Deep-lacustrine sandy debrites and turbidites in the lower Triassic Yanchang Formation,southeast Ordos Basin,central China: Facies distribution and reservoir quality

The deep lacustrine gravity-flow deposits are widely developed in the lower Triassic Yanchang Formation, southeast Ordos Basin, central China. Three lithofacies include massive fine-grained sandstone, banded sandstone, and massive oil shale and mudstone. The massive fine-grained sandstones have sharp upper contacts, mud clasts, boxed-shaped Gamma Ray (GR) log, but no grading and Bouma sequences. In contrast, the banded sandstones display different bedding characteristics, gradational upper contacts, and fine-upward. The massive, fine-grained sandstones recognized in this study are sandy debrites deposited by sandy debris flows, while the banded sandstones are turbidites deposited by turbidity currents not bottom currents. The sediment source for these deep gravity-flow sediments is a sand-rich delta system prograding at the basin margin. Fabric of the debrites in the sandy debris fields indicates initial formation from slope failure caused by the tectonic movement. As the sandy debris flows became diluted by water and clay, they became turbidity currents. The deep lacustrine depositional model is different from the traditional marine fan or turbidite fan models. There are no channels or wide lobate sand bodies. In the lower Triassic Yanchang Formation, layers within the sandy debrites have higher porosity (8–14%) and permeability (0.1–4 mD) than the turbidites with lower porosity (3–8%) and permeability (0.04–1 mD). Consequently, only the sandy debrites constitute potential petroleum reservoir intervals. Results of this study may serve as a model for hydrocarbon exploration and production for deep-lacustrine reservoirs from gravity-flow systems in similar lacustrine depositional environments.     

深水复合水道体系沉积特征及时空演化规律——以东非鲁武马盆地中中新统为例

鲁武马盆地中中新统复合水道体系表现出复杂的充填特征及时空演化规律。以地震资料为基础,借助三维可视化、沿层相干切片、层间振幅属性提取等多种地震解释技术,总结地震分辨率下复合水道体系内各个级别水道的平面分布规律,建立纵、横向演化模式。鲁武马盆地中中新统复合水道体系可以细分成4个可识别的级别:复合水道体系,水道复合体,复合水道及水道。沿水流方向,复合水道体系由强限制型向局部限制型演化,在较远端分化为三期独立水道复合体;水道复合体表现出4种沉积方式,2种方式与复合水道体系一致且同步发育,另外2种为较弱限制型和非限制型。复合水道体系内深水沉积主要受海平面变化、地形坡度以及底流作用的影响,沉积规模、搬运距离、沉积位置、延伸方向及外部形态随时空发生改变。复合水道体系呈现出复杂的多级别充填特征,垂向叠置样式随沉积位置的差异而不同,早期水道复合体末期的分布影响后期水道复合体发育的位置。     

琼东南盆地北礁凹陷梅山组单向迁移水道特征及成因探讨

深水区重力流与底流交互作用的过程、响应及动力学机制是海洋沉积学研究的前沿和薄弱环节。本文通过三维地震资料,在深水区北礁凹陷南西部梅山组发现多条相间分布的长条形顺直强振幅水道,垂直于西沙隆起(南部隆起)北斜坡走向,向南西方向单向迁移,水道具有南西陡(凹岸或陡岸)北东缓(凸岸或缓岸)的特征,该类水道分为侵蚀界面和水道砂-堤岸泥过渡复合体系两个单元,侵蚀界面在凹岸的削截反射明显多于凸岸,水道砂-堤岸泥过渡复合体振幅强度由凹岸强振幅逐渐过渡为凸岸弱振幅。分析认为,该类水道发育于中中新世半深海环境,不同于向底流下游方向单向迁移的峡谷,它们向底流上游方向发生单向迁移,并提出其成因模式:前期来自南部的浊流下切形成负向地貌单元(水道),底流对这一地貌单元进行改造,形成迎流面缓(凸岸)背流面陡(凹岸)的地貌,同时驱使浊流上部顺底流方向偏移,形成溢岸浊流沉积,致凹岸沉积速率低,凸岸沉积速率高,这样就迫使水道逆底流方向偏移。沉积物源、中层水相关底流、古气候和海平面的变化、北礁凸起古地形控制是该区单向迁移强振幅水道发育的因素。本研究在南海首次发现这种向底流上游方向单向迁移的水道,是底流与重力流交互作用的新型类型,对古海洋、古气候研究,深水油气勘探有着重要的意义,希望引起地质学家的重视。     

