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1.
Storm-driven currents can carry sand from the shoreline tens of kilometres out onto the continental shelves where it is moulded by storm waves into a storm-sand bed showing distinctive sedimentary structures, including hummocky crossstratification. An understanding of the nature of the depositional currents and the processes that form hummocky cross-stratification comes from the work of oceanographers, observations by geologists and experimental studies in the laboratory, although the conclusions reached are sometimes conflicting. Storm-sandstone beds provide valuable information about sediment dispersal and depositional systems in nearshore and shelf environments. Hummocky crossstratification indicates the activity of storm waves and hence the approximate depth of ancient shelf seas.  相似文献   

2.
On the southeast Australian continental margin, mixed siliciclastic and temperate carbonate sediments are presently forming along the narrow 20–35 km‐wide northern New South Wales shelf over an area of 4960 km2. Here, year‐round, highly energetic waves rework inner and mid‐shelf clastic sediments by northward longshore currents or waning storm flows. The strong East Australian Current flows south, sweeping clastic and outer shelf biogenic sands and gravels. Quaternary siliciclastic inner shelf cores consist of fine to medium, lower shoreface sand and graded storm beds of fine to coarse sand. Physically abraded, disarticulated molluscs such as Donacidae and Glycymeridae form isolated gravel lags. Highstand inner shelf clastics accumulate at 0.53 m/103 y in less than 50 m water depth. Clastic mid‐shelf cores contain well‐sorted, winnowed, medium shoreface sands, with a fine sand component. Fine sand and mud in this area is discharged mainly from New South Wales’ largest river, the Clarence. The seaward jutting of Byron Bay results in weakened East Australia Current flows through the mid‐shelf from Ballina to Yamba allowing the fine sediments to accumulate. Quaternary carbonate outer shelf cores have uniform and graded beds forming from the East Australian Current and are also influenced by less frequent storm energy. Modern clastic‐starved outer shelf hardgrounds are cemented by coralline algae and encrusting bryozoans. Clay‐sized particles are dominantly high‐Mg calcite with minor aragonite and smectite/kaolinite. Carbonate sands are rich in bryozoan fragments and sponge spicules. Distinctive (gravel‐sized) molluscs form isolated shells or shell lag deposits comprising Limopsidae and Pectinidae. The upper slope sediments are the only significant accumulation of surficial mud on the margin (18–36 wt%), filling the interstices of poorly sorted, biogenic gravels. Pectinid molluscs form a basal gravel lag. During highstand the outer shelf accumulates sediment at 0.40 m/103 y, with the upper slope accumulating a lower 0.23 m/103 y since transgression. Transgression produced a diachronous (14–10 ka) wave‐ravinement surface in all cores. Relict marine hardgrounds overlie the wave‐ravinement surface and are cemented by inorganic calcite from the shallow and warm East Australian Current. Transgressive estuarine deposits, oxygen isotope Stage 3–5 barriers or shallow bedrock underlie the wave‐ravinement surface on the inner and mid shelf. Northern New South Wales is an example of a low accommodation, wave‐ and oceanic current‐dominated margin that has produced mixed siliciclastic‐carbonate facies. Shelf ridge features that characterise many storm‐dominated margins are absent.  相似文献   

