Post-depositional modification of Pleistocene terraces of the River Thames     

DUNCAN F. M. MCGREGOR  CHRISTOPHER P. GREEN 《Boreas: An International Journal of Quaternary Research》1983,12(1):23-33

The recognition of materials and structures which are unrelated to the original floodplain processes of terrace formation is essential to the proper understanding of terrace morphology and stratigraphy. Two groups of processes have been active in modifying the Lower and Middle Pleistocene terraces of the River Thames since their formation: non-fluvial deposition; and structural rearrangement by subsidence associated with solution of the underlying Chalk. Non-fluvial deposits comprise solifluction gravels which are variable in character and may incorporate a range of pre-existing deposits; and brickearths which appear in most cases to be redistributed loess mixed with non-loessic components. The distinction between fluvial and non-fluvial deposits is made using particle size, composition and fabric analysis. Structural rearrangement of terrace sediments has occurred due to subsidence into deep, narrow, steep-sided pipes. Within such pipes, disturbance of primary structures and fabrics is severe. Over a wider area. primary bedding may be inclined towards pipes, and sediments may show evidence of shearing, faulting and brecciation. Interpretative problems arising from post-depositional modification are exemplified.  相似文献   

Lower Jurassic epicontinental carbonates and mudstones from England and Wales: chemostratigraphic signals and the early Toarcian anoxic event   总被引：5，自引：0，他引：5  

HUGH C. JENKYNS  CHRISTOPHER J. CLAYTON† 《Sedimentology》1997,44(4):687-706

Sections through Lower Jurassic epicontinental carbonates from Southern Britain (Junction Bed and equivalent) show a positive carbon-isotope excursion (δ¹³C_carbonate), detectable in bulk rock, in the falciferum Zone of the lower Toarcian. Isotopic data from organic matter in more clay-rich sections from Wales and north-east England, together with determinations on belemnite calcite, indicate that highest δ¹³C values are localized in the upper exaratum Subzone of the falciferum Zone. Levels of particular enrichment in organic carbon were developed in the early to mid-exaratum Subzone and hence pre-date this δ¹³C maximum. These phenomena reflect the impact of the early Toarcian oceanic anoxic event in the British area. Similar isotopic trends have been recorded in other Toarcian sections from Tethyan Europe and are interpreted as reflecting the chemistry of sea water. On the assumption of isotopic correlation between the English and Tethyan sections, the δ¹³C maximum would be everywhere dated as latest exaratum Subzone in terms of the north European ammonite scheme. Absolute oxygen-isotope values in carbonates probably reflect both early diagenetic cementation and later temperature-related burial diagenesis, although a palaeotemperature maximum is tentatively identified as characterizing the early falciferum Zone. Subsequent climatic deterioration may have been triggered by drawdown of CO₂, related to regional excess carbon burial during the oceanic anoxic event. Using the positive δ¹³C excursion as a correlative level in sections from different faunal provinces (Britain, Italy and Spain) implies that lower Toarcian zonal stratigraphy is diachronous between northern and southern Europe. There is evidence for partitioning of water masses between the north European shelf and the Tethyan continental margin during the Early Jurassic.  相似文献   

Facies and cyclicity of the Late Permian Bainmedart Coal Measures in the Northern Prince Charles Mountains, MacRobertson Land, Antarctica   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

CHRISTOPHER R. FIELDING  JOHN A. WEBB‡ 《Sedimentology》1996,43(2):295-322

The Late Permian Bainmedart Coal Measures form part of the Permo-Triassic Amery Group, which crops out in the Beaver Lake area of the Northern Prince Charles Mountains, MacRobertson Land, Antarctica. The exposed strata are believed to have formed in graben or half-graben sub-basins on the western edge of the Lambert Graben, a major failed rift system. Sedimentological analysis has revealed that these rocks formed in alluvial environments in which swiftly flowing rivers of low sinuosity (represented by Facies A1 and A2) flowed northward down the axis of the basin, and were associated with waterlogged floodbasin and peat-forming wetlands (Facies B1-B4). A third Facies Association (comprising Facies C1-C3), interpreted as the deposits of lake floor and delta environments, is exclusively developed within a distinctive, fine-grained interval here named the Dragon's Teeth Member. The proportion of Association B facies within the succession increases markedly above the level of the Dragon's Teeth Member (at about 300 m above the base of the formation). Flat, low-angle and undulatory bedding structures preserved within channel deposits are suggestive of sediment deposition in flow conditions which were often critical or supercritical. Presence of massive and chaotic intervals of sandstone further implies some deposition from high-concentration aqueous flows. Alluvial channel bodies show evidence of incision into underlying substrates, both during initiation and at later stages in channel belt construction. The lack of interfingering between channel deposits and coals suggests that thick peats formed only in areas and at times of minimal clastic sediment supply. Analysis of well-developed cyclicity within the coal measures suggests that the dominant control on sequence architecture was climatic, related to precessional Milankovitch fluctuations of c. 19-kyr periodicity. Cycles began abruptly with the deposition of coarse-grained material in high-energy alluvial channels, which contracted with time in response to changes in water supply (rainfall). Upper parts of cycles are dominated by finer-grained sediments and then coal, indicative of progressively reduced coarse sediment input. Tectonic processes overprinted this pattern at least once during the period of sediment accumulation, to form the Dragon's Teeth Member.  相似文献   

