首页 | 本学科首页   官方微博 | 高级检索  
相似文献
 共查询到20条相似文献,搜索用时 46 毫秒
1.
Holocene fringing reef development around Bora Bora is controlled by variations in accommodation space (as a function of sea‐level and antecedent topography) and exposure to waves and currents. Subsidence ranged from 0 to 0·11 m kyr?1, and did not create significant accommodation space. A windward fringing reef started to grow 8·7 kyr bp , retrograded towards the coast over a Pleistocene fringing reef until ca 6·0 kyr bp , and then prograded towards the lagoon after sea‐level had reached its present level. The retrograding portion of the reef is dominated by corals, calcareous algae and microbialite frameworks; the prograding portion is largely detrital. The reef is up to 13·5 m thick and accreted vertically with an average rate of 3·12 m kyr?1. Lateral growth amounts to 13·3 m kyr?1. Reef corals are dominated by an inner Pocillopora assemblage and an outer Acropora assemblage. Both assemblages comprise thick crusts of coralline algae. Palaeobathymetry suggests deposition in 0 to 10 m depth. An underlying Pleistocene fringing reef formed during the sea‐level highstand of Marine Isotope Stage 5e, and is also characterized by the occurrence of corals, coralline algal crusts and microbialites. A previously investigated, leeward fringing reef started to form contemporaneously (8·78 kyr bp ), but is thicker (up to 20 m) and solely prograded throughout the Holocene. A shallow Pocillopora assemblage and a deeper water Montipora assemblage were identified, but detrital facies dominate. At the Holocene reef base, only basalt was recovered. The Holocene windward–leeward differences are a consequence of less accommodation space on the eastern island side that eventually led to a more complex reef architecture. As a result of higher rates of exposure and flushing, the reef framework on the windward island side is more abundant and experienced stronger cementation. In the Pleistocene, the environmental conditions on the leeward island side were presumably unfavourable for fringing reef growth.  相似文献   

2.
Lake Chungará (18°15′S, 69°09′W, 4520 m above sea‐level) is the largest (22·5 km2) and deepest (40 m) lacustrine ecosystem in the Chilean Altiplano and its location in an active volcanic setting, provides an opportunity to evaluate environmental (volcanic vs. climatic) controls on lacustrine sedimentation. The Late Quaternary depositional history of the lake is reconstructed by means of a multiproxy study of 15 Kullenberg cores and seismic data. The chronological framework is supported by 10 14C AMS dates and one 230Th/234U dates. Lake Chungará was formed prior to 12·8 cal kyr bp as a result of the partial collapse of the Parinacota volcano that impounded the Lauca river. The sedimentary architecture of the lacustrine succession has been controlled by (i) the strong inherited palaeo‐relief and (ii) changes in the accommodation space, caused by lake‐level fluctuations and tectonic subsidence. The first factor determined the location of the depocentre in the NW of the central plain. The second factor caused the area of deposition to extend towards the eastern and southern basin margins with accumulation of high‐stand sediments on the elevated marginal platforms. Synsedimentary normal faulting also increased accommodation and increased the rate of sedimentation in the northern part of the basin. Six sedimentary units were identified and correlated in the basin mainly using tephra keybeds. Unit 1 (Late Pleistocene–Early Holocene) is made up of laminated diatomite with some carbonate‐rich (calcite and aragonite) laminae. Unit 2 (Mid‐Holocene–Recent) is composed of massive to bedded diatomite with abundant tephra (lapilli and ash) layers. Some carbonate‐rich layers (calcite and aragonite) occur. Unit 3 consists of macrophyte‐rich diatomite deposited in nearshore environments. Unit 4 is composed of littoral sediments dominated by alternating charophyte‐rich and other aquatic macrophyte‐rich facies. Littoral carbonate productivity peaked when suitable shallow platforms were available for charophyte colonization. Clastic deposits in the lake are restricted to lake margins (Units 5 and 6). Diatom productivity peaked during a lowstand period (Unit 1 and subunit 2a), and was probably favoured by photic conditions affecting larger areas of the lake bottom. Offshore carbonate precipitation reached its maximum during the Early to Mid‐Holocene (ca 7·8 and 6·4 cal kyr bp ). This may have been favoured by increases in lake solute concentrations resulting from evaporation and calcium input because of the compositional changes in pyroclastic supply. Diatom and pollen data from offshore cores suggest a number of lake‐level fluctuations: a Late Pleistocene deepening episode (ca 12·6 cal kyr BP), four shallowing episodes during the Early to Mid‐Holocene (ca 10·5, 9·8, 7·8 and 6·7 cal kyr BP) and higher lake levels since the Mid‐Holocene (ca 5·7 cal kyr BP) until the present. Explosive activity at Parinacota volcano was very limited between c. >12·8 and 7·8 cal kyr bp . Mafic‐rich explosive eruptions from the Ajata satellite cones increased after ca 5·7 cal kyr bp until the present.  相似文献   

