Significance of molluscan shell beds in sequence stratigraphy: an example from the Lower Cretaceous Mannville Group of Canada1

Detailed study of marine shales (the Ostracod zone) within a Cretaceous, third-order transgressive-regressive sequence in the Alberta Foreland Basin reveals a systematic association between shell beds and parasequence-scale flooding surfaces, including surfaces of maximum flooding. The Ostracod zone (a subsurface lithostratigraphic unit known as the Calcareous Member in outcrop) consists of 10-20 m of black shale and bioturbated sandstones with many thin, fossiliferous limestones. Parasequences (shallowing-up cycles 2–3 m thick) were delineated within this transgressive unit based on lithology, sedimentary structures, degree of bioturbation, dinoflagellate diversity, total organic carbon and carbon/sulphur ratios; many flooding surfaces are firmgrounds or hardgrounds. Shell-rich limestones occur in three different positions relative to these flooding surfaces, and each has a distinctive bioclastic fabric and origin. (i) Base-of-parasequence shell beds (BOPs) lie on or just above flooding surfaces in the deepest water part of a parasequence; they are thin (up to a few centimetres), graded or amalgamated skeletal packstones/wackestones composed of well-sorted granular shell, and are interpreted as hydraulic event concentrations of exotic shell debris. (ii) Top-of-parasequence shell beds (TOPs) are capped by flooding surfaces at the top, shallowest water part of a parasequence; they typically are several decimetres thick, are physically amalgamated packstones/grainstones or bioturbated wackestones, and contain abundant whole as well as comminuted shells; these are composite, multiple-event concentrations of local shells. (iii) Mid-sequence shell beds rest on as well as are capped by firmgrounds or hardgrounds, and are intercalated between parasequences in the deepest water part of the larger sequence; they are laterally extensive lime mudstones a few decimetres thick, with sparse shells in various states of dissolution, recrystallization and replacement; these beds are terrigenous-starved hiatal concentrations and record maximum flooding within the Ostracod zone. Offshore sections of the Ostracod zone typically contain several starved mid-sequence shell beds, underscoring the difficulty of identifying a single‘maximum flooding surface’ within a third-order sequence.     

Application of sequence stratigraphic concepts to the Upper Cretaceous Tununk Shale Member of the Mancos Shale Formation,south-central Utah: Parasequence styles in shelfal mudstone strata

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.     

Sedimentology and early diagenesis of the Broadford Beds (Lower Jurassic), Skye,north-west Scotland

The Broadford Beds comprise a basal carbonate-dominated unit overlain by dark muddy sandstones and an upper cross-bedded sandstone unit. The limestones include coralliferous and oolitic lithologies and the sandstones include pisolitic berthierine ironstones and abundant phosphate nodules. The Broadford Beds have a maximum thickness of 140 m and can be subdivided into 17 parasequences, each initiated by an approximately 20 m rise in relative sea level. Marine flooding surfaces are most readily recognized in the lower parts of the succession, where diagenetic data can be utilized to locate emergence surfaces. There is no diagenetic evidence of early emergence in the upper parts of the sequence, but a variety of sedimentological data can be used to identify parasequence boundaries. Deposition of the Broadford Beds occurred largely around the shores of a number of islands in the northern Hebridean area. These islands partly isolated the Skye–Applecross area from a deeper marine basin to the west, and this may have enhanced the formation of authigenic phosphates and iron silicates. It is possible to use the regional variability of parasequence thicknesses to investigate the role of active local tectonism in governing differential subsidence and sediment supply.     

泰国湾第四纪准层序建造及气候控制的旋回性

泰国湾第四系显示出很好的旋回性。通过高分辨率二维地震(布玛)剖面图及工程钻井资料,共识别出8个准层序。在典型准层序中,沉积物自下而上,从海相泥沉积逐渐过渡为泛滥平原沉积。在每个准层序顶部都发育下切河体系及古土壤层,说明在每个准层序形成之后,都曾暴露过地表并遭受到侵蚀。每个准层序都代表一个海进和海退的过程。这些准层序的厚度为6～22m不等,平均厚度13m左右。通过与第四纪氧同位素曲线对比得出,这8个旋回的形成年代可追溯到距今730～10ka,平均91ka为一个循环周期,表明这些旋回应该是由气候因素所驱使的海平面升降导致的。该频率的气候变化周期相当于Milankovitch旋回中地球围绕太阳运动椭球体偏心率的变化周期,因此,在更早的地质历史时期中,类似的旋回也应该存在,并具有全球可对比性。     