Bulk and stable isotopic compositions of carbonate minerals in Martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001: No proof of high formation temperature     

ALLAN H. TREIMAN  CHRISTOPHER S. ROMANEK 《Meteoritics & planetary science》1998,33(4):737-742

Abstract— Understanding the origin of carbonate minerals in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 is crucial to evaluating the hypothesis that they contain traces of ancient Martian life. Using arguments based on chemical equilibria among carbonates and fluids, an origin at >650 °C (inimical to life) has been proposed. However, the bulk and stable isotopic compositions of the carbonate minerals are open to multiple interpretations and so lend no particular support to a high-temperature origin. Other methods (possibly less direct) will have to be used to determine the formation temperature of the carbonates in ALH 84001.  相似文献   

A Tale of Two Cities: The Experience of Housing Problems in Auckland and Christchurch     

CHRISTOPHER J. SMITH  ROBIN A. KEARNS  MAX W. ABBOTT 《New Zealand geographer》1992,48(1):2-10

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The atmospheric input of nitrogen species to the North Sea   总被引：10，自引：0，他引：10  

ANDREW R. RENDELL  CHRISTOPHER J. OTTLEY  TIMOTHY D. JICKELLS  ROY M. HARRISON 《Tellus. Series B, Chemical and physical meteorology》1993,45(1):53-63

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Petrology of the Partridge River Intrusion, Duluth Complex, Minnesota: 1. Relationships between Mineral Compositions, Density and Trapped Liquid Abundance   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

CHALOKWU  CHRISTOPHER I.; GRANT  NORMAN K. 《Journal of Petrology》1990,31(2):265-293

A 525-m-long drill core (DDH-221) through the Partridge Riverintrusion has been divided into four zones on the basis of changesin mineral abundances, compositions and grain size. The igneousrocks in the core consist of cumulate gabbro, troctolite andolivine gabbronorite, in which the original cumulate frameworkof plagioclase and olivine contained varying amounts of trappedintercumulus (pore) liquid. The compositions of the unzoned olivine (Fo_31–71) havebeen modified by reaction with Fe-rich in situ intercumulusliquid, but the plagioclase cores (An_59–73) have not.The compositions of postcumulus Ca-rich pyroxene, restrictedto En_36–44, and the more variable Ca-poor pyroxene (En_45–74),follow a downward Fe-enrichment trend similar to the Fe-enrichmentin the olivine. The cumulus olivine expected to be in equilibriumwith plausible parental magmas to these rocks was not preservedin the drill core, nor is the chilled margin to the intrusionsufficiently primitive to account for all the olivine. Revisedmass balance estimates of the primary magmatic compositionsof olivine are Fo_67–85. The new limiting value for theprimary olivine is similar to the Fo_83–85 olivine expectedto crystallize from the chilled margin to the nearby PigeonPoint olivine diabase sill under equilibrium conditions. Thechanges in the mineral compositions in core DDH-221 do not adequatelydescribe the behavior of parental melts on an equilibrium coolingpath, implying that the cumulus plagioclase and olivine crystallizedelsewhere, and were mixed with varying amounts of intercumulusliquid before introduction to the present crustal site of thePartridge River intrusion. Rock density increases with depth from 2?76 to 3?21, with amean of 2?98 g/cm³. Estimated trapped liquid densities rangefrom 2?56 to 2?92 g/cm³ at high temperatures. This is interpretedto mean that the intercumulus liquid could not have been expelledupward by compaction of the cumulate pile. The dense intercumulusliquid increased downward in abundance to form a series of rocksthat range continuously from variously packed framework cumulatesto chilled non-cumulate rocks in the basal zone. In situ crystallizationis concluded to be the dominant mode of solidification of thePartridge River intrusion, in which infiltration metasomatismis precluded by the high liquid density.  相似文献   

