A Middle Miocene carbonate embankment on an active volcanic slope: Ilhéu de Baixo,Madeira Archipelago,Eastern Atlantic

Carbonate factories on insular oceanic islands in active volcanic settings are poorly explored. This case study illuminates marginal limestone deposits on a steep volcanic flank and their recurring interruption by deposits linked to volcaniclastic processes. Historically known as Ilhéu da Cal (Lime Island), Ilhéu de Baixo was separated from Porto Santo, in the Madeira Archipelago, during the course of the Quaternary. Here, extensive mines were tunnelled in the Miocene carbonate strata for the production of slaked lime. Approximately 10 000 m³ of calcarenite (−1 to 1ø) was removed by hand labour from the Blandy Brothers mine at the south end of the islet. Investigations of two stratigraphic sections at opposite ends of the mine reveal that the quarried material represents an incipient carbonate ramp developed from east to west and embanked against the flank of a volcanic island. A petrographic analysis of limestones from the mine shows that coralline red algae from crushed rhodoliths account for 51% of all identifiable bioclasts. This material was transported shoreward and deposited on the ramp between normal wave base and storm wave base at moderate depths. The mine's roof rocks are formed by Surtseyan deposits from a subsequent volcanic eruption. Volcaniclastic density flows also are a prevalent factor interrupting renewed carbonate deposition. These flows arrived downslope from the north and gradually steepened the debris apron westwards. Slope instability is further shown by a coral rudstone density flow that followed from growth of a coral reef dominated by Pocillopora madreporacea (Lamarck), partial reef collapse, and transport from a more easterly direction into a fore‐reef setting. The uppermost facies represents a soft bottom at moderate depths in a quiet, but shore‐proximal setting. Application of this study to a broader understanding of the relationship between carbonate and volcaniclastic deposition on oceanic islands emphasizes the susceptibility of carbonates to dilution and complete removal by density flows of various kinds, in contrast to the potential for preservation beneath less‐disruptive Surtseyan deposits. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tempestite facies models for the epicontinental Triassic carbonates of the Betic Cordillera (southern Spain)

This study focuses on storm deposits in the Muschelkalk facies of the Betic Cordillera (southern Spain) and interprets their deposition mechanisms. Three types of storm deposit are distinguished: (i) pot/gutter casts; (ii) tempestite beds; and (iii) storm‐winnowed deposits. Each deposit provides information about the carbonate platform environment in which it was deposited. The tempestite models proposed are: (i) the bypass‐zone tempestite model, occurring in a muddy ramp at the epicontinental basin margin. This model is characterized by potholes and gutters that form in a shoreline bypass‐zone during storms; (ii) the gradient‐current tempestite model in which frequent tempestite beds are related to storm gradient currents. Thickness and grain size decrease towards the deep distal ramp; and (iii) the winnowed deposit tempestite model whereby storm deposits are winnowed and deposited in the same environment with only short lateral transport having occurred. This model evokes more restricted and shallower conditions, lagoons or inland seas. The distribution of all these deposits in the stratigraphic sections studied corroborate the eustatic third‐order cycle identified, although the different features of the storm deposits and their positions in each section indicate a subsidence varying in time and space. In the transgressive stage, the margins of the epicontinental basin were a well‐developed ramp with potholes and gutters. In contrast, during the high sea‐level stage, storm deposits generated tempestite beds or storm‐winnowed deposits in the different areas. The epicontinental carbonate platform with ramp edges evolved into a complex depositional system of coastal and shallow‐marine environments with lagoons and restricted inland seas. Thus, the epicontinental platform underwent substantial change from the Late Anisian to the Late Ladinian and this is reflected in its storm deposits.     

Transition from storm wave‐dominated outer shelf to gullied upper slope: The mid‐Pliocene Orinoco shelf margin,South Trinidad

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

The role of shelf morphology on storm‐bed variability and stratigraphic architecture,Lower Cretaceous,Svalbard

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

柴达木盆地西部古近系湖相风暴岩

在野外剖面和岩心观察基础上,介绍了柴达木盆地西部古近系湖相风暴岩沉积特征,建立了湖泊风暴沉积模式,探讨风暴岩发育条件及意义.研究区风暴沉积是由风暴浪作用于浅湖泥坪上,使沉积物搅起、形成泥岩砾屑,并通过风暴流搬运到三角洲或滨浅湖滩坝中,与未固结砂质沉积物一起沉积形成.其典型沉积构造特征丰富,单层风暴沉积发育不完整,常见多次风暴作用形成若干不完整风暴岩叠置层.风暴岩的发现有利于加深对该区沉积相的认识,风暴岩频繁发育,表明研究区在古近系沉积时,易受到古气候影响,湖盆水动力较强,部分原始沉积砂体会受到湖泊水体的改造,形成新的滨浅湖滩坝砂体,形成良好的岩性油气藏.     

