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1.
MATRIX OF TURBIDITES: EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH 总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2
PH. H. KUENEN 《Sedimentology》1966,7(4):267-297
The matrix (< 40 μ) of turbidites forms a possible clue to the density of turbidity currents and the origin of the graywacke matrix. Experiments in a circular flume provide a mechanism to study the relation between composition of suspensions at various speeds and their deposits. There is a close analogy to the lower part of turbidity currents. The lutum content of samples with median diameters greater than 400 or 500 μ is found to correspond to the suspended load of the pore water. The higher value for finer deposits can be recalculated to suspension concentration by use of the “sedimentation factor”. Hence, each turbidite carries, as it were, a sample of its depositing current. The lutum content depends not on the ratio of sand to lutum in the current, as tacitly assumed by many authors, but mainly on the ratio lutum to water, although also influenced by velocity. The average lutum density of coarser recent deep-sea sands is 1-2%. This indicates turbidity currents with 5-10% lutum by weight (density 1.03–1.07). The sand must be added to ascertain the current density. In first approximation turbidity currents tend to have densities at their nose of 1.1–1.2, but higher and much lower values also occur. The maximum original lutum percentage of coarse turbidites is below 10%. Higher values are very scarce and are due to post-depositional mixing, or we are dealing with slides. However, in fine-grained turbidites there is more matrix up to 20% for a median of 100 p. Hence, coarse graded marine graywackes with 20 or more per cent matrix are presumably weakly metamorphic turbidites, that originally held the same modest amount of lutum as recent turbidites of the same grain size. The Trask sorting of the experimental deposits is very good, like the average of natural turbidites. Most cumulative curves of turbidite grain-size analyses on arithmetic probability paper show a characteristic bend in fine sand or silt sizes. 相似文献
2.
Subaqueous sediment gravity flow is the volumetrically most important process transporting sediment across our planet, which forms its largest sediment accumulations (submarine fan). Based on the previous studies, we tried to clear up the concept, classification and identification of subaqueous sediment gravity flow, and introduced the progress of modern direct observation and submarine fan model. Turbidity current and debris flow are two of the most important parts of the gravity flow, the former deposits layer by layer with normal gradation while the latter is en masse settling with chaotic disorder. The turbidity current transformed into the debris flow during the transportation is called hybrid flow. The hyperpycnal flow is the turbidity current formed by flood discharges into the ocean/lake. Modern direct observations show that the turbidity current can contain dense basal layers and last for a week. The structure of turbidity current can be different from those surge-like turbidity current observed in laboratory. Submarine fans are mainly composed of channel, levee, lobe, background deposits and mass transport deposits, which should be studied by architecture analysis and hierarchical classification. The channel deposits extend narrowly with abundant erosion structures; levee deposits are composed of thin layer mud-silty turbidites, wedge thinning laterally; the lobe deposits extend well laterally with narrow range of grain size. The hierarchy of channel deposits is channel unit, channel complex and channel complex system. The hierarchy of lobe deposits is bed, lobe element, lobe and lobe complex. 相似文献
3.
Distinguishing between fine-grained turbidites and contourites on the Nova Scotian deep water margin 总被引：5，自引：0，他引：5
DORRIK A. V. STOW 《Sedimentology》1979,26(3):371-387
Review of the criteria which have been proposed for distinguishing between the deposits of turbidity currents and bottom currents in deep water sedimentation shows no general agreement on their validity. It is important to compare finegrained turbidites and contourites, to recognize that different turbidity current and bottom current mechanisms exist, and that their deposits may be closely inter-bedded in a continental rise environment. Interbedded turbidites and contourites have been recognized in cores from the deep-water margin off Nova Scotia. The most useful criteria for distinguishing between the two deposits were found to be: (1) fining and sorting trends: perpendicular or parallel to the contours; (2) marked textural differences between interbedded turbidites and contourites indicating differences in source and transport distance; (3) mineralogy and textural composition: regional patterns indicating transport perpendicular or parallel to the contours; (4) grain fabric: indication of downslope or along-slope transport at the time of final deposition; (5) sedimentary structures: turbidites show a structural sequence and evidence of rapid burial; contourites are bioturbated and contain irregular lag concentrations of biogenic sand. Other criteria include grain-size parameters, and the regional setting, distribution and depositional rate of the various facies. With due care these criteria can be applied to other regions. Previously used characteristics of silt-laminae abundance, layer thickness, heavy mineral cross lamination, sorting, and the nature of bed contacts are not applicable to fine-grained turbidites and contourites. Compositional criteria depend on regional features. 相似文献
4.
