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1.
《Sedimentology》2018,65(6):1918-1946
In southern Patagonia, outcrops of the Upper Cretaceous Cerro Toro Formation preserve a >150 km long deep‐water axial channel belt in the Magallanes–Austral Basin, providing a unique opportunity to investigate longitudinal variations in the depositional characteristics of a deep‐water channel system. This study documents sedimentological, stratigraphical and geochronological data from the Cerro Toro Formation in the Argentine sector of the basin. New results are integrated with previous work from the Chilean basin sector to conduct a basin‐scale comparison of the timing of deposition, provenance and lithofacies proportions. The Cerro Toro channel belt includes a nearly 1000 m thick section characterized by high‐density turbidites and mass‐wasting deposits. Two ash beds from the base of the section yield U–Pb zircon ages of 90·4 ± 2 Ma and 88·0 ± 3 Ma, indicating similar initiation ages as documented in the Chilean sector. The U–Pb detrital zircon age spectra from samples in the study area reveal similar provenance trends to samples from the Chilean basin sector, with peak age populations at 310 to 260 Ma, 160 to 135 Ma and 110 to 82 Ma. The maximum depositional age of the channel belt in the Argentine sector is 87·8 ± 1·5 Ma and all new geochronology data corroborate an 86 to 80 Ma depositional age for the main Cerro Toro channel belt. Statistical analyses of 7370 beds from nearly 8000 m of new and previously published stratigraphic sections along the entire outcrop belt suggest progressive variations in the down‐system proportion of lithofacies. In the up‐slope region, lithofacies representing mass wasting processes (for example, debris‐flow and mass‐transport deposits) account for ca 29% of the stratigraphic thickness, as opposed to 5% in the down‐slope region of the channel belt, where turbidity current deposits are more prevalent. The proportion of beds >1 m thick also decreases systematically down slope, particularly for conglomeratic turbidite deposits. This work highlights that: (i) the proportion of thick beds and distribution of lithofacies are key down‐system changes in the stratigraphic fill of this deep‐water channel belt; (ii) detrital zircon trends suggest a relatively well‐mixed longitudinal depositional system; and (iii) geochronology of the main Cerro Toro outcrop belt supports but does not necessitate the model of a single, roughly age‐equivalent, channel system. This study has implications for understanding the downslope variability in depositional processes, stratigraphic architecture and reservoir quality of submarine channel systems.  相似文献   

2.
Deep‐water sediments in the Molasse Basin, Austria, were deposited in a narrow foreland basin dominated by a large channel belt located between the steep Alpine fold and thrust belt to the south and the gentler northern slope off the Bohemian Massif. Several gas fields occur outside the channel belt, along the outer bend of a large meander. Accumulation of these overbank sediments reflects a complicated interplay between slope accommodation and debris‐flow and turbidity‐flow interaction within the channel. The tectonically oversteepened northern slope of the basin (ca 2 to 3°) developed a regionally important erosional surface, the Northern Slope Unconformity, which can be traced seismically for >100 km in an east–west direction and >20 km from the channel to the north. The slope preserves numerous gullies sourced from the north that eroded into the channel belt. These gullies were ca 20 km long, <1 km wide and ca 200 m deep. As the channel aggraded, largely inactive and empty gullies served as entry points into the overbank area for turbidity currents within the axial channel. Subsequently, debris‐flow mounds, 7 km wide and >15 km long, plugged and forced the main channel to step abruptly ca 7 km to the south. This resulted in development of an abrupt turn in the channel pathway that propagated to the east and probably played a role in forming a sinuous channel later. As debris‐flow topography was healed, flows spread out onto narrow area between the main channel and northern slope forming a broad fine‐grained apron that serves as the main gas reservoir in this area. This model of the overbank splay formation and the resulting stratigraphic architecture within the confined basin could be applied in modern and ancient systems or for subsurface hydrocarbon reservoirs where three‐dimensional seismic‐reflection data is limited. This study elucidates the geomorphology of the oversteepened slope of the under‐riding plate and its effects on the sedimentation.  相似文献   

