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1.
Shelf‐edge deltas are a key depositional environment for accreting sediment onto shelf‐margin clinoforms. The Moruga Formation, part of the palaeo‐Orinoco shelf‐margin sedimentary prism of south‐east Trinidad, provides new insight into the incremental growth of a Pliocene, storm wave‐dominated shelf margin. Relatively little is known about the mechanisms of sand bypass from the shelf‐break area of margins, and in particular from storm wave‐dominated margins which are generally characterized by drifting of sand along strike until meeting a canyon or channel. The studied St. Hilaire Siltstone and Trinity Hill Sandstone succession is 260 m thick and demonstrates a continuous transition from gullied (with turbidites) uppermost slope upward to storm wave‐dominated delta front on the outermost shelf. The basal upper‐slope deposits are dominantly mass‐transport deposited blocks, as well as associated turbidites and debrites with common soft‐sediment‐deformed strata. The overlying uppermost slope succession exhibits a spectacular set of gullies, which are separated by abundant slump‐scar unconformities (tops of rotational slides), then filled with debris‐flow conglomerates and sandy turbidite beds with interbedded mudstones. The top of the study succession, on the outer‐shelf area, contains repeated upward‐coarsening, sandstone‐rich parasequences (2 to 15 m thick) with abundant hummocky and swaley cross‐stratification, clear evidence of storm‐swell and storm wave‐dominated conditions. The observations suggest reconstruction of the unstable shelf margin as follows: (i) the aggradational storm wave‐dominated, shelf‐edge delta front became unstable and collapsed down the slope; (ii) the excavated scars of the shelf margin became gullied, but gradually healed (aggraded) by repeated infilling by debris flows and turbidites, and then new gullying and further infilling; and (iii) a renewed storm wave‐dominated delta‐front prograded out across the healed outer shelf, re‐establishing the newly stabilized shelf margin. The Moruga Formation study, along with only a few others in the literature, confirms the sediment bypass ability of storm wave‐dominated reaches of shelf edges, despite river‐dominated deltas being, by far, the most efficient shelf‐edge regime for sediment bypass at the shelf break.  相似文献   

2.
Abstract Although shelf‐edge deltas are well‐imaged seismic features of Holocene and Pleistocene shelf margins, documented outcrop analogues of these important sand‐prone reservoirs are rare. The facies and stratigraphic architecture of an outcropping shelf‐edge delta system in the Eocene Battfjellet Formation, Spitsbergen, is presented here, as well as the implications of this delta system for the generation of sand‐prone, shelf‐margin clinoforms. The shelf‐edge deltas of the Battfjellet Formation on Litledalsfjellet and Høgsnyta produced a 3–5 × 15 km, shelf edge‐attached, slope apron (70 m of sandstones proximally, tapering to zero on the lower slope). The slope apron consists of distributary channel and mouth‐bar deposits in its shelf‐edge reaches, passing downslope to slope channels/chutes that fed turbiditic lobes and spillover sheets. In the transgressive phase of the slope apron, estuaries developed at the shelf edge, and these also produced minor lobes on the slope. The short‐headed mountainous rivers that drained the adjacent orogenic belt and fed the narrow shelf, and the shelf‐edge position of the discharging deltas, made an appropriate setting for the generation of hyperpycnal turbidity currents on the slope of the shelf margin. The abundance of organic matter and of coal fragments in the slope turbidites is consistent with this notion. Evidence that many of the slope turbidites were generated by sustained turbidity currents that waxed then waned includes the presence of scour surfaces and thick intervals of plane‐parallel laminae within turbidite beds in the slope channels, and thick spillover lobes with repetitive alternations of massive and flat‐laminated intervals. The examined shelf‐edge to slope system, now preserved mainly below the shelf break and dominated by sediment gravity‐flow deposits, has a threefold stratigraphic architecture: a lower, progradational part, in which the clinoforms have a slight downward‐directed trajectory; a thin aggradational zone; and an upper part in which clinoforms backstep up onto the shelf edge. A greatly increased density of erosional channels and chutes marks the regressive‐to‐transgressive turnaround within the slope apron, and this zone becomes an angular unconformity up near the shelf edge. This unconformity, with both subaerial and subaqueous components, is interpreted as a sequence boundary and developed by vigorous sand delivery and bypass across the shelf edge during the time interval of falling relative sea level. The studied shelf‐margin clinoforms accreted mostly during falling stage (sea level below the shelf edge), but the outer shelf later became estuarine as sea level became re‐established above the shelf edge.  相似文献   

