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1.
The settling behaviour of particulate suspensions and their deposits has been documented using a series of settling tube experiments. Suspensions comprised saline solution and noncohesive glass‐ballotini sand of particle size 35·5 μm < d < 250 μm and volume fractions, φs, up to 0·6 and cohesive kaolinite clay of particle size d < 35·5 μm and volume fractions, φm, up to 0·15. Five texturally distinct deposits were found, associated with different settling regimes: (I) clean, graded sand beds produced by incremental deposition under unhindered or hindered settling conditions; (II) partially graded, clean sand beds with an ungraded base and a graded top, produced by incremental deposition under hindered settling conditions; (III) graded muddy sands produced by compaction with significant particle sorting by elutriation; (IV) ungraded clean sand produced by compaction and (V) ungraded muddy sand produced by compaction. A transition from particle size segregation (regime I) to suppressed size segregation (regime II or III) to virtually no size segregation (IV or V) occurred as sediment concentration was increased. In noncohesive particulate suspensions, segregation was initially suppressed at φs ～ 0·2 and entirely inhibited at φs ≥ 0·6. In noncohesive and cohesive mixtures with low sand concentrations (φs < 0·2), particle segregation was initially suppressed at φm ～ 0·07 and entirely suppressed at φm ≥ 0·13. The experimental results have a number of implications for the depositional dynamics of submarine sediment gravity flows and other particulate flows that carry sand and mud; because the influence of moving flow is ignored in these experiments, the results will only be applicable to flows in which settling processes, in the depositional boundary, dominate over shear‐flow processes, as might be the case for rapidly decelerating currents with high suspended load fallout rates. The ‘abrupt’ change in settling regimes between regime I and V, over a relatively small change in mud concentration (<5% by volume), favours the development of either mud‐poor, graded sandy deposits or mud‐rich, ungraded sandy deposits. This may explain the bimodality in sediment texture (clean ‘turbidite’ or muddy ‘debrite’ sand or sandstone) found in some turbidite systems. Furthermore, it supports the notion that distal ‘linked’ debrites could form because of a relatively small increase in the mud concentration of turbidity currents, perhaps associated with erosion of a muddy sea floor. Ungraded, clean sand deposits were formed by noncohesive suspensions with concentrations 0·2 ≤ φs ≤ 0·4. Hydrodynamic sorting is interpreted as being suppressed in this case by relatively high bed aggradation rates which could also occur in association with sustained, stratified turbidity currents or noncohesive debris flows with relatively high near‐bed sediment concentrations.  相似文献   

2.
包卷层理是软沉积物变形构造的一种重要类型,其成因较为复杂。在深水沉积环境中,探讨内波、内潮汐作用与包卷层理成因之间的关系,对于丰富包卷层理形成机制和完善内波、内潮汐沉积鉴别标志均具有重要意义。鄂尔多斯盆地西缘北部内蒙古桌子山地区上奥陶统拉什仲组阻塞浊流沉积中发育的包卷层理,依据形态可分为倾向型规则包卷层理和回旋状包卷层理2类: 前者具有紧闭背形、开阔向形及背形之下发育砂核等特征,常和双向交错层理伴生; 后者属于层内扭曲变形,多限定在具有削截现象的层系内,常和复合流沉积构造及浪成波纹层理伴生。综合沉积特征、包卷层理特征、伴生沉积构造及相关研究成果可推测: 倾向型规则包卷层理主要由内潮汐形成,在液化过程中出现明显的密度倒置,因瑞利—泰勒不稳定引起变形,在流体持续剪切作用下进一步改造形成; 回旋状包卷层理主要由短周期内波形成,包括浊流反射形成的随机内波和内潮汐裂解形成的内孤立波,表现为同沉积分层液化,但一般不出现密度倒置现象,因开尔文—亥姆霍兹不稳定引起变形,流体剪切也有一定的改造作用。  相似文献   