3.
Turbidity currents are one of the main sediment transport processes on Earth, yet are notoriously difficult to monitor directly. This article presents the first direct and high bandwidth observation of a turbidity current using a cabled sea floor observatory. On 5 June 2012, a platform on Ocean Networks Canada, located in 107 m of water on the Fraser River delta slope, was displaced downslope and severed from its data cable. The platform weighed ca 1000 kg in water. The event took place during high river discharge, high tides and rapid sediment accumulation on adjacent upslope areas of the sea floor. Data recorded as it tumbled downslope allow a reconstruction of the flow, which is inferred to have been an unconfined turbidity current. Lines of evidence indicate that the flow came in as a bed hugging wedge, and built up to between 1 m and 4 m in height as the head passed through. Comparison with laboratory data suggest that the flow was initially supercritical. While the adjacent slope offset to the north clearly exhibits change over an annual resurvey period, the bathymetry directly at the event location show no resolvable change over a period from seven months before the event to one month after. Sediment cores collected after the event were pervasively biototurbated and they contain no obvious deposit connected with this event. The remarkable aspects of this research follow. The flow was powerful enough to carry a 1 tonne platform and sever a heavily armoured cable. The current occurred on the unchannelized open slope. This powerful event failed to cause discernible seabed elevation change. The flow was triggered by tidal conditions. The event was detected by a purpose‐designed cabled observatory, thus providing high bandwidth data and also alerting researchers in real time to mount follow‐on investigations.  相似文献   

4.
Turbidity currents descending the slopes of deep‐water extensional basins or passive continental margins commonly encounter normal‐fault escarpments, but such large‐magnitude phenomena are hydraulically difficult to replicate at small scale in the laboratory. This study uses advanced computational fluid dynamics numerical simulations to monitor the response of large, natural‐scale unconfined turbidity currents (100 m thick and 2000 m wide at the inlet gate) to normal‐fault topography with a maximum relief of nearly 300 m. For comparative purposes, the turbidity current is first released on a non‐faulted pristine slope of 1·5° (simulation model 1). The expanding and waxing flow bypasses the slope without recognizable deposition within the visibility limit of 8 vol.% sand grain packing. Similar flow is then released towards the tip (model 2) and towards the centre (model 3) of a normal‐fault escarpment. In both of these latter models, the sand carried by flow tends to be entrapped in four distinct depozones: an upslope near‐gate zone of flow abrupt expansion and self‐regulation; a flow‐transverse zone at the fault footwall edge; a flow‐transverse zone at the immediate hangingwall; and a similar transverse zone near the crest of the hangingwall counter‐slope, where some of the deposited sand also tends to be reshuffled to the previous zone by a secondary reverse underflow. The near‐bottom reverse flow appears to be generated on a counter‐slope of 1·1°, increased to 2·0° by deposition. The Kelvin–Helmholtz interface instability plays an important role by causing three‐dimensional fluctuations in the flow velocity magnitude and sediment concentration. The thick deposits of large single‐surge flows may thus show hydraulic fluctuations resembling those widely ascribed to hyperpycnal flows. The study indicates further that the turbiditic slope fans formed on such fault topographies are likely to be patchy and hence may differ considerably from the existing slope‐fan conceptual models when it comes to the spatial prediction of main sand depozones.  相似文献   