3.
Shelf‐edge deltas play a critical role in shelf‐margin accretion and deepwater sediment delivery, yet much remains to be understood about the detailed linkage between shelf edge and slope sedimentation. The shelf edge separates the flat‐lying shelf from steeper slope regions, and is observable in seismic data and continuous outcrops; however, it is commonly obscured in non‐continuous outcrops. Defining this zone is essential because it segregates areas dominated by shelf currents from those governed by gravity‐driven processes. Understanding this linkage is paramount for predicting and characterizing associated deepwater reservoirs. In the Tanqua Karoo Basin, the Permian Kookfontein Formation shelf‐slope clinothems are well‐exposed for 21 km along depositional strike and dip. Two independent methods identified the shelf‐edge position, indicating that it is defined by: (i) a transition from predominantly shelf‐current to gravitational deposits; (ii) an increase in soft‐sediment deformation; (iii) a significant gradient increase; and (iv) clinothem thickening. A quantitative approach was used to assess the impact of process‐regime variability along the shelf edge on downslope sedimentation. Facies proportions were quantified from sedimentary logs and photographic panels, and integrated with mapped key surfaces to construct a stratigraphic grid. Spatial variability in facies proportions highlights two types of shelf‐edge depositional zones within the same shelf‐edge delta. Where deposition occurred in fluvial‐dominated zones, the slope is sand rich, channelized with channels widening downslope, and rich in collapse features. Where deltaic deposits indicate considerable tidal reworking, the deposits are thin and pinch‐out close to the shelf edge, and the slope is sand poor and lacks channelization. Amplification of tidal energy, and decrease in fluvial drive on the shelf, coincides with a decrease in mouth bar and shelf‐edge collapse, and a lack of channelization on the slope. This analysis suggests that process‐regime variability along the shelf edge exercised significant control on shelf‐edge progradation, slope channelization and deepwater sediment delivery.  相似文献   

4.
《Sedimentology》2018,65(3):809-841
Degradation of basin‐margin clinothems around the shelf‐edge rollover zone may lead to the generation of conduits through which gravity flows transport sediment downslope. Many studies from seismic‐reflection data sets show these features, but they lack small‐scale (centimetre to metre) sedimentary and stratigraphic observations on process interactions. Exhumed basin‐margin clinothems in the Tanqua depocentre (Karoo Basin) provide seismic‐reflection‐scale geometries and internal details of architecture with depositional dip and strike control. At the Geelhoek locality, clinothem parasequences comprise siltstone‐rich offshore deposits overlain by heterolithic prodelta facies and sandstone‐dominated deformed mouth bars. Three of these parasequences are truncated by a steep (6 to 22°), 100 m deep and 1·5 km wide asymmetrical composite erosion surface that delineates a shelf‐incised canyon. The fill, from base to top comprises: (i) thick‐bedded sandstone with intrabasinal clasts and multiple erosion surfaces; (ii) scour‐based interbedded sandstone and siltstone with tractional structures; and (iii) inverse‐graded to normal‐graded siltstone beds. An overlying 55 m thick coarsening‐upward parasequence fills the upper section of the canyon and extends across its interfluves. Younger parasequences display progressively shallower gradients during progradation and healing of the local accommodation. The incision surface resulted from initial oversteepening and high sediment supply triggering deformation and collapse at the shelf edge, enhanced by a relative sea‐level fall that did not result in subaerial exposure of the shelf edge. Previous work identified an underlying highly incised, sandstone‐rich shelf‐edge rollover zone across‐margin strike, suggesting that there was migration in the zone of shelf edge to upper‐slope incision over time. This study provides an unusual example of clinothem degradation and readjustment with three‐dimensional control in an exhumed basin‐margin succession. The work demonstrates that large‐scale erosion surfaces can develop and migrate due to a combination of factors at the shelf‐edge rollover zone and proposes additional criteria to predict clinothem incision and differential sediment bypass in consistently progradational systems.  相似文献   