Tempestite facies variability and storm-depositional processes across a wide ramp: Towards a polygenetic model for hummocky cross-stratification

The hydrodynamic mechanisms responsible for the genesis and facies variability of shallow-marine sandstone storm deposits (tempestites) have been intensely debated, with particular focus on hummocky cross-stratification. Despite being ubiquitously utilized as diagnostic elements of high-energy storm events, the full formative process spectrum of tempestites and hummocky cross-stratification is still to be determined. In this study, detailed sedimentological investigations of more than 950 discrete tempestites within the Lower Cretaceous Rurikfjellet Formation on Spitsbergen, Svalbard, shed new light on the formation and environmental significance of hummocky cross-stratification, and provide a reference for evaluation of tempestite facies models. Three generic types of tempestites are recognized, representing deposition from: (i) relatively steady and (ii) highly unsteady storm-wave-generated oscillatory flows or oscillatory-dominated combined-flows; and (iii) various storm-wave-modified hyperpycnal flows (including waxing–waning flows) generated directly from plunging rivers. A low-gradient ramp physiography enhanced both distally progressive deceleration of the hyperpycnal flows and the spatial extent and relative magnitude of wave-added turbulence. Sandstone beds display a wide range of simple and complex configurations of hummocky cross-stratification. Features include ripple cross-lamination and ‘compound’ stratification, soft-sediment deformation structures, local shifts to quasi-planar lamination, double draping, metre-scale channelized bed architectures, gravel-rich intervals, inverse-to-normal grading, and vertical alternation of sedimentary structures. A polygenetic model is presented to account for the various configurations of hummocky cross-stratification that may commonly be produced during storms by wave oscillations, hyperpycnal flows and downwelling flows. Inherent storm-wave unsteadiness probably facilitates the generation of a wide range of hummocky cross-stratification configurations due to: (i) changes in near-bed oscillatory shear stresses related to passing wave groups or tidal water-level variations; (ii) multidirectional combined-flows related to polymodal and time-varying orientations of wave oscillations; and (iii) syndepositional liquefaction related to cyclic wave stress. Previous proximal–distal tempestite facies models may only be applicable to relatively high-gradient shelves, and new models are necessary for low-gradient settings.     

Significance of pot and gutter casts in a Middle Triassic carbonate platform, Betic Cordillera, southern Spain

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

川北南江地区下三叠统飞一段风暴沉积特征及地质意义

为进一步探究四川盆地北部南江剖面近P-T界线处频繁出露的风暴沉积暗含的地质信息,探讨早三叠世巨型季风气候对四川盆地北部沉积的影响,对研究剖面进行野外及镜下岩石学、沉积学特征综合分析,以底面侵蚀构造、风暴砾屑层、丘状交错层理等作为重要的识别标志,识别出风暴作用不同阶段的沉积产物高峰期(Sa)、衰减期(Sb)、停息期(Sc)段。根据Sa、Sb、Sc段的不同组合形式,将出露的多套风暴沉积划分为代表不同水深环境的I、II、III、IV四种风暴层序结构类型;在此基础上对Sa段风暴颗粒进行粒度分析并对风暴沉积厚度、层序结构类型等作纵向比较,风暴沉积表现为向上风暴作用逐渐增强的沉积序列。结合上寺剖面风暴沉积研究并进行横向对比,发现两剖面风暴沉积均发育在靠近P-T界线的早三叠世地层中且沉积规模接近,推测应为早三叠世时期同一巨型季风体制下受到频繁风暴作用影响的事件性沉积,并共同揭示了开江-梁平海槽边缘在早三叠世逐渐向广海方向推进、海槽逐渐被填平的沉积过程。     