5.
A. Guy Plint 《Sedimentology》2014,61(3):609-647
Determining sediment transport direction in ancient mudrocks is difficult. In order to determine both process and direction of mud transport, a portion of a well‐mapped Cretaceous delta system was studied. Oriented samples from outcrop represent prodelta environments from ca 10 to 120 km offshore. Oriented thin sections of mudstone, cut in three planes, allowed bed microstructure and palaeoflow directions to be determined. Clay mineral platelets are packaged in equant, face‐face aggregates 2 to 5 μm in diameter that have a random orientation; these aggregates may have formed through flocculation in fluid mud. Cohesive mud was eroded by storms to make intraclastic aggregates 5 to 20 μm in diameter. Mudstone beds are millimetre‐scale, and four microfacies are recognized: Well‐sorted siltstone forms millimetre‐scale combined‐flow ripples overlying scoured surfaces; deposition was from turbulent combined flow. Silt‐streaked claystone comprises parallel, sub‐millimetre laminae of siliceous silt and clay aggregates sorted by shear in the boundary layer beneath a wave‐supported gravity flow of fluid mud. Silty claystone comprises fine siliceous silt grains floating in a matrix of clay and was deposited by vertical settling as fluid mud gelled under minimal current shear. Homogeneous clay‐rich mudstone has little silt and may represent late‐stage settling of fluid mud, or settling from wave‐dissipated fluid mud. It is difficult or impossible to correlate millimetre‐scale beds between thin sections from the same sample, spaced only ca 20 mm apart, due to lateral facies change and localized scour and fill. Combined‐flow ripples in siltstone show strong preferred migration directly down the regional prodelta slope, estimated at ca 1 : 1000. Ripple migration was effected by drag exerted by an overlying layer of downslope‐flowing, wave‐supported fluid mud. In the upper part of the studied section, centimetre‐scale interbeds of very fine to fine‐grained sandstone show wave ripple crests trending shore normal, whereas combined‐flow ripples migrated obliquely alongshore and offshore. Storm winds blowing from the north‐east drove shore‐oblique geostrophic sand transport whereas simultaneously, wave‐supported flows of fluid mud travelled downslope under the influence of gravity. Effective wave base for sand, estimated at ca 40 m, intersected the prodelta surface ca 80 km offshore whereas wave base for mud was at ca 70 m and lay ca 120 km offshore. Small‐scale bioturbation of mud beds co‐occurs with interbedded sandstone but stratigraphically lower, sand‐free mudstone has few or no signs of benthic fauna. It is likely that a combination of soupground substrate, frequent storm emplacement of fluid mud, low nutrient availability and possibly reduced bottom‐water oxygen content collectively inhibited benthic fauna in the distal prodelta.  相似文献   

6.
Preservation of cyclic steps contrasts markedly with that of subcritical‐flow bedforms, because cyclic steps migrate upslope eroding their lee face and preserving their stoss side. Such bedforms have not been described from turbidite outcrops and cores as yet. A conceptual block diagram for recognition of cyclic steps in outcrop has been constructed and is tested by outcrop studies of deep water submarine fan deposits of the Tabernas Basin in south‐eastern Spain. Experimental data indicate that depositional processes on the stoss side of a cyclic step are controlled by a hydraulic jump, which decelerates the flow and by subsequent waxing of the flow up to supercritical conditions once more. The hydraulic jump produces a large scour with soft‐sediment deformation (flames) preserved in coarse‐tail normal‐graded structureless deposits (Bouma Ta), while near‐horizontal, massive to stratified top‐cut‐out turbidite beds are found further down the stoss side of the bedform. The architecture of cyclic steps can best be described as large, up to hundreds of metres, lens‐shaped bodies that are truncated by erosive surfaces representing the set boundaries and that consist of nearly horizontal lying stacks of top‐cut‐out turbidite beds. The facies that characterize these bedforms have traditionally been described as turbidite units in idealized vertical sequences of high‐density turbidity currents, but have not yet been interpreted to represent bedforms produced by supercritical flow. Their large size, which is in the order of 20 m for gravelly and up to hundreds of metres for sandy steps, is likely to have hindered their recognition in outcrop so far.  相似文献   

7.
A sequence of shallow reef cores from Heron Reef, Great Barrier Reef, provides new insights into Holocene reef growth models. Isochron analysis of a leeward core transect suggests that the north‐western end of Heron Reef reached current sea‐level by ca 6·5 kyr bp and then prograded leeward at a rate of ca 19·6 m/kyr between 5·1 kyr and 4·1 kyr bp (pre‐1950) to the present reef margin. A single short core on the opposing margin of the reef is consistent with greater and more recent progradation there. Further to the east, one windward core reached modern sea‐level by ca 6·3 kyr bp , suggesting near ‘keep‐up’ behaviour at that location, but the opposing leeward margin behind the lagoon reached sea‐level much more recently. Hence, Heron Reef exhibited significantly different reef growth behaviour on different parts of the same margin. Mean reef accretion rates calculated from within 20 m of one another in the leeward core transect varied between ca 2·9 m and 4·7 m/kyr depending on relative position in the prograding wedge. These cores serve as a warning regarding the use of isolated cores to inform reef growth rates because apparent aggradation at any given location on a reef varies depending on its location relative to a prograding margin. Only transects of closely spaced cores can document reef behaviour adequately so as to inform reef growth models and sea‐level curves. The cores also emphasize potential problems in U‐series dates for corals within a shallow (ca 1·5 m) zone beneath the reef flat. Apparent age inversions restricted to that active diagenetic zone may reflect remobilization and concentration of Th in irregularly distributed microbialites or biofilms that were missed during sample vetting. Importantly, the Th‐containing contaminant causes ages to appear too old, rather than too young, as would be expected from younger cement.  相似文献   