Stokes surfaces and the effects of near-surface groundwater-table on Aeolian deposition   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

STEVEN G. FRYBERGER  CHRISTOPHER J. SCHENK†  LEE F. KRYSTINIK‡ 《Sedimentology》1988,35(1):21-41

ABSTRACT Stokes surfaces in aeolian deposits are caused by wind scour of unconsolidated material to a roughly planar horizon controlled by near-surface water-tables (Stokes, 1968). A water-table forms a downward limit of scour through the cohesion of damp or wet sand near water-table, and through early cementation by evaporites precipitated in the sediments as water evaporates near the sand-air interface. Study of modern analogues reveals that Stokes surfaces exist in a variety of depositional settings, including a coastal offshore prograding sand sea (Jafurah, Saudi Arabia); a coastal onshore prograding sand sea (Guerrero Negro, Mexico) and a continental sand sea (White Sands, New Mexico, USA). These modern analogues indicate that our concept of Stokes surfaces must be broadened to include the following: (i) modern analogues for Stokes surfaces described here cover areas on the order of 25 km². These may be as representative of similar surfaces in ancient rocks as hypothesized plains of deflation requiring removal of entire sand seas; (ii) Stokes surfaces occupy a continuum in scale from local to extensive, and erosional surfaces of different magnitude may be stacked closely in the sediments; (iii) Stokes surfaces, although erosional in nature, are commonly associated with deposits both above and below the Stokes bounding surface which plainly reveal the influence of a near-surface groundwater control on wind sedimentation. Moreover, the erosional relief of the bounding surface itself (as well as other features) reveals the influence of a groundwater-table; (iv) Stokes surfaces may be diachronous, representing the lateral shift of a zone of scour within a sand sea rather than simultaneous removal of all dunes from the area encompassed by the erosional surface; (v) Stokes surfaces and associated deposits are often laterally transitional to surfaces and deposits of adjacent depositional environments, including interdunes, tidal flats, lagoons, beaches, lakes and non-aeolian sabkhas. Finally, modern examples from different depositional settings suggest that while most Stokes surfaces have many features in common (such as erosional ridges due to early cementation), there are some features which may, with further study, be revealed to be distinctive of an individual depositional setting.  相似文献   

Comments on "Will greenhouse gas-induced warming over the next 50 years lead to higher frequency and greater intensity of hurricanes?"     

CHRISTOPHER W. LANDSEA 《地球，A辑:动力气象学与海洋学》1997,49(5):622-623

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Modelling ancient tides: the Upper Carboniferous epi-continental seaway of Northwest Europe     

MARTIN R. WELLS  PETER A. ALLISON  GARY J. HAMPSON  MATTHEW D. PIGGOTT  CHRISTOPHER C. PAIN 《Sedimentology》2005,52(4):715-735

Due to a lack of modern analogues, debate surrounds the importance of tides in ancient epi-continental seas. However, numerical modelling can provide a quantitative means of investigating palaeo-tidality without recourse to analogues. Finite element modelling of the European Upper Carboniferous epi-continental seaway predicts an exceedingly low Lunar tidal range (ca 5 cm in the open water regions of the UK and Southern North Sea). The Imperial College Ocean Model (ICOM) uses finite element methods and an unstructured tetrahedral mesh that is computationally very efficient. The accuracy and sensitivity of ICOM tidal range predictions were tested using bathymetric data from the present-day Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean Sea is micro-tidal and varies in depth up to 5·4 km with an average depth of 1–2 km. ICOM accurately predicts the tidal range given both a realistic, but smoothed, bathymetry and a straight sided basin with a uniform depth of 1 km. Variation in uniform depth from 100 to 3000 m with and without islands consistently predicts micro-tidality, demonstrating that the model is robust and the effect of bathymetric uncertainty on model output is relatively small. The extremely low tidal range predicted for the European Upper Carboniferous is thus deemed robust. Putative Upper Carboniferous tidal deposits have been described in the UK and southern North Sea, but are represented by cyclic rhythmites and are limited to palaeo-estuaries. Calculations based on an embayed coast model show that the tidal range could have been amplified to ca 1 m in estuaries and that this is sufficient to form cyclic rhythmites. Without tidal mixing, the tropical equatorial heat and salinity enhancement would promote stratification in the open water body. The introduction of organic matter probably caused anoxia, biotic mortality and carbon accumulation, as evidenced by numerous black ‘marine-band’ shales.  相似文献