3.
The sedimentological and chronological analysis of the last deglacial reef sequences of Tahiti (French Polynesia), drilled during the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 310, provide a high‐resolution data set allowing a well‐constrained forward modelling study. This study represents the first attempt to model in three dimensions the coral reef development of Tahiti during the last deglacial sea‐level rise (23 000 to 6000 cal yr bp ) using the software dionisos developed by IFP Energies nouvelles. It allows the testing of the reconstructed last deglacial sea‐level curve and the different environmental parameters (for example, wave energy and sediment fluxes) that could have influenced the reef development. These last deglacial reef sequences form two prominent ridges occurring seaward of the living barrier reef that consist of successive submerged reefs. These reefs have been prone to drowning because the window of maximum carbonate production rate is inhibited by high water turbidity (sediment supply from a nearby river), shallow depth of wave action and substrate availability. These factors, combined with rapid sea‐level rise, have driven the growth of retrograding reef pinnacles. Local factors (substratum nature, sediment supply and wave energy) were the main processes that induced the drowning of the inner ridge, whereas interplay of local and global factors (acceleration of the sea‐level rise) was responsible for the drowning of the outer ridge. This particular acceleration of sea‐level rise of 16 m between 14·6 ka and 14 ka bp corresponds to meltwater pulse 1A.  相似文献   

4.
The universally known subsidence theory of Darwin, based on Bora Bora as a model, was developed without information from the subsurface. To evaluate the influence of environmental factors on reef development, two traverses with three cores, each on the barrier and the fringing reefs of Bora Bora, were drilled and 34 uranium‐series dates obtained and subsequently analysed. Sea‐level rise and, to a lesser degree, subsidence were crucial for Holocene reef development in that they have created accommodation space and controlled reef architecture. Antecedent topography played a role as well, because the Holocene barrier reef is located on a Pleistocene barrier reef forming a topographic high. The pedestal of the fringing reef was Pleistocene soil and basalt. Barrier and fringing reefs developed contemporaneously during the Holocene. The occurrence of five coralgal assemblages indicates an upcore increase in wave energy. Age–depth plots suggest that barrier and fringing reefs have prograded during the Holocene. The Holocene fringing reef is up to 20 m thick and comprises coralgal and microbial reef sections and abundant unconsolidated sediment. Fringing reef growth started 8780 ± 50 yr bp ; accretion rates average 5·65 m kyr?1. The barrier reef consists of >30 m thick Holocene coralgal and microbial successions. Holocene barrier‐reef growth began 10 030 ± 50 yr bp and accretion rates average 6·15 m kyr?1. The underlying Pleistocene reef formed 116 900 ± 1100 yr bp , i.e. during marine isotope stage 5e. Based on Pleistocene age, depth and coralgal palaeobathymetry, the subsidence rate of Bora Bora was estimated to be 0·05 to 0·14 m kyr?1. In addition to subsidence, reef development on shorter timescales like in the late Pleistocene and Holocene has been driven by glacioeustatic sea‐level changes causing alternations of periods of flooding and subaerial exposure. Comparisons with other oceanic barrier‐reef systems in Tahiti and Mayotte exhibit more differences than similarities.  相似文献   

