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1.
Erosional furrows are recognized on the seafloor off the Mississippi Delta, trending downslope over the shelf edge. They occur
in water depths of 150 to 380 m seaward of presently active mudslides on the delta slope. The furrows cross an area of former
mudslide deposition and part of the outer shelf. Their origin is likely to be related to cross-shelf secondary helical flows,
although delta-front mass movement could cause similar erosional gouging. 相似文献
2.
Late Holocene chronology,origin, and evolution of the St. Bernard Shoals,Northern Gulf of Mexico,USA
Several shore-parallel marine sand bodies lie on the Louisiana continental shelf. They are Trinity Shoal, Ship Shoal, Outer
Shoal, and the St. Bernard Shoals. These shoals mark the submerged positions of ancient shorelines associated with abandoned
deltas. Three of these shoals are single elongate deposits. The fourth shoal, the St. Bernard Shoals, consists of a group
of discrete sand bodies ranging in size from 44 to 0.05 km2, 25 km southeast of the Chandeleur Islands in 15–18 m of water. The St. Bernard Shoals are stratigraphically above the St.
Bernard delta complex, which was active 2,500–1,800 years b.p. Understanding the evolution of the St. Bernard Shoals is necessary to reconstruct the Holocene chronology of the St. Bernard
delta complex and the eastern Louisiana continental shelf. For this study, 47 vibracores and 400 km of shallow seismic reflection
data collected in 1987 across the Louisiana shelf were analyzed. In June 2008, 384 km of higher-resolution seismic reflection
data were acquired across the study area and appended to the preexisting datasets. Vibracores were integrated with seismic
profiles to identify facies and their regional distribution. Our results demonstrate that the deltaic package stratigraphically
below the St. Bernard Shoals is chronologically younger than the northern distributaries, but derived from the same trunk
distributary channel (Bayou la Loutre). The river eventually bypassed the northern distributaries, and began to deposit sediment
further onto the continental shelf. After abandonment, the overextended delta lobe was rapidly transgressed, creating a transgressive
shoreline that eventually coalesced with earlier shorelines in the region to form the Chandeleur Islands. The St. Bernard
Shoals formed by the reworking of the relict distributary deposits exposed on the inner to mid shelf during and subsequent
to shoreface ravinement. 相似文献
3.
Side-scan sonar investigations in the eastern part of the macrotidal Bay of Seine have revealed the presence of numerous rippled scour depressions (RSDs) at water depths of 5–9 m. The sediments in these depressions consist essentially of coarse-grained shell hash derived from underlying Holocene sediments dated at roughly 6,500 years BP, and arranged in large wave-generated ripples. The shallow marine area where these features occur consists of a wave-generated ravinement surface produced during the marine flooding of the late Holocene transgression. It can be shown that, during the last 20 years at least, erosion of the muddy sand and sandy seabed has exposed underlying relict sediments. These consist of stiff clays, silts and a layer of shell debris which, when exposed, cover the bottom of large scour depressions which appear to be in equilibrium with the local hydrodynamic regime. Morphological and hydrodynamic data suggest that the RSDs are generated by strong cross-shore bottom currents flowing parallel to the features in the direction of the prevailing waves, and probably associated with storm-induced downwelling events. 相似文献
4.
David J. Mallinson Curtis W. Smith Stephen J. Culver Stanley R. Riggs Dorothea Ames 《Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science》2010
Nearly 200 km of high-resolution ground penetrating radar (GPR) data were acquired along the Outer Banks barrier island system of North Carolina, USA. GPR data combined with lithofacies and biofacies data reveal multiple depositional facies including inlet channel, flood-tide delta, overwash, peat and inner shelf. Previously undocumented paleo-inlet channels constitute a significant portion of the shallow geologic framework between Oregon Inlet and Cape Hatteras. GPR data reveal the complex stratigraphy associated with multiple sequences of cut-and-fill within inlet channels. Two types of paleochannels (non-migrating and migrating) were classified based on geometry and fill-patterns. Sediments and foraminifera collected from vibracores were correlated to GPR data to define the regional shallow stratigraphic framework. Channel-fill facies are characterized by clinoform packages, sometimes bounded by erosional surfaces, indicating variable sediment transport directions from the ocean and sound sides. Channels are incised into older flood-tide delta deposits corresponding to older inlet activity when barriers existed further seaward. Flood-tide delta deposits are capped with marsh peat and overwash units. Migrating inlet facies occur under the widest portions of the island, whereas narrow portions of the island are underlain by the non-migrating inlet facies or flood-tide delta/overwash facies. This geologic/geomorphic relationship is attributed to the successional stage of island evolution during transgression, and sediment transport processes associated with the different inlet types. The radar facies, lithofacies, and biofacies provide a comprehensive dataset that will permit more precise identification of barrier island facies in the geologic record. 相似文献
5.
