| In conclusion, the geological characteristics of the South China Sea cannot be explained by a pull-apart model involving a releasing bend of a sinistral strike-slip fault. |
| During the Cretaceous, however, an ocean basin existed in this area, either as a remnant ocean that had escaped Jurassic obduction or as a small Cretaceous pull-apart basin. |
| There is no strong evidence from the regional geometry or the local structures to suggest a simple pull-apart geometry for the rift. |
| An integral part of the pull-apart tectonic model of the Silverpit Crater is the presence of more than one layer of detachment within the structure. |
| Berndt infers a pull-apart basin as the reason for this local depression, because of the location between two major strike-slip faults. |
| The pull-apart structures in the study area are clearly of different types. |