8.
The relative influences of biotic and abiotic processes on travertine fabrics are still not well understood, despite increasing interest in the last decade to better understand the record of ancient microbial life and sedimentary fabrics in microbial hydrocarbon reservoirs. This study examines travertines at Satono‐yu hot spring in Japan (the temperature of water flowing over the travertine was ca 35°C), to better understand the interaction between depositional, hydrochemical and microbial parameters at different flow settings. Characteristics of the bulk hydrochemistry, mineralogy (exclusively aragonite) and the driving force for precipitation (primarily abiotic CO2 degassing with some photosynthetic microbial contribution) were similar among all of the flow settings. Conversely, the increase in flow velocity suppressed the influence of photosynthesis and enhanced the abiotic precipitation due to the thinner diffusive boundary layer at the travertine surface–water interface. Additionally, the increase in flow velocity changed the microbial composition and decreased the bacterial diversity by reflecting their adhesion efficiency on the travertine substrate. The acidity of the cyanobacterial sheaths controls the aragonite nucleation rate and the resulting calcification, even at significantly high equilibrium CO2 partial pressure (ca 22 to 28 matm), high dissolved inorganic carbon concentration (ca 35 to 38 mmol l?1), and elevated aragonite saturation state (ca 20‐fold to 34‐fold). Therefore, the increase in flow velocity suppresses the microbial influence with respect to the increase in the saturation state, the nucleation site supply and pore space generation. Overall, this results in the predominance of abiotic precipitation under high flow velocities. Consequently, a sparse‐micritic fabric with abundant interlamina porosity forms under lower flow velocity where the microbial influence is effective, while a dense‐sparitic fabric with little inter‐crystalline porosity forms under higher flow velocity where abiotic precipitation prevails. These findings provide an essential base for assessing the formation processes of ancient travertines and comparable deposits from petrological fabrics.  相似文献   

9.
The thickness and lateral distribution of sand and mud beds and bedsets on channel bars from the tidally influenced Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada, are quantitatively assessed. Fifty‐six vibracores totalling ca 114 m of vertical section are used to tabulate bed thicknesses. Statistical calculations are undertaken for nine channel bars ranging from the freshwater and tidal zone, to the sustained brackish water and tidal zone. The data reveal that thickness trends can be organized into three groups that broadly correspond to time‐averaged hydrodynamic and salinity conditions in the various distributary channels. Thick sand beds (up to 30 cm) and thin mud beds (up to 5 cm) characterize the freshwater tidal zone. The tidal and freshwater to brackish‐water transition zone comprises thin sands (up to 10 cm) and thicker muds (up to 19 cm), and the sustained brackish water tidal zone consists of thin muds (up to 6 cm) with relatively thicker sands (up to 25 cm). The results suggest that the locus of mud deposition occurs in the tidal freshwater to brackish‐water zone, probably reflecting mud flocculation and deposition at the turbidity maximum. Landward of the turbidity maximum, mud deposition is linked to tidal influence (tidal backwater effect and reverse eddy currents on channel margins) as mud beds thin in the landward direction. These results support the hypothesis that mud deposition is greatest at the turbidity maximum and decreases in both the seaward and landward direction. This study also showcases that mud‐bed thicknesses are greatest towards the turbidity maximum and thin in both the landward and seaward direction. In the rock record, the apex of mud deposition probably marks the position of the palaeo‐turbidity maximum.  相似文献   