5.
Pliocene age deposits of the palaeo‐Orinoco Delta are evaluated in the Mayaro Formation, which crops out along the western margin of the Columbus Basin in south‐east Trinidad. This sandstone‐dominated interval records the diachronous, basinwards migration of the shelf edge of the palaeo‐Orinoco Delta, as it prograded eastwards during the Pliocene–Pleistocene (ca 3·5 Ma). The basin setting was characterized by exceptionally high rates of growth‐fault controlled sediment supply and accommodation space creation resulting in a gross basin‐fill of around 12 km, with some of the highest subsidence rates in the world (ca 5 to 10 m ka?1). This analysis demonstrates that the Mayaro Formation was deposited within large and mainly wave‐influenced shelf‐edge deltas. These are manifested as multiple stacks of coarsening upward parasequences at scales ranging from tens to hundreds of metres in thickness, which are dominated by storm‐influenced and wave‐influenced proximal delta‐front sandstones with extensive, amalgamated swaley and hummocky cross‐stratification. These proximal delta‐front successions pass gradationally downwards into 10s to 100 m thick distal delta front to mud‐dominated upper slope deposits characterized by a wide variety of sedimentary processes, including distal river flood and storm‐related currents, slumps and other gravity flows. Isolated and subordinate sandstone bodies occur as gully fills, while extensive soft sediment deformation attests to the high sedimentation rates along a slope within a tectonically active basin. The vertical stratigraphic organization of the facies associations, together with the often cryptic nature of parasequence stacking patterns and sequence stratigraphic surfaces, are the combined product of the rapid rates of accommodation space creation, high rates of sediment supply and glacio‐eustasy in the 40 to 100 Ka Milankovitch frequency range. The stratigraphic framework described herein contrasts strikingly with that described from passive continental margins, but compares favourably to other tectonically active, deltaic settings (for example, the Baram Delta Province of north‐west Borneo).  相似文献   

6.
The late Barremian succession in the Agadir Basin of the Moroccan Western High Atlas represents wave-dominated deltaic deposits. The succession is represented by stacked thickening and coarsening upwards parasequences 5–15 m thick formed during fifth- or fourth-order regression and building a third-order highstand systems tract. Vertical facies transitions in parasequences reflect flooding followed by shoaling of diverse shelf environments ranging from offshore transition interbedded mudstones, siltstones and thin sandstones, lower shoreface/lower delta front hummocky bedforms to upper shoreface/upper delta front cross-bedded sandstones. The regional configuration reflects the progradation of wave-dominated deltas over an offshore setting. The maximum sea-level fall led to the development of a sequence boundary that is an unconformity. The subsequent early Aptian relative sea-level rise contributes to the development of an extensive conglomerate lagged transgressive surface of erosion. The latter and the sequence boundary are amalgamated forming a composite surface.  相似文献   

7.
The Magallanes‐Austral Basin of Patagonian Chile and Argentina is a retroforeland basin associated with Late Cretaceous–Neogene uplift of the southern Andes. The Upper Cretaceous Dorotea Formation records the final phase of deposition in the Late Cretaceous foredeep, marked by southward progradation of a shelf‐edge delta and slope. In the Ultima Esperanza district of Chile, laterally extensive, depositional dip‐oriented exposures of the Dorotea Formation contain upper slope, delta‐front and delta plain facies. Marginal and shallow marine deposits include abundant indicators of tidal activity including inclined heterolithic stratification, heterolithic to sandy tidal bundles, bidirectional palaeocurrent indicators, flaser/wavy/lenticular bedding, heterolithic tidal flat deposits and a relatively low‐diversity Skolithos ichnofacies assemblage in delta plain facies. This work documents the stratigraphic architecture and evolution of the shelf‐edge delta that was significantly influenced by strong tidal activity. Sediment was delivered to a large slump scar on the shelf‐edge by a basin‐axial fluvial system, where it was significantly reworked and redistributed by tides. A network of tidally modified mouth bars and tidal channels comprised the outermost reaches of the delta complex, which constituted the staging area and initiation point for gravity flows that dominated the slope and deeper basin. The extent of tidal influence on the Dorotea delta also has important implications for Magallanes‐Austral Basin palaeogeography. Prior studies establish axial foreland palaeodrainage, long‐term southward palaeotransport directions and large‐scale topographic confinement within the foredeep throughout Late Cretaceous time. Abundant tidal features in Dorotea Formation strata further suggest that the Magallanes‐Austral Basin was significantly embayed. This ‘Magallanes embayment’ was formed by an impinging fold–thrust belt to the west and a broad forebulge region to the east.  相似文献   