3D seismic images of a low-sinuosity slope channel and related depositional lobe (West Africa deep-offshore)

In this paper a channel levee system and the associated depositional lobe are described. The proposed example derives from a recently acquired 3D survey in the West Africa deep-offshore. It is mainly based on a detailed 3D seismic reconstruction, attribute map interpretation and log data from a single well to calibrate seismic responses and sedimentary facies.The stratigraphic section under consideration, informally named the A 100 Sequence, is about 80 ms TWT thick, and of early Pliocene age. The attribute maps focused on this interval clearly show the presence of two narrow (up to 250 m wide) low-sinuosity slope channels that can be followed for more than 32 km in an E–W direction (down slope to the W) as far as the western border of the 3D acquisition. Over most of their length both channels are characterized by the low amplitude aspect of the axial belt and by brighter responses in the flanks (presence of thin-bedded sands in the levee areas). This character, associated with the common convex-down geometry of the reflections lying just above the channel axis, suggests a predominant fine-grained infilling of the thalwegs.One of these channels, termed the Southern Channel, shows a high amplitude lobe-shaped zone in the middle part of its course. The ‘anomalous’ development of this depositional element has been related to a local reduction of the slope gradient, probably induced by the synsedimentary growth of an adjacent mud-cored anticline.Because of hydrocarbon occurrence, the lobe area and the associated feeder channel have been investigated in detail through careful picking of all the mappable reflections inside the channel-lobe system. The resulting physical-stratigraphic framework and the related attribute maps suggest that channel development occurred through distinct growth stages. The lower stage (Stage 1) is expressed by symmetric levees flanking the main channel to the east and by a depositional lobe/lobe fringe area to the west. Between the levee belt and the lobe' a transitional zone occurs where the presence of isolated bypassing bars has been inferred. The upper stage (Stage 2) seems to record a phase of overall bypassing of flows within the channel conduit, producing the westward propagation of the channel and consequent dissection of the previous stage lobe. A contemporaneous lateral spillover from the channel axis of low-density turbidites constructed prominent gull-wing shaped levees that uniformly covered the stage 1 elements.     

Tectonic control over topography and channel sedimentation across the forearc slope of the southern Kurile Trench

A high-resolution seismic survey covering more than 2,000 km² has revealed the processes responsible for the slope morphology and channel sedimentation across the forearc slope-basin of the Kurile Arc–NE Japan Arc collision zone, offshore from Tokachi (Hokkaido, Japan). The dominant slope contours parallel the trench but, in the middle and lower reaches of the southern slope, contours are convex-shaped with an offshore trend. This sector of the slope is traversed diagonally by the Hiroo submarine channel. The offshore-trending convex contours and the channel course have developed through the interplay of tectonic and sedimentary processes, including the development of anticlines, anticline-induced lobe sedimentation and channel avulsion. In its upper reaches, the channel is restricted by a topographic low associated with NNW–SSE-trending anticlines which developed within the upper and middle slope sectors during late Miocene uplift. The uplift timing and trend of these anticlines indicate that they resulted from collision, the channel sedimentology and slope morphology of the middle and lower slopes having been influenced by Pliocene uplift of NE–SW-trending anticlines. The trends of these anticlines parallel those of the Kurile Trench. The Pliocene and early Pleistocene strata of the middle and lower slopes consist of ponded lobe sediments deposited along the palaeo-Hiroo submarine channel on the landward side of the anticlines. As a lobe pile accumulated, the channel thalweg shifted to the north of the stack, allowing the channel to bypass the topographic high formed by the growing stack. Thick levee deposits built up along the channel course during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. These levees, along with the Pliocene and early Pleistocene lobes, are reflected in the present-day sigmoid-shaped, convex offshore-trending contours. Thus, the interplay of subduction- and collision-related anticlines, tectonic-related channel ponding, and avulsion has contributed to the slope morphology of the southern Kurile Trench.     