STEFAN LÜTHI 《Sedimentology》1981,28(1):97-105
A theoretical consideration of two dimensional underflows and surge-type turbidity currents results in a general momentum equation. A number of formulae in current use are special cases of this equation, among which are the modified Chézy equation and Bagnold's criterion for autosuspension. Five dimensionless parameters are included: the Richardson number Ri (defined as the inverse square of the Froude number), the friction coefficient cf, the slope β, the dimensionless settling velocity of the sediment Vs/u and the changes in flow height with distance dD/dx. The latter is mainly a measure of the dilution by entrainment of ambient water. For chalk powder experiments on surge type turbidity currents and on the initial front of continuous underflows the momentum equation is shown to be correct. Values for Ri range from about 1.5 at 0° slope to about 0.75 at 5° and are slightly to substantially lower than values from earlier authors. The two types of turbidity currents investigated show close similarity. A surprising attribute is their strong dilution even at very low-angle slopes. Pelitic sedimentation is possible from the upper, dilute part of the currents, graded intervals found at the base of turbidites can be explained as bedload deposits from the lowermost, concentrated layer of the current; hydraulic jumps are expected to be rare in surge-type turbidity currents and fronts of incipient underflows. 相似文献
5.
Deposits of depletive high-density turbidity currents: a flume analogue of bed geometry, structure and texture 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
Flume experiments were performed to study the flow properties and depositional characteristics of high‐density turbidity currents that were depletive and quasi‐steady to waning for periods of several tens of seconds. Such currents may serve as an analogue for rapidly expanding flows at the mouth of submarine channels. The turbidity currents carried up to 35 vol.% of fine‐grained natural sand, very fine sand‐sized glass beads or coarse silt‐sized glass beads. Data analysis focused on: (1) depositional processes related to flow expansion; (2) geometry of sediment bodies generated by the depletive flows; (3) vertical and horizontal sequences of sedimentary structures within the sediment bodies; and (4) spatial trends in grain‐size distribution within the deposits. The experimental turbidity currents formed distinct fan‐shaped sediment bodies within a wide basin. Most fans consisted of a proximal channel‐levee system connected in the downstream direction to a lobe. This basic geometry was independent of flow density, flow velocity, flow volume and sediment type, in spite of the fact that the turbidity currents of relatively high density were different from those of relatively low density in that they exhibited two‐layer flow, with a low‐density turbulent layer moving on top of a dense layer with visibly suppressed large‐scale turbulence. Yet, the geometry of individual morphological elements appeared to relate closely to initial flow conditions and grain size of suspended sediment. Notably, the fans changed from circular to elongate, and lobe and levee thickness increased with increasing grain size and flow velocity. Erosion was confined to the proximal part of the leveed channel. Erosive capacity increased with increasing flow velocity, but appeared to be constant for turbidity currents of different grain size and similar density. Structureless sediment filled the channel during the waning stages of the turbidity currents laden with fine sand. The adjacent levee sands were laminated. The massive character of the channel fills is attributed to rapid settling of suspension load and associated suppression of tractional transport. Sediment bypassing prevailed in fan channels composed of very fine sand and coarse silt, because channel floors remained fully exposed until the end of the experiments. Lobe deposits, formed by the fine sand‐laden, high‐density turbidity currents, contained massive sand in the central part grading to plane parallel‐laminated sand towards the fringes. The depletive flows produced a radial decrease in mean grain size in the lobe deposits of all fans. Vertical trends in grain size comprised inverse‐to‐normal grading in the levees and in the thickest part of the lobes, and normal grading in the channel and fringes of the fine sandy fans. The inverse grading is attributed to a process involving headward‐directed transport of relatively fine‐grained and low‐concentrated fluid at the level of the velocity maximum of the turbidity current. The normal grading is inferred to denote the waning stage of turbidity‐current transport. 相似文献
6.