10.
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   

11.
Alluvial fans serve as useful archives that record the history of depositional and erosional processes in mountainous regions and thus can reveal the environmental controls that influenced their development. Economically, they play an important role as groundwater reservoirs as well as host rocks for hydrocarbons in deeply buried systems. The interpretation of these archives and the evaluation of their reservoir architecture, however, are problematic because marked heterogeneity in the distribution of sedimentary facies makes correlation difficult. This problem is compounded because the accumulated sedimentary deposits of modern unconsolidated fan systems tend to be poorly exposed and few such systems have been the focus of investigation using high‐resolution subsurface analytical techniques. To overcome this limitation of standard outcrop–analogue studies, a geophysical survey of an alpine alluvial fan was performed using ground‐penetrating radar to devise a scaled three‐dimensional subsurface model. Radar facies were classified and calibrated to lithofacies within a fan system that provided outcropping walls and these were used to derive a three‐dimensional model of the sedimentary architecture and identify evolutionary fan stages. The Illgraben fan in the Swiss Alps was selected as a case study and a network of ca 60 km sections of ground‐penetrating radar was surveyed. Seven radar facies types could be distinguished, which were grouped into debris‐flow deposits and stream‐flow deposits. Assemblages of these radar facies types show three depositional units, which are separated by continuous, fan‐wide reflectors; they were interpreted as palaeo‐surfaces corresponding to episodes of sediment starvation that affected the entire fan. An overall upward decline in the proportion of debris‐flow deposits from ca 50% to 15% and a corresponding increase in stream‐flow deposits were identified. The uppermost depositional unit is bounded at its base by a significant incision surface up to 700 m wide, which was subsequently filled up mostly by stream‐flow deposits. The pronounced palaeo‐surfaces and depositional trends suggest that allocyclic controls governed the evolution of the Illgraben fan, making this fan a valuable archive from which to reconstruct past sediment fluxes and environmental change in the Alps. The results of the integrated outcrop–geophysical approach encourage similar future studies on fans to retrieve their depositional history as well as their potential reservoir properties.  相似文献   

12.
The Quaternary deposits of tectonically stable areas are a powerful tool to investigate high‐frequency climate variations (<10 ka) and to distinguish allogenic and autogenic factors controlling deposition. Therefore, an Upper Pleistocene–Holocene coastal apron‐fan system in north–western Sardinia (Porto Palmas, Italy) was studied to investigate the relations between climate changes, sea‐level fluctuations and sediment source‐supply that controlled its development. The sedimentary sequence records the strong influence of local (wet/dry) and worldwide (sea‐level) environmental variations in the sedimentation and preservation of the deposits. A multi‐disciplinary approach allowed subdivision of the succession into four major, unconformity‐bounded stratigraphic units: U1 U2, U3 and U4. Unit U1, tentatively dated to the warm and humid Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 5, consists of sandy, gravelly coastal/beach deposits developed during high sea‐level in low‐lying areas. Unit U2 consists of debris‐flow dominated fan‐deposits (ca 74 ka; MIS 4), preserved as partial fills of small valleys and coves. Unit U2 is mainly composed of reddish silty conglomerate to pebbly siltstones sourced from the Palaeozoic metamorphic inland hills (bedrock), superficially disintegrated during the preceding warm, vegetation‐rich MIS 5. The cold and semi‐arid climate strongly reduced vegetation cover along the valley flanks. Therefore, sediment gravity‐flow processes, possibly activated by rainstorms, led to deposition of debris‐flow dominated fans. Unit U3 consists of water‐flow dominated alluvial‐fan deposits (ca 47 to 23 ka; MIS 3), developed on a slightly inclined coastal plain. Unit U3 is composed of sandstone and sandy conglomerate fed from two main sediment sources: metamorphic inland bedrock and Quaternary bioclastic‐rich shelf‐derived sands. During this cold phase, sea‐level dropped sufficiently to expose bioclastic sands accumulated on the shelf. Frequent climate fluctuations favoured inland aeolian transport of sand during dry phases, followed by reworking of the aeolian bodies by flash floods during wet phases. Bedrock‐derived fragments mixed with water‐reworked, wind‐blown sands led to the development of water‐flow dominated fans. The Dansgaard–Oeschger events possibly associated with sand landward deflation and main fan formations are Dansgaard–Oeschger 13 (ca 47 ka), Dansgaard–Oeschger 8 (ca 39 ka) and Dansgaard–Oeschger 2 (ca 23 ka). No record of sedimentation during MIS 2 was observed. Finally, bioclastic‐rich aeolianites (Unit U4, ca 10 to 5 ka; MIS 1), preserved on a coastal slope, were developed during the Holocene transgression (ca 10 to 5 ka; MIS 1). The studied sequence shows strong similarities with those of other Mediterranean sites; it is, however, one of the few where the main MIS 4 and MIS 3 climatic fluctuations are registered in the sedimentary record.  相似文献   