3.
Although sequence stratigraphic concepts have been applied extensively to coarse-grained siliciclastic deposits in nearshore environments, high-resolution sequence stratigraphic analysis has not been widely applied to mudstone-dominated sedimentary successions deposited in more distal hemipelagic to pelagic settings. To examine how sequence stratigraphic frameworks can be derived from the facies variability of mudstone-dominated successions, the Tununk Shale Member of the Mancos Shale Formation in south-central Utah (USA) was examined in detail through a combination of sedimentological, stratigraphic and petrographic methods. The Tununk Shale accumulated on a storm-dominated shelf during the second-order Greenhorn sea-level cycle. During this eustatic event, the depositional environment of the Tununk Shale shifted laterally from distal middle shelf to outer shelf, then from an outer shelf to an inner shelf environment. At least 49 parasequences can be identified within the Tununk Shale. Each parasequence shows a coarsening-upward trend via upward increases in silt and sand content, thickness and lateral continuity of laminae/beds, and abundance of storm-generated sedimentary structures. Variations in bioturbation styles within parasequences are complex, although abrupt changes in bioturbation intensity or diversity commonly occur across parasequence boundaries (i.e. flooding surfaces). Due to changes in depositional environments, dominant sediment supply and bioturbation characteristics, parasequence styles in the Tununk Shale show considerable variability. Based on parasequence stacking patterns, eleven system tracts, four depositional sequences and key sequence stratigraphic surfaces can be identified. The high-resolution sequence stratigraphic framework of the Tununk Shale reveals a hierarchy of stratal cyclicity. Application of sequence stratigraphic concepts to this thick mudstone-dominated succession provides important insights into the underlying causes of heterogeneity in these rocks over multiple thickness scales (millimetre-scale to metre-scale). The detailed sedimentological characterization of parasequences, system tracts and depositional sequences in the Tununk Shale provides conceptual approaches that can aid the development of high-resolution sequence stratigraphic frameworks in other ancient shelf mudstone successions.  相似文献   

4.
The dominance of isotropic hummocky cross‐stratification, recording deposition solely by oscillatory flows, in many ancient storm‐dominated shoreface–shelf successions is enigmatic. Based on conventional sedimentological investigations, this study shows that storm deposits in three different and stratigraphically separated siliciclastic sediment wedges within the Lower Cretaceous succession in Svalbard record various depositional processes and principally contrasting sequence stratigraphic architectures. The lower wedge is characterized by low, but comparatively steeper, depositional dips than the middle and upper wedges, and records a change from storm‐dominated offshore transition – lower shoreface to storm‐dominated prodelta – distal delta front deposits. The occurrence of anisotropic hummocky cross‐stratification sandstone beds, scour‐and‐fill features of possible hyperpycnal‐flow origin, and wave‐modified turbidites within this part of the wedge suggests that the proximity to a fluvio‐deltaic system influenced the observed storm‐bed variability. The mudstone‐dominated part of the lower wedge records offshore shelf deposition below storm‐wave base. In the middle wedge, scours, gutter casts and anisotropic hummocky cross‐stratified storm beds occur in inferred distal settings in association with bathymetric steps situated across the platform break of retrogradationally stacked parasequences. These steps gave rise to localized, steeper‐gradient depositional dips which promoted the generation of basinward‐directed flows that occasionally scoured into the underlying seafloor. Storm‐wave and tidal current interaction promoted the development and migration of large‐scale, compound bedforms and smaller‐scale hummocky bedforms preserved as anisotropic hummocky cross‐stratification. The upper wedge consists of thick, seaward‐stepping successions of isotropic hummocky cross‐stratification‐bearing sandstone beds attributed to progradation across a shallow, gently dipping ramp‐type shelf. The associated distal facies are characterized by abundant lenticular, wave ripple cross‐laminated sandstone, suggesting that the basin floor was predominantly positioned above, but near, storm‐wave base. Consequently, shelf morphology and physiography, and the nature of the feeder system (for example, proximity to deltaic systems) are inferred to exert some control on storm‐bed variability and the resulting stratigraphic architecture.  相似文献   