5.
This study presents a detailed reconstruction of the sedimentary effects of Holocene sea‐level rise on a modern coastal barrier system. Increasing concern over the evolution of coastal barrier systems due to future accelerated rates of sea‐level rise calls for a better understanding of coastal barrier response to sea‐level changes. The complex evolution and sequence stratigraphic framework of the investigated coastal barrier system is reconstructed using facies analysis, high‐resolution optically stimulated luminescence and radiocarbon dating. During the formation of the coastal barrier system starting 8 to 7 ka rapid relative sea‐level rise outpaced sediment accumulation. Not before rates of relative sea‐level rise had decreased to ca 2 mm yr?1 did sediment accumulation outpace sea‐level rise. From ca 5·5 ka, rates of regionally averaged sediment accumulation increased to 4·3 mm yr?1 and the back‐barrier basin was filled in. This increase in sediment accumulation resulted from retreat of the barrier island and probably also due to formation of a tidal inlet close to the study area. Continued transgression and shoreface retreat created a distinct hiatus and wave ravinement surface in the seaward part of the coastal barrier system before the barrier shoreline stabilized between 5·0 ka and 4·5 ka. Back‐barrier shoreline erosion due to sediment starvation in the back‐barrier basin was pronounced from 4·5 to 2·5 ka but, in the last 2·5 kyr, barrier sedimentation has kept up with and outpaced sea‐level. In the last 0·4 kyr the coastal barrier system has been prograding episodically. Sediment accumulation shows considerable variation, with periods of rapid sediment deposition and periods of non‐deposition or erosion resulting in a highly punctuated sediment record. The study demonstrates how core‐based facies interpretations supported by a high‐resolution chronology and a well‐documented sea‐level history allow identification of depositional environments, erosion surfaces and hiatuses within a very homogeneous stratigraphy, and allow a detailed temporal reconstruction of a coastal barrier system in relation to sea‐level rise and sediment supply.  相似文献   

6.
Although general trends in transgressive to highstand sedimentary evolution of river‐mouth coastlines are well‐known, the details of the turnaround from retrogradational (typically estuarine) to aggradational–progradational (typically coastal/deltaic) stacking patterns are not fully resolved. This paper examines the middle to late Holocene eustatic highstand succession of the Po Delta: its stratigraphic architecture records a complex pattern of delta outbuilding and coastal progradation that followed eustatic stabilization, since around 7·7 cal kyr bp . Sedimentological, palaeoecological (benthic foraminifera, ostracods and molluscs) and compositional criteria were used to characterize depositional conditions and sediment‐dispersal pathways within a radiocarbon‐dated chronological framework. A three‐stage progradation history was reconstructed. First, as soon as eustasy stabilized (7·7 to 7·0 cal kyr bp ), rapid bay‐head delta progradation (ca 5 m year?1), fed mostly by the Po River, took place in a mixed, freshwater and brackish estuarine environment. Second, a dominantly aggradational parasequence set of beach‐barrier deposits in the lower highstand systems tract (7·0 to 2·0 cal kyr bp ) records the development of a shallow, wave‐dominated coastal system fed alongshore, with elongated, modestly crescent beaches (ca 2·5 m year?1). Third, in the last 2000 years, the development of faster accreting and more rapidly prograding (up to ca 15 m year?1) Po delta lobes occurred into 30 m deep waters (upper highstand systems tract). This study documents the close correspondence of sediment character with stratal distribution patterns within the highstand systems tract. Remarkable changes in sediment characteristics, palaeoenvironments and direction of sediment transport occur across a surface named the ‘A–P surface’. This surface demarcates a major shift from dominantly aggradational (lower highstand systems tract) to fully progradational (upper highstand systems tract) parasequence stacking. In the Po system, this surface also reflects evolution from a wave‐dominated to river‐dominated deltaic system. Identifying the A–P surface through detailed palaeoecological and compositional data can help guide interpretation of highstand systems tracts in the rock record, especially where facies assemblages and their characteristic geometries are difficult to discern from physical sedimentary structures alone.  相似文献   

7.
A sedimentological and stratigraphic study of Low Isles Reef off northern Queensland, Australia was carried out to improve understanding of factors that have governed Late Holocene carbonate deposition and reef development on the inner to middle shelf of the northern Great Barrier Reef. Low Isles Reef is one of 46 low wooded island-reefs unique to the northern Great Barrier Reef, which are situated in areas that lie in reach of river flood plumes and where inter-reef sediments are dominated by terrigenous mud. Radiocarbon ages from surface and subsurface sediment samples indicate that Low Isles Reef began to form at ca 3000 y BP, several thousand years after the Holocene sea-level stillstand, and reached sea-level soon after (within ~500 years). Maximum reef productivity, marked by the development of mature reef flats that contributed sediment to a central lagoon, was restricted to a narrow window of time, between 3000 and 2000 y BP. This interval corresponds to: (i) a fall in relative sea-level, from ~1 m above present at ca 5500 y BP to the current datum between 3000 and 2000 y BP; and (ii) a regional climate transition from pluvial (wetter) to the more arid conditions of today. The most recent stage of development (ca 2000–0 y BP) is characterised by extremely low rates of carbonate production and a dominance of destructive reef processes, namely storm-driven remobilisation of reef-top sediments and transport of broken coral debris from the reef front and margins to the reef top. Results of the present study enhance existing models of reef development for the Great Barrier Reef that are based on regional variations in reef-surface morphology and highlight the role of climate in controlling the timing and regional distribution of carbonate production in this classic mixed carbonate–siliciclastic environment.  相似文献   