13.
Tufa domes and towers are common around the margins of Winnemucca Dry Lake, Nevada, USA, a desiccated sub‐basin of pluvial Lake Lahontan. A 2·5 m diameter concentrically‐layered tufa mound from the southern end of the playa was sampled along its growth axis to determine timing, rate and geochemical conditions of tufa growth. A radiocarbon‐based age model indicates an 8200‐year tufa depositional record that begins near the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (ca 23 400 cal yr bp ) and concludes at the end of the most recent Lahontan highstand (ca 15 200 cal yr bp ). Petrography, stable isotopes and major and minor elemental compositions are used to evaluate the rate and timing of tufa growth in the context of the depositional environment. The deposit built radially outward from a central nucleation point, with six decimetre‐scale layers defined by variations in texture. Two distinct tufa types are observed: the inner section is composed of two layers of thinolite pseudomorphs after ikaite, with the innermost layer comprised of very small pseudomorphs (<0·25 cm) and an outer layer composed of larger, ca 3 cm long pseudomorphs, followed by a transitional layer where thinolite pseudomorphs grade into calcite fans. The outer section consists of three distinct layers of thrombolitic micrite with a branching mesofabric. The textural change occurred as lake levels began to rise towards the most recent Lahontan highstand interval and probably was prompted by warming of lake waters caused by increased groundwater flux during highstand lake levels. The Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca variations suggest a warming trend in the tufa growth environment and may also reflect increasing growth rates of tufa associated with increased fluxes of groundwater. This systematic study of tufa deposition indicates the importance of the hydrology of the lacustrine tufa system for reconstructing palaeoenvironmental records, and particularly the interaction of ground and surface waters.  相似文献   

14.
The Late Pleistocene/Holocene Tiber delta succession represents the most recent and one of the best preserved, high‐frequency/low‐rank depositional sequences developed along the Latium continental margin of the Italian peninsula. Several previous studies have established a robust data set from which it has been possible to describe the stratigraphic architecture of the entire Tiber depositional sequence from the landward to seaward sectors and over a distance of 60 km. The Tiber depositional sequence shows many characteristics found in other Late Pleistocene to Holocene deltaic and coastal successions of the Mediterranean area. The stratigraphic architecture of the Tiber depositional sequence is controlled mainly by glacioeustasy, although factors such as tectonic uplift, volcanism and subsidence, exert an influence at a local scale. The resulting depositional model allowed discussion of some important points such as: (1) the genesis of the Tiber mixed bedrock‐alluvial valley, extending from the coastal plain to the innermost portion of the shelf, recording (i) multiple episodes of incision during relative sea‐level fall, and (ii) a downstream increase of depth and width of the valley during the base‐level fall and the subsequent base‐level rise; (2) the different physical expression of the Tiber depositional sequence boundary from landward to seaward, and its diachronous and composite character; (3) the maximum depth reached by the Tiber early lowstand delta at the end of the sea‐level fall is estimated at ca 90 m below the present sea‐level and not at 120 m as suggested by previous works; (4) the backward position of the Tiber late lowstand delta relative to the deposit of early lowstand; (5) the change of the channel pattern and of the stacking pattern of fluvial deposits within the Lowstand Systems Tract, Transgressive Systems Tract and Highstand Systems Tract. All of these features indicate that the Late Pleistocene/Holocene Tiber delta succession, even if deposited in a short period of time from a geological point of view, represents the result of the close interaction among many autogenic and allogenic factors. However, global eustatic variations and sediment supply under the control of climatic changes can be considered the main factors responsible for the stratigraphic architecture of this sedimentary succession, which has been heavily modified by human activity only in the last 3000 years.  相似文献   