3.
Subaqueous sediment density flows: Depositional processes and deposit types   总被引：7，自引：0，他引：7  
Submarine sediment density flows are one of the most important processes for moving sediment across our planet, yet they are extremely difficult to monitor directly. The speed of long run‐out submarine density flows has been measured directly in just five locations worldwide and their sediment concentration has never been measured directly. The only record of most density flows is their sediment deposit. This article summarizes the processes by which density flows deposit sediment and proposes a new single classification for the resulting types of deposit. Colloidal properties of fine cohesive mud ensure that mud deposition is complex, and large volumes of mud can sometimes pond or drain‐back for long distances into basinal lows. Deposition of ungraded mud (TE‐3) most probably finally results from en masse consolidation in relatively thin and dense flows, although initial size sorting of mud indicates earlier stages of dilute and expanded flow. Graded mud (TE‐2) and finely laminated mud (TE‐1) most probably result from floc settling at lower mud concentrations. Grain‐size breaks beneath mud intervals are commonplace, and record bypass of intermediate grain sizes due to colloidal mud behaviour. Planar‐laminated (TD) and ripple cross‐laminated (TC) non‐cohesive silt or fine sand is deposited by dilute flow, and the external deposit shape is consistent with previous models of spatial decelerating (dissipative) dilute flow. A grain‐size break beneath the ripple cross‐laminated (TC) interval is common, and records a period of sediment reworking (sometimes into dunes) or bypass. Finely planar‐laminated sand can be deposited by low‐amplitude bed waves in dilute flow (TB‐1), but it is most likely to be deposited mainly by high‐concentration near‐bed layers beneath high‐density flows (TB‐2). More widely spaced planar lamination (TB‐3) occurs beneath massive clean sand (TA), and is also formed by high‐density turbidity currents. High‐density turbidite deposits (TA, TB‐2 and TB‐3) have a tabular shape consistent with hindered settling, and are typically overlain by a more extensive drape of low‐density turbidite (TD and TC,). This core and drape shape suggests that events sometimes comprise two distinct flow components. Massive clean sand is less commonly deposited en masse by liquefied debris flow (DCS), in which case the clean sand is ungraded or has a patchy grain‐size texture. Clean‐sand debrites can extend for several tens of kilometres before pinching out abruptly. Up‐current transitions suggest that clean‐sand debris flows sometimes form via transformation from high‐density turbidity currents. Cohesive debris flows can deposit three types of ungraded muddy sand that may contain clasts. Thick cohesive debrites tend to occur in more proximal settings and extend from an initial slope failure. Thinner and highly mobile low‐strength cohesive debris flows produce extensive deposits restricted to distal areas. These low‐strength debris flows may contain clasts and travel long distances (DM‐2), or result from more local flow transformation due to turbulence damping by cohesive mud (DM‐1). Mapping of individual flow deposits (beds) emphasizes how a single event can contain several flow types, with transformations between flow types. Flow transformation may be from dilute to dense flow, as well as from dense to dilute flow. Flow state, deposit type and flow transformation are strongly dependent on the volume fraction of cohesive fine mud within a flow. Recent field observations show significant deviations from previous widely cited models, and many hypotheses linking flow type to deposit type are poorly tested. There is much still to learn about these remarkable flows.  相似文献   

4.
Current understanding of submarine sediment density flows is based heavily on their deposits, because such flows are notoriously difficult to monitor directly. However, it is rarely possible to trace the facies architecture of individual deposits over significant distances. Instead, bed‐scale facies models that infer the architecture of ‘typical’ deposits encapsulate current understanding of depositional processes and flow evolution. In this study, the distribution of facies in 12 individual beds has been documented along downstream transects over distances in excess of 100 km. These deposits were emplaced in relatively flat basin‐plain settings in the Miocene Marnoso Arenacea Formation, north‐east Italy and the late Quaternary Agadir Basin, offshore Morocco. Statistical analysis shows that the most common series of vertical facies transitions broadly resembles established facies models. However, mapping of individual beds shows that they commonly deviate from generalized models in several important ways that include: (i) the abundance of parallel laminated sand, suggesting deposition of this facies from both high‐density and low‐density turbidity current; (ii) three distinctly different types of grain‐size break, suggesting waxing flow, erosional hiatuses and bypass of silty sediment; (iii) the presence of mud‐rich debrites demonstrating hybrid flow deposition; and (iv) dune‐scale cross‐lamination in fine‐medium grained sandstones. Submarine sediment density flows in basin‐plain settings flow over relatively simple topography. Yet, their deposits record complex flow events, involving transformation between different flow types, rather than the simple waning surges often associated with the distal parts of turbidite systems.  相似文献   

5.
Soft-sediment deformation structures similar to convolute lamination were found at the sandy rim of an intertidal shoal in the Oosterschelde estuary, the Netherlands. Abundant air filled cavities within upward penetrated domes suggest that reversed density stratification resulting from trapped air in some sand layers plays a role in the deformational process. Field observations show that air-filled cavities are formed within fine-grained sand; at rising tide the ground water level does not rise quickly enough to replace the interstitial air before flood water covers the sediment surface. Thus, air is trapped in the sand between the ground water level and the sediment-water interface. Because of the weight of the overlying water column and the slow downward movement of water due to capillary action, the entrapped air is compressed and eventually may attain a pressure which enables it to lift the overlying sediment. At this time bubbles are formed, often to a depth of 20 cm. Observation and experiments show that, in layers of fine sand, bubbles develop preferentially in better sorted and coarser zones. This is probably because capillary forces are greater in finer-grained and less sorted sand. Thus, water will penetrate by preference into the latter, pressing the interstitial air into the better sorted and coarser sand. The high content of air cavities in certain layers then provides the density instability responsible for the deformational process leading to the formation of convolute lamination. In the intertidal zone this appears to be a slow process that covers a number of ebb and flood cycles. Convolute lamination has been described from a number of ancient sandstones that are thought to have been deposited in shallow water, near-shore environments. In many of these cases sand size compares with that found in the Oosterschelde. Air entrapment might have played a role in the formation of certain of these occurrences of convolute lamination.  相似文献   

