Fractal geometry can effectively quantify naturally nonlinear or much complicated phenomena, and fractal dimension is the quantitative parameter. In this paper, we applied fractal geometry to analyze spatial fault distribution of the southern South China Sea. Calculation results indicate that the spatial fault distribution of this area have remarkable fractal features in a non-scale interval of 25 - 250 km, with fractal dimensions of 1.660 1, 1.387 5, and 1.269 3 for all faults, NE-trending faults and NW-trending faults, respectively. These dimensions （capacity dimensions）, obtained by box-counting method, represent well the characteristics of spatial fault distribution. Displayed by isoline-maps of fractal dimensions, faults in the study area arrange symmetrically along the spreading axis of the Southwest Sub-basin, and density of the NE-trending faults supplements to that of the NW-trending faults, revealing a property of mutual restriction between these two groups of faults. At last, by correlating the fractal features of spatial fault distribution with the evolution of the South China Sea and the distribution of oil or gas basins, we tried to reveal their relationships.