5.
The Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Kenilworth Member of the Blackhawk Formation (Mesaverde Group) is part of a series of strand plain sandstones that intertongue with and overstep the shelfal shales of the western interior basin of North America. Analysis of this section at a combination of small (sedimentological) and large (stratigraphical) scales reveals the dynamics of progradation of a shelf-slope sequence into a subsiding foreland basin. Four major lithofacies are present in the upper Mancos and Kenilworth beds of the Book Cliffs. A lag sandstone and channel-fill shale lithofacies constitutes the thin, basal, transgressive sequence, which rests on a marine erosion surface. It was deposited in an outer shelf environment. Shale, interbedded sandstone and shale, and amalgamated sandstone lithofacies were deposited over the transgressive lag sandstone lithofacies as a wave-dominated delta and its flanking strand plains prograded seaward. Analysis of grain size and primary structures in Kenilworth beds indicates that there are four basic strata types which combine to build the observed lithofacies. The fine- to very fine-grained graded strata of the interbedded facies are tempestites, deposited out of suspension by alongshelf storm flows (geostrophic flows). There is no need to call on cross-shelf turbidity currents (density underflows) to explain their presence. Very fine- to fine-grained hummocky strata are likewise suspension deposits created by waning storm flows, but were deposited under conditions of more intense wave agitation on the middle shoreface. Cross-strata sets in this region are bed-load deposits that accumulated on the upper shore-face, in the surf zone. Lag strata are multi-event, bed-load deposits that are the product of prolonged storm winnowing. They occur on transgressive surfaces. While the graded beds are tempestites in the strict sense, all four classes of strata are storm deposits. The distribution of strata types and their palaeocurrent orientations suggests a model of the Kenilworth transport system driven by downwelling coastal storm flows, and probably by a northeasterly alongshore pressure gradient. The stratification patterns shift systematically from upper shoreface to lower shoreface and inner shelf lithofacies partly because of a reduction in fluid power expenditure with increasing water depth, but also because of progressive sorting, which resulted in a decrease in grain size in the sediment load delivered to successive downstream environments. The Kenilworth Member and an isolated outlier, the Hatch Mesa lentil, constitute a delta-prodelta shelf depositional system. Their rhythmically bedded, lenticular, sandstone and shale successions are a prodelta shelf facies, and may be prodelta plume deposits. Major Upper Cretaceous sandstone tongues in the Book Cliffs are underlain by erosional surfaces like that beneath the Blackhawk Formation, which extend for many tens of kilometres into the Mancos shale. These surfaces are the boundaries of Upper Cretaceous depositional sequences. The sequences are large-scale genetic stratigraphic units. They result from the arranging of facies into depositional systems; the depositional systems are in turn stacked in repeating arrays, which constitute the depositional sequences. The anatomy of these foreland basin sequences differs  相似文献   

6.
Shelf-indenting canyons and their tributary systems are fairly common constituents of Quaternary shelves of active continental margins, but they have been rarely reported from older successions. Recognition of these prominent geomorphologic features in the ancient record has important implications not only for a proper understanding of shoreface-to-shelf depositional systems, but also from a petroleum exploration standpoint as they represent efficient conduits for moving coarse-grained river- and nearshore-borne sediments to the adjacent slope even during periods of relative rise in sea level.Coastal exposures of the lower Pliocene Súa Member in the surroundings of Súa (northwest Ecuador), preserve the unusual juxtaposition of incising submarine channels onto nearshore deposits. This succession accumulated along a narrow, active continental margin during tectonically induced transgression and affords a rare opportunity to evaluate the stratigraphic evolution of such systems from an outcrop perspective. A comprehensive facies characterization combined with application of sequence stratigraphic concepts has led to definition of the following physical surfaces and stratal units in ascending order. (i) A polygenetic, regionally extensive erosional surface resulting from the superposition of the wave ravinement surface onto the previous subaerial sequence boundary (SB/wRS). (ii) A nearshore, sand-prone lithofacies succession comprising a condensed basal shellbed deepening upwards through lower-shoreface bioturbated silty sandstones, into inner shelf sandy mudstones. (iii) Two steep, U-shaped erosional features (turbidite shelf-entrenchment surfaces), interpreted as shelf channels, deeply incised into the subjacent nearshore sediments and marking an abrupt deepening of facies. (iv) A thick, fining-upward sedimentary succession laid down within the confines of the channels by high- and low-density turbidity currents and including both bed-load (traction) and suspended-load deposits; the overall fining- and thinning-upward character exhibited by the infill of these channels is thought to reflect decreasing flow energies and is consistent with the gradual cut-off of clastic influx to their upper reaches in response to progressive detachment from an adjacent coastal source during relative rise in sea level.Based on detailed analysis of facies and a sequence stratigraphic interpretation of outcrop data, this study contributes to extend the existing sequence stratigraphic schemes, further attesting that shelf-sediment bypass and deep-water sedimentation can take place at sea levels other than lowstand.  相似文献   