Ongoing geological research into processes operating on the nearshore continental shelf and beyond is vital to our understanding of modern tsunami-generated sediment transport and deposition. This paper investigates the southern part of Sendai Bay, Japan, by means of high-resolution seismic surveys, vibracoring, bathymetric data assimilation, and radioisotope analysis of a core. For the first time, it was possible to identify an erosional surface in the shallow subsurface, formed by both seafloor erosion and associated offshore-directed sediment transport caused by the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami. The area of erosion and deposition extends at least 1,100 m offshore from the shoreline down to water depths of 16.7 m. The tsunami-generated sedimentological signature reaches up to 1.2 m below the present seafloor, whereas bathymetric changes due to storm-related reworking over a period of 3 years following the tsunami event have been limited to the upper ~0.3 m, despite the fact that the study area is located on an open shelf facing the Pacific Ocean. Tsunami-generated erosion surfaces may thus be preserved for extended periods of time, and may even enter the rock record, because the depth of tsunami erosion can exceed the depth of storm erosion. This finding is also important for interpretation of modern submarine strata, since erosion surfaces in shallow (depths less than ~1 m) seismic records from open coast shelves have generally been interpreted as storm-generated surfaces or transgressive ravinement surfaces. 相似文献
6.
《Marine Geology》2005,216(4):275-296
Recent chirp seismic reflection data combined with multibeam bathymetry, backscatter, and analysis of grab samples and short cores provide evidence of significant recent erosion on the outer New Jersey shelf. The timing of erosion is constrained by two factors: (1) truncation at the seafloor of what is interpreted to be the transgressive ravinement surface at the base of the surficial sand sheet, and (2) truncation of apparently moribund sand ridges along erosional swales oriented parallel to the primary direction of modern bottom flow and oblique to the strike of the sand ridges. These observations place the erosion in a marine setting, post-dating the passage of the shoreface ravinement and the evolution of sand ridges that form initially in the near shore environment. Also truncated by marine erosion are shallowly buried, fluvial channel systems, formed during the Last Glacial Maximum and filled during the transgression, and a regional reflector “R” that is > ∼ 40 kyr. Depths of erosion range from a few meters to > 10 m. The seafloor within eroded areas is often marked by “ribbon” morphology, seen primarily in the backscatter data as areas of alternating high and low backscatter elongated in the direction of primary bottom flow. Ribbons are more occasionally observed in the bathymetry; where observed, crests exhibit low backscatter and troughs exhibit high backscatter. Sampling reveals that the high backscatter areas of the ribbons consist of a trimodal admixture of mud, sand and shell hash, with a bimodal distribution of abraded and unabraded sand grains and microfauna. The shell hash is interpreted to be an erosional lag, while the muds and unabraded grains are, in this non-depositional environment, evidence of recent erosion at the seafloor of previously undisturbed strata. The lower-backscatter areas of the ribbon morphology were found to be a well-sorted medium sand unit only a few 10's of cm thick overlying the shelly/muddy/sandy material. Concentrations of well-rounded gravels and cobbles were also found in eroded areas with very high backscatter, and at least one of these appears to be derived from the base of an eroded fluvial channel. Seafloor reworking over the transgressive evolution of the shelf appears to have switched from sand ridge evolution, which is documented to ∼ 40 m water depth, to more strictly erosional modification at greater water depths. We suggest that this change may be related to the reduction with water depth in the effectiveness of sediment resuspension by waves. Resuspension is a critical factor in the grain size sorting during transport by bottom currents over large bedforms like sand ridges. Otherwise, we speculate, displacement of sand by unidirectional currents will erode the seafloor. 相似文献
7.