Facies and sequence stratigraphic analysis in an intracratonic, thermal-relaxation basin: the Early Proterozoic, Lower Quilalar Formation and Ballara Quartzite, Mount Isa Inlier, Australia

The Quilalar Formation and correlative Mary Kathleen Group in the Mount Isa Inlier, Australia, conformably overlie rift-related volcanics and sediments and non-conformably overlie basement rocks. They represent a thermal-relaxation phase of sedimentation between 1780 and 1740 Ma. Facies analysis of the lower siliciclastic member of the Quilalar Formation and the coeval Ballara Quartzite permits discrimination of depositional systems that were restricted areally to either N-S-trending marginal platform or central trough palaeogeographic settings. Four depositional systems, each consisting of several facies, are represented in the lower Quilalar Formation-Ballara Quartzite; these are categorized broadly as storm-dominated shelf (SDS), continental (C), tide-dominated shelf (TDS) and wave-dominated shoreline (WDS). SDS facies consist either of black pyritic mudstone intervals up to 10 m thick, or mudstone and sandstone associated in 6–12-m-thick, coarsening-upward parasequences. Black mudstones are interpreted as condensed sections that developed as a result of slow sedimentation in an outer-shelf setting starved of siliciclastic influx. Vertical transition of facies in parasequences reflects flooding followed by shoaling of different shelf subenvironments; the shoreface contains evidence of subaerial exposure. Continental facies consist of fining-upward parasequences of fluvial origin and tabular, 0·4–4-m-thick, aeolian parasequences. TDS facies are represented by stacked, tabular parasequences between 0·5 and 5 m thick. Vertical arrangement of facies in parasequences reflects flooding and establishment of a tidal shelf followed by shoaling to intertidal conditions. WDS facies are preserved in 0·5–3-m-thick, stacked, tabular parasequences. Vertical transition of facies reflects initial flooding with wave reworking of underlying arenites along a ravinement surface, followed by shoaling from lower shoreface to foreshore conditions. Parasequences are stacked in retrogradational and progradational parasequence sets. Retrogradational sets consist of thin SDS parasequences in the trough, and C, TDS and probably WDS parasequences on the platforms. Thick SDS parasequences in the trough, and TDS, subordinate C and probably WDS parasequences on the platforms make up progradational parasequence sets. Depositional systems are associated in systems tracts that make up 40–140-m-thick sequences bounded by type-2 sequence boundaries that are disconformities. Transgressive systems tracts consist of C, TDS and probably WDS depositional systems on the platforms and the SDS depositional system and suspension mudstone deposits in the trough. The transgressive systems tract is characterized by retrogradational parasequence sets and developed in response to accelerating rates of sea-level rise following lowstand. Condensed-section deposits in the trough, and the thickest TDS parasequences on the platforms reflect maximum rates of sea-level rise and define maximum flooding surfaces. Highstand systems tract deposits are progradational. Early highstand systems tracts are represented by TDS and probably WDS depositional systems on the platforms and suspension mudstone deposits in the trough and reflect decreasing rates of sea-level rise. Later highstand systems tracts consist of the progradational SDS depositional system in the trough and, possibly, thin continental facies on the platforms. This stage of sequence development is related to slow rates of sea-level rise, stillstand and slow rates of fall. Lowstand deposits of shelf-margin systems tracts are not recognized but may be represented by shoreface deposits at the top of progradational SDS parasequence sets.     

Late Holocene to Recent aragonite-cemented transgressive lag deposits in the Abu Dhabi lagoon and intertidal sabkha