6.
The Lower Cretaceous Britannia Formation (North Sea) includes an assemblage of sandstone beds interpreted here to be the deposits of turbidity currents, debris flows and a spectrum of intermediate flow types termed slurry flows. The term ‘slurry flow’ is used here to refer to watery flows transitional between turbidity currents, in which particles are supported primarily by flow turbulence, and debris flows, in which particles are supported by flow strength. Thick, clean, dish‐structured sandstones and associated thin‐bedded sandstones showing Bouma Tb–e divisions were deposited by high‐ and low‐density turbidity currents respectively. Debris flow deposits are marked by deformed, intraformational mudstone and sandstone masses suspended within a sand‐rich mudstone matrix. Most Britannia slurry‐flow deposits contain 10–35% detrital mud matrix and are grain supported. Individual beds vary in thickness from a few centimetres to over 30 m. Seven sedimentary structure division types are recognized in slurry‐flow beds: (M1) current structured and massive divisions; (M2) banded units; (M3) wispy laminated sandstone; (M4) dish‐structured divisions; (M5) fine‐grained, microbanded to flat‐laminated units; (M6) foundered and mixed layers that were originally laminated to microbanded; and (M7) vertically water‐escape structured divisions. Water‐escape structures are abundant in slurry‐flow deposits, including a variety of vertical to subvertical pipe‐ and sheet‐like fluid‐escape conduits, dish structures and load structures. Structuring of Britannia slurry‐flow beds suggests that most flows began deposition as turbidity currents: fully turbulent flows characterized by turbulent grain suspension and, commonly, bed‐load transport and deposition (M1). Mud was apparently transported largely as hydrodynamically silt‐ to sand‐sized grains. As the flows waned, both mud and mineral grains settled, increasing near‐bed grain concentration and flow density. Low‐density mud grains settling into the denser near‐bed layers were trapped because of their reduced settling velocities, whereas denser quartz and feldspar continued settling to the bed. The result of this kinetic sieving was an increasing mud content and particle concentration in the near‐bed layers. Disaggregation of mud grains in the near‐bed zone as a result of intense shear and abrasion against rigid mineral grains caused a rapid increase in effective clay surface area and, hence, near‐bed cohesion, shear resistance and viscosity. Eventually, turbulence was suppressed in a layer immediately adjacent to the bed, which was transformed into a cohesion‐dominated viscous sublayer. The banding and lamination in M2 are thought to reflect the formation, evolution and deposition of such cohesion‐dominated sublayers. More rapid fallout from suspension in less muddy flows resulted in the development of thin, short‐lived viscous sublayers to form wispy laminated divisions (M3) and, in the least muddy flows with the highest suspended‐load fallout rates, direct suspension sedimentation formed dish‐structured M4 divisions. Markov chain analysis indicates that these divisions are stacked to form a range of bed types: (I) dish‐structured beds; (II) dish‐structured and wispy laminated beds; (III) banded, wispy laminated and/or dish‐structured beds; (IV) predominantly banded beds; and (V) thickly banded and mixed slurried beds. These different bed types form mainly in response to the varying mud contents of the depositing flows and the influence of mud on suspended‐load fallout rates. The Britannia sandstones provide a remarkable and perhaps unique window on the mechanics of sediment‐gravity flows transitional between turbidity currents and debris flows and the textures and structuring of their deposits.  相似文献   

7.
Grain‐size breaks are surfaces where abrupt changes in grain size occur vertically within deposits. Grain‐size breaks are common features in turbidites around the world, including ancient and modern systems. Despite their widespread occurrence, grain‐size breaks have been regarded as exceptional, and not included within idealized models of turbidity current deposition. This study uses ca 100 shallow sediment cores, from the Moroccan Turbidite System, to map out five turbidite beds for distances in excess of 2000 km. The vertical and spatial distributions of grain‐size breaks within these beds are examined. Five different types of grain‐size break are found: Type I – in proximal areas between coarse sand and finer grained structureless sand; Type II – in proximal areas between inversely graded sand overlain by finer sand; Type III – in proximal areas between sand overlain by ripple cross‐laminated finer sand; Type IV – throughout the system between clean sand and mud; and Type V – in distal areas between mud‐rich (debrite) sand and mud. This article interprets Types I and V as being generated by sharp vertical concentration boundaries, controlled by sediment and clay concentrations within the flows, whilst Types II and III are interpreted as products of spatial/temporal fluctuations in flow capacity. Type IV are interpreted as the product of fluid mud layers, which hinder the settling of non‐cohesive grains and bypasses them down slope. Decelerating suspensions with sufficient clay will always form cohesive layers near to bed, promoting the generation of Type IV grain‐size breaks. This may explain why Type IV grain‐size breaks are widespread in all five turbidites examined and are commonplace within turbidite sequences studied elsewhere. Therefore, Type IV grain‐size breaks should be understood as the norm, not the exception, and regarded as a typical feature within turbidite beds.  相似文献   