8.
High resolution (HR – sparker) and very high resolution (VHR – boomer) seismic reflection data acquired in shallow water environments
of the Roussillon coastal area are integrated to provide an accurate image of the stratigraphic architecture of the Quaternary
deposits. The complementary use of the two systems is shown to be of benefit for studies of shallow water environments. The
HR sparker data improved the landward part of a general model of Quaternary stratigraphy previously established offshore.
They document an incised valley complex interpreted as the record of successive late Quaternary relative sea-level cycles.
The complex is capped by a polygenetic erosional surface developed during the last glacial period (>18 ky) and variably reworked
by wave ravinement during the subsequent post-glacial transgression. The overlying transgressive systems tract is partly preserved
and presents a varying configuration along the Roussillon coastal plain. The VHR boomer data provide information on the architecture
of the uppermost deposits, both in the near-shore area and in the lagoon. These deposits overlie a maximum flooding surface
at the top of the transgressive systems tract and constitute a highstand systems tract composed of two different architectural
elements. In the near-shore area, a sandy coastal wedge is subdivided into a lower unit and an upper unit in equilibrium with
present day dynamics. In the Salses-Leucate lagoon area, the sedimentary architecture is highly complex due to the closure
of a former embayment and the formation of the present beach barrier. 相似文献
9.
《Marine Geology》2006,225(1-4):45-62
A systematic mapping program incorporating more than 5000 km of side scan sonar and seismic reflection tracklines in the western Gulf of Maine has identified more than 70 biogenic natural gas deposits, occupying 311 km2 in nearshore muddy embayments. Many of these embayments also contain pockmark fields, with some exhibiting geologically active characteristics including the observance of plumes of escaping fluids and sediment. Pockmarks, hemispherically shaped depressions of various size and depths, formed through fluid escape of gas and/or pore water, are sometimes found within or outside gas fields, although many gas fields lack pockmarks altogether. Although the origin of the natural gas remains unclear, if coastal environments at times of lower sea level were similar to the present, numerous lake, wetland, valley fill and estuarine sources of organic-rich material may have formed on the inner shelf. If these deposits survived transgression and remain buried, they are potential gas sources.Intensive mapping of the Belfast Bay pockmark field in 1998 produced the first nearly continuous side scan sonar mosaic of a Gulf of Maine pockmark field with a corresponding 3-dimensional geological model generated from seismic data. Statistical analysis of pockmark geometry, gas deposit loci, and subsurface evidence for gas-enhanced reflectors suggest that gas migration from deeper lateral sources along permeable subsurface strata may be the mechanism for pockmark formation in areas lacking gas-curtain seismic reflections. The coarse-grained transgressive ravinement unconformity between Pleistocene glacial-marine mud and Holocene mud may act as a conduit for distributing methane to the field's margins. 相似文献
10.
Continental shelves off major river deltas or estuaries act as an interface between terrestrial environments and marine depo centers like the Amazon Fan. In order to understand sedimentary processes on the Amazon sub-aquatic delta and outer shelf, Late-Quaternary erosional and depositional structures have been investigated with an ultra high-resolution seismic survey system (4 kHz). The wavy morphology of the outer shelf implies the presence of tidal sand ridges or meandering channels. In the latter case, the local presence of channel fill deposits suggests several cut-off loops (ox bows). The inter-channel areas are consequently interpreted as levees, which reach their maximum height of 10 m in the area between the Amazon river mouth and the Amazon canyon. The morphology of terraces in front of the sub-aquatic delta reflect erosional processes which presumably occurred during accelerated sea level rise at the beginning and the end of the Younger Dryas. A carbonate platform is present in the northwestern survey area close to the shelf break. Its water depth of 120–130 m implies an evolution during the last glacial maximum. The asymmetric shape of the Cabo Norte Shoal on the topset of the sub-aquatic delta is typical of bottom current produced shoals. The steeper northwestern flank lies in the lee position of the northwest flowing coastal current. Southeast of the shoal the <10 m thick uppermost sequence of presumably Holocene age consists of lobes that dip with the same apparent angle as the foreset towards the offlap break. Within the area 20 km northwest of the shoal the uppermost sequence forms a smooth depression and may be erosionally truncated at the seafloor. Here, the prograding direction includes a northwest component. A shale diapir, which rises from a transparent underlying sequence, marks the transition to an area where the upper sequence is not resolved in the data. 相似文献
11.