7.
CHARLOTTE GLADSTONE DAVID PRITCHARD† Associate Editor – Jess Trofimovs 《Sedimentology》2010,57(1):53-84
Turbidity currents are turbulent, sediment‐laden gravity currents which can be generated in relatively shallow shelf settings and travel downslope before spreading out across deep‐water abyssal plains. Because of the natural stratification of the oceans and/or fresh water river inputs to the source area, the interstitial fluid within which the particles are suspended will often be less dense than the deep‐water ambient fluid. Consequently, a turbidity current may initially be denser than the ambient sea water and propagate as a ground‐hugging flow, but later reverse in buoyancy as its bulk density decreases through sedimentation to become lower than that of the ambient sea water. When this occurs, all or part of the turbidity current lofts to form a buoyant sediment‐laden cloud from which further deposition occurs. Deposition from such lofting turbidity currents, containing a mixture of fine and coarse sediment suspended in light interstitial fluid, is explored through analogue laboratory experiments complemented by theoretical analysis using a ‘box and cloud’ model. Particular attention is paid to the overall deposit geometry and to the distributions of fine and coarse material within the deposit. A range of beds can be deposited by bimodal lofting turbidity currents. Lofting may encourage the formation of tabular beds with a rapid pinch‐out rather than the gradually tapering beds more typical of waning turbidity currents. Lofting may also decouple the fates of the finer and coarser sediment: depending on the initial flow composition, the coarse fraction can be deposited prior to or during buoyancy reversal, while the fine fraction can be swept upwards and away by the lofting cloud. An important feature of the results is the non‐uniqueness of the deposit architecture: different initial current compositions can generate deposits with very similar bed profiles and grading characteristics, highlighting the difficulty of reconstructing the nature of the parent flow from field data. It is proposed that deposit emplacement by lofting turbidity currents is common in the geological record and may explain a range of features observed in deep‐water massive sands, thinly bedded turbidite sequences and linked debrites, depending on the parent flow and its subsequent development. For example, a lofting flow may lead to a well sorted, largely ungraded or weakly graded bed if the fines are transported away by the cloud. However, a poorly sorted, largely ungraded region may form if, during buoyancy reversal, high local concentrations and associated hindered settling effects develop at the base of the cloud. 相似文献
8.
Subglacial and subaqueous sediments deposited near the margin of a Late-glacial ice-dammed lake near Achnasheen, northern Scotland, are described and interpreted. The subglacial sediments consist of deformation tills and glacitectonites derived from pre-existing glaciolacustrine deposits, and the subaqueous sediments consist of ice-proximal outwash and sediment flow deposits, and distal turbidites. Sediment was delivered from the glacier to the lake by two main processes: (1) subglacial till deformation, which fed debris flows at the grounding line; and (2) meltwater transport, which fed sediment-gravity flows on prograding outwash fans. Beyond the ice-marginal environment, deposition was from turbidity currents, ice-rafting and settling of suspended sediments. The exposures support the conclusion that the presence of a subglacial deforming layer can exert an important influence on sedimentation at the grounding lines of calving glaciers. 相似文献
9.
李利阳 《沉积与特提斯地质》2015,35(4):106-112
本文在总结前人对浊流沉积研究的基础上,分析前人对浊流与浊积岩、浊流沉积与浊流相模式的对应关系之间的认识,并对鲍马序列进行重新审视。在海底扇研究过程中,鲍马序列已经不能充分反映浊流沉积的全过程。鲍马序列所反应的沉积模式其实是由碎屑流、浊流、底流等多种形式流体组合和改造后的结果,海底扇沉积模式不能笼统归结为浊流沉积作用的结果。在完善重力流、底流等沉积作用的同时,建立一个与沉积作用相互联系的深海沉积系统,以对深海研究提供更好地指导和预测。 相似文献
10.