8.
9.
Gilbert‐type deltas are sensitive recorders of short‐term base‐level changes, but the delta‐front record of a base‐level rise tends to be erased by fluvial erosion during a subsequent base‐level fall, which renders the bulk record of base‐level changes difficult to decipher from the delta‐front deposits. The present detailed study of three large Pleistocene Gilbert‐type deltas uplifted on the southern coast of the Gulf of Corinth, Greece, indicates a genetic link between the delta‐front morphodynamic responses to base‐level changes and the delta‐slope sedimentation processes. Sigmoidal delta‐brink architecture signifies a base‐level rise and is accompanied by a debrite‐dominated assemblage of delta foreset deposits, thought to form when the aggrading delta front stores sediment and undergoes discrete gravitational collapses. Oblique delta‐brink architecture tends to be accompanied by a turbidite‐dominated assemblage of foreset deposits, which are thought to form when the delta‐front accommodation decreases and the sediment carried by hyperpycnal effluent bypasses the front. This primary signal of the system response to base‐level changes combines further with the secondary ‘noise’ of delta autogenic variation and possible allogenic fluctuations in fluvial discharge due to regional climatic conditions. Nevertheless, the evidence suggests that the facies trends of delta foreset deposits may be used to decipher the delta ‘hidden’ record of base‐level changes obliterated by fluvial topset erosion. Early‐stage bayhead deltas may be an exception from the hypothetical model, because their narrow front tends to be swept by river floods irrespective of base‐level behaviour and their subaqueous slope deposits are thus mainly turbidites.  相似文献   

10.
The three-dimensional facies and architecture variability of shelf-edge deltaic units cropping out at the transition between the Lower–Middle Jurassic Lajas and Los Molles formations of southern Neuquén Basin, Argentina, is presented here, as well as their stratigraphic relationship to uppermost deep-water slope channel systems. Deep-water, slope mudstones with thin turbidite beds merge upward with prodelta mudstones and thin sandstones, which are truncated by delta-front to mouth-bar sandstones. The latter sandstones are then downcut by large-scale, trough cross-stratified coarse-grained sandstones and conglomerates of distributary channel systems and along-strike, amalgamated with cross-bedded sandy units showing evidence of tidal reworking. Proximal–distal facies and architecture variability within a shelf-edge deltaic succession demonstrates that distributary channel-complexes become wider and deeper basinward, forming channelized river-dominated distributary fairways separated by tidally reworked inter-distributary sand belts at the shelf edge. Evidence from depositional-dip oriented outcrops shows a lack of collapsed and slumped strata at the shelf edge, and that the coarse shelf-edge distributary channel fills continue far down the deepwater slope, and conglomerates transform to become high-density turbidites to mainly thick-bedded, sand-matrix-supported debrites. The interplay between flood tides and river currents is interpreted to have primarily modulated the focusing of river drainages, and consequently coarse-grained sediment transport, along preferential routes on the outer-shelf to shelf-edge and down onto the slope. This contribution documents a unique example of coarse-grained (mostly conglomeratic) shelf-edge delta systems, tying bed-scale facies and architecture data to a seismic-scale shelf-margin morphology, thus providing outcrop analogue data for the characterization of shelf-edge delta systems in the subsurface.  相似文献   