Dae Choul Kim Gwang Hoon Lee Young Kyo Seo Gil Young Kim Seok Yun Kim Jeong Chang Kim Soo Chul Park Roy Wilkens 《Marine Georesources & Geotechnology》2004,22(1):21-31
Shallow gas in the Korea Strait shelf mud (KSSM) off SE Korea, revealed by high-resolution subbottom profiles, is associated with acoustic blanking, acoustic turbidity, seepages with plumes in the water column, and seafloor depressions. The acoustic blanking, characterized by strong, consistent top reflection and wipeout below, is most dominant. The seaward edge of the acoustic blanking zone generally coincides with the 100-m water-depth contour, suggesting that the water depth (the pressure) may control the distribution of shallow gas. The acoustic turbidity, characterized by diffuse top reflection, is a dark smear, partially blanking the data below. The seepages with plumes, characterized by vertical smearing and disturbed seafloor, are seen only along the shallowest, landward edge of the acoustic blanking zone. This may suggest that the decreased gas solubility at shallow water depths, caused by the lowered pressure, increases the volume of free gas in the sediments, facilitating the gas escape. The seafloor depressions, interpreted as pockmarks, are accompanied by cone-shaped acoustic masking, which is probably the reflection from a narrow vent of gas. The gas-related acoustic anomalies appear to occur mostly in the upper, recent mud of the KSSM. Neither permeable beds nor faults, which can act as vertical migration pathways for deep thermogenic gas, are evident in the recent mud. We interpret that the bacterial degradation of organic matter in situ is the main source for the gas in the KSSM. The upwelling off SE Korea may be an important source for the increased organic matter in the area. 相似文献
12.
Catherine Schuur Duncan John A. Goff James A. AustinJr. Craig S. Fulthorpe 《Marine Geology》2000,170(3-4):395-421
Seafloor geomorphology and surficial stratigraphy of the New Jersey middle continental shelf provide a detailed record of sea-level change during the last advance and retreat of the Laurentide ice sheet (120 kyr B.P. to Present). A NW–SE-oriented corridor on the middle shelf between water depths of 40 m (the mid-shelf “paleo-shore”) and 100 m (the Franklin “paleo-shore”) encompasses 500 line-km of 2D Huntec boomer profiles (500–3500 Hz), an embedded 4.6 km2 3D volume, and a 490 km2 swath bathymetry map. We use these data to develop a relative stratigraphy. Core samples from published studies also provide some chronological and sedimentological constraints on the upper <5 m of the stratigraphic succession.The following stratigraphic units and surfaces occur (from bottom to top): (1) “R”, a high-amplitude reflection that separates sediment >46.5 kyr old (by AMS 14C dating) from overlying sediment wedges; (2) the outer shelf wedge, a marine unit up to 50 m thick that onlaps “R”; (3) “Channels”, a reflection sub-parallel to the seafloor that incises “R”, and appears as a dendritic system of channels in map view; (4) “Channels” fill, the upper portion of which is sampled and known to represent deepening-upward marine sediments 12.3 kyr in age; (5) the “T” horizon, a seismically discontinuous surface that caps “Channels” fill; (6) oblique ridge deposits, coarse-grained shelly units comprised of km-scale, shallow shelf bedforms; and (7) ribbon-floored swales, bathymetric depressions parallel to modern shelf currents that truncate the oblique ridges and cut into surficial deposits.We interpret this succession of features in light of a global eustatic sea-level curve and the consequent migration of the coastline across the middle shelf during the last 120 kyr. The morphology of the New Jersey middle shelf shows a discrete sequence of stratigraphic elements, and reflects the pulsed episodicity of the last sea-level cycle. “R” is a complicated marine/non-marine erosional surface formed during the last regression, while the outer shelf wedge represents a shelf wedge emplaced during a minor glacial retreat before maximum Wisconsin lowstand (i.e., marine oxygen isotope stage 3.1). “Channels” is a widespread fluvial subarial erosion surface formed at the late Wisconsin glacial maximum 22 kyr B.P. The shoreline migrated back across the mid-shelf corridor non-uniformly during the period represented by “Channels” fill. Oblique ridges are relict features on the New Jersey middle shelf, while the ribbon-floored swales represent modern shelf erosion. There is no systematic relationship between modern seafloor morphology and the very shallowly buried stratigraphic succession. 相似文献
13.