DONALD R. LOWE 《Sedimentology》1976,23(3):285-308
A clear distinction must be made between liquefied and fluidized systems. In liquefied beds and flows, the solids settle downward through the fluid, displacing it upward, whereas, in fluidized beds, the fluid moves upward through the solids, which are temporarily suspended without net downward movement. Many recent references to fluidized sediment gravity flows refer, in fact, to flows of liquefied debris. Most uniformly liquefied beds of well-sorted sand- or gravel-sized sediment will resediment as simple two-layer systems. Liquefied flows can originate either by liquefaction followed by failure, as in many retrogressive flow slides, or by failure followed by liquefaction, as in the case of some slumps. Empirical and theoretical estimates of flow velocity, thickness, and travel distance suggest that natural laminar liquefied flows of fine-grained sand will generally resediment after moving a kilometre or less. Laminar flows of coarse-grained sand will resediment after moving only a few metres. Grain dispersive pressure is thought to be of little significance in the development or maintenance of liquefied flows. Many surficial submarine sand beds are apparently susceptible to liquefaction, including submarine canyon and continental rise deposits. Within submarine canyons and narrow fjords, steep slopes and channels promote the evolution of liquefied flows from slumps by liquefaction after failure and of high density turbidity currents from liquefied flows by the development of turbulence. Upon moving into the lower parts of submarine canyons or into proximal fan channels, liquefied flows will resediment and high density turbidity currents will tend to decline to flows transitional between liquefied flows and turbidity currents. The liquefied, coarser detritus within such transitional flows will be deposited while finer-grained debris will remain in suspension and continue downslope as dilute turbidity currents. Resedimentation of the liquefied portions of such flows may be responsible for the deposition of the A-subdivision of many turbidites and many thick, structureless ‘proximal turbidites’ or ‘fluxoturbidites’. Similar units can originate by liquefaction of the traction deposits of normal turbidity currents. Fluidized flows are probably uncommon, thin, and, where formed, originate through fluidization of the fine-grained tops of liquefied graded beds. 相似文献
11.
Overlapping gravity accumulation bodies were formed on the northwestern steep slope of the Shuangyang Formation in the Moliqing fault depression of northeast China. This study analyzed in detail the spatial distribution of the lithofacies and lithofacies associations of these accumulation bodies based on more than 600 m of core sections, and summarized 12 major types of lithofacies and three types of lithofacies associations: (1) the proximal zone consists of gravelly debris flows dominated by alluvial channel conglomerates; (2) the middle zone is dominated by various gravity flow deposits and traction flow deposits; and (3) the distal zone is dominated by mudstones with intercalations of sandy debris and turbidites. Combining with the grain size cumulative probability curves analysis, we determined the transformation of debris flows to sandy debris flows and to turbidity currents in the slope zone of the basin margin, and further proposed a lacustrine slope apron model that is characterized by (1) an inconstant multiple source (line source), (2) an alternation of gravity flow deposits and traction flow deposits dominated by periodical changes in a source flood flow system, and (3) the transformation of sandy debris flow deposits into distal turbidity current deposits. This sedimentary model may be applicable to other fault depressions for predicting reservoir distribution. 相似文献
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Turbidite depositional architecture across three interconnected deep-water basins on the north-west African margin 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
Russell B. Wynn Philip P. E. Weaver Douglas G. Masson Dorrik A. V. Stow 《Sedimentology》2002,49(4):669-695
ABSTRACT The Moroccan Turbidite System (MTS) on the north‐west African margin extends 1500 km from the head of the Agadir Canyon to the Madeira Abyssal Plain, making it one of the longest turbidite systems in the world. The MTS consists of three interconnected deep‐water basins, the Seine Abyssal Plain (SAP), the Agadir Basin and the Madeira Abyssal Plain (MAP), connected by a network of distributary channels. Excellent core control has enabled individual turbidites to be correlated between all three basins, giving a detailed insight into the turbidite depositional architecture of a system with multiple source areas and complex morphology. Large‐volume (> 100 km3) turbidites, sourced from the Morocco Shelf, show a relatively simple architecture in the Madeira and Seine Abyssal Plains. Sandy bases form distinct lobes or wedges that thin rapidly away from the basin margin and are overlain by ponded basin‐wide muds. However, in the Agadir Basin, the turbidite fill is more complex owing to a combination of multiple source areas and