7.
A suprasubduction zone oceanic back-arc setting for the Paleoproterozoic Kandra ophiolite complex (KOC) in southern India has been suggested from geochemical signatures. The telescoped segments of thin deformed sedimentary successions of shallow marine to pelagic affinity, overlying a basaltic substrate and preserved within thrust slices of the KOC, are tectonically juxtaposed against the Eastern Dharwar craton margin. In the northern thrust slice (Kandra village succession), about 150 m of sedimentary strata show intercalation of quartz arenite and basaltic flow in the lower part, grading upwards to heterolithic sandstone-mudstone deposited above the storm wave base. In the southeastern part of the KOC (Gurramkonda succession), deep-water greywacke turbidite, pelagic chert, mafic tuff and volcaniclastics, and quartz arenite deposited below the storm wave base, are preserved as thrust bound packets. Intermittent basaltic outpourings punctuated deeper water deposition as evidenced by alternate metachert and metabasalt layers, and emplacement of basaltic rocks along small thrusts which transpose stratification. Craton margin sediments consists of immature, coarse terrigenous clastics intercalated with thin mafic tuff, suggesting influence of mass flow processes giving way to fluvial sedimentation in the lower part of the Udaigiri Group. Further up, fine grained plane laminated siltstone-shale with rippled sandstone lenses grade upward to compositionally mature quartz arenite deposited close to the craton margin, with signatures of tidal- and wave reworking. The association of stratigraphic successions of two contrasting depositional environments in the KOC adds to the spectrum of variation of sedimentary collage of the ocean plate stratigraphy. The Kandra village and Gurramkonda successions of the KOC, possibly represent ancient arc-trench milieu, and shallower part of oceanic marginal basin respectively. Paleoproterozoic subduction-accretion process led to collapse of these basins and tectonic emplacement of the KOC against the Eastern Dharwar craton margin which hosted near shore sedimentary succession of the Udaigiri Group, occurring west of the KOC.  相似文献   

8.
The marine sedimentary formations of the Middle Albian to Maastrichtian in the Cretaceous Sakhalin Basin (CSB) were investigated. These successions of strata consist of interbedded sandy, clayey and calcareous rocks which are underlain by heterogeneous metamorphosed (up to greenschist facies) Paleozoic to Mesozoic (pre-Aptian) rocks. The studied sections display several different facies reflecting geological settings ranging from an inner shelf to a continental slope. Three depositional complexes bound by regional subaerial unconformities are recognized within the marine successions. Since the Albian, the CSB has been a rapidly subsiding marginal part of the Okhotsk Sea plate. The Naiba Valley succession, corresponding to a sublittoral zone, shows extremely high sedimentation rates up to 190 m/Ma. The stratigraphic distribution of lithofacies indicates that the CSB became shallower from the Middle Albian to the Maastrichtian.  相似文献   

9.
Depositional slope systems along continental margins contain a record of sediment transfer from shallow‐water to deep‐water environments and represent an important area for natural resource exploration. However, well‐preserved outcrops of large‐scale depositional slopes with seismic‐scale exposures and tectonically intact stratigraphy are uncommon. Outcrop characterization of smaller‐scale depositional slope systems (i.e. < 700 m of undecompacted shelf‐to‐basin relief) has led to increased understanding of stratigraphic packaging of prograding slopes. Detailed stacking patterns of facies and sedimentary body architecture for larger‐scale slope systems, however, remain understudied. The Cretaceous Tres Pasos Formation of the Magallanes Basin, southern Chile, presents a unique opportunity to evaluate the stratigraphic evolution of such a slope system from an outcrop perspective. Inherited tectonic relief from a precursor oceanic basin phase created shelf‐to‐basin bathymetry comparable with continental margin systems (～1000 m). Sedimentological and architectural data from the Tres Pasos Formation at Cerro Divisadero reveal a record of continental margin‐scale depositional slope progradation and aggradation. Slope progradation is manifested as a vertical pattern exhibiting increasing amounts of sediment bypass upwards, which is interpreted as reflecting increasing gradient conditions. The well‐exposed, seismic‐scale outcrop is characterized by four 20 to 70 m thick sandstone‐rich successions, separated by mudstone‐rich intervals of comparable thickness (40 to 90 m). Sedimentary body geometry, facies distribution, internal bedding architecture, sandstone richness and degree of amalgamation were analysed in detail across a continuous 2·5 km long transect parallel to depositional dip. Deposition in the lower section (Units 1 and 2) was dominated by poorly channellized to unconfined sand‐laden flows and accumulation of mud‐rich mass transport deposits, which is interpreted as representing a base of slope to lower slope setting. Evidence for channellization and indicators of bypass of coarse‐grained turbidity currents are more common in the upper part of the > 600 m thick succession (Units 3 and 4), which is interpreted as reflecting increased gradient conditions as the system accreted basinward.  相似文献   