DAE CHOUL KIM GWANG HOON LEE YOUNG KYO SEO GIL YOUNG KIM SEOK YUN KIM JEONG CHANG KIM 《Marine Georesources & Geotechnology》2013,31(1-2):21-31
Shallow gas in the Korea Strait shelf mud (KSSM) off SE Korea, revealed by high-resolution subbottom profiles, is associated with acoustic blanking, acoustic turbidity, seepages with plumes in the water column, and seafloor depressions. The acoustic blanking, characterized by strong, consistent top reflection and wipeout below, is most dominant. The seaward edge of the acoustic blanking zone generally coincides with the 100-m water-depth contour, suggesting that the water depth (the pressure) may control the distribution of shallow gas. The acoustic turbidity, characterized by diffuse top reflection, is a dark smear, partially blanking the data below. The seepages with plumes, characterized by vertical smearing and disturbed seafloor, are seen only along the shallowest, landward edge of the acoustic blanking zone. This may suggest that the decreased gas solubility at shallow water depths, caused by the lowered pressure, increases the volume of free gas in the sediments, facilitating the gas escape. The seafloor depressions, interpreted as pockmarks, are accompanied by cone-shaped acoustic masking, which is probably the reflection from a narrow vent of gas. The gas-related acoustic anomalies appear to occur mostly in the upper, recent mud of the KSSM. Neither permeable beds nor faults, which can act as vertical migration pathways for deep thermogenic gas, are evident in the recent mud. We interpret that the bacterial degradation of organic matter in situ is the main source for the gas in the KSSM. The upwelling off SE Korea may be an important source for the increased organic matter in the area. 相似文献
14.
A submarine sediment instability event (landslide) occurred at Kitimat, British Columbia, in 1975. Recent high-resolution
surveys provide details of the resulting seafloor morphology. The effects of the slide include modification of the fjord head
delta-front slopes, transport of delta sediments into deep water and mixing with deep water, fjord bottom clays. Distinctive
features include the results of shallow rotational sliding, tearing and shearing, compressional folding and long distance
block gliding at the downslope slide terminus. 相似文献
15.
长江三角洲地区晚第四纪地层及潜在环境问题 总被引：12，自引：0，他引：12
根据钻孔的沉积相序将长江三角洲分为三角洲主体、三角洲南翼和北翼等３个基本的地层分区,鉴于两翼前缘和后缘的相序具有很大差异,因而两翼均划分出前缘和后缘２个亚区。地层结构的不同决定了与沉积层有关的潜在环境问题和灾害的分布,三角洲南翼和后缘为地面沉降发育区和潜在发育区,北翼的前缘为地下海水入侵的潜在发育区,三角洲主体是污染江水的潜在渗滤区,现今河口为底辟构造潜在发育区。 相似文献
16.