large variations in turbidite volume. A single, very large turbidity current (200–300 km3 of sediment) deposited most of its sandy load within the Agadir Basin, but still had sufficient energy to carry most of the mud fraction 500 km further downslope to the MAP. Large turbidity currents (100–150 km3 of sediment) deposit most of their sand and mud fraction within the Agadir Basin, but also transport some of their load westwards to the MAP. Small turbidity currents (< 35 km3 of sediment) are wholly confined within the Agadir Basin, and their deposits pinch out on the basin floor. Turbidity currents flowing beyond the Agadir Basin pass through a large distributary channel system. Individual turbidites correlated across this channel system show major variations in the mineralogy of the sand fraction, whereas the geochemistry and micropalaeontology of the mud fraction remain very similar. This is interpreted as evidence for separation of the flow, with a sand‐rich, erosive, basal layer confined within the channel system, overlain by an unconfined layer of suspended mud. Large‐volume turbidites within the MTS were deposited at oxygen isotope stage boundaries, during periods of rapid sea‐level change and do not appear to be specifically connected to sea‐level lowstands or highstands. This contrasts with the classic fan model, which suggests that most turbidites are deposited during lowstands of sea level. In addition, the three largest turbidites on the MAP were deposited during the largest fluctuations in sea level, suggesting a link between the volume of sediment input and the magnitude of sea‐level change. 相似文献
14.
Analogue study of particle segregation in pyroclastic density currents, with implications for the emplacement mechanisms of large ignimbrites 总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3
Abstract Analogue flume experiments were conducted to investigate the transport and sedimentation behaviour of turbulent pyroclastic density currents. The experimental currents were scaled approximately to the natural environment in three ways: (1) they were fully turbulent; (2) they had a very wide range of particle sizes and associated Rouse numbers (the ratio of particle settling velocity to effective turbulent eddy velocity in the current); and (3) they contained particles of two different densities. Two sets of surge‐type experiments were conducted in a 5 m long, water‐filled lock‐exchange flume at five different volumetric particle concentrations from 0·6% to 23%. In one set (one‐component experiments), the currents contained just dense particles; in the other set (two‐component experiments), they contained both light and dense particles in equal volume proportions. In both sets of experiments, the population of each component had a log‐normal size distribution. In the two‐component experiments, the size range of the light particle population was selected in order to be in hydrodynamic equivalence with that of the dense particles. Dense particles were normally graded, both vertically and downstream, in the deposits from both sets of experiments. The mass loading (normalized to the initial mass of the suspension) and grain size of the dense component in the deposits decreased with distance from the reservoir and were insensitive to initial total particle concentration in the currents. On the other hand, in the two‐component experiments, the light particles were extremely sensitive to concentration. They were deposited in hydrodynamic equivalence with the dense particles from dilute currents, but were segregated efficiently at concentrations higher than a few per cent. With increasing particle concentration, the large, light particles were carried progressively further down the flume because of buoyancy effects. Deposits from the high‐concentration currents exhibited reverse vertical grading of the large, light particles. Efficient segregation of the light component was observed even if the bulk density of the current was less than that of the light particles. In both sets of experiments, marked inflexions in the rate of downstream decline in mass loading and maximum grain size of the dense component can be attributed to the presence of two different particle settling regimes in the flow: (1) particles with Rouse numbers >2·5, which did not respond to the turbulence and settled rapidly; and (2) particles with Rouse numbers <2·5, which followed the turbulent eddies and settled slowly. The results are applied to the transport and sedimentation dynamics of pyroclastic density currents that generate large, widespread ignimbrites. Field data fail to reveal significant departures from aerodynamic equivalence between pumice and lithic clasts in three such ignimbrites: the particulate loads of some large ignimbrites are transported principally in turbulent suspensions of low concentration. In some ignimbrites, the well‐developed inflexions in curves of maximum lithic (ML) size vs. distance can be attributed to the existence of distinct high and low Rouse number particle settling regimes that mark the transition from an overcharged state to one in which the residual particulate load is transported more effectively by turbulence. 相似文献
15.