Modern cemented intervals (beachrock, firmgrounds to hardgrounds and concretionary layers) form in the lagoon and intertidal sabkha of Abu Dhabi. Seafloor lithification actively occurs in open, current-swept channels in low-lying areas between ooid shoals, in the intertidal zone of the middle lagoon, some centimetres beneath the inner lagoonal seafloor (i.e. within the sediment column) and at the sediment surface the intertidal sabkha. The concept of ‘concretionary sub-hardgrounds’, i.e. laminar cementation of sediments formed within the sediment column beneath the shallow redox boundary, is introduced and discussed. Based on calibrated radiocarbon ages, seafloor lithification commenced during the Middle to Late Holocene (ca 9000 cal yr bp ), and proceeds to the present-day. Lithification occurs in the context of the actualistic relative sea-level rise shifting the coastline landward across the extremely low-angle carbonate ramp. The cemented intervals are interpreted as parasequence boundaries in the sense of ‘marine flooding surfaces’, but in most cases the sedimentary cover overlying the transgressive surface has not yet been deposited. Aragonite, (micritic) calcite and, less commonly, gypsum cements lithify the firmground/hardground intervals. Cements are described and placed into context with their depositional and marine diagenetic environments and characterized by means of scanning electron microscope petrography, cathodoluminescence microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The morphology of aragonitic cements changes from needle-shaped forms in lithified decapod burrows of the outer lagoon ooidal shoals to complex columnar, lath and platy crystals in the inner lagoon. Precipitation experiments provide first tentative evidence for the parameters that induce changes in aragonite cement morphology. Data shown here shed light on ancient, formerly aragonite-cemented seafloors, now altered to diagenetic calcites, but also document the complexity of highly dynamic near coastal depositional environments.     

从旋回的有序叠加形式到层序的识别和划分：层序地层学进展之三

在Exxon层序地层学概念体系中,由不整合面及其可以对比的整合面所限定的地层单位被定义为 层序,即三级沉积层序;构成三级层序的单元为体系域,体系域由若干准层序和准层序组所组成。基于海岸沉 积的层序地层模式,准层序被定义为“由海泛面所限定的层或层组组成的一个相对整合的序列”;作为准层序界 面的海泛面被进一步定义为：一个将老地层与新地层分开的面,穿过该面存在一个突然的“水深加深”。因此, 从海泛面到准层序,其定义由于不具有普遍性而表现出欠完整性。虽然类似级别的地层单元后来又被Exxon的 科学家修改为“高频层序”,但是,准层序这个欠完整的概念一直被广泛使用着。与层序地层学的Exxon时代大 致同步,或者在更早的时期,地质学家就已经注意到那些由岩层所构成的沉积旋回,以“洛非尔旋回层” 为典 型代表;这种类似的旋回性沉积记录,后来被进一步定义为“米级旋回”,而且将米级旋回进一步解释为异成因 机制控制下的自旋回沉积过程（间断-加积-旋回机制;PAC机制） 的产物,这种异成因机制是与米兰柯维奇 旋回相关的极地冰盖的消长所造成的海水体积变化,以及由这种数万年至数十万年级别的海水体积变化所产生 的高频海平面变化旋回。这些厚度为数厘米至数米的沉积旋回,在长周期三级层序中常常构成有序的叠加形式, 这种叠加形式成为研究三级层序内沉积趋势变化的主要标志。再者,对与米兰柯维奇旋回存在成因关联的沉积 旋回的研究,成为另一个地层学分支---旋回地层学的主要内容。如果说对Exxon层序地层学概念体系不协调 的研究是第1个进展、对长周期层序的形成机制的探索为层序地层学的第２个进展,那么,从旋回的有序叠加 形式到层序的识别与划分,不但表现出了旋回地层学和层序地层学的交融,而且也代表了层序地层学的第3个 重要进展。     

塔里木盆地东河1油藏低渗层层序控制特征及其对注气开发的影响

通过测井和岩心分析,将塔里木东河1油藏东河砂岩段从下到上划分为前滨-上临滨-下临滨相带,并进一步划分出11个准层序。经岩相学分析,将砂岩段低渗层分为钙质胶结低渗层、杂基充填低渗层和混合低渗层。钙质胶结低渗层主要分布在准层序内部,以方解石胶结砂岩为主,受成岩作用控制;杂基充填低渗层主要分布在准层序边界处,多为海侵背景下的滞后沉积产物;混合低渗层在准层序内部及边界均有分布,但数量很少,无明显规律性,砂粒间主要由杂基和方解石胶结物混合充填,充填物含量低。结合测压资料认为,发育在准层序边界处的杂基低渗层保留了更多的初始沉积特征,易形成横向连续性好的低渗层,是注气开发的重点关注对象。     