8.
Holocene reef development was investigated by coring on Britomart Reef, a mid-shelf reef, 23 km long and 8 km wide situated 120 km north of Townsville in the central Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Two holes were drilled, Britomart 1 on a lagoon patch reef, and Britomart 2 on the windward reef crest. The Holocene reef (25·5 m) is the thickest yet recorded in the GBR and overlies an uneven substrate of weathered Pleistocene limestone. Mineralogical and geochemical analyses show that magnesian calcite and aragonite were converted to low Mg-calcite below the Holocene-Pleistocene disconformity. Corals above the interface have 7500–8500 ppm Sr, but 1650–1500 ppm just below it, decreasing to 400–800 ppm downwards. The intermediate Sr values could be due to partial replacement of aragonite by calcite or higher original Sr content in the corals. Three units are recognized in the Holocene: (1) coral boundstone unit, (2) coral framestone unit, and (3) coral rudstone unit. The coral boundstone unit forms the top 5 m of both cores and is algal-bound coral rubble similar to the present reef top. The coral framestone unit is composed of massive head corals Diploastrea heliopora and Porites sp., and is currently forming in patch reefs situated in the lagoon and along the reef front. The coral rudstone unit comprises coral rudstone and floatstone with unabraded, and unbound, coral clasts in muddy matrix. This matrix may be up to 30% sponge chips. Radiocarbon dating indicates the reef grew more rapidly under the lagoon than under the reef front from 7000 to 5000 yr BP. The rate of reef growth matched existing estimates of sea-level rise, but lagged approximately 1000 years (5–10 m) behind it. Most of the reef mass accumulated between 8500 and 5000 yr BP as a mound of debris, perhaps stabilized by seagrasses or algae. Accretion of the reef top in a windward direction between 5000 and 3000 yr BP created the present, steep reef-front profile.  相似文献   

9.
《Sedimentology》2018,65(6):1891-1917
Coastal back‐barrier perched lakes are freshwater bodies that are elevated over sea‐level and are not directly subjected to the inflow of seawater. This study provides a detailed reconstruction of the Doniños back‐barrier perched lake that developed at the end of a small river valley in the rocky coast of the north‐west Iberian Peninsula during the Holocene transgression. Its sequence stratigraphy was reconstructed based on a core transect across the system, the analyses of its lithofacies and microfossil assemblages, and a high‐resolution radiocarbon‐based chronology. The Doniños perched lake was formed ca 4·5 ka bp . The setting of the perched lake was favoured by Late Holocene sea‐level stabilization and the formation of a barrier and back‐barrier basin, which was contemporaneous with the high systems tract period. This basin developed over marine and lagoonal sediments deposited between 10·2 ka bp and 8·0 ka bp , during rapidly rising sea‐level characteristic of the transgressive systems track period. At 1·1 ka bp , the barrier was breached and the perched lake was partially emptied, causing the erosion of the back‐barrier basin sediments and a significant sedimentary hiatus. Both enhanced storminess and human intervention were likely to be responsible for this event. After 1 ka bp , the barrier reclosed and the present‐day lake was reformed, with the water level reaching as high as 5 m above mean sea‐level. The depositional evolution of the Doniños system serves as a model of coastal back‐barrier perched lakes in coastal clastic systems that have developed over gently seaward‐dipping rugged substrates at small distances from the shoreline and under conditions of rising sea‐level and high sediment supply. A review of estuaries, back‐barrier lagoons, pocket beaches and back‐barrier perched lakes in the rocky coast of north‐west Spain shows that the elevation of the bedrock is the main factor controlling the origin and evolution of these systems.  相似文献   