A series of laboratory experiments was conducted in order to determine how settling-driven convection influences the length-scale over which the majority of particles settle beneath a buoyant sediment-laden plume spreading over a denser saline layer. This system is analogous to sediment-laden river water spreading into a lake or the coastal ocean. The key dimensionless parameter that controls the settling dynamics of such flows is the density ratio, defined as the ratio of density differences due to the added salt and sediment. For a buoyant plume, this ratio has to be greater than unity, so that the experiments in the current study were performed for density ratios between one and five. When density ratio was close to one, settling-driven convection was vigorous and the length-scale over which sedimentation occurred was very small. A strong secondary turbidity current was generated in this case. On the other hand, for larger values of density ratio, the predicted length-scale over which a secondary plume was generated increased in proportion to the density ratio. A complete mathematical expression for this length-scale was developed using recent theory that described the timescale over which settling-driven convection evolved. The theoretically predicted propagation length-scale showed very good quantitative agreement with laboratory experiments. The use of the dimensionless density ratio allows the expression to predict which sediment-laden river plumes in lakes and the coastal ocean could quickly form secondary turbidity currents. 相似文献
16.
G.Shanmugam 《古地理学报》2018,(3)
Sedimentologic, oceanographic, and hydraulic engineering publications on hyperpycnal flows claim that(1) river flows transform into turbidity currents at plunge points near the shoreline,(2) hyperpycnal flows have the power to erode the seafloor and cause submarine canyons, and,(3) hyperpycnal flows are efficient in transporting sand across the shelf and can deliver sediments into the deep sea for developing submarine fans. Importantly, these claims do have economic implications for the petroleum industry for predicting sandy reservoirs in deep-water petroleum exploration. However, these claims are based strictly on experimental or theoretical basis, without the supporting empirical data from modern depositional systems. Therefore, the primary purpose of this article is to rigorously evaluate the merits of these claims.A global evaluation of density plumes, based on 26 case studies(e.g., Yellow River, Yangtze River, Copper River,Hugli River(Ganges), Guadalquivir River, Rio de la Plata Estuary, Zambezi River, among others); suggests a complex variability in nature. Real-world examples show that density plumes(1) occur in six different environments(i.e., marine,lacustrine, estuarine, lagoon, bay, and reef);(2) are composed of six different compositional materials(e.g., siliciclastic,calciclastic, planktonic, etc.);(3) derive material from 11 different sources(e.g., river flood, tidal estuary, subglacial, etc.);(4) are subjected to 15 different external controls(e.g., tidal shear fronts, ocean currents, cyclones, tsunamis, etc.); and,(5) exhibit 24 configurations(e.g., lobate, coalescing, linear, swirly, U-Turn, anastomosing, etc.).Major problem areas are:(1) There are at least 16 types of hyperpycnal flows(e.g., density flow, underflow, high-density hyperpycnal plume, high-turbid mass flow, tide-modulated hyperpycnal flow, cyclone-induced hyperpycnal turbidity current, multi-layer hyperpycnal flows, etc.), without an underpinning principle of fluid dynamics.(2) The basic tenet that river currents transform into turbidity currents at plunge points near the shoreline is based on an experiment that used fresh tap water as a standing body. In attempting to understand all density plumes, such an experimental result is inapplicable to marine waters(sea or ocean) with a higher density due to salt content.