salt basins, the distinct kinematic domains of thin‐skinned extension, translation and contraction exert important controls on minibasin evolution. However, the relationship between various salt minibasin geometries and kinematic domain evolution is not clear. In this study, we use a semi‐regional 3D seismic reflection dataset fro...

Understanding the evolution of submarine channel-lobe systems on salt-influenced slopes is challenging as systems react to seemingly subtle changes in sea-floor topography. The impact of large blocking structures on individual deep-water systems is well documented, but understanding of the spatio-temporal evolution of regionally extensive channel-l...

As a primary driving force, margin tilting is crucial for gravity-driven thin-skinned salt tectonics. We investigated how instant versus progressive margin tilting mechanisms influence salt tectonics using an analogue modeling setup where tilting rate could be controlled. Instant tilting resulted in initially high deformation rates, triggering wide...

Salt tectonics is an important part of the geological evolution of many continental margins, yet the four‐dimensional evolution of the minibasins, the fundamental building block of these and many other salt basins, remains poorly understood. Using high‐quality 3D seismic data from the Lower Congo Basin, offshore Angola we document the long‐term (>7...

The paper can be downloaded here: https://eartharxiv.org/kx3uy/. In passive margin salt basins, the distinct tectonic domains of thin-skinned extension and contraction exert important controls on the geometry and evolution of minibasins. In this study, we use a semi-regional 3D seismic dataset from the Lower Congo Basin to investigate the spatial...

Current models of gravitational tectonics on the structural styles of salt-influenced passive margins typically depict domains of upslope extension and corresponding downslope contraction separated by a mid-slope domain of translation that is rather undeformed. However, an undeformed translational domain is rarely observed in natural systems as ext...

This data set includes the results of digital image correlation of three experiments on gravitational tectonics at passive margins performed at the Helmholtz Laboratory for Tectonic Modelling (HelTec) of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam in the framework of EPOS transnational access activities in 2018. Detailed descriptions...

This dataset provides friction data from ring-shear tests (RST) for two types of foam glass beads and a mixture of foam glass beads with quartz sand (“G12”; Rosenau et al., 2019). These materials have been used in analogue experiments in Helmholtz Laboratory for Tectonic Modelling (HelTec) at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsda...

Gravitational failure drives thinskinned salt tectonics in passive margin salt basins where upslope extension is linked to downslope contraction. As the main driving mechanisms, the impact of margin tilting is crucial for the structural and kinematic evolution of supra-salt cover deformation. However, the influences of tilting rate on thinskinned s...

Passive margins underlain by a weak salt detachment are partitioned into kinematically linked domains of upslope extension and downslope contraction. Typical deformation structures in the extensional domain are rafts, reactive diapirs and rollovers, whereas folds, thrust and squeezed diapirs occur in the contractional domain. While previous studies...

Sea‐floor topography of deep‐water folds is widely considered to have a major impact on turbidity currents and their depositional systems, but understanding the flow response to such features was limited mainly to conceptual notions inspired by small‐scale laboratory experiments. High‐resolution three‐dimensional numerical experiments can compensat...

The preprint is here:https://eartharxiv.org/w8axj/ Salt tectonics is an important part of the geological evolution of many continental margin salt basins, yet the four-dimensional evolution of the minibasins, the fundamental building block of these and many other salt basins, remains poorly understood. Using high-quality 3D seismic data from the Lo...

Current gravitational tectonics models illustrating the structural style of passive margin salt basins typically have domains of upslope extension and corresponding downslope contraction, separated by a domain of rather undeformed mid-slope translation. However, such a translational domain is rarely observed in natural systems where extensional and...

This natural-scale experimental study combines structural modelling of soft-linked normal-fault relays with a CFD (computational fluid dynamics) numerical simulation of a range of unconfined turbidity currents overrunning the relay-system topography. The flow, released from an upslope inlet gate 2000 m wide and 50 m to 100 m high, rapidly expands a...

Turbidity currents descending the slopes of deep-water extensional basins or passive continental margins commonly encounter normal-fault escarpments, but such large-magnitude phenomena are hydraulically difficult to replicate at small scale in the laboratory. This study uses advanced CFD (computational fluid dynamics) numerical simulations to monit...

Studies of salt-influenced rift basins have focused on individual or basin-scale fault system and/or salt-related structure. In contrast, the large-scale rift structure, namely rift segments and rift accommodation zones and the role of pre-rift tectonics in controlling structural style and syn- rift basin evolution has received less attention. The...

Turbidity currents descending the slopes of marine rifts and rifted continental margins commonly encounter the topography of normal-fault escarpments and related relay ramps. However, the hydraulic response of turbidity current to these topographic configurations and the resulting spatial pattern of sediment dispersal and deposition remain to be po...

Relay ramps are common features in rift basins, accommodating displacement between overlapping segments of normal faults. Since fault displacement is at its maximum around the fault center and decreases to zero both along and normal to the fault plane, the relay ramp between neighboring faults forms a local topographic low in the footwall and a cor...

This investigation focuses on the early-stage turbiditic sedimentation in an evolving deep-water rift basin, where the descend paths of turbidity currents from the slope to the basin floor commonly run across growth-fault escarpments. The impact of fault topography on the turbidity current behaviour and sediment dispersal has been studied by using...

This experiment study investigates the basin-scale salt tectonic processes and kinematic evolution of the gravity-driven deepwater fold belt in the offshore Jequitinhonha salt basin, central Brazil margin. Scaled analogue experiments, geologically constrained by 2D regional seismic interpretations, examine the salt tectonic processes and related de...

Salt structures in linked extensionalecontractional systems of passive margin sedimentary basins and deepwater fold belts play an important role in the evolution of rifted continental margins. The 100 km wide Jequitinhonha Basin with its salt-detached deepwater fold belt provides insight in the post-rift salt deformation processes in deepwater fold...