8.
The Marnoso‐arenacea Formation in the Italian Apennines is the only ancient rock sequence where individual submarine sediment density flow deposits have been mapped out in detail for over 100 km. Bed correlations provide new insight into how submarine flows deposit sand, because bed architecture and sandstone shape provide an independent test of depositional process models. This test is important because it can be difficult or impossible to infer depositional process unambiguously from characteristics seen at just one outcrop, especially for massive clean‐sandstone intervals whose origin has been controversial. Beds have three different types of geometries (facies tracts) in downflow oriented transects. Facies tracts 1 and 2 contain clean graded and ungraded massive sandstone deposited incrementally by turbidity currents, and these intervals taper relatively gradually downflow. Mud‐rich sand deposited by cohesive debris flow occurs in the distal part of Facies tract 2. Facies tract 3 contains clean sandstone with a distinctive swirly fabric formed by patches of coarser and better‐sorted grains that most likely records pervasive liquefaction. This type of clean sandstone can extend for up to 30 km before pinching out relatively abruptly. This abrupt pinch out suggests that this clean sand was deposited by debris flow. In some beds there are downflow transitions from turbidite sandstone into clean debrite sandstone, suggesting that debris flows formed by transformation from high‐density turbidity currents. However, outsize clasts in one particular debrite are too large and dense to have been carried by an initial turbidity current, suggesting that this debris flow ran out for at least 15 km. Field data indicate that liquefied debris flows can sometimes deposit clean sand over large (10 to 30 km) expanses of sea floor, and that these clean debrite sand layers can terminate abruptly.  相似文献   

9.
A series of laboratory experiments has been carried out in which parallel-laminated deposits were produced from an upper-regime plane bed. The laminae had thicknesses of a few mm and could be traced continuously over distances up to the length and width of the depositional area (0–3 m by 1–5m). Fluctuations in bed elevation were measured both during deposition and at equilibrium; much of the bed fluctuation occurs at time scales that are too long to be due directly to turbulence, as most theories for lamina formation would require. We suggest instead that extremely low-amplitude bed forms are present even on apparently flat beds and that the migration of these bed forms produces laterally continuous lamination. All the lamination produced in the laboratory experiments was normally graded. Using high-speed photography it was observed that the normal grading results from rapid deposition of a layer of loosely packed coarse sand several grain-diameters thick followed by the slow sieving-out of a well packed surface layer of finer sand. The initial deposition is the result of small-scale turbulent fluctuations in boundary shear stress. The sieving-out that follows results in a smooth surface whose low friction coefficient temporarily inhibits further deposition; we term this process ‘glazing’. The alignment of small-scale turbulent scour-and-fill structures along the paths traced by migrating bedform troughs produces laterally continuous parallel lamination.  相似文献   

10.
Deep‐water sandstone beds of the Oligocene Fusaru Sandstone and Lower Dysodilic Shale, exposed in the Buz?u Valley area of the East Carpathian flysch belt, Romania, can be described in terms of the standard turbidite divisions. In addition, mud‐rich sand layers are common, both as parts of otherwise ‘normal’ sequences of turbidite divisions and as individual event beds. Eleven units, interpreted as the deposits of individual flows, were densely sampled, and 87 thin sections were point counted for grain size and mud content. S3/Ta divisions, which form the bulk of most sedimentation units, have low internal textural variability but show subtle vertical trends in grain size. Most commonly, coarse‐tail normal grading is associated with fine‐tail inverse grading. The mean grain size can show inverse grading, normal grading or a lack of grading, but sorting tends to improve upward in most beds. Fine‐tail inverse grading is interpreted as resulting from a decreasing effectiveness of trapping of fines during rapid deposition from a turbidity current as the initially high suspended‐load fallout rate declines. If this effect is strong enough, the mean grain size can show subtle inverse grading as well. Thus, thick inversely graded intervals in deep‐water sands lacking traction structures do not necessarily imply waxing flow velocities. If the suspended‐load fallout rate drops to zero after the deposition of the coarse grain‐size populations, the remaining finer grained flow bypasses and may rework the top of the S3 division, forming well‐sorted, coarser grained, current‐structured Tt units. Alternatively, the suspended‐load fallout rate may remain high enough to prevent segregation of fines, leading to the deposition of significant amounts of mud along with the sand. Mud content of the sandstones is bimodal: either 3–13% or more than 20%. Two types of mud‐rich sandstones were observed. Coarser grained mud‐rich sandstones occur towards the upper parts of S3/Ta divisions. These units were deposited as a result of enhanced trapping of mud particles in the rapidly deposited sediment. Finer grained mud‐rich units are interbedded with ripple‐laminated very fine‐grained sandy Tc divisions. During deposition of these units, mud floccules were hydraulically equivalent to the very fine sand‐ and silt‐sized sediment. The mud‐rich sandstones were probably deposited by flows that became transitional between turbidity currents and debris flows during their late‐stage evolution.  相似文献   