10.
11.
The Ombrone palaeovalley was incised during the last glacial sea‐level fall and was infilled during the subsequent Late‐glacial to Holocene transgression. A detailed sedimentological and stratigraphic study of two cores along the palaeovalley axis led to reconstruction of the post‐Last Glacial Maximum valley‐fill history. Stratigraphic correlations show remarkable similarity in the Late‐glacial to early‐Holocene succession, but discrepancy in the Holocene portion of the valley fill. Above the palaeovalley floor, about 60 m below sea‐level, Late‐glacial sedimentation is recorded by an unusually thick alluvial succession dated back to ca 18 cal kyr bp . The Holocene onset was followed by the retrogradational shift from alluvial to coastal facies. In seaward core OM1, the transition from inner to outer estuarine environments marks the maximum deepening of the system. By comparison, in landward core OM2, the emplacement of estuarine conditions was interrupted by renewed continental sedimentation. Swamp to lacustrine facies, stratigraphically equivalent to the fully estuarine facies of core OM1, represent the proximal expression of the maximum flooding zone. This succession reflects location in a confined segment of the valley, just landward of the confluence with a tributary valley. It is likely that sudden sediment input from the tributary produced a topographic threshold, damming the main valley course and isolating its landward segment from the sea. The seaward portion of the Ombrone palaeovalley presents the typical estuarine backfilling succession of allogenically controlled incised valleys. In contrast, in the landward portion of the system, local dynamics completely overwhelmed the sea‐level signal, following marine ingression. This study highlights the complexity of palaeovalley systems, where local morphologies, changes in catchment areas, drainage systems and tributary valleys may produce facies patterns significantly different from the general stratigraphic organization depicted by traditional sequence‐stratigraphic models.  相似文献   

12.
The Belize barrier and atoll reefs represent one of the largest reef structures in the Atlantic Ocean. The southern shelf of Belize is a classic location of a modern mixed carbonate–siliciclastic system. Whereas knowledge of the Holocene deposits in the area is extensive, data on the Pleistocene system are fragmentary. Open questions include: (i) the nature of the reef foundations (carbonate versus siliciclastics); (ii) the ages of the deposits including the initiation of the barrier reef; and (iii) the response of the mixed system to sea‐level fluctuations. The results of a study of borings on the southern Belize shelf are presented here. Six, up to 105 m long borings were made to better understand the history of this important mixed system. Uranium‐series dating in the Pleistocene was not possible because of diagenetic alteration; however, lithostratigraphy, strontium isotopes and calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy were used to constrain stratigraphic ages. Results support the contention that the Quaternary development in Belize was quite similar to that of other major barrier reefs such as the Florida Reef Tract and, further afield, the Great Barrier and the New Caledonian Barrier Reefs. All of these barrier reefs are mixed carbonate–siliciclastic systems and significant reef growth only began after the onset of high‐amplitude, eccentricity‐controlled sea‐level changes and as late as during the exceptionally long and warm marine isotope stage 11, some 400 ka. In Belize, Early Pleistocene sections at bases of borings include mollusc‐rich wackestones, rare coral packstones and marls, which were deposited under low to moderate energy conditions in a ramp setting before ca 900 ka, during the high sea‐levels of marine isotope stage 25 and possibly earlier (marine isotope stage 31 or 37). The Belize shelf was subaerially exposed for most of the mid‐Pleistocene and was dominated by siliciclastic sedimentation, possibly during marine isotope stages 24 to 12 when highstands were comparatively low. Continuous reefs at the shelf margin were developing during highstands. In the Late Pleistocene, beginning with the long and high highstand of marine isotope stage 11 (some 400 ka), the southern shelf was flooded entirely and carbonates started to dominate once more. Reefs developed on top of siliciclastic deposits on the shelf. A continuous barrier reef came into existence and largely developed on top of carbonates at the shelf margin. During Late Pleistocene lowstands, siliciclastics presumably no longer reached the shelf margin because of the topographic high of the barrier reef platform. The Quaternary Belize example may serve as a model for reconstructing ancient mixed systems in icehouse worlds, however, any extrapolations are limited by the fact that fast‐growing Scleractinian reef‐builders had not yet evolved in the Palaeozoic.  相似文献   