徐州地区新元古界赵圩组风暴沉积特征分析

徐州地区新元古界赵圩组地层在赵圩村出露良好,整体为一套碳酸盐岩沉积,岩性组合可划分为4 段：鲕粒灰岩段、 风暴事件沉积段、叠层石段和白云岩段,其中叠层石段又划分为A 和B两个单元。剖面内部发育大量风暴沉积记录,并与 正常沉积在垂向上互层叠置,整体具有向上频率变弱、规模变小的趋势。典型的风暴沉积标志包括丘状交错层理、粒序层理、 冲刷- 充填构造、冲刷切削构造、砾屑灰岩层、生物礁丘截切现象等。文中划分出4 种风暴沉积序列类型,说明每种序列类 型指示的古地理和古环境意义,以及在剖面上的分布组合特征。依据剖面岩性与风暴沉积的分布组合规律,认为赵圩组由 下至上构成一个总体向上变深,而后又变浅的沉积序列,沉积环境演化依次为浅滩-近岸浅水潮下带-碳酸盐岩开阔台地- 碳酸盐岩局限台地-深水斜坡-潮坪、泻湖,气候总体炎热干旱。风暴频发可能与沉积期本区所处的较低的古纬度有关。     

广西北海涠洲岛第四纪湖光岩组的风暴岩

广西北海涠洲岛第四纪湖光岩组以碎屑岩为主, 内发育渠筑型、丘状或洼状交错层理、平行层理等典型的风暴沉积构造.湖光岩组的风暴岩包括3种岩相类型: A.底部具渠筑型、内部具块状层理或递变层理的砾岩、砂砾岩或含砾砂岩; B.具丘状、洼状交错层理或平行层理的砂岩; C.具浪成交错层理的砂岩.这些岩相组合成典型的A -B -C风暴沉积序列, 它们分别代表在风暴作用期间风暴流(A)、风暴浪(B) 和正常波浪(C) 的沉积.晚更新世北海涠洲岛地区位于低纬度的浅海沉积背景下, 上更新统湖光岩组以正常浪及面之上的浅海背景粗火山碎屑和砂沉积为主.湖光岩组风暴岩的发现反映该区晚更新世位于风暴作用频繁的5°~ 2 0°的低纬度地区.风暴沉积发育于正常浪及面之上的浅海地带, 涠洲岛是一个风暴作用控制的浅海陆架.因此风暴岩对解释晚更新世北部湾的古地理和古气候具有重要意义      

Neogene marine sediments and biota encapsulated between lava flows on Santa Maria Island (Azores,north-east Atlantic): An interplay between sedimentary,erosional and volcanic processes

Sedimentary rocks are rarely preserved on reefless volcanic oceanic islands because their sediments are mostly exported from coastal areas towards the deep sea and such islands typically undergo subsidence. In contrast, the exceptional geological record of the uplifted Santa Maria Island (Azores) provides a unique opportunity to gain insight on such coastal systems. This study focuses on a locality at Ponta do Cedro (eastern Santa Maria Island), which features a series of marine fossiliferous sediments wedged between steep lava deltas. As demonstrated by local structure, these sediments correspond to clinoforms deposited on the steep submarine slope of an active volcanic island, implying transport from shallow waters to greater depths and subsequent colonization by benthic communities. Rapid volcanic progradation eventually sealed the deposits, allowing for their preservation and providing a rare snapshot of the ecology during those intervals, in addition to insights on sedimentary dynamics along submarine island slopes. This study reveals spatial relationships between wedges of sedimentary bodies encapsulated by lavas in the Ponta do Cedro section, and interprets depositional processes preserved in those strata based on sedimentological and palaeontological data. The dynamics of the environment are mostly related to relative sea-level changes, intense volcanic activity and regional uplift during the Neogene.     

Marine depositional events controlled by sediment supply and sea-level changes

Under conditions of high fluvial or coastal sediment supply, individual sandy storm layers (tempestites) and turbidites form after significantly shorter time intervals than Milankovitch cycles. To provide the material for mass flows of very high volume, large, mountainborne rivers require about ten thousand years. With little sediment supply, however, all event deposits become rare or are missing.Third-order sequences (about 1–4 Ma) vary considerably in thickness depending on the sedimentation rates in the basins. Thick and widely extended mud flows and megabreccias are preferentially triggered by sea level fall below the shelf edge. Mixed siliciclastics-carbonate systems along the foot of carbonate shelves generally become coarser grained and poorer in carbonates during lowstands. Turbidite successions also frequently occur in lowstand deposits, but may be present in the other systems tracts as well if a delta is prograding continually.The position of tempestites in third or higher order shallow water sequences is less clear. In studies on the migration of coastal sands in relation to falling and rising sea level, one should distinguish, apart from sediment supply, between settings with and without substantial wave scour. The generation of sandy tempestites appears to be favoured if coastal progradation and wave scour operate simultaneously for example during late highstand and early lowstand.     