11.
Much of our understanding of submarine sediment‐laden density flows that transport very large volumes (ca 1 to 100 km3) of sediment into the deep ocean comes from careful analysis of their deposits. Direct monitoring of these destructive and relatively inaccessible and infrequent flows is problematic. In order to understand how submarine sediment‐laden density flows evolve in space and time, lateral changes within individual flow deposits need to be documented. The geometry of beds and lithofacies intervals can be used to test existing depositional models and to assess the validity of experimental and numerical modelling of submarine flow events. This study of the Miocene Marnoso Arenacea Formation (Italy) provides the most extensive correlation of individual turbidity current and submarine debris flow deposits yet achieved in any ancient sequence. One hundred and nine sections were logged through a ca 30 m thick interval of time‐equivalent strata, between the Contessa Mega Bed and an overlying ‘columbine’ marker bed. Correlations extend for 120 km along the axis of the foreland basin, in a direction parallel to flow, and for 30 km across the foredeep outcrop. As a result of post‐depositional thrust faulting and shortening, this represents an across‐flow distance of over 60 km at the time of deposition. The correlation of beds containing thick (> 40 cm) sandstone intervals are documented. Almost all thick beds extend across the entire outcrop area, most becoming thinly bedded (< 40 cm) in distal sections. Palaeocurrent directions for flow deposits are sub‐parallel and indicate confinement by the lateral margins of the elongate foredeep. Flows were able to traverse the basin in opposing directions, suggesting a basin plain with a very low gradient. Small fractional changes in stratal thickness define several depocentres on either side of the Verghereto (high) area. The extensive bed continuity and limited evidence for flow defection suggest that intrabasinal bathymetric relief was subtle, substantially less than the thickness of flows. Thick beds contain two distinct types of sandstone. Ungraded mud‐rich sandstone intervals record evidence of en masse (debrite) deposition. Graded mud‐poor sandstone intervals are inferred to result from progressive grain‐by‐grain (turbidite) deposition. Clast‐rich muddy sandstone intervals pinch‐out abruptly in downflow and crossflow directions, in a fashion consistent with en masse (debrite) deposition. The tapered shape of mud‐poor sandstone intervals is consistent with an origin through progressive grain‐by‐grain (turbidite) deposition. Most correlated beds comprise both turbidite and debrite sandstone intervals. Intrabed transitions from exclusive turbidite sandstone, to turbidite sandstone overlain by debrite sandstone, are common in the downflow and crossflow directions. This spatial arrangement suggests either: (i) bypass of an initial debris flow past proximal sections, (ii) localized input of debris flows away from available sections, or (iii) generation of debris flows by transformation of turbidity currents on the basin plain because of seafloor erosion and/or abrupt flow deceleration. A single submarine flow event can comprise multiple flow phases and deposit a bed with complex lateral changes between mud‐rich and mud‐poor sandstone.  相似文献   

12.
The Yishu fault zone (mid-segment of the Tanlu fault zone) was formed in the Presinian. Periodic tectonic activities and strong seismic events have occurred along the fault zone. During the initial stage of the Caledonian Movement, with the proceeding of the marine transgression from the Yishu paleo-channel to the western Shandong, uneven thick sediments, composed mainly of sand, mud and carbonates of littoral, lagoon, and neritic facies, were deposited in the Yishu fault zone and western Shandong, and constructed the bottom part of the Lower Cambrian consisting of the Liguan and Zhushadong formations. Through field observations and the lab-examinations, various paleoseismic records have been discovered in the Liguan Formation and the Zhushadong Formations of the Yishu fault zone and its vicinity, including some layers with syn-sedimentary deformation structures that were triggered by strong earthquakes (i.e. seismite, seismo-olistostrome, and seismo-turbidite). Paleoseismic records developed in the Zhushadong Formation are mainly seismites with soft-sediment deformation structures, such as liquefied diapir, small liquefied-carbonate lime-mud volcano, liquefied vein, liquefied breccia, convolute deformation (seismic fold), graded fault, soft siliceous vein, and deformation stromatolite, as well as seismites with brittle deformation structures of semiconsolidated sediments. Paleoseismic records preserved in the Liguan Formation are not only seismo-olistostrome with a slump fold, load structure, and ball-and-pillows, but also seismo-turbidite with convolution bedding, graded bedding and wavy-bedding. However, in the western Shandong area, the closer to the Yishu fault zone, the greater the thickness of the Liguan Formation and the Zhushadong Formation, the greater the number and type of layers with paleoseismic records, and the higher the earthquake intensity reflected by associations of seismic records. This evidence indicates that tectonic taphrogenesis accompanied by strong earthquake events occurred in the Yishu fault zone during the initial stage of the Caledonian Movement, which embodied the break-up of the Sino-Korean Plate along the Paleo-Tanlu fault zone at that time.  相似文献   