河流相沉积中准层序与短期基准面旋回对比研究——以四川中部须家河组为例

通过详细分析曲流河沉积动力学特点,在四川中部须家河组建立了河流相沉积的准层序模式。曲流河沉积中可发育粒级向上变细准层序,也可以发育粒级向上变粗的准层序。辫状河准层序表现为粒级向上变细、河道水体向上变浅的准层序,而粒级向上变粗的准层序不发育。河流相准层序界面是河道砂体底部的冲刷侵蚀面,在粒级向上变粗的泛滥平原-决口扇或决口河道沉积中,准层序界面为暴露过泥岩与上部洪水期的暗色泥岩间的界面。将河流相准层序与短期基准面旋回进行精细的分析与对比认为,二者在层序地层学级次划分中时限相当,发育时间为0.01~0.05Ma;二者的界面是相同的,均为河道砂体底部的冲刷侵蚀面或者是暴露过泛滥平原泥岩、根土岩等。河流相中准层序与短期基准面旋回其实是相同时间内沉积的一套相同的沉积体,二者的不同只是分析的角度不同,其实质内容是一致的,即在曲流河短期基准面升降变化过程中,所保留下来的沉积物总是相对河水位是向上变浅的,由位于河水面以下的河道或边滩砂体向上变浅至河水面之上的天然堤、泛滥平原泥岩,此相序特征也正与准层序向上变浅的定义相同。     

北京西山寒武系——奥陶系主要副层序类型及其形成机制探讨

北京西山寒武系－奥陶系出露良好，根据岩性组合特征，结合沉积结构，生物，地球化学等指杆标志，可区分出的副层序类型主要有６种，它们形成于不同的环境，其厚度一般几米，少数几十厘米或十几米，每类副层序中岩性可达４－６种，但单个副层序可仅由两种岩性构成，每一副层序反映的水叫是自下而上持续变浅，而在每两个副层序之间总是由浅水到深水的相跳跃。根据这些副层序的特征，可以推断在每两个副层序之间有一次海水突然加深过程     

藏北雁石坪地区中侏罗统玛托组高频层序及海平面变化分析

西藏北部雁石坪地区晚巴柔—早巴通期玛托组是一个以砂岩、泥岩为主夹少量灰岩组成的混积型陆棚环境的沉积。含有介壳的凝缩段、下超面及沟蚀面,它们是划分体系域的关键界面。体系域具有二元结构特征,即海侵—高水位体系域,且TST沉积旋回厚度>HST,准层序类型有3种,分别是以砂岩为主的准层序、以泥岩为主的准层序和以潮坪体系向上变浅的准层序,准层序叠置构成进积型和退积型准层序组。采用沉积体系分析方法,初步建立研究区玛托组相对海平面变化曲线,并与藏南及全球海平面曲线进行对比分析,结合碳、氧同位素和磁化率资料,探讨研究区晚巴柔—早巴通期玛托组海平面变化控制因素。研究认为全球海平面变化控制了雁石坪地区晚巴柔早期海平面变化,而班公湖—怒江逢合带向北俯冲构造活动引起的区域洋盆容积变化是晚巴柔晚期—早巴通期海平面变化的主要因素。     

Trace fossils and ichnofabrics on the Lower Muschelkalk carbonate ramp (Triassic) of Germany: tool for high-resolution sequence stratigraphy

In the German Triassic of Thuringia, the Lower Muschelkalk sequence can be subdivided by application of ichnological methods. Three ichnofacies with five ichnofabrics are described. In accordance with the lithological features, trace fossils are found to defining parasequences on the basis of a regular change of bioturbation. Furthermore, it is possible to establish deepening-upward cycles. The reconstruction of parasequences allows the establishment of a high-resolution sequence stratigraphy. The position of the maximum flooding surface can be identified in the Terebratula Member and is developed in a condensed interval. The most significant of the additional major marine flooding surfaces is found at the top of the Upper Oolith Bed, characterized by lithostratigraphy, ichnology, biostratigraphy and parasequence thickness trends.     

准层序、岩性变换带在陆相红盆中的应用——以民和盆地1∶5万红古城、新寺乡幅的白垩纪地层为例

陆相红盆与海相盆地在层序地层的基本单元和沉积作用等方面存在巨大差异。层序地层的基本概念、基本理论具体在陆相盆地中的应用 ,应紧密结合陆相盆地自身的发育特点 ,创造出一套真正适合于陆相盆地层序地层学的概念和模式。陆相地层与海相地层相比规律性不明显 ,“层板对比”模式不适合陆相盆地地层分布实际。准层序和岩性变换带的使用 ,是根据内陆红盆层序地层发育的自身特点 ,通过民和盆地白垩纪地层工作实践而提出的。它可以揭示陆相红盆层序地层的主控因素 ,把横向无序变为与成因相关的同期有序地层 ,使陆相层序、区域地层划分对比的研究不但可能 ,而且十分有效。     