11.
Along the West Greenland continental margin adjoining Baffin Bay, bathymetric data show a series of large submarine fans located at the mouths of cross‐shelf troughs. One of these fans, termed here ‘Uummannaq Fan’, is a trough‐mouth fan built largely by debris delivered from a fast‐flowing outlet of the Greenland Ice Sheet during past glacial maxima. Cores from this fan provide the first information on glacimarine sedimentary facies within a major West Greenland trough‐mouth fan and on the nature of Late Weichselian–Holocene glacigenic sediment delivery to this region of the Baffin Bay margin. Glacigenic debris flows deposited on the upper slope and extending to at least 1800 m water depth in front of the trough‐mouth are related to the remobilization of subglacial debris that was delivered onto the upper slope at times when an ice stream was positioned at the shelf edge. In contrast, sedimentary facies from the northern sector of the fan are characterized by hemipelagic and ice‐rafted sediments and turbidites; glacigenic debris flows are notably absent in cores from this region. Quantitative X‐ray diffraction studies of the <2‐mm sediment fraction indicate that the bulk of the sediment in the fan is derived from Uummannaq Trough but there are distinct intervals when sediment from northern Baffin Bay sources dominates, especially on the northern limit of the fan. These data demonstrate considerable variation in the nature of sediment delivery across the Uummannaq Fan when the Greenland Ice Sheet was at the shelf edge. They highlight the variability of glacimarine depositional processes operating on trough‐mouth fans on high‐latitude continental margins during the last glacial maximum and indicate that glacigenic debris flows are just one of a number of mechanisms by which such large depocentres form. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

12.
Regionally extensive parasequences in the upper McMurray Formation, Grouse Paleovalley, north‐east Alberta, Canada, preserve a shift in depositional processes in a paralic environment from tide domination, with notable fluvial influence, through to wave domination. Three stacked parasequences form the upper McMurray Formation and are separated by allogenic flooding surfaces. Sediments within the three parasequences are grouped into three facies associations: wave‐dominated/storm‐dominated deltas, storm‐affected shorefaces to sheltered bay‐margin and fluvio‐tidal brackish‐water channels. The two oldest parasequences comprise dominantly tide‐dominated, wave‐influenced/fluvial‐influenced, shoreface to bay‐margin deposits bisected by penecontemporaneous brackish‐water channels. Brackish‐water channels trend approximately north‐west/south‐east, which is perpendicular to the interpreted shoreline trend; this implies that the basinward and progradational direction was towards the north‐west during deposition of the upper McMurray Formation in Grouse Paleovalley. The youngest parasequence is interpreted as amalgamated wave‐dominated/storm‐dominated delta lobes. The transition from tide‐dominated deposition in the oldest two parasequences to wave‐dominated deposition in the youngest is attributed mainly to drowning of carbonate highlands to the north and north‐west of the study area, and potentially to relative changes in accommodation space and deposition rate. The sedimentological, ichnological and regional distribution of the three facies associations within each parasequence are compared to modern and Holocene analogues that have experienced similar shifts in process dominance. Through this comparison it is possible to consider how shifts in depositional processes are expressed in the rock record. In particular, this study provides one of few ancient examples of preservation of depositional process shifts and showcases how topography impacts the character and architecture of marginal‐marine systems.  相似文献   