10.
《Sedimentology》2018,65(5):1558-1589
Most of the present knowledge of shallow‐marine, mixed carbonate–siliciclastic systems relies on examples from the carbonate‐dominated end of the carbonate–siliciclastic spectrum. This contribution provides a detailed reconstruction of a siliciclastic‐dominated mixed system (Pilmatué Member of the Agrio Formation, Neuquén Basin, Argentina) that explores the variability of depositional models and resulting stratigraphic units within these systems. The Pilmatué Member regressive system comprises a storm‐dominated, shoreface to basinal setting with three subparallel zones: a distal mixed zone, a middle siliciclastic zone and a proximal mixed zone. In the latter, a significant proportion of ooids and bioclasts were mixed with terrigenous sediment, supplied mostly via along‐shore currents. Storm‐generated flows were the primary processes exporting fine sand and mud to the middle zone, but were ineffective to remove coarser sediment. The distal zone received low volumes of siliciclastic mud, which mixed with planktonic‐derived carbonate material. Successive events of shoreline progradation and retrogradation of the Pilmatué system generated up to 17 parasequences, which are bounded by shell beds associated with transgressive surfaces. The facies distribution and resulting genetic units of this siliciclastic‐dominated mixed system are markedly different to the ones observed in present and ancient carbonate‐dominated mixed systems, but they show strong similarities with the products of storm‐dominated, pure siliciclastic shoreface–shelf systems. Basin‐scale depositional controls, such as arid climatic conditions and shallow epeiric seas might aid in the development of mixed systems across the full spectrum (i.e. from carbonate‐dominated to siliciclastic‐dominated end members), but the interplay of processes supplying sand to the system, as well as processes transporting sediment across the marine environment, are key controls in shaping the tridimensional facies distribution and the genetic units of siliciclastic‐dominated mixed systems. Thus, the identification of different combinations of basin‐scale factors and depositional processes is key for a better prediction of conventional and unconventional reservoirs within mixed, carbonate–siliciclastic successions worldwide.  相似文献   

11.
Hydrodynamic data and samples of bed sediment were collected from Nara Inlet, a small incised embayment in the Whitsunday Islands, central Great Barrier Reef. Measured tidal currents in the inlet do not exceed 0.2 ms–1 even at spring tides. Swell waves dominate much of the inner shelf of the Great Barrier Reef but are absent from in the inlet due to the presence of a fringing reef at the inlet mouth. On the silty sand floor of the inlet, particle size decreases towards the inlet head. Most of the bed is too coarse to be remobilised by fair‐weather wave and tides, and we predict that bedload sediment transport thresholds are only exceeded in the inlet during cyclones. The observed distribution of bed sediments is consistent with landward dispersal of sediment under storm conditions. Over 20 m of (presumably Holocene) sediments occurs in the inlet and the seismic character of the infill is consistent with the observed textural variation of the modern sediments. We infer that sediment accumulation on the floor of the inlet has been storm dominated throughout much of the Holocene.  相似文献   