Characteristics and origins of middle Miocene mounds and channels in the northern South China Sea

Numerous elongated mounds and channels were found at the top of the middle Miocene strata using 2D/3D seismic data in the Liwan Sag of Zhujiang River Mouth Basin(ZRMB) and the Beijiao Sag of Qiongdongnan Basin(QDNB). They occur at intervals and are rarely revealed by drilling wells in the deepwater areas. Origins of the mounds and channels are controversial and poorly understood. Based on an integrated analysis of the seismic attribute, palaeotectonics and palaeogeography, and drilling well encountering a mound, research results show that these mounds are dominantly distributed on the depression centres and/or slopes of the Liwan and Beijiao sags and developed in a bathyal sedimentary environment. In the Liwan and Beijiao sags, the mounds between channels(sub) parallel to one another are 1.0–1.5 km and 1.5–2.0 km wide, 150–300 m and 150–200 m high, and extend straightly from west to east for 5–15 km and 8–20 km, respectively. Mounds and channels in the Liwan Sag are parallel with the regional slope. Mounds and channels in the Beijiao Sag, however, are at a small angle to the regional slope. According to internal geometry, texture and external morphology of mounds, the mounds in Beijiao Sag are divided into weak amplitude parallel reflections(mound type I), blank or chaotic reflections(mound type II), and internal mounded reflections(mound type Ⅲ). The mounds in Liwan Sag, however, have the sole type, i.e., mound type I. Mound type I originates from the incision of bottom currents and/or gravity flows. Mound type II results from gravity-driven sediments such as turbidite. Mound type Ⅲ is a result of deposition and incision of bottom currents simultaneously. The channels with high amplitude between mounds in the Beijiao and Liwan sags are a result of gravity-flow sediments and it is suggested they are filled by sandstone.Whereas channels with low-mediate amplitudes are filled by bottom-current sediments only in the Beijiao Sag,where they are dominantly composed of mudstone. This study provides new insights into the origins of the mounds and channels worldwide.     

The Rockall Bank Mass Flow: Collapse of a moated contourite drift onlapping the eastern flank of Rockall Bank,west of Ireland

The Rockall Bank Mass Flow (RBMF) is a large, multi-phase submarine slope failure and mass flow complex. It is located in an area where the Feni Drift impinges upon the eastern flank of the Rockall Bank in the NE Atlantic. A 6100 km² region of slope failure scarps, extending over a wide water depth range and with individual scarps reaching up to 22 km long and 150 m high, lies upslope of a series of mass flow lobes that cover at least 18,000 km² of the base of slope and floor of the Rockall Trough. The downslope lobe complex has a negative topographic relief along much of its northern boundary, being inset below the level of the undisplaced contourite drift at the base of slope. The southern margin is topographically more subtle but is marked by the sharp termination of sediment waves outside the lobe. Within the lobe complex the southern margin of the largest lobe shows a positive relief along its southern margin. The initial failure is suggested to have occurred along coherent layer-parallel detachment surfaces at depths of up to 100 m and this promoted initial downslope block sliding which in turn transformed into debris flows which moved out into the basin. The remains of a deep erosional moat linked to the onlapping contourite complex bisects the region of failed slope, and post-failure thermohaline currents have continued to modify the mass flow in this area. Differential sedimentation and erosion associated with the moat may have promoted slope instability. Following the major failure phase, continuous readjustments of the slope occurred and resulted in small-volume turbidites found in shallow gravity cores collected on the lobes. The short term trigger for the failure remains uncertain but earthquake events associated with a deep-seated tectonic lineament to the north of the mass flow may have been important. A Late Pleistocene age for the slope failure is likely. The RBMF is unusual in that it records large-scale collapse of a contourite body that impinged on a sediment-undersupplied slope system. Unlike many other large slope failure complexes along the NE Atlantic margin, the RBMF occurs in a region where there was little overloading by glacial sediment.     

Downstream evolution of turbiditic channel complexes in the Pab Range outcrops (Maastrichtian,Pakistan)