13.
Co‐genetic debrite–turbidite beds occur in a variety of modern and ancient turbidite systems. Their basic character is distinctive. An ungraded muddy sandstone interval is encased within mud‐poor graded sandstone, siltstone and mudstone. The muddy sandstone interval preserves evidence of en masse deposition and is thus termed a debrite. The mud‐poor sandstone, siltstone and mudstone show features indicating progressive layer‐by‐layer deposition and are thus called a turbidite. Palaeocurrent indicators, ubiquitous stratigraphic association and the position of hemipelagic intervals demonstrate that debrite and enclosing turbidite originate in the same event. Detailed field observations are presented for co‐genetic debrite–turbidite beds in three widespread sequences of variable age: the Miocene Marnoso Arenacea Formation in the Italian Apennines; the Silurian Aberystwyth Grits in Wales; and Quaternary deposits of the Agadir Basin, offshore Morocco. Deposition of these sequences occurred in similar unchannellized basin‐plain settings. Co‐genetic debrite–turbidite beds were deposited from longitudinally segregated flow events, comprising both debris flow and forerunning turbidity current. It is most likely that the debris flow was generated by relatively shallow (few tens of centimetres) erosion of mud‐rich sea‐floor sediment. Changes in the settling behaviour of sand grains from a muddy fluid as flows decelerated may also have contributed to debrite deposition. The association with distal settings results from the ubiquitous presence of muddy deposits in such locations, which may be eroded and disaggregated to form a cohesive debris flow. Debrite intervals may be extensive (> 26 × 10 km in the Marnoso Arenacea Formation) and are not restricted to basin margins. Such long debris flow run‐out on low‐gradient sea floor (< 0·1°) may simply be due to low yield strength (? 50 Pa) of the debris–water mixture. This study emphasizes that multiple flow types, and transformations between flow types, can occur within the distal parts of submarine flow events.  相似文献   

14.
《Sedimentology》2018,65(3):952-992
Hybrid event beds comprising both clean and mud‐rich sandstone are important components of many deep‐water systems and reflect the passage of turbulent sediment gravity flows with zones of clay‐damped or suppressed turbulence. ‘Behind‐outcrop’ cores from the Pennsylvanian deep‐water Ross Sandstone Formation reveal hybrid event beds with a wide range of expression in terms of relative abundance, character and inferred origin. Muddy hybrid event beds first appear in the underlying Clare Shale Formation where they are interpreted as the distal run‐out of the wakes to flows which deposited most of their sand up‐dip before transforming to fluid mud. These are overlain by unusually thick (up to 4·4 m), coarse sandy hybrid event beds (89% of the lowermost Ross Formation by thickness) that record deposition from outsized flows in which transformations were driven by both substrate entrainment in the body of the flow and clay fractionation in the wake. A switch to dominantly fine‐grained sand was accompanied initially by the arrest of turbulence‐damped, mud‐rich flows with evidence for transitional flow conditions and thick fluid mud caps. The mid and upper Ross Formation contain metre‐scale bed sets of hybrid event beds (21 to 14%, respectively) in (i) upward‐sandying bed set associations immediately beneath amalgamated sheet or channel elements; (ii) stacked thick‐bedded and thin‐bedded hybrid event bed‐dominated bed sets; (iii) associations of hybrid event bed‐dominated bed sets alternating with conventional turbidites; and (iv) rare outsized hybrid event beds. Hybrid event bed dominance in the lower Ross Formation may reflect significant initial disequilibrium, a bias towards large‐volume flows in distal sectors of the basin, extensive mud‐draped slopes and greater drop heights promoting erosion. Higher in the formation, hybrid event beds record local perturbations related to channel switching, lobe relocations and extension of channels across the fan surface. The Ross Sandstone Formation confirms that hybrid event beds can form in a variety of ways, even in the same system, and that different flow transformation mechanisms may operate even during the passage of a single flow.  相似文献   

15.
Controlled laboratory experiments reveal that the lower part of turbidity currents has the ability to enter fluid mud substrates, if the bed shear stress is higher than the yield stress of the fluid mud and the density of the turbidity current is higher than the density of the substrate. Upon entering the substrate, the turbidity current either induces mixing between flow‐derived sediment and substrate sediment, or it forms a stable horizontal flow front inside the fluid mud. Such ‘intrabed’ flow is surrounded by plastically deformed mud; otherwise it resembles the front of a ‘bottom‐hugging’ turbidity current. The ‘suprabed’ portion of the turbidity current, i.e. the upper part of the flow that does not enter the substrate, is typically separated from the intrabed flow by a long horizontal layer of mud which originates from the mud that is swept over the top of the intrabed flow and then incorporated into the flow. The intrabed flow and the mixing mechanism are specific types of interaction between turbidity currents and muddy substrates that are part of a larger group of interactions, which also include bypass, deposition, erosion and soft sediment deformation. A classification scheme for these types of interactions is proposed, based on an excess bed shear stress parameter, which includes the difference in the bed shear stress imposed by the flow and the yield stress of the substrate and an excess density parameter, which relies on the density difference between the flow and the substrate. Based on this classification scheme, as well as on the sedimentological properties of the laboratory deposits, an existing facies model for intrabed turbidites is extended to the other types of interaction involving soft muddy substrates. The physical threshold of flow‐substrate mixing versus stable intrabed flow is defined using the gradient Richardson number, and this method is validated successfully with the laboratory data. The gradient Richardson number is also used to verify that stable intrabed flow is possible in natural turbidity currents, and to determine under which conditions intrabed flow is likely to be unstable. It appears that intrabed flow is likely only in natural turbidity currents with flow velocities well below ca 3·5 m s?1, although a wider range of flows is capable of entering fluid muds. Below this threshold velocity, intrabed flow is stable only at high‐density gradients and low‐velocity gradients across the upper boundary of the turbidity current. Finally, the gradient Richardson number is used as a scaling parameter to set the flow velocity limits of a natural turbidity current that formed an inferred intrabed turbidite in the deep‐marine Aberystwyth Grits Group, West Wales, United Kingdom.  相似文献   