(3) Published velocity measurements from the Yellow River mouth, a classic area, are of tidal currents, not of hyperpycnal flows. Importantly, the presence of tidal shear front at the Yellow River mouth limits seaward transport of sediments.(4) Despite its popularity, the hyperpycnite facies model has not been validated by laboratory experiments or by real-world empirical field data from modern settings.(5) The presence of an erosional surface within a single hyperpycnite depositional unit is antithetical to the basic principles of stratigraphy.(6) The hypothetical model of "extrabasinal turbidites", deposited by river-flood triggered hyperpycnal flows,is untenable. This is because high-density turbidity currents, which serve as the conceptual basis for the model, have never been documented in the world's oceans.(7) Although plant remains are considered a criterion for recognizing hyperpycnites, the "Type 1" shelf-incising canyons having heads with connection to a major river or estuarine system could serve as a conduit for transporting plant remains by other processes, such as tidal currents.(8) Genuine hyperpycnal flows are feeble and muddy by nature, and they are confined to the inner shelf in modern settings.(9) Distinguishing criteria of ancient hyperpycnites from turbidites or contourites are muddled.(10) After 65 years of research since Bates(AAPG Bulletin 37: 2119-2162, 1953), our understanding of hyperpycnal flows and their deposits is still incomplete and without clarity. 相似文献
17.
Turbiditic and non-turbiditic mudstone of Cretaceous flysch sections of the East Alps and other basins 总被引：4，自引：0，他引：4
REINHARD HESSE 《Sedimentology》1975,22(3):387-416
Recognition of the occurrence and extent of hemipelagic and pelagic deposits in turbidite sequences is of considerable importance for environmental analysis (palaeodepth, circulation, distance from land, hemipelagic or pelagic versus turbidite sedimentation rates) of ancient basins. Differentiation between the finegrained parts (E-division) of turbidites and the (hemi-) pelagic layers (F-division of turbidite-pelagite alternations) is facilitated in basins where carbonate turbidites were deposited below the carbonate compensation depth (CCD) such as the Flysch Zone of the East Alps but may be difficult in other basins where less compositional contrast is developed between the fine-grained turbidites and hemipelagites. This difficulty pertains particularly in Palaeozoic and older basins. For Late Mesozoic-Cenozoic oceans with a relatively deep calcite compensation level three other types of turbidite basins may be distinguished for which differentiation becomes increasingly more difficult in the sequence from (1) to (3): (1) terrigenous turbidite basins above the CCD; (2) carbonate turbidite basins above the CCD; (3) terrigenous turbidite basins below the CCD. Criteria and methods useful for the differentiation between turbiditic and hemipelagic mudstone in the Upper Cretaceous of the Flysch Zone of the East Alps include calcium carbonate content, colour, sequential analysis, distribution of bioturbation, and microfaunal content. In modern turbidite basins clay mineral content, organic matter content, plant fragments, and grain-size (graded bedding, maximum grain diameter) have reportedly also been used as criteria (see Table 3). Deposition of muddy sediment by turbidity currents on weakly sloping sea bottoms such as the distal parts of deep-sea fans or abyssal plains is not only feasible but may lead to the accumulation of thick layers. Contrary to earlier speculation it can be explained by the hydrodynamic theory of turbidity currents, if temperature differences between the turbidity current and the ambient deep water as well as relatively high current velocities for the deposition of turbiditic muds (an order of magnitude higher on mud surfaces than commonly assumed) are taken into consideration. The former add to the capacity of turbidity currents to carry muddy sediment without creating a driving force on a low slope. 相似文献
18.