12.
Pot casts and gutter casts are described for the first time in the lower part of the Majanillos Formation, a Middle Triassic carbonate unit located in the External Zones of the Betic Cordillera (southern Spain). Their identification, as well as their relation to tempestites, enables the better interpretation of the depositional environments and the shoreline-to-offshore facies transition on the Anisian muddy carbonate ramp of the southern Iberian Massif. The Majanillos Formation contains three members, which become progressively more marly towards the top. Well-preserved pot and gutter casts and thin intercalations of calcarenite, which are interpreted as tempestites, are abundant in the lowest member. Above the pot and gutter casts, thicker calcarenite beds, which locally contain hummocky cross-stratification, predominate. Bioturbated nodular limestones are prevalent at the top of the member. The remaining succession, which records a long-term Triassic transgressive cycle, consists mostly of fine-grained limestones deposited in very shallow-marine environments. Calcarenitic sediments only accumulated within potholes and gutters in the nearshore. They developed during storms when strong currents transported sediment to the outer shelf, where it was deposited as tempestite beds. Pot and gutter casts characterize sedimentation in the bypass zone. It is concluded that storm deposits provide important constraints for the interpretation of palaeobathymetry; it is proposed that gutter casts display a trend of increasing width/thickness ratios towards the outer shelf. The identification of these structures in marine successions elsewhere should prove useful in the interpretation of depositional environments.  相似文献   

13.
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14.
Shelf‐edge deltas are a key depositional environment for accreting sediment onto shelf‐margin clinoforms. The Moruga Formation, part of the palaeo‐Orinoco shelf‐margin sedimentary prism of south‐east Trinidad, provides new insight into the incremental growth of a Pliocene, storm wave‐dominated shelf margin. Relatively little is known about the mechanisms of sand bypass from the shelf‐break area of margins, and in particular from storm wave‐dominated margins which are generally characterized by drifting of sand along strike until meeting a canyon or channel. The studied St. Hilaire Siltstone and Trinity Hill Sandstone succession is 260 m thick and demonstrates a continuous transition from gullied (with turbidites) uppermost slope upward to storm wave‐dominated delta front on the outermost shelf. The basal upper‐slope deposits are dominantly mass‐transport deposited blocks, as well as associated turbidites and debrites with common soft‐sediment‐deformed strata. The overlying uppermost slope succession exhibits a spectacular set of gullies, which are separated by abundant slump‐scar unconformities (tops of rotational slides), then filled with debris‐flow conglomerates and sandy turbidite beds with interbedded mudstones. The top of the study succession, on the outer‐shelf area, contains repeated upward‐coarsening, sandstone‐rich parasequences (2 to 15 m thick) with abundant hummocky and swaley cross‐stratification, clear evidence of storm‐swell and storm wave‐dominated conditions. The observations suggest reconstruction of the unstable shelf margin as follows: (i) the aggradational storm wave‐dominated, shelf‐edge delta front became unstable and collapsed down the slope; (ii) the excavated scars of the shelf margin became gullied, but gradually healed (aggraded) by repeated infilling by debris flows and turbidites, and then new gullying and further infilling; and (iii) a renewed storm wave‐dominated delta‐front prograded out across the healed outer shelf, re‐establishing the newly stabilized shelf margin. The Moruga Formation study, along with only a few others in the literature, confirms the sediment bypass ability of storm wave‐dominated reaches of shelf edges, despite river‐dominated deltas being, by far, the most efficient shelf‐edge regime for sediment bypass at the shelf break.  相似文献   

15.
M. L. PORTER 《Sedimentology》1987,34(4):661-680
The Lower Jurassic Aztec Sandstone is an aeolian-deposited quartzose sandstone that represents the western margin of the southerly-migrating Navajo-Nugget sand sea (or erg). Vertical and lateral facies relations suggest that the erg margin encroached upon volcanic highlands, alluvial fan, wadi and sabkha environments. In southern Nevada, 700 m thick facies successions record the arrival of the Aztec sand sea. Initial erg sedimentation in the Valley of Fire consists of lenticular or tongue-shaped aeolian sand bodies interstratified with fluvially-deposited coarse sandstone and mudstone. Above, evaporite-rich fine sandstone and mudstone are overlain by thick, cross-stratified aeolian sandstone that shows an upsection increase in set thickness. The lithofacies succession represents aeolian sand sheets and small dunes that migrated over a siliciclastic sabkha traversed by ephemeral wadis. These deposits were ultimately buried by large dunes and draas of the erg. In the Spring Mountains, a similar facies succession also contains thin, lenticular volcaniclastic conglomerate and sandstone. These sediments represent the distal margin of an alluvial fan complex sourced from the west. Thin aeolian sequences are interbedded with volcanic flow rocks, ash-flow tuffs, debris flows, and fluvial deposits in the Mojave Desert of southern California. These aeolian strata represent erg migration up the eastern flanks of a magmatic arc. The westward diminution of aeolian-deposited units may reflect incomplete erg migration, thin accumulation of aeolian sediment succeptible to erosion, and stratigraphic dilution by arc-derived sediment. A two-part division of the Aztec erg is suggested by lithofacies associations, the size and geometry of aeolian cross-strata, and sediment dispersal data. The leading or downwind margin of the erg, here termed the fore-erg, is represented by a 10–100 m thick succession of isolated pods, lenses, and tongues of aeolian-deposited sediment encased in fluvial and sabkha deposits. Continued sand-sea migration brought large dunes and draas of the erg interior into the study area; these 150–500 m thick central-erg sediments buried the fore-erg deposits. The trailing, upwind margin of the erg is represented by back-erg deposits in northern Utah and Wyoming.  相似文献   