16.
The origin of massive sands in turbidite successions has commonly been attributed to the rapid dumping of sand due to flow unsteadiness in collapsing, single surge-type, high-density turbidity currents. The general applicability of this model is questioned here, and we propose that rapid deposition of massive sands also occurs due to non-uniformity in prolonged, quasi-steady high-density turbidity currents. We attempt to eliminate ambiguity in the use of the terms ‘deceleration’and ‘unsteadiness’with respect to non-uniform sediment gravity flows, and stress that, as with any particulate current, unsteadiness is not a prerequisite of sediment deposition. We propose a mechanism of gradual aggradation of sand beneath a sustained steady or quasi-steady current, and upward-migration of a depositional flow boundary that is dominated by grain hyperconcentration and hindered settling. Formation of tractional structures is prevented by the absence of a sharp rheological interface between the lowest parts of the flow and the just-formed dewatering deposit. Deposition continues as long as the downward grain flux to the depositional flow boundary is balanced by grain supply from above or from upcurrent. Massive sand deposited in this way is not, strictly, a result of ‘direct suspension sedimentation’in that it is characterized by grain interactions, hindered settling, shear and, possibly, by interlocking of grains. The thickness of the resulting massive sand bears no relation to the thickness of the parental current, and the vertical variation within the deposit may reveal little about the vertical structure of the current, even during deposition. Thin, normally graded tops or mud drapes represent the eventual waning of sustained currents.  相似文献   

17.
On the frequency distribution of turbidite thickness   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  
The frequency distribution of turbidite thickness records information on flow hydrodynamics, initial sediment volumes and source migration and is an important component of petroleum reservoir models. However, the nature of this thickness distribution is currently uncertain, with log‐normal or negative‐exponential frequency distributions and power‐law cumulative frequency distributions having been proposed by different authors. A detailed analysis of the Miocene Marnoso Arenacea Formation of the Italian Apennines shows that turbidite bed thickness and sand‐interval thickness within each bed have a frequency distribution comprising the sum of a series of log‐normal frequency distributions. These strata were deposited predominantly in a basin‐plain setting, and bed amalgamation is relatively rare. Beds or sand intervals truncated by erosion were excluded from this analysis. Each log‐normal frequency distribution characterizes bed or sand‐interval thickness for a given basal grain‐size or basal Bouma division. Measurements from the Silurian Aberystwyth Grits in Wales, the Cretaceous Great Valley Sequence in California and the Permian Karoo Basin in South Africa show that this conclusion holds for sequences of disparate age and variable location. The median thickness of these log‐normal distributions is positively correlated with basal grain‐size. The power‐law exponent relating the basal grain‐size and median thickness is different for turbidites with a basal A or B division and those with only C, D and E divisions. These two types of turbidite have been termed ‘thin bedded’ and ‘thick bedded’ by previous workers. A change in the power‐law exponent is proposed to be related to: (i) a transition from viscous to inertial settling of sediment grains; and (ii) hindered settling at high sediment concentrations. The bimodal thickness distribution of ‘thin‐bedded’ and ‘thick‐bedded’ turbidites noted by previous workers is explained as the result of a change in the power‐law exponent. This analysis supports the view that A and B divisions were deposited from high‐concentration flow components and that distinct grain‐size modes undergo different depositional processes. Summation of log‐normal frequency distributions for thin‐ and thick‐bedded turbidites produces a cumulative frequency distribution of thickness with a segmented power‐law trend. Thus, the occurrence of both log‐normal and segmented power‐law frequency distributions can be explained in a holistic fashion. Power‐law frequency distributions of turbidite thickness have previously been linked to power‐law distributions of earthquake magnitude or volumes of submarine slope failure. The log‐normal distribution for a given grain‐size class observed in this study suggests an alternative view, that turbidite thickness is determined by the multiplicative addition of several randomly distributed parameters, in addition to the settling velocity of the grain‐sizes present.  相似文献   