Tove Nielsen Troels Laier Antoon Kuijpers Tine L. Rasmussen Naja E. Mikkelsen Niels Nørgård-Pedersen 《Geo-Marine Letters》2014,34(6):511-523
The present study is the first to directly address the issue of gas hydrates offshore West Greenland, where numerous occurrences of shallow hydrocarbons have been documented in the vicinity of Disko Bugt (Bay). Furthermore, decomposing gas hydrate has been implied to explain seabed features in this climate-sensitive area. The study is based on archive data and new (2011, 2012) shallow seismic and sediment core data. Archive seismic records crossing an elongated depression (20×35 km large, 575 m deep) on the inner shelf west of Disko Bugt (Bay) show a bottom simulating reflector (BSR) within faulted Mesozoic strata, consistent with the occurrence of gas hydrates. Moreover, the more recently acquired shallow seismic data reveal gas/fluid-related features in the overlying sediments, and geochemical data point to methane migration from a deeper-lying petroleum system. By contrast, hydrocarbon signatures within faulted Mesozoic strata below the strait known as the Vaigat can be inferred on archive seismics, but no BSR was visible. New seismic data provide evidence of various gas/fluid-releasing features in the overlying sediments. Flares were detected by the echo-sounder in July 2012, and cores contained ikaite and showed gas-releasing cracks and bubbles, all pointing to ongoing methane seepage in the strait. Observed seabed mounds also sustain gas seepages. For areas where crystalline bedrock is covered only by Pleistocene–Holocene deposits, methane was found only in the Egedesminde Dyb (Trough). There was a strong increase in methane concentration with depth, but no free gas. This is likely due to the formation of gas hydrate and the limited thickness of the sediment infill. Seabed depressions off Ilulissat Isfjord (Icefjord) previously inferred to express ongoing gas release from decomposing gas hydrate show no evidence of gas seepage, and are more likely a result of neo-tectonism. 相似文献
17.
Active slope failure,sediment collapse,and silt flows on the modern subaqueous Huanghe (Yellow River) delta 总被引：7，自引：0，他引：7
D. B. Prior Z. -S. Yang B. D. Bornhold G. H. Keller N. Z. Lu W. J. Wiseman Jr. L. D. Wright J. Zhang 《Geo-Marine Letters》1986,6(2):85-95
Post-depositional slope instability and bottom mass-movement processes strongly modify the progradational subaqueous slopes of the modern Huanghe (Yellow River) Delta. Wide, shallow gullies dissect the submarine slopes with gradients of 0.3 to 0.4°. Lower delta-front sediments experiencein situ subsidence, forming numerous collapse depressions. These processes are pronounced over much of the delta, incising and redistributing the most recently deposited silt-rich sediment. Principal causative factors include low sediment strengths created by rapid deposition in the delta during annual peak discharges from the river and severe bottom perturbations by surface storm-generated waves. 相似文献
18.
Since early Pliocene, a counterclockwise surface gyre transported Nile derived silt and clay northeastwards along the Levant coast, where a basinward prograding plastered drift emerged. Based on high-resolution seismic reflection data we develop a middle to late Pleistocene sequence stratigraphic scheme for this plastered drift. For creating stacked sections of the seismic data we used the common reflection surface (CRS) stack technology which enhanced lateral reflection continuity and visibility of deep reflections. The shelf comprises stratigraphic sequences which show classical, systems tract like stacking patterns of sea level controlled sequences such as offlapping forced regression deposits or diachronous ravinement surfaces which formed during base level rise. On the slope, base level was periodically located well below the wave base and thus rather controlled by hydrodynamics, presumably by high-velocity contour currents. Hence, the term ‘deep base level’ is introduced. The deep base level controlled especially down and backstepping slope deposits. This example shows that care has to be taken when interpreting subsurface data containing typical systems tract like seismic sequences, since such geometries do not necessarily imply shallow water deposition of the sediments. A chronostratigraphic analysis based on the seismic stratigraphy indicates that base level fluctuations were related to eccentricity driven glacio-eustatic fluctuations. Periodic mass wasting, facilitated by foreset over-steepening and possibly triggered by salt tectonics or erosion by the contour current occurred during late base level fall or early base level rise. 相似文献
19.