16.
The shore‐normal transport of fine‐grained sediments by shelf turbidity currents has been the focus of intense debate over the last 20 years. Many have argued that turbidity currents are unlikely to be a major depositional agent on the shelf. However, sedimentological, architectural, stratigraphic and palaeogeographic data from the Campanian Aberdeen Member, Book Cliffs, eastern Utah suggests otherwise and clearly demonstrates that storm‐generated and river flood‐generated underflows can transport a significant volume of fine‐grained sediments across the shelf. These across‐shelf flowing turbidity currents cut large subaqueous channel complexes up to 7 m deep, tens of kilometres basinward of their time‐equivalent shoreface. The shelf channels were filled with organic‐rich siltstones, mudstones and very fine‐ to fine‐grained Bouma‐like sandstone beds, including wave‐modified turbidites, hyperpycnites and classical turbidites. Deposition was above storm wave base. Palaeocurrent data reveal an overwhelmingly dominant across‐shelf (east–south‐east), offshore‐directed transport trend. Tectonic activity and/or concomitant palaeogeographic reorganization of the basin may favour the generation of these turbidite‐rich shelf deposits by altering the relative balance of wave versus fluvial energy. Increased erosion and sediment supply rates, because of tectonic uplift of the hinterland, may have increased the probability of fluvial dominance along the coastline and, hence, the possibility of submarine channelization in front of the river mouths. Additionally, the coastline may have become more sheltered from direct wave energy, thus allowing the fluvial processes to dominate. Seasonal increases in rainfall and storm activity may also favour the generation of across‐shelf underflows. On wave‐dominated shorelines, isolated shelf channels and lobes are most likely to be found down‐dip of fluvial‐feeder systems in relatively high sediment supply settings. These features are also most likely to occur in systems tracts that straddle a sequence boundary, especially those which are tectonically generated, as these would enhance the potential for altering basin morphology and, hence, the balance of fluvial and wave energy. Isolated shelf channels are recognized in older and younger strata in the Book Cliffs region, implying that wave‐supported gravity flows were a recurrent phenomena in the Campanian of Utah. It is probable that isolated shelf bodies are preserved in other stratigraphic intervals in the Cretaceous Western Interior of North America, and other basins worldwide, and are currently being overlooked or misidentified. Shoreface‐to‐shelf facies models should be revised to incorporate turbidite‐rich shelf deposits in some shelf settings.  相似文献   