Thresholds of intrabed flow and other interactions of turbidity currents with soft muddy substrates 
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下载免费PDF全文 Jaco H. Baas Rafael Manica Eduardo Puhl Ana Luiza de Oliveira Borges 《Sedimentology》2016,63(7):2002-2036
Controlled laboratory experiments reveal that the lower part of turbidity currents has the ability to enter fluid mud substrates, if the bed shear stress is higher than the yield stress of the fluid mud and the density of the turbidity current is higher than the density of the substrate. Upon entering the substrate, the turbidity current either induces mixing between flow‐derived sediment and substrate sediment, or it forms a stable horizontal flow front inside the fluid mud. Such ‘intrabed’ flow is surrounded by plastically deformed mud; otherwise it resembles the front of a ‘bottom‐hugging’ turbidity current. The ‘suprabed’ portion of the turbidity current, i.e. the upper part of the flow that does not enter the substrate, is typically separated from the intrabed flow by a long horizontal layer of mud which originates from the mud that is swept over the top of the intrabed flow and then incorporated into the flow. The intrabed flow and the mixing mechanism are specific types of interaction between turbidity currents and muddy substrates that are part of a larger group of interactions, which also include bypass, deposition, erosion and soft sediment deformation. A classification scheme for these types of interactions is proposed, based on an excess bed shear stress parameter, which includes the difference in the bed shear stress imposed by the flow and the yield stress of the substrate and an excess density parameter, which relies on the density difference between the flow and the substrate. Based on this classification scheme, as well as on the sedimentological properties of the laboratory deposits, an existing facies model for intrabed turbidites is extended to the other types of interaction involving soft muddy substrates. The physical threshold of flow‐substrate mixing versus stable intrabed flow is defined using the gradient Richardson number, and this method is validated successfully with the laboratory data. The gradient Richardson number is also used to verify that stable intrabed flow is possible in natural turbidity currents, and to determine under which conditions intrabed flow is likely to be unstable. It appears that intrabed flow is likely only in natural turbidity currents with flow velocities well below ca 3·5 m s?1, although a wider range of flows is capable of entering fluid muds. Below this threshold velocity, intrabed flow is stable only at high‐density gradients and low‐velocity gradients across the upper boundary of the turbidity current. Finally, the gradient Richardson number is used as a scaling parameter to set the flow velocity limits of a natural turbidity current that formed an inferred intrabed turbidite in the deep‐marine Aberystwyth Grits Group, West Wales, United Kingdom. 相似文献
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The Bosphorus Strait accommodates two‐way flow between the Aegean and Black Seas. The Aegean (Mediterranean) inflow has speeds of 5 to 15 cm sec?1 in the strait and a salinity contrast of ～12‰ to 16‰ with the Black Sea surface waters on the shelf. An anastomosed channel network crosses the shelf and in water deeper than 70 m is characterized by first‐order channels 5 to 10 m deep, local lateral accretion bedding, muddy in‐channel barforms, and a variety of sediment waves both on channel floors and bar crests, crevasse channels entering the overbank area and levée/overbank deposits which are radiocarbon‐dated in cores to be younger than ～7·5 to 8·0 ka. This channel network accommodates the saline density current formed by the Mediterranean inflow. The density contrast between the density underflow and the ambient water mass is ～0·01 g cm?3, similar to the density contrast ascribed to low‐concentration turbidity currents in the deep sea. Channel‐floor deposits are sandy to gravelly with local shell concentrations. Low‐relief bedforms on the channel floor have relatively straight crests, upflow‐dipping cross‐stratification, heights 1 to 1·5 m and wavelengths 85 to 155 m. Bankfull flows are subcritical, so these probably are not antidunes. Bar tops are ornamented locally with mudwaves having heights 1 to 2 m and wavelengths ～20 to 100 m; these are potentially antidunes formed under shallow overbank flows. Towards the shelf edge, the degree of channel bifurcation increases dramatically and bar tops are dissected locally by secondary channels, some of which terminate in hanging valleys. Conical mounds on the shelf (possibly mud volcanoes or sites of fluid seepage) interact with the channel network by promoting accretion of muddy streamlined macroforms in their lee. This channel network may be one of the largest and most accessible natural laboratories on Earth for the study of continuously flowing density currents. Although the driver is salinity contrast, the underflow transports sufficient sediment to form levée wedges and large streamlined barforms, and presumably transports sediment into deep water. 相似文献