准层序、岩性变换带在陆相红盆中的应用——以民和盆地1∶5万红古城、新寺乡幅的白垩纪地层为例

陆相红盆与海相盆地在层序地层的基本单元和沉积作用等方面存在巨大差异。层序地层的基本概念,基本理论具体在陆相盆地中的作用,应紧密结合陆相分地自身的发育特点,创造了一套真正适合于陆相盆地层序地层学的概念和模式。陆相地层与海相地层相比规律性不明显,“层板对比”模式不适合陆相盆地地层分布实际。     

冀东柳赞油田古近系沙河街组层序地层及岩相古地理?

柳赞油田位于河北省滦南县与唐海县交界处,是冀东油田的主力油田之一。构造上处于燕山褶皱带前缘，渤海湾盆地南堡凹陷的东部。受柏各庄断层活动及古斜坡地形的影响，该区古近系沙三段地层属于近源快速堆积沉积，分选差，成熟度低，岩相复杂，为典型的扇三角洲沉积。通过对沉积特征和沉积相带展布的分析，建立了工区扇三角洲的沉积模式。以层序地层学原理和方法为手段，应用测井和三维地震资料，通过不整合面、湖泛面等层序界面和沉积旋回的识别，将柳赞油田沙河街组地层划分为4个准层序组，12个准层序，建立了高分辨率的层序地层格架，分析了准层序在垂向上的叠置样式，把准层序组归纳为进积式和退积式两种类型，确定了优质储层在准层序和准层序组中出现的位置及分布规律。论文在分析沙河街组沉积时期古地形、古气候与古生态特征的基础上，应用砂岩厚度等值线图，恢复了柳赞油田古近系沙河街组岩相古地理面貌。研究表明，工区内发育扇三角洲前缘亚相，分支水道是主要的砂体微相，砂体沿北东－南西向延伸，与古物源方向基本一致。     

Cycle anatomy and variability in the storm-dominated type cincinnatian (Upper Ordovician): coming to grips with cycle delineation and genesis

Although parasequence and sequence are scale-independent terms, they are frequently applied only to specific scales of cycles. For example, meter-scale cycles are commonly assumed to be parasequences or PACs. In the Upper Ordovician Kope and Fairview Formations of northern Kentucky, we examined a succession of 50 meter-scale cycles that have been variously interpreted as deepening-upward, shallowing-upward, or showing no relationship with water depth. Our analysis shows that these cycles, characterized by shifts in storm-bed proximality, are highly variable in their thickness and internal construction. Most cycles are best considered high-frequency sequences, because deepening-upward intervals are common, and many cycles contain evidence of abrupt basinward shifts in facies as expected at sequence boundaries. A minority fit the parasequence model of shallowing-upward cycles bounded by flooding surfaces. Larger, 20 m scale cycles are defined by systematic thickening and thinning trends of meter-scale cycles. However, meter-scale cycles do not display any systematic trends in cycle anatomy as a function of position within the 20 m cycles or position within the Kope and Fairview Formations. The high cycle variability and the lack of systematic stratigraphic organization with respect to longer-term cyclicity reflect either the irregularity of relative sea-level changes, the poor recording of sea-level changes in this deep-water setting, or the generation of these cycles by climate-induced cyclicity in storm intensity. These three mechanisms would generate similar patterns at the outcrop scale, so it is not possible at the present to distinguish between them.     

Sequence stratigraphic distribution of diagenetic alterations in coal-bearing, paralic sandstones: evidence from the Rio Bonito Formation (early Permian), southern Brazil