15.
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   

16.
Submarine mass movement deposits exposed in the Vischkuil Formation, Laingsburg Karoo Basin, South Africa, provide a rare opportunity to analyse and interpret their emplacement history and deformation processes at a scale comparable to seismic examples. An up to 80 m thick slide deposit, continuously exposed in two 2 km long sub‐parallel sections, passes from extensionally deformed material (clastic dykes and down‐dip facing low‐angle shear surfaces) down‐dip into a compressional toe zone with large (tens of metres amplitude) folds dissected by steep, up‐dip facing thrust planes. The compressional shear planes sole out onto a highly sheared décollement and cross‐cutting relationships indicate an up‐depositional dip younging in the timing of fold dissection. Lithofacies characteristics and detailed correlation of volcanic ash and other marker beds over more than 500 km2 in the bounding undeformed stratigraphy indicate a low‐gradient (<0·1°) basin floor setting. The slide is abruptly overlain by an up to 50 m thick debrite with sandy clasts supported by an argillaceous matrix. Shear loading of the debris flow is interpreted to have driven large‐scale deformation of the substrate through the generation of high shear stresses at a rheological interface due to: (i) the abrupt contact between the slide and the debrite; (ii) the coincident thickness distributions of the debrite and slide; (iii) the distribution of the most intense folding and thrusting under the thickest parts of the debrite; (iv) the preservation of fold crests with only minor erosion along fold limbs; (v) the presence of the debrite under overturned folds; (vi) the presence of laterally extensive marker beds directly above deformation units indicating minimal depositional topography; and (vii) the demonstrably local derivation of the slide as individual folded beds are mapped into undeformed strata outside the areas of deformation. The debrite is directly overlain by fine‐grained turbidite sandstone beds that show widespread vertical foundering into the debrite. This case study demonstrates that intensely deformed strata can be generated by negligible amounts of down‐dip movement in a low‐gradient, fine‐grained basin floor setting with the driver for movement and deformation being the mass imbalance resulting from emplacement of episodic debris flows. Simple interpretation of an unstable slope setting based on the presence of such deformed strata should be treated with caution.  相似文献   

17.
Sediment accumulation downstream of hydraulic jumps can occur in many settings but the architectures of such deposits are poorly documented. Here, three flume runs were used to examine the influence of sediment grain size and transport rate on the characteristics of hydraulic‐jump unit bars. In one of these runs six hydraulic‐jump unit bars formed a hydraulic‐jump bar complex. In another, the same sediment was supplied more quickly and only two unit bars formed. In the third run with the same sediment supply rate, but different grain size, only one large unit bar formed. All unit bars developed in a similar way but their size and internal architecture differed; they all resulted from a reduction in sediment transport capacity at the transition from supercritical flow to subcritical flow in the hydraulic jump. After initial onset of sedimentation and unit bar formation, generation of subsequent unit bars may be: (i) related to small changes in sediment flux; and (ii) independent of changes in the hydraulic jump. Continued sedimentation caused changes from oscillating to weak hydraulic jumps and hydraulic‐jump unit bars formed in both circumstances. The flow of water and suspended sediment becomes shallower over the lee of the bar complex. This leads to flow acceleration and a return to supercritical flow conditions. In turn, a chain of such features can form and generate a chute and pool bed morphology. There is an inherent upper size limit to a hydraulic‐jump bar complex due to the changing flow conditions over the growing deposit as the water above it becomes shallower. There is also an amplitude minimum for the development of foresets and subsequent unit bar growth. Hydraulic‐jump unit bars have architectures that should be recognizable in the rock record and because their size is constrained by the flow conditions, their identification should be useful for interpreting palaeoenvironment.  相似文献   