Daniel L. Orange Ana García-García Dan McConnell Tom Lorenson Gary Fortier Fabio Trincardi Emrah Can 《Marine Geophysical Researches》2005,26(2-4):247-266
The need for quantifying and understanding the distribution of shallow gas is both of academic interest and of relevance to
offshore facilities. The combination of seafloor mapping, subbottom profiling, and multi-channel seismic data can provide
information on regions of possible shallow gas, where the gas impacts the acoustic properties of the host material and the
seafloor. In this paper, we present two case studies – one academic and one industry – that evaluate the distribution of shallow
gas in two field areas in the Mediterranean. In the first case study, geophysical data from Iskenderun Bay, southeastern Turkey,
indicate the presence and distribution of shallow gas. Pockmarks on the seafloor are associated with acoustic wipeout in the
shallow subbottom data. Although deeper seismic data do not show bright spots or other indicators of possible gas, instantaneous
frequency analysis clearly shows laterally restricted anomalies indicating gas-rich zones. The interpretation of possible
shallow gas resulted in moving a proposed drilling location to a nearby area characterized by fewer (but still present) shallow
gas signatures. In the second case study, cores acquired in the Po Delta, Adriatic Sea, provide quantitative ground-truthing
of shallow gas – as suggested by geophysical data – and provide minimum estimates of the percentage of gas in the subsurface.
Cores targeted on anomalous subbottom data yielded up to 41,000 ppm methane; cores with anomalous gas content are associated
with thick recent flood deposits which may effectively isolate reactive terrigenous organic matter from biologic and physical
re-working. 相似文献
20.
Exceptionally high shelf-subsidence rates (0.8–6.0+ mm/yr), a marked basinward stepping (to east and northeast) of the paleo-Orinoco shelf prism and post-Pliocene uplift of Trinidad all allow the sedimentary facies, process regime and the evolution of the Late Miocene Orinoco Delta to be evaluated from extensive outcrops along the southwest, and south coasts of Trinidad. The ca. 200 km easterly growth (late Miocene to present) of the Orinoco shelf-margin was generated by repeated cross-shelf, regressive–transgressive transits of the Orinoco Delta system. The studied Late Pliocene segment of this shelf-margin prism allows insight to how this margin was built. The Morne L'Enfer Formation (Late Pliocene) along Cedros Bay and Erin Bay in SW Trinidad, provides a window into the facies and process regime of the ca. 850 m-thick deltaic succession at an inner-shelf location some 100 km landward of the coeval shelf edge. Regressive facies associations include tide-influenced delta-front to prodelta deposits (FA1) within upward coarsening units, shoreface to offshore deposits, possibly with prograding mud cape deposits (FA2), and fluvial distributary channel infills (FA3), as well as muddy sediments of floodbasins and coastal embayments between the distributary channels (FA4), and tide-influenced bay-head delta deposits (FA5). Transgressive facies associations show an overall upward fining of grain size and include inner estuary distributary channels with minimal brackish-water or tidal influence (FA6), transition zone fluvial-tidal distributary channels (FA7), tide-dominated mid-outer estuary channel-bars (FA8), and intertidal to supratidal flat units (FA9). The tidal signals in both deltaic and estuarine units include bi-directional paleocurrents (channels), frequent mud drapes within stacked sets of cross-strata (delta-front), fluid mud layers, flaser, wavy and lenticular bedding, and ubiquitous spring-neap stratal bundling. The tide dominated nature of the paleo-delta in SW Trinidad was likely due to its location within an embayed proto-Columbus Channel, though by analogy with the modern Orinoco Delta, it is predicted that the same succession becomes wave dominated to the east as the delta emerged to the open ocean and approached the outer shelf and shelf-edge region. It is difficult to estimate how much of the abundant mud in the Pliocene deltaic sequences was derived from inner-shelf littoral currents with suspended Amazon River mud. The studied Late Pliocene Morne L'Enfer succession contains some 17 high-frequency transgressive–regressive sequences, each ca. 40–60 m thick, estimated to have an average time duration of 90–120 Ky. By analogy, the last glacial cycle on the Orinoco shelf saw the delta prograding across the 200 km-wide shelf to the shelf edge in ca. 100 Ky, then transgressing back to its present position in 20 Ky. A predicted model of the linkage between the study succession on SW Trinidad and its eastward continuation offshore towards the outer shelf and shelf edge in the Columbus Basin is suggested. 相似文献