Abstract Linking siliciclastic diagenesis to sequence stratigraphy allows a better understanding of the parameters controlling the spatial and temporal distribution of diagenetic alterations, and hence of reservoir quality. A study of the coal-bearing, alluvial, deltaic, estuarine and shallow-marine sandstones of the Rio Bonito Formation, early Permian, Paraná Basin (southern Brazil), reveals that the distribution of diagenetic alterations and of related reservoir quality evolution can be constrained within a sequence stratigraphic framework. Calcite, dolomite, siderite, kaolinite and pyrite cementation is consistently linked to sequence and parasequence boundaries, transgressive and maximum flooding surfaces and is systematically distributed within lowstand, transgressive and highstand systems tracts. Diagenesis of coal layers at parasequence boundaries has promoted the formation of stratabound calcite (detectable in resistivity wire line logs), concretionary pyrite and kaolinite and of silicate grain dissolution in sandstones located above and below these boundaries, particularly in the transgressive systems tract. Meteoric water diagenesis caused grain dissolution and the formation of kaolinite in sandstones below sequence boundaries and in lowstand systems tract sandstones. Carbonate bioclasts and low sedimentation rates in lag deposits at parasequence boundaries, transgressive and maximum flooding surfaces favoured the formation of grain-rimming siderite. The results of this study are relevant to the exploration of coal-bed methane and other coal-bearing reservoirs, where it is crucial to unravel and predict the distribution and quality of reservoirs and compartments.     

准噶尔盆地腹部地区中部4区块层序地层分析

中部4区块位于准噶尔盆地腹部的昌吉凹陷,侏罗纪时堆积了浅水辫状三角洲相粗粒砂砾岩与深水湖泊相泥岩沉积,这些沉积在D2井区显示出多个明显的旋回.根据沉积相序变化、准层序叠加样式、测井曲线特征,通过伴生的低水位域底界面的识别及附近的超失、削截特征分析,仔细追踪和查明了10条关键层序界面,划分出9个三级层序,识别出低水位、湖进和高水位体系域.由于处于关键坡折带的下倾方向,每个层序均具有完整的三分结构,年限平均约5Ma,共识别出27个体系域,准层序组62个,准层序148个.单个层序厚度平均209.3m,单个准层序组平均厚30.4m,单个准层序平均厚13.0m.     

Evolution of an ancient (Lower Cretaceous) marginal‐marine system from tide‐dominated to wave‐dominated deposition,McMurray Formation

Regionally extensive parasequences in the upper McMurray Formation, Grouse Paleovalley, north‐east Alberta, Canada, preserve a shift in depositional processes in a paralic environment from tide domination, with notable fluvial influence, through to wave domination. Three stacked parasequences form the upper McMurray Formation and are separated by allogenic flooding surfaces. Sediments within the three parasequences are grouped into three facies associations: wave‐dominated/storm‐dominated deltas, storm‐affected shorefaces to sheltered bay‐margin and fluvio‐tidal brackish‐water channels. The two oldest parasequences comprise dominantly tide‐dominated, wave‐influenced/fluvial‐influenced, shoreface to bay‐margin deposits bisected by penecontemporaneous brackish‐water channels. Brackish‐water channels trend approximately north‐west/south‐east, which is perpendicular to the interpreted shoreline trend; this implies that the basinward and progradational direction was towards the north‐west during deposition of the upper McMurray Formation in Grouse Paleovalley. The youngest parasequence is interpreted as amalgamated wave‐dominated/storm‐dominated delta lobes. The transition from tide‐dominated deposition in the oldest two parasequences to wave‐dominated deposition in the youngest is attributed mainly to drowning of carbonate highlands to the north and north‐west of the study area, and potentially to relative changes in accommodation space and deposition rate. The sedimentological, ichnological and regional distribution of the three facies associations within each parasequence are compared to modern and Holocene analogues that have experienced similar shifts in process dominance. Through this comparison it is possible to consider how shifts in depositional processes are expressed in the rock record. In particular, this study provides one of few ancient examples of preservation of depositional process shifts and showcases how topography impacts the character and architecture of marginal‐marine systems.     

Facies and sequence stratigraphy of a Late Barremian wave-dominated deltaic deposit, Agadir Basin, Morocco

The late Barremian succession in the Agadir Basin of the Moroccan Western High Atlas represents wave-dominated deltaic deposits. The succession is represented by stacked thickening and coarsening upwards parasequences 5–15 m thick formed during fifth- or fourth-order regression and building a third-order highstand systems tract. Vertical facies transitions in parasequences reflect flooding followed by shoaling of diverse shelf environments ranging from offshore transition interbedded mudstones, siltstones and thin sandstones, lower shoreface/lower delta front hummocky bedforms to upper shoreface/upper delta front cross-bedded sandstones. The regional configuration reflects the progradation of wave-dominated deltas over an offshore setting. The maximum sea-level fall led to the development of a sequence boundary that is an unconformity. The subsequent early Aptian relative sea-level rise contributes to the development of an extensive conglomerate lagged transgressive surface of erosion. The latter and the sequence boundary are amalgamated forming a composite surface.