18.
Contourite drift systems form a significant component of the marine clastic sedimentary record. Although contourites form in all tectonic settings, few studies have described their development along convergent margins; such characterization is needed to underpin oceanographic and palaeoenvironmental studies in active settings. This study is the first to document contourite drift development along the Hikurangi subduction margin of New Zealand. Integration of bathymetric, seismic and well data enables five classes of drift to be recognized around the subduction wedge, occurring in three principal associations: (i) an upper slope drift association of giant elongate mounded (ca 150 km long, 50 km wide and up to 1100 m thick) and plastered drifts (ca 300 km long, 8 km wide and <600 m thick), which occurs upon and inboard of a major intrabasinal thrust‐cored high, whose long axis parallels the coast; shallow bottom currents disperse sub‐parallel to this axis; (ii) a spatiotemporally discontinuous association of confined and mounded hybrid drifts (ca 500 m long, <2 km wide and up to 500 m thick) that occurs along the mid‐to‐outer slope domain of the wedge, recording the interaction of along‐slope and downslope currents within trench‐slope basins; and (iii) a trench fill assemblage that implies the passage of abyssal bottom currents across a 40 km reach of the trench‐axial Hikurangi Channel‐levée, with associated modification of the channel form and of overbank sediment waves. The fundamental presence of contourites along this margin appears to depend on the orientation and strength of oceanographic bottom currents. However, drift type and evolution vary depending on the slope gradient and the presence of irregular seafloor topography created by tectonic structures. The documented drifts are generally smaller, less continuous, and develop more intermittently than similar styles of drifts documented on passive margins; this mode of occurrence may be characteristic of contourite development on convergent margins.  相似文献   

19.
Pockmarks and mud volcanoes from marine and lacustrine environments are thought to be the surface expression of focused fluid flow (gas and/or water). However, the control fluid flow exerts on the sediment dynamics and rates of activity of such features, especially the maintenance and growth of pockmarks, is not well understood. This study suggests that variable fluid flow is the driving process that has maintained two lacustrine pockmarks over thousands of years. In Lake Neuchâtel (western Switzerland), the currently active Chez‐le‐Bart Pockmark (diameter ca 160 m, depth ca 10 m) and the Treytel Pockmark (diameter ca 100 m, depth ca 4 m) indicate ‘quiescent’ fluid flow as well as past, ‘eruptive’, events of subsurface sediment mobilization. This study aims to test the hypothesis that phases of increased fluid flow through the pockmarks have led to the remobilization and spilling of sediment over the pockmark rims, and that different modes of activity phases are responsible for their maintenance and growth. So termed ‘subsurface sediment mobilization deposits’ are visible in seismic profiles and correlate to specific, sedimentary intervals in Kullenberg‐type long piston cores. In a detailed analysis, different modes of transport are recognized, which are attributed to high‐density flows that correspond to multiple pulses of activity. The pockmark morphology, seismic stratigraphy and core correlation with pre‐existing data reveals that the two pockmarks have been maintained throughout the Holocene and underwent several switches between ‘quiescent’ and ‘eruptive’ mode activity.  相似文献   

20.
Abstract: The method of fractal simulation and classification of folds is firstly studied here to describe various types of complex fold patterns in quantitative analysis. Based on the characteristics of natural folds with a fractal pattern, the fold patterns are simulated to describe various types of folds quantitatively by means of fractal interpolation. The major factors affecting the fold pattern are elucidated in fractal simulation of folds, i.e. positions of interpolation points (x, y) and the disturbance coefficient d of folds (-1<d<1). The bigger the value d for a fold simulation is, the more complex or disturbed the folds are and the better developed the relative secondary folds are. If d>0, folds are upconvex. IF d<0, they are down-convex. |d|=0, |d|=0.25 and |d|=0.5 represent three conspicuous turning states. If |d|=0, the points will be joined by a straight line. If |d|=0.25, the points will be joined smoothly. If |d|<0.25, there will be complex secondary folds between the points. If |d| >0.5, there will be more complex secondary folds between the points. The complex degrees of the fold pattern, therefore, can be classified by the disturbance coefficient d and by the discongruent degree Δ d. In nature, most folds are self-affine fractal folds.  相似文献   

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