The Pab Formation consists of deltaic and turbiditic sediments which were deposited during the Late Maastrichtian on the Indo-Pakistani passive margin. The margin geometry has been restored in the Pab Range from a regional transect 120 km long. Two superposed turbiditic systems onlap the slope carbonates and completely pinch-out southward. The lowest turbiditic system (Lower Pab) is a sand-rich basin floor fan, which consists of sand-rich channel complexes distally passing to lobes northward. This basin floor fan is overlain by a mud-rich slope fan formed during the subsequent sea-level rise, which drowned the shelf. The upper turbiditic system (Upper Pab) is a sand-rich slope fan, formed during the progradation of a deltaic system in the shelf setting. It consists of prograding tabular lobes passing upward to conglomeratic channels, and thins out northwards. The Lower Pab turbiditic system consists of three channel complexes (LP1, 2, 3) organised in a backstepping succession. Each channel complex has a multi-storey internal architecture, resulting from the amalgamation of several individual turbiditic channels. Five major facies associations have been determined in the LP3 channel complex. FA-1 corresponds to polygenic and monogenic debris-flows, FA-2 to high-density gravelly or sandy turbidites, FA-3 to by-pass deposits, FA-4 to thin-bedded turbidites (spill-over lobes and levees) and FA-5 to hemipelagites. The downstream evolution of the LP3 channel complex can be studied from canyon to mid-fan settings. Where it is confined in the canyon, the channel complex is 50 m thick and 1 km large, and shows a high sand/shale ratio. The development of overflow deposits is limited and occurs only at the top of the channel complex. At the canyon mouth, the channel complex is still deeply incised but overflow deposits start to expand laterally as a result of the decreased confinement. By-pass facies here are well-developed, and are related to hydraulic jump processes. In the mid-fan setting, the channel complex widens and the sand/shale ratio decreases. Erosion at the channel base is less developed, whereas internal and external levees are well-developed. Spill-over lobes form the last stage of the channel complex infill. The internal geometry of the channel complexes is a result of a complex interaction between lateral confinement, by-pass and lateral migration processes.     

Slope channel sedimentary processes and stratigraphic stacking,Cretaceous Tres Pasos Formation slope system,Chilean Patagonia

The Cretaceous Tres Pasos Formation of southern Chile records a slope system characterized by >800 m of paleo-bathymetric relief. Channel deposits are exposed in an outcrop 2.5 km long by 125 m thick and are located in proximity to the toe of a slope clinoform. Exquisite exposures of channel strata offer a unique opportunity for high-resolution analyses of channel stacking patterns and provide insight into the evolution of conduits that transport sediment from continents to the deep ocean.Eighteen slope channels, or channel elements, are present in the strata studied. They are 6–15 m thick and comprised of stacked turbiditic sedimentation units. Channel fills are characterized by a gradational transition from amalgamated sandstone-rich facies in the channel axes to thinly interbedded sandstone and siltstone at the channel margins over distances of 10–30 m. These elements are generally considered to be ∼300 m wide and were formed by punctuated periods of incision and sedimentary bypass, followed by in-filling by collapsing turbidity currents. Out-of-channel deposits consist primarily of fine-grained facies, which are typically covered by vegetation in the study area.The channel strata of the mapped portion of the Tres Pasos Formation can be grouped into three channel complexes 25–70 m thick. Complexes are differentiated based on the preservation of siltstone-dominated deposits (bypass drapes and channel margin), which persist across the entire outcrop belt and coincide with shifts in channel stacking pattern. The oldest four channel elements (channel complex 1) are characterized by the highest lateral offsets, relative to one another. These are interpreted to record the most unconfined channel-stacking pattern present. As the channel system evolved (channel complexes 2 and 3), channel elements began to stack on top of one another, due to the increased confinement imparted on the slope channel system. The amount of vertical offset between successive channel elements preserves the record of channel aggradation as well as erosional degradation. The greatest vertical offset observed is associated with the oldest channels; as the system matured, vertical offset decreased. This decrease in vertical offset is coincident with the decrease in lateral offset of channels. The lateral offset decrease is attributed to establishment of constructional confinement and is the consequence of increased focusing of successive channel-initiating gravity flows. As confinement establishes, channels are predisposed toward underfilled conditions upon abandonment. The capture of channel-initiating currents along channel abandonment relief fairways focused incision and resulted in increased erosion and decreased vertical offset. The consequence of these conditions is an upward increase in channel element amalgamation.The organized stacking of slope channels observed in the Tres Pasos Formation is comparable to that of seismically imaged channel-levee or entrenched slope valley systems. By analogy to these 3-dimentionally constrained systems, a portion of the poorly exposed out-of-channel facies in the Tres Pasos Formation is attributed to aggradational internal levee deposits. The facies insight derived from the studied outcrop provides insight into analogous hydrocarbon-bearing units from numerous continental margins.     