13.
Existing facies models for Devonian reef systems can be divided into high‐energy and low‐energy types. A number of assumptions have been made in the development of these models and, in some cases, criteria that distinguish important aspects of the models are poorly defined. The Upper Devonian Alexandra Reef System contains a variety of reef fabrics from different depositional environments and is ideal for studying the range of environments in which stromatoporoids thrived and the facies from these different environments. A wide variety of stromatoporoid growth forms including laminar, tabular, anastamosing laminar and tabular, domal, bulbous, dendroid, expanding conical, concave‐up whorled‐laminar, concave‐up massive tabular and platy‐multicolumnar are present in the Alexandra Reef System. The whorled‐laminar and massive tabular concave‐up growth forms are virtually undocumented from other Devonian reefs but were common in the reef front of the Alexandra, where they thrived in a low‐energy environment around and below fair‐weather wave base. In contrast, high‐energy parts of the reef margin were dominated by bioclastic rubble deposits with narrow ribbon‐like discontinuous bodies of laminar stromatoporoid framestone. In the lagoon, laminar stromatoporoids formed steep‐sided sediment‐dominated bioherms in response to sea‐level rise and flooding. Relying mostly on the different reef facies in the Alexandra system, a new classification scheme for Devonian reef fabrics has been developed. Devonian reef fabrics can be classified as being: (i) sediment‐laden metazoan dominated; (ii) metazoan–microbial dominated (boundstone); (iii) metazoan dominated (framestone); or (iv) metazoan–marine cement dominated. Distinction of these fabrics carries important sedimentary and palaeoecological implications for reconstructing the depositional environment. With examples from the Alexandra Formation, it is demonstrated that reef facies accumulated in a range of depositional environments and that the simple observation of massive stromatoporoids with or without microbial deposits does not automatically imply a high‐energy reef margin, as otherwise portrayed in a number of the existing facies models for these systems.  相似文献   

14.
An area of reef margin collapse, gully formation and gully fill sedimentation has been identified and mapped within Left Hand Tunnel, Carlsbad Caverns. It demonstrates that the Capitan Reef did not, at all times, form an unbroken border to the Delaware Basin. Geopetally arranged sediments within cavities from sponge–algal framestones of the reef show that the in situ reef today has a 10° basinwards structural dip. Similar dips in adjacent back-reef sediments, previously considered depositional, probably also have a structural origin. Reoriented geopetal structures have also allowed the identification of a 200-m-wide, 25-m-deep gully within the reef, which has been filled by large (some  >15 m), randomly orientated and, in places, overturned blocks and boulders, surrounded by finer reef rubble, breccias and grainstones. Block supply continued throughout gully filling, implying that spalling of reef blocks was a longer term process and was not a by-product of the formation of the gully. Gully initiation was probably the result of a reef front collapse, with a continued instability of the gully bordering reef facies demonstrated by their incipient brecciation and by faults containing synsedimentary fills. Gully filling probably occurred during reef growth, and younger reef has prograded over the gully fill. Blocks contain truncated former aragonite botryoidal cements, indicating early aragonite growth within the in situ reef. In contrast, former high-magnesian calcite rind cements post-date sedimentation within the gully. The morphology of cavern passages is controlled by reef facies variation, with narrower passages cut into the in situ reef and wider passages within the gully fill. Gully fills may also constitute more permeable zones in the subsurface.  相似文献   

15.
Subaerial unconformities are used widely for palaeoenvironmental and palaeogeographic reconstructions, sequence stratigraphy and petroleum reservoir assessments. Recognition and interpretation of these unconformities, particularly those with associated palaeosols, may be problematic in Lower and Middle Palaeozoic carbonate successions because of the collective effect of limited land plant development, superficial similarities between some pedogenic and marine features, and overprinting by later diagenesis. The isolated Judy Creek reef complex in the Lower Frasnian Swan Hills Formation in west‐central Alberta, Canada, contains two subaerial unconformities, R0.5 and R4, which formed as a consequence of relative sea‐level falls of at least regional scale. Deposits beneath these unconformities have distinctive palaeosol and palaeokarst features. The lower unconformity, R0.5, occurs at the top of a progradational reefal phase of stromatoporoid rudstones–floatstones and peloidal packstones–grainstones and has been recognized in at least one other isolated Swan Hills reef complex (Snipe Lake). Palaeosol–palaeokarst profiles beneath this unconformity extend as deep as ca 2 m below the unconformity. These profiles are characterized by the presence of small rhizoliths, laminar calcretes, ferroan dolomite glaebules, desiccation cracks, breccias, green shale and solution vugs. The upper unconformity, R4, occurs at the top of a backstepping phase of reef growth and has been correlated widely between isolated reefs and carbonate banks on both the western and eastern shelves of the Central Alberta Basin. Palaeosol–palaeokarst profiles, extending as deep as ca 9·5 m beneath the R4 unconformity, are distinguished by abundant, sub‐horizontal desiccation cracks filled with green shale, occurring in peloidal wackestones–packstones. Comparison of the R0.5 and R4 profiles indicates that the major intrinsic controls on the development and modification of the profiles are parent‐material lithology, particularly the prior degree of induration and particle size; the low topographic relief at the top of the reef interior; and limited vegetation of the exposed reef top due to unfavourable growth conditions and geographic isolation. In addition to climate, the major extrinsic controls are the extent of relative sea‐level fall, estimated to be 2·5 to 3 m and 13 to 14 m associated with the R0.5 and R4 unconformities, respectively, and the degree of shoreface erosion during the ensuing marine transgression, estimated to be up to 3 m. This study highlights the complex interplay of mainly physical and chemical processes influencing the formation of subaerial unconformities in carbonate environments during the Devonian, before major evolutionary innovations among vascular land plants led to more intense pedogenesis.  相似文献   