17.
Lithofacies analysis is fundamental to unravelling the succession of depositional environments associated with sea‐level fluctuations. These successions and their timing are often poorly understood. This report defines lithofacies encountered within the north‐eastern North Carolina and south‐eastern Virginia Quaternary section, interprets their depositional environments, presents a model for coastal depositional sequence development in a passive margin setting and uses this understanding to develop the stratigraphy and Quaternary evolutionary history of the region. Data were obtained from numerous drill cores and outcrops. Chronology was based on age estimates acquired using optically stimulated luminescence, amino acid racemization, Uranium series and radiocarbon dating techniques. Geomorphic patterns were identified and interpreted using light detection and ranging imagery. Since lithofacies occurrence, distribution and stratigraphic patterns are different on interfluves than in palaeo‐valleys, this study focused on interfluves to obtain a record of highstand sea‐level cycles with minimal alteration by fluvial processes during subsequent lowstands. Nine primary lithofacies and four diagenetic facies were identified in outcrops and cores. The uppermost depositional sequence on interfluves exhibits an upward succession from shelly marine lithofacies to tidal estuarine lithofacies and is bounded below by a marine ravinement surface and above by the modern land surface. Older depositional sequences in the subsurface are typically bounded above and below by marine ravinement surfaces. Portions of seven depositional sequences were recognized and interpreted to represent deposition from late middle Pleistocene to present. Erosional processes associated with each successive depositional sequence removed portions of older depositional sequences. The stratigraphic record of the most recent sea‐level highstands (Marine Isotope Stage 5a and Marine Isotope Stage 3) is best preserved. Glacio‐isostatic adjustment has influenced depositional patterns so that deposits associated with late Quaternary sea‐level highstands (Marine Isotope Stages 5c, 5a and 3), which did not reach as high as present sea‐level according to equatorial eustatic records, are uplifted and emergent within the study area.  相似文献   

18.
The lithofacies of the uppermost Pleistocene ( ca 11 800 to 10 400 14C yr  bp ), cold-temperate, coarse-grained beach deposits of Lake Algonquin, the precursor of the present Lake Huron of North America, have been studied and interpreted based on analogous features of modern beaches from the same region. Ice foot and ice-cementation develop during winter but, unlike Arctic beaches, ice-related sedimentary features are seldom, if ever, preserved in the Pleistocene and recent deposits of the Great Lakes. Instead, the deposits retain the typical characteristics of wave-dominated, pure gravel and mixed sand and gravel beaches, there including the classical subdivision of infill zone, swash zone/sand run, imbricated zone, coarse flat-clast zone and coastal dunes. These zones form a regular succession on the surface of many modern beaches; however, they seldom occur as quasi-complete vertical successions in older deposits. In the studied uppermost Pleistocene deposits, the various components are separated vertically by erosional contacts (bounding surfaces) readily recognizable on working faces of large sand and gravel pits and mappable in the subsurface by ground-penetrating radar. The lithofacies are sufficiently diagnostic to allow recognition of depositional settings, and the lithofacies architecture allows the deciphering of important geological events, such as: (i) local input of fluvial material onto the shoreface, where it was partially reworked by waves and moved onto the beachface; (ii) occurrence of major storm events; and (iii) repeated rapid transgressions and regressions typical of the glacial-lake precursors of the modern Great Lakes.  相似文献   

19.
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20.
Oceanic islands – such as the Azores in the mid‐North Atlantic – are periodically exposed to large storms that often remobilize and transport marine sediments along coastlines, and into deeper environments. Such disruptive events create deposits – denominated tempestites – whose characteristics reflect the highly dynamic environment in which they were formed. Tempestites from oceanic islands, however, are seldom described in the literature and little is known about storm‐related sediment dynamics affecting oceanic island shelves. Therefore, the geological record of tempestite deposits at oceanic islands can provide invaluable information on the processes of sediment remobilization, transport and deposition taking place on insular shelves during and after major storms. In Santa Maria Island (Azores), a sequence of Neogene tempestite deposits was incorporated in the island edifice by the ongoing volcanic activity (thus preserved) and later exposed through uplift and erosion. Because it was overlain by a contemporary coastal lava delta, the water depth at the time of deposition could be inferred, constituting an excellent case‐study to gain insight on the still enigmatic processes of insular shelf deposition. Sedimentological, palaeontological, petrographic and palaeo‐water depth information allowed the reconstruction of the depositional environment of these sediments. The sequence typifies the characteristics of a tempestite (or successive tempestites) formed at ca 50 m depth, in a steep, energetic open insular shelf, and with evidence for massive sediment remobilization from the nearshore to the middle or outer shelf. The authors claim that cross‐shelf transport induced by storm events is the main process of sediment deposition acting on steep and narrow shelves subjected to high‐energetic environments, such as the insular shelves of open‐sea volcanic islands.  相似文献   

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