Stratigraphic evolution of a submarine channel-lobe complex system in a narrow fairway within the Magallanes foreland basin, Cerro Toro Formation, southern Chile

This study integrates newly acquired stratigraphic data, geologic mapping, and paleocurrent data to constrain the stratigraphic evolution of the oldest channel-lobe complex in the Upper Cretaceous Cerro Toro Formation in the Silla Syncline area of the Magallanes Basin, termed the Pehoe member. The Pehoe member ranges in thickness from 60 m in the north to at least 410 m farther down system and comprises three separate divisions (A, B, and C). A lower conglomerate unit and an upper one, termed Pehoe A and C divisions respectively, represent the fill of major incised submarine channels or channel complexes. These are separated by stratified sandstone of the Pehoe B division, representing a weakly confined lobe complex, either transient or terminal.The integration of new data with observations from previous studies reveal that the three main coarse-grained conglomerate and sandstone members in the Cerro Toro Formation in the Silla Syncline include at least seven distinct submarine channels or channel complexes and two major lobe complexes. The thinning and disappearance of these units along the eastern limb of the syncline reflect confinement of the flows to a narrow trough or mini-basin bounded to the east by a topographic high. This confinement resulted in unidirectional paleocurrents to the south and southeast in all deposits. Changes in depositional geometries are interpreted as reflecting changes in sediment supply and relative confinement. Submarine channels were from 700 m to 3.5 km wide and occupied a fairway that was 4-5 km wide. Flows moving south and southeast in this mini-basin probably crossed the eastern topographic high south of the present exposures and joined those moving southward along the axis of the foreland basin at least 16 km to the east.     

Turbidite deposition and the development of canyons through time on an intermittently glaciated continental margin: The Bonanza Canyon system,offshore eastern Canada

Bonanza Canyon is a complex canyon system on the slope from the intermittently glaciated Grand Bank on the south side of Orphan Basin. A 3D seismic reflection volume, 2D high-resolution seismic reflection profiles and ten piston cores were acquired to study the evolution of this canyon system in relation to glacial processes on the continental shelf and the effects of different types of turbidity currents on the development of deep water channels. Mapped reflector surfaces from the 3D seismic volume show that the Bonanza Canyons developed in a depression created by a large submarine slide of middle Pleistocene age, coincident with the onset of glacigenic debris flows entering western Orphan Basin. Two 3–5 km wide, flat-floored channels were cut into the resulting mass-transport deposit and resemble catastrophic glacial meltwater channels elsewhere on the margin. Both channels subsequently aggraded. The eastern channel A became narrower but maintained a sandy channel floor. The western channel, B, heads at a spur on the continental slope and appears to have been rather passively draped by muds and minor sands that have built 1500-m wave length sediment waves.Muddy turbidites recorded by piston cores in the channel and on the inter-channel ridges are restricted to marine isotope stage (MIS) 2 and were deposited from thick, sheet-like, and sluggish turbidity current derived from western Orphan Basin that resulted in aggradation of the channels and inter-channel ridges. Sandy turbidites in channels and on inner levees were deposited throughout MIS 2–3 and were restricted to the channels, locally causing erosion. Some coincide with Heinrich events. Channels with well-developed distributaries on the upper slope more readily trap the sediments on Grand Bank to form sandy turbidity currents. Channel B dominated by muddy turbidity currents has wide and relatively smooth floor whereas channel A dominated by sandy turbidity currents has a sharp geometry.     

Sedimentary processes in the Stromboli Canyon and Marsili Basin, SE Tyrrhenian Sea: results from side-scan sonar surveys

 Sedimentary processes in the Stromboli Canyon and in the Marsili Basin are studied on the basis of side-scan sonographs. The basin margins are characterized by slump scars, gullies, channels, and large debrites on the Calabrian slope and by straight chutes of fast downslope sediment transport and blocky–hummocky avalanche deposits on the flanks of the Stromboli volcano. In the Stromboli Canyon and in minor deep-sea channels, sediment transport by turbidity currents generates sediment waves. Between the basin margins and the abyssal plain, the outcropping volcanic basement traps part of the sediment coming from the marginal areas. The abyssal plain is characterized by low relief lobes and ponded sediments.     