16.
Lake Estanya is a small (19 ha), freshwater to brackish, monomictic lake formed by the coalescence of two karstic sinkholes with maximum water depths of 12 and 20 m, located in the Pre‐Pyrenean Ranges (North‐eastern Spain). The lake is hydrologically closed and the water balance is controlled mostly by groundwater input and evaporation. Three main modern depositional sub‐environments can be recognized as: (i) a carbonate‐producing ‘littoral platform’; (ii) a steep ‘talus’ dominated by reworking of littoral sediments and mass‐wasting processes; and (iii) an ‘offshore, distal area’, seasonally affected by anoxia with fine‐grained, clastic sediment deposition. A seismic survey identified up to 15 m thick sedimentary infill comprising: (i) a ‘basal unit’, seismically transparent and restricted to the depocentres of both sub‐basins; (ii) an ‘intermediate unit’ characterized by continuous high‐amplitude reflections; and (iii) an ‘upper unit’ with strong parallel reflectors. Several mass‐wasting deposits occur in both sub‐basins. Five sediment cores were analysed using sedimentological, microscopic, geochemical and physical techniques. The chronological model for the sediment sequence is based on 17 accelerator mass spectrometry 14C dates. Five depositional environments were characterized by their respective sedimentary facies associations. The depositional history of Lake Estanya during the last ca 21 kyr comprises five stages: (i) a brackish, shallow, calcite‐producing lake during full glacial times (21 to 17·3 kyr bp ); (ii) a saline, permanent, relatively deep lake during the late glacial (17·3 to 11·6 kyr bp ); (iii) an ephemeral, saline lake and saline mudflat complex during the transition to the Holocene (11·6 to 9·4 kyr bp ); (iv) a saline lake with gypsum‐rich, laminated facies and abundant microbial mats punctuated by periods of more frequent flooding episodes and clastic‐dominated deposition during the Holocene (9·4 to 0·8 kyr bp ); and (v) a deep, freshwater to brackish lake with high clastic input during the last 800 years. Climate‐driven hydrological fluctuations are the main internal control in the evolution of the lake during the last 21 kyr, affecting water salinity, lake‐level changes and water stratification. However, external factors, such as karstic processes, clastic input and the occurrence of mass‐flows, are also significant. The facies model defined for Lake Estanya is an essential tool for deciphering the main factors influencing lake deposition and to evaluate the most suitable proxies for lake level, climate and environmental reconstructions, and it is applicable to modern karstic lakes and to ancient lacustrine formations.  相似文献   

17.
U‐series ages from thermal ionisation mass spectrometry are reported here for the raised coral reefs of Futuna Island, which lies adjacent to the eastern margin of the backarc Futuna Trough in south Vanuatu, southwest Pacific. U‐series ages from coral from the lowest raised reef indicate that its upper part is most likely to be ca 210 ka, whereas the most elevated raised reef has a likely age of ca 520 ka (range 600–440 ka). The inferred Pliocene‐Quaternary history for Futuna Island and the adjacent Futuna Trough is: (i) formation of the Pliocene—Early Quaternary basaltic‐andesite cone in a southeast part of the Vanuatu Island Arc; (ii) inception of the Futuna Trough (adjacent to the west margin of Futuna Island) since 1.8 Ma; (iii) subsequent uplift of the volcanic cone above sea‐level caused ~500 m of its upper part to be removed by marine erosion; (iv) the island then subsided and at least 160 m of limestone was deposited on the truncated cone; and (v) during the period 520 ka to ca 210 ka seven fringing reefs formed at the margin of the cone as the island was uplifted. Since ca 210 ka Futuna further subsided and, as a result, the post ca 210 ka history of the island is obscure.  相似文献   