18.
Climbing‐ripple cross‐lamination is most commonly deposited by turbidity currents when suspended load fallout and bedload transport occur contemporaneously. The angle of ripple climb reflects the ratio of suspended load fallout and bedload sedimentation rates, allowing for the calculation of the flow properties and durations of turbidity currents. Three areas exhibiting thick (>50 m) sections of deep‐water climbing‐ripple cross‐lamination deposits are the focus of this study: (i) the Miocene upper Mount Messenger Formation in the Taranaki Basin, New Zealand; (ii) the Permian Skoorsteenberg Formation in the Tanqua depocentre of the Karoo Basin, South Africa; and (iii) the lower Pleistocene Magnolia Field in the Titan Basin, Gulf of Mexico. Facies distributions and local contextual information indicate that climbing‐ripple cross‐lamination in each area was deposited in an ‘off‐axis’ setting where flows were expanding due to loss of confinement or a decrease in slope gradient. The resultant reduction in flow thickness, Reynolds number, shear stress and capacity promoted suspension fallout and thus climbing‐ripple cross‐lamination formation. Climbing‐ripple cross‐lamination in the New Zealand study area was deposited both outside of and within channels at an inferred break in slope, where flows were decelerating and expanding. In the South Africa study area, climbing‐ripple cross‐lamination was deposited due to a loss of flow confinement. In the Magnolia study area, an abrupt decrease in gradient near a basin sill caused flow deceleration and climbing‐ripple cross‐lamination deposition in off‐axis settings. Sedimentation rate and accumulation time were calculated for 44 climbing‐ripple cross‐lamination sedimentation units from the three areas using TDURE, a mathematical model developed by Baas et al. (2000) . For Tc divisions and Tbc beds averaging 26 cm and 37 cm thick, respectively, average climbing‐ripple cross‐lamination and whole bed sedimentation rates were 0·15 mm sec?1 and 0·26 mm sec?1 and average accumulation times were 27 min and 35 min, respectively. In some instances, distinct stratigraphic trends of sedimentation rate give insight into the evolution of the depositional environment. Climbing‐ripple cross‐lamination in the three study areas is developed in very fine‐grained to fine‐grained sand, suggesting a grain size dependence on turbidite climbing‐ripple cross‐lamination formation. Indeed, the calculated sedimentation rates correlate well with the rate of sedimentation due to hindered settling of very fine‐grained and fine‐grained sand–water suspensions at concentrations of up to 20% and 2·5%, respectively. For coarser grains, hindered settling rates at all concentrations are much too high to form climbing‐ripple cross‐lamination, resulting in the formation of massive/structureless S3 or Ta divisions.  相似文献   

19.
ABSTRACT Mud‐rich sandstone beds in the Lower Cretaceous Britannia Formation, UK North Sea, were deposited by sediment flows transitional between debris flows and turbidity currents, termed slurry flows. Much of the mud in these flows was transported as sand‐ and silt‐sized grains that were approximately hydraulically equivalent to suspended quartz and feldspar. In the eastern Britannia Field, individual slurry beds are continuous over long distances, and abundant core makes it possible to document facies changes across the field. Most beds display regular areal grain‐size changes. In this study, fining trends, especially in the size of the largest grains, are used to estimate palaeoflow and palaeoslope directions. In the middle part of the Britannia Formation, stratigraphic zones 40 and 45, slurry flows moved from south‐west and south towards the north‐east and north. Most zone 45 beds lens out before reaching the northern edge of the field, apparently by wedging out against the northern basin slope. Zone 40 and 45 beds show downflow facies transitions from low‐mud‐content, dish‐structured and wispy‐laminated sandstone to high‐mud‐content banded units. In zone 50, at the top of the formation, flows moved from north to south or north‐west to south‐east, and their deposits show transitions from proximal mud‐rich banded and mixed slurried beds to more distal lower‐mud‐content banded and wispy‐laminated units. The contrasting facies trends in zones 40 and 45 and zone 50 may reflect differing grain‐size relationships between quartz and feldspar grains and mud particles in the depositing flows. In zones 40 and 45, quartz grains average 0·30–0·32 mm in diameter, ≈ 0·10 mm coarser than in zone 50. The medium‐grained quartz in zones 40 and 45 flows may have been slightly coarser than the associated mud grains, resulting in the preferential deposition of quartz in proximal areas and downslope enrichment of the flows in mud. In zone 50 flows, mud was probably slightly coarser than the associated fine‐grained quartz, resulting in early mud sedimentation and enrichment of the distal flows in fine‐grained quartz and feldspar. Mud particles in all flows may have had an effective grain size of ≈ 0·25 mm. Both mud content and suspended‐load fallout rate played key roles in the sedimentation of Britannia slurry flows and structuring of the resulting deposits. During deposition of zones 40 and 45, the area of the eastern Britannia Field in block 16/26 may have been a locally enclosed subbasin within which the depositing slurry flows were locally ponded. Slurry beds in the eastern Britannia Field are ‘lumpy’ sheet‐like bodies that show facies changes but little additional complexity. There is no thin‐bedded facies that might represent waning flows analogous to low‐density turbidity currents. The dominance of laminar, cohesion‐dominated shear layers during sedimentation prevented most bed erosion, and the deposystem lacked channel, levee and overbank facies that commonly make up turbidity current‐dominated systems. Britannia slurry flows, although turbulent and capable of size‐fractionating even fine‐grained sediments, left sand bodies with geometries and facies more like those deposited by poorly differentiated laminar debris flows.  相似文献   

20.
During the rainy season the ephemeral streamcourses of southern Israel are swept by flash floods of low volume and short duration, which produce meander bars, megaripples and ripples, harrow marks, current lineations, obstacle marks, washouts and remnant bars, rhomboid marks, rill marks, rare convolute lamination, imbrication, mud pebbles and polygonal desiccation patterns. The rapid abatement of floods results in a variety of coexisting, interfering and superimposed associations of bed forms, which shed light on some aspects of provenance and origin of alluvial bed forms.  相似文献   

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