An improved model for estimating the TOC in shale formations

Determination of the total organic carbon (TOC) from well logs is an important step in formation evaluation of shale reservoirs. The ΔlogR model is one of the most commonly used methods in determining the TOC of the source rocks. Wang et al. (2016) made three revisions on ΔlogR model to enhance the prediction accuracy, one of which is to use a changeable slope of log₁₀R_t versus porosity logs to replace a fixed value. Based on the original ΔlogR model and Wang's revision, we propose an improved model for a better TOC estimation in this paper. Specifically, the approximate linear baseline is replaced by a theoretical one. Under this condition, both the slope and resistivity and porosity log values of the baselined rocks vary from depth to depth. The determination of theoretical baseline is presented, and the varied baseline log values are obtained by a simple mathematical technique. In addition to the shale play of Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, two study areas of Sichuan Basin and Ordos Basin in China, were used to assess the applications of the proposed model and its improvement over the original model. The analysis and discussions presented in this paper indicate that the improved model offers more reliable results in shale plays with large lithological variations. Also, the TOC content of the three study areas was estimated using the proposed model. The results showed that the TOC values estimated from well logs and core analysis are in good agreement.     

Deep-sea dune-like features

Three different types of dune-like features in depths between 2,500 and 4,000 m were observed on what is supposed to be the outer Magdalena Fan, Colombian Basin. Each feature has its own characteristic height and length pattern as well as its location with regard to the local slope of the sea bottom. They have in common, however, that internal reflectors all dip in a westerly direction. Reflectivity changes on 3.5-kHz records may indicate the presence of textural variations.Since the area is generally considered to be void of any continuous, deep currents, it is suggested that these large bodies are fan lobes emplaced by high-viscosity turbidity currents or debris flows. Temporal, locally induced currents, moving at least partly in easterly direction, may have caused a winnowing effect resulting in textural variations.     

Evolution and depositional structure of earthquake-induced mass movements and gravity flows: Southwest Orphan Basin, Labrador Sea

A series of submarine canyons on the southwest slope of Orphan Basin experienced complex failure at 7–8 cal ka that resulted in the formation of a large variety of mass-transport deposits (MTDs) and sediment gravity flows. Ultra-high-resolution seismic-reflection profiles and multiple sediment cores indicate that evacuation zones and sediment slides characterize the canyon walls, whereas the canyon floors and inner-banks are occupied by cohesive debris-flow deposits, which at the mouths of the canyons on the continental rise form large, coalescing lobes (up to 20 m thick and 50 km long). Erosional channels, extending throughout the length of the study area (<250 km), are observed on the top of the lobes. Piston cores show that the channels are partially filled by poorly sorted muddy sand and gravel, capped by inversely to normally graded gravel and sand. Such deposits are interpreted to originate from multi-phase gravity flows, consisting of a lower part behaving as a cohesionless debris flow and an upper part that was fully turbulent.The Holocene age and the widespread synchronous occurrence of these failures indicate a large magnitude earthquake as their possible triggering mechanism. The large debris-flow deposits on the continental rise originated from large failures on the upper continental slope, involving proglacial sediments. Retrogression of these failures led to the eventual failure of marginal sandy till deposits on the upper slope and outer shelf, which due to their low cohesion disintegrated into multi-phase gravity flows. The evacuation zones and slide deposits on the canyon walls were triggered either by the earthquake, or from erosion of the canyon walls by the debris flows. The slides, debris-flows, and multi-phase gravity flows observed in this study are petrographically different, indicating different sediment sources. This indicates that not all failures lead through flow transformation to the production of a multi-phase gravity flow, but only when the sediment source contains ample coarse-grained material. The spatial segregation of the slide, debris-flow, and multi-phase gravity-flow deposits is attributed to the different mobility of each transport process.     

淤泥质潮流深槽最大冲刷深度的一个概念模型

以概念模式方法计算了淤泥质潮流深槽的最大深度,探讨了涨落潮流速、涨落潮历时、深槽淤泥质物质粒径、深槽顶底部原始深度、水道长度等因素对潮流深槽最大深度的影响。概念模式的假设条件是:(1)深槽形态为长方体,底部纵向坡度为0;(2)沉积物粒径无垂向变化;(3)只考虑潮流作用的影响,涨、落潮流速在时间序列上呈正弦分布;(4)不考虑细颗粒物质的粘性和絮凝作用。模拟结果显示:(1)涨、落潮历时对深槽最大深度的影响很小。(2)优势潮流流速与最大深槽深度之间存在着幂函数关系。(3)深槽的底质粒径、深槽的长度均与最大冲刷深度呈正相关关系。(4)深槽顶部水深与最大深度呈负相关关系。(5)由于潮汐水道深度与潮流流速和沉积物侵蚀强度之间具有负反馈关系,因此水道冲刷存在着一个极限,即最终可以达到均衡状态。潮流深槽的均衡态特征和达到均衡态所需的时间可运用沉积动力学方法来确定;同时,若应用深槽的真实参数,进一步减少模型的假设条件,可望使该模型具有实际的应用价值。     