18.
The Upper Permian (Zechstein) slope carbonates in the Roker Formation (Zechstein 2nd‐cycle Carbonate) in North‐east England consist of turbidites interbedded with laminated lime‐mudstone. Studies of turbidite bed thickness and relative proportion of turbidites (percentage turbidites in 20 cm of section) reveal well‐developed cyclicities consisting of thinning‐upward and thickening‐upward packages of turbidite beds. These packages are on four scales, from less than a metre, up to 50 m in thickness. Assuming that the laminae of the hemipelagic background sediment are annual allows the durations of the cycles to be estimated. In addition, counting the number and thickness of turbidite beds in 20 cm of laminated lime‐mudstone, which is approximately equivalent to 1000 years (each lamina is 200 μm), gives the frequencies of the turbidite beds, the average thicknesses and the overall sedimentation rates through the succession for 1000 year time‐slots. Figures obtained are comparable with modern rates of deposition on carbonate slopes. The cyclicity present in the Roker Formation can be shown to include: Milankovitch‐band ca 100 kyr short‐eccentricity, ca 20 kyr precession and ca 10 kyr semi‐precession cycles and sub‐Milankovitch millennial‐scale cycles (0·7 to 4·3 kyr). Eccentricity and precession‐scale cycles are related to ‘highstand‐shedding’ and relative sea‐level change caused by Milankovitch‐band orbital forcing controlling carbonate productivity. The millennial‐scale cycles, which are quasi‐periodic, probably are produced by environmental changes controlled by solar forcing, i.e. variations in solar irradiance, or volcanic activity. Most probable here are fluctuations in carbonate productivity related to aridity–humidity and/or temperature changes. Precession and millennial‐scale cycles are defined most strongly in early transgressive and highstand parts of the larger‐scale short‐eccentricity cycles. The duration of the Roker Formation as a whole can be estimated from the thickness of the laminated lithotype as ca 0·3 Myr.  相似文献   

19.
20.
Limestones containing radiaxial fibrous cements were sampled along the southern slope of the late Anisian (Middle Triassic) Latemar carbonate platform in the Dolomites, northern Italy. The Latemar upper slopes comprise massive microbial boundstone, whereas lower slopes are made of clinostratified grainstone, rudstone and breccia. Samples are representative of a seawater column from near sea‐level to an aphotic zone at about 500 m water depth. Radiaxial fibrous cements were analyzed for carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) stable isotopic composition, as well as major and trace element content, to shed light on the origin of the slope facies zonation. The δ13C vary between 1·7‰ and 2·3‰ (Vienna Pee‐Dee Belemnite), with lowest values at palaeo‐water depths between 70 m and 300 m. Radiaxial fibrous cements yielded seawater‐like rare earth element patterns with light rare earth element depletion (NdSN/YbSN ≈ 0·4), superchondritic yttrium/holmium ratios (≈55) and negative cerium anomalies. Cadmium reaches maximum values of ca 0·5 to 0·7 μg/g at palaeo‐water depths between 70 m and 300 m; barium contents (0·8 to 1·8 μg/g) increase linearly with depth. The downslope patterns of δ13C and cadmium suggest increased nutrient and organic matter contents at depths between ca 70 m and 300 m and point to an active biological pump. The peak in cadmium and the minimum of δ13C mark a zone of maximum organic matter respiration and high nutrient and organic matter availability. The base of this zone at ca 300 m depth corresponds with the transition from massive microbial boundstone to clinostratified grainstone, rudstone and breccia. The microbial boundstone facies apparently formed only in seawater enriched in organic matter, possibly because this organic matter sustained benthic microbial communities at Latemar. The base of slope microbialites on high‐relief microbial carbonate platforms may be a proxy for the depth to maximum respiration zones of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic periplatform basins.  相似文献   

设为首页 | 免责声明 | 关于勤云 | 加入收藏

Copyright©北京勤云科技发展有限公司  京ICP备09084417号