13.
D. Uli&#;ný 《Sedimentology》2001,48(3):599-628
Deposits of coarse‐grained, Gilbert‐type deltas showing varying degrees of reworking of foresets by basinal currents were identified in Middle Turonian to Early Coniacian sandstones of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin. The progradation of the deltaic packages, earlier interpreted as large‐scale subaqueous dunes, shelf ridges or subaqueous fault‐scarp ‘accumulation terraces’, was controlled by high‐ and low‐frequency, relative sea‐level changes in a relatively slowly subsiding, intracontinental strike‐slip basin. End‐member types of the Bohemian Cretaceous coarse‐grained deltas are deep‐water deltas, characterized by thick (50–80 m) foreset packages with steep (10–30°) foresets, and shallow‐water deltas, which deposited thin (<15 m) packages with foresets typically between 4° and 10°. The differences in thickness and foreset slope angle were controlled predominantly by the accommodation available during progradation. The depositional regime of the deltas was governed by (i) the fluvial input of abundant sand bedload, with a minor proportion of gravel; (ii) gravity flows, most probably caused by liquefaction of the upper part of the unstable foreset slope; and (iii) migration of sandy bedforms on the foreset slopes. The bedform migration was driven by unidirectional currents of possible tidal origin. Individual foreset packages represent systems tracts, or parts of systems tracts, of depositional sequences. A variety of stacking patterns of high‐frequency sequences exists in the basin, caused by low‐frequency relative sea‐level changes as well as by local changes in sediment input. Because of generally low subsidence rates, fluvial or beach topset strata were not preserved in the cases studied. The absence of preserved fluvial facies, which has been one of the main arguments against the fluvio‐deltaic origin of the sandstone bodies, is explained by erosion of the topsets during transgression and their reworking into coarse‐grained lags of regional extent covering ravinement surfaces.  相似文献   

14.
In the Jebilet Palaeozoic inlier, 20 km north of Marrakech, there are extensive exposures of Carboniferous flysch deposits. Although there are some structural complications due to over-riding nappes with associated chaotic breccias, one clearly unbroken succession from basin-plain turbidites to shallow-marine deposits can be examined. The succession is more than 2 km thick and is dated as Upper Viscan in the uppermost part.The lowermost unit of B- and C-based turbidites shows no sequential organisation and is interpreted as a typical basin-plain association. Above this are similar turbidites arranged in thickening-upward sequences that may represent outer-fan or base-of-slope deposits. Succeeding these are thin-bedded turbidites with interbedded units formed by mass movement that represent a slope deposit. The overlying lenticular-bedded facies resembles previously described overflow deposits of submarine-fan channels, but is here interpreted as comprising storm-generated deposits on the outer shelf/upper slope. These deposits are genetically linked with the overlying parallel-laminated sandstones with irregular-rippled tops for which a storm-surge origin is suggested. The upper part of the succession shows cross-bedded, oolitic, bioclastic, sandy limestones with bipolar current structures sandwiched between low-energy siltstones containing thin-graded silt/sand beds. These are collectively interpreted as shelf deposits that formed under different depths due to transgressive-regressive events.The sequence differs from many described in the literature in that there is an absence of most submarine-fan facies. Locally a NNE-SSW basin strike is proposed with a basin margin to the ESE, but there is at present little control on regional palaeogeography.  相似文献   

15.
The Rio Dell Formation (Pleistocene and Pliocene), exposed south of Eureka, California, is a prograded sequence of basinal turbidites overlain by basin slope and shelf deposits. The slope deposits studied in the Centerville Beach section accumulated in a steadily shallowing environment delineated by analysis of palaeobathymetrically significant benthonic foraminiferal biofacies in turn suggesting deposition at depths of 1000–100 m. Lower slope deposits interfinger with basinal turbidites derived from the Eel River delta to the north. Slumped blocks of silty mudstone, and associated silt and mud beds, are common. The middle slope deposits are mudstones; coarser sediments bypassed this zone. Mudstones and muddy siltstones alternate on the upper slope. Shallow depressions, probably slump scars, that have been rapidly filled by upper slope sediment are common. The transition to shelf deposits is marked by an increase in sediment grain size, in the degree of oxidation, and in the abundance of megafossils. High percentages of benthonic foraminifera displaced from shelf depths indicate that resedimentation processes are most important on the upper slope.  相似文献   