Channel-like features created by erosive submarine debris flows: Field evidence from the Middle Eocene Ainsa Basin,Spanish Pyrenees

We present field evidence from the Middle Eocene deep-marine Ainsa Basin, Spanish Pyrenees, to show channel-like features likely created by erosive subaqueous debris flows. Evidence from this basin suggests that the most erosive subaqueous debris-flows may create megascours removing up to ∼35 m thickness of sandy submarine-fan deposits from base-of-slope and lower-slope settings. This study suggests that individual debris flows may have been more erosive than turbidity currents, an observation that is opposed to many previous studies from the Ainsa Basin and other ancient deep-water clastic systems. In the Ainsa Basin, many of the debris flows deposited pebbly mudstones immediately above the basal erosion surfaces into which gouging flow-parallel grooves and pebble scours left isolated pebbles embedded in the immediately underlying sandstones. In one particularly well-exposed case, the sandstones immediately below the eroding debris flow were incorporated into it and preserved as sheared, disaggregated, brecciated, and partially liquefied sandstone beds within the pebbly mudstone. Our study suggests that erosion by large-volume debris flows in base-of-slope settings can be at least as important, if not more so, than turbidity currents in producing submarine megascours (probably chutes that, in cross section, superficially resemble submarine channels). This has important implications for understanding the erosivity of debris flows versus turbidity currents in modern and ancient environments, and it has significant implications for hydrocarbon reservoir continuity and heterogeneity, including the origin and recognition of mudstone-filled chutes or channels.     

Mississippi Fan: Internal structure and depositional processes

The Mississippi Fan is a Quarternary accumulation composed of more than seven elongated fan lobes. Isopach and structure maps show frequent shifting of these lobes. The Mississippi Canyon, formed by retrogressive slumping, connects to the youngest fan lobe. The upper fan-lobe is characterized by a large, incised, partially infilled, leveed channel. The middle fan-lobe is aggradational, convex in cross section, with a channel-levee complex on its apex. The lower fan-lobe contains a recently active small channel and several abandoned ones. Depositional patterns can be explained by several processes: “fluvial,” debris flows, and turbidity currents. Margin setting represents fan and/or source area     

琼东南盆地北礁凹陷上新统等深流影响的水道沉积体系

等深流影响的水道沉积体系的沉积特征及其沉积过程是当前深水沉积学研究的热点、难点和前沿科学问题,但研究程度较为薄弱。该文以北礁凹陷上新统（地震反射T20?T30）为研究对象,利用覆盖北礁凹陷局部的三维地震资料,采用均方根属性、相干属性、时间域构造,再结合地震切片等方法,研究北礁凹陷深水区上新统斜交斜坡（走向）的特殊水道沉积体系特征及其沉积过程。研究发现,该水道沉积体系分为早、晚两期,早期发育水道和片状、扇状溢堤沉积,晚期仅发育水道和片状溢堤沉积,其中扇状溢堤沉积仅发育在水道右侧弯曲处,片状溢堤沉积仅分布在水道左侧,水道始终与区域斜坡斜交,水道对称分布且无明显迁移现象。结合该时期北礁凸起发育等深流相关的丘状漂积体和环槽,认为该水道沉积体系特殊的形态主要受控于等深流与浊流交互作用的沉积结果:浊流流经水道,其上覆浊流溢出水道,形成溢岸浊流,在水道左侧,该溢岸浊流与等深流发生相向运动,被等深流“吹拂”到单侧,大面积分布,延伸千米,形成片状溢堤沉积;而在水道弯曲处（右侧）,溢岸浊流与等深流发生相对运动,抑制溢岸浊流进一步扩展,形成相对小范围扇状溢堤沉积,该沉积结果与前人水槽实验结果相一致。