16.
以珠江口盆地白云凹陷钻井、测井、地震和古生物资料为基础,结合前人研究成果,系统的分析了白云凹陷晚渐新统到早中新统沉积相发育特征及凹陷沉积充填演化过程。研究结果表明,珠海组下部发育大型陆架边缘三角洲沉积,地震反射特征表明该三角洲发育三期;钻遇水下分支河道、支流间湾、河口坝及远砂坝微相,沉积物以富砂为特征,发育冲刷-充填构造、递变层理及较粗的水平潜穴等多种构造;珠海组上部为浅海相,沉积物以海相砂泥岩互层为主,此时期陆架坡折带位于白云凹陷南坡;珠江组沉积时期,海平面升降旋回频繁,陆架坡折带迁至凹陷北坡。随着古珠江流域扩大,沉积物输入量增加,在珠江组下部发育了深水扇,沉积物以细-粗砂岩为主,夹少量粉砂岩及深海泥岩,发育颗粒流、液化流、浊流及碎屑流等四种主要的重力流,钻遇内扇水道,中扇废弃水道及水道间漫溢沉积,外扇深海泥沉积;珠江组上部为半深海相,沉积物以深海泥岩为主。   相似文献   

17.
Delta asymmetry occurs where there is strong wave influence and net longshore transport. Differences in the morphology and facies architecture between updrift and downdrift sides of asymmetric deltas are potentially significant for exploration and exploitation of resources in this class of reservoirs. Although delta asymmetry has been recognized widely from modern wave‐influenced deltaic shorelines, there are few documented examples in the ancient record. Based on an integrated sedimentological and ichnological study, the along‐strike variability and delta asymmetry within a single parasequence (Ps 6) is documented in continuously exposed outcrops of the Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale Formation near Hanksville in southern Utah. Two intra‐parasequence discontinuity surfaces are recognized which allow subdivision of the parasequence into three bedsets, marked as Ps 6‐1 to Ps 6‐3. Four facies successions are recognized: (i) wave/storm‐dominated shoreface; (ii) river‐dominated delta front; (iii) wave/storm‐reworked delta front; and (iv) distributary channel and mouth bar. Dips of cross‐strata within distributary‐mouth bars and shorefaces show a strong downdrift (southward) component. Ps 6‐3 predominantly consists of river‐dominated delta‐front deposits, whereas Ps 6‐1 and Ps 6‐2 show an along‐strike facies change with shoreface deposits in the north, passing into heterolithic, river‐dominated delta‐front successions south to south‐eastward, and wave/storm‐reworked delta‐front deposits further to the south‐east. Trace fossil suites correspondingly show distinct along‐strike changes from robust and diverse expressions of the archetypal Cruziana Ichnofacies and Skolithos Ichnofacies, into suites characterized by horizontal, morphologically simple, facies‐crossing ichnogenera, reflecting a more stressed, river‐dominated environment. Further south‐eastward, trace fossil abundance and diversity increase, reflecting a return to archetypal ichnofacies. The overall facies integrated with palaeocurrent data indicate delta asymmetry. The asymmetric delta consists of sandier shoreface deposits on the updrift side and mixed riverine and wave/storm‐reworked deposits on the downdrift side, similar to that observed in the modern examples. However, in contrast to the recent delta asymmetry models, significant paralic, lagoonal and bay‐fill facies are not documented in the downdrift regions of the asymmetric delta. This observation is attributed to a negative palaeoshoreline trajectory during delta progradation and subsequent transgressive erosion. The asymmetric delta was induced by net longshore transport from north to south. The forced regressive nature of the delta precludes significant preservation of topset mud.  相似文献   

18.
Deltas are commonly classified according to their plan‐view morphology as either river‐dominated, tide‐dominated or wave‐dominated. However, most deltas form under the mixed influence of these processes, commonly with laterally varying process regimes. It has also become clear that there is a mismatch between the plan‐view morphology and internal facies composition in some deltas. Combined outcrop and subsurface data from the Eocene Battfjellet Formation, Spitsbergen, provide an example of ancient shelf deltas that formed under mixed influence. Internally, these shelf deltas are characterized by wave‐dominated facies that are normally associated with strike‐extensive, nearly linear shoreline sandstones. However, the formation comprises partially overlapping sandstone bodies of limited lateral extent (<20 km in any direction). This stacking pattern is attributed to frequent autogenic lobe switching that caused localized and rapid transgressions. Such processes typify fluvial‐dominated deltas and occur less commonly in wave‐dominated ones. Thus, there is an apparent mismatch between inferred plan‐view morphology and internal facies composition. It is argued that the Battfjellet deltas were flood‐dominated and prograded mainly during periods of high fluvial discharge. However, reworking of the fluvial‐flood facies by fair‐weather and storm waves, as well as longshore currents, resulted in a wave‐dominated facies character. Delta lobes undergoing auto‐retreat were particularly prone to reworking by basinal processes, including tidal currents. It is suggested that repeated delta progradation from inner shelf settings towards the outer shelf and shelf edge was aided by high sediment supply rather than relative falls in sea‐level as previously suggested. This interpretation is supported by: (i) the lack of major facies dislocations and extensive sub‐aerial unconformities; and (ii) an overall relative rise in sea‐level as evidenced by an overall low‐angle (0·8 to 1·2°) ascending shoreline trajectory. The latter results from the combined effect of basin subsidence, eustatic highstand and sediment compaction.  相似文献   

19.
The stratigraphic architecture of shoal‐water deltaic systems developed in low‐accommodation settings is relatively well‐known. In contrast, the features of shoal‐water deltas developed in high‐accommodation settings remain relatively poorly documented, especially when compared with the available data sets for Gilbert‐type deltaic systems developed in the same settings. The lacustrine Valimi Formation (Gulf of Corinth, Greece) provides an opportunity to investigate the facies assemblage and architectural style of shoal‐water deltaic systems developed in high‐accommodation settings. The studied interval accumulated during the Pliocene and Pleistocene and represents part of the early syn‐rift Gulf of Corinth succession. Six facies associations, each described in terms of depositional processes and geometries, have been identified and interpreted to represent a range of proximal to distal deltaic sub‐environments: delta plain, distributary channel, mouth‐bar, delta front, prodelta and open lake. The facies associations and their architectural elements reveal characteristics which are not common in traditionally described shoal‐water deltas. Of note, different facies arrangements are observed in the distributary channels in different sectors of the delta, passing from thick single‐storey channel fills embedded within delta‐plain fines in landward positions, to thin, amalgamated and multi‐storey channels closer to the river mouth. This study proposes a new depositional model for shoal‐water deltas in high‐accommodation settings documenting, for the first time, that shoal‐water delta deposits can form a substantial part of stratigraphic successions that accumulate in these settings. The proposed depositional model provides new criteria for the recognition and interpretation of these deposits; the results of this study have applied significance for reservoir characterization.  相似文献   

20.
The Late Proterozoic Conception Group, exposed on the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland, Canada, is a 4 km thick turbidite succession containing a conformable 300 m thick sequence of diamictites (the Gaskiers Formation) near the base. Massive and crudely-stratified diamictites form beds up to 25 m thick which have a tabular geometry with slightly erosive basal contacts and are interbedded with mudstones and fine-grained, thin-bedded turbidites. These diamictites are interpreted as submarine debris flow deposits. Disrupted diamictites form strongly deformed units that contain large, complexly folded rafts of mudstone and turbidite facies. These diamictite units are interpreted as submarine slumps. Diamictites contain glacially-striated and faceted clasts; clasts and matrix are predominantly of volcanic provenance. One outcrop shows interbedded volcanic agglomerate and diamictite, and volcanic bombs can also be identified. The interbedding of diamictites with turbidites and the stratigraphic context provided by the thick sequences of turbidites below (Mall Bay Formation) and above (Drook Formation) indicate a deep marine slope setting of diamictite deposition. Diamictite facies record remobilization and downslope transfer of large volumes of unstable volcanic and glacial debris initially deposited in a shallower water marginal marine zone. The regional tectonic framework suggests the Conception Group accumulated in a deep, southward-opening ensialic rift basin with active but waning volcanic centres to the north. The Gaskiers Formation may be representative of other Late Precambrian glacially-influenced diamictite sequences that were deposited around the North Atlantic region and in Europe. These deep marine diamictite sequences characterized by debris flows, turbidites, and slump deposits, can be contrasted with more extensive shallow marine shelf diamictite sequences found in association with dolomites and tidally influenced shallow water facies in other basinal settings.  相似文献   

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