Signatures of storms, oceanic floods and forearc tectonism in marine shelf strata of the Quinault Formation (Pliocene), Washington, USA

Marine shelf strata of the Quinault Formation reflect the influences of storm–flood processes and convergent margin tectonism on sedimentation and palaeocommunity distributions in an active forearc basin of Early Pliocene age, western Washington, USA. The sedimentologic, ichnologic and invertebrate megafaunal character of coastal sea cliff exposures in the Pratt Cliff–Duck Creek area, Quinault Indian Nation, reveal five different sedimentary facies – scoured, Rosselia, bioturbated, mixed and Acharax. These facies document the shifting interplay and intensities among storms, waves and river‐flood plumes during transgression in inner to mid‐shelf settings. Storm sedimentation on the inner shelf is recorded north of Pratt Cliff by amalgamated, proximal tempestites of the scoured facies, which grade up‐section to thick deposits of hummocky cross‐stratified sandstone, indicative of strong wave influences. These hummocky beds alternate, in metre‐scale packages, with banded mudstone and siltstone that have distinctive sedimentologic and ichnofaunal characteristics (Rosselia facies). In particular the mudstone and siltstone occur as 1–15 cm‐thick, rhythmic, parallel beds that are laterally continuous, internally homogeneous to faintly laminated, and thus similar in nature to fine‐grained, oceanic flood deposits reported from shelf settings offshore the modern Eel River, northern California. The Quinault flood deposits are dominated by the ubiquitous trace fossil Rosselia socialis, comprising vertical, mud‐packed, flaring burrows with a sand‐filled central shaft which has been inferred as the feeding‐dwelling structure of a vermiform invertebrate adapted to high sedimentation rates in inner‐shelf settings. Fairweather conditions in between the higher energy periods of storms, waves and floods are recorded north of Pratt Cliff by the mixed facies, which is interpreted as representing the sand and mud zone of the inner‐ to mid‐shelf transition. Quieter, deeper, mid‐shelf, fairweather settings are typified by the bioturbated facies south of Pratt Cliff, where lower sedimentation rates and lower physical energies produced extensively bioturbated deposits of sandy siltstone punctuated, in places, by isolated sandy beds of distal tempestites. Quinault strata also chronicle stratigraphic signatures of subduction of the Juan de Fuca plate beneath western Washington during the Pliocene. For example, the imprint of geochemically unusual authigenic carbonates and a chemosynthetic palaeocommunity (Acharax facies) have been interpreted as a methane seep on the Quinault seafloor. Furthermore, a mobile rockground epifauna of pholadid bivalves became established on abundant, dark mudstone cobbles and pebbles sourced from the Hoh Assemblage, a Miocene accretionary prism that was actively deforming as well as interacting with Quinault forearc sediments during the Pliocene. Hoh mudstone clasts were supplied to the Quinault shelf via seafloor‐piercing diapirs and eroding mélange shear zones, exposures of which today occur in fault contact with Quinault strata along the coast from Taholah to the Raft River.     

中国扬子地台西缘寒武纪风暴事件与磷矿沉积

中国扬子地台及邻区海域,在早寒武世至中寒武世早期,风暴活动频繁,地理位置由西向东,由南向北,地层层序自下而上三个组段发现有风暴岩和风暴沉积物,其中以下寒武统梅树村组的磷质风暴岩最典型。风暴活动冲击川滇岛陆及牛首山岛陆的内侧,从而使两个岛陆间的海面下降,造成外海海水填充并形成上升洋流。富磷海水随着上升洋流运移,为磷质沉积提供来源。因此,风暴和风暴流作用不仅形成和加速了上升洋流的循环和补给,同时又是磷矿簸选富集的物理驱动力。风暴流向海的流动和上升洋流通过的方向,沿着扬子地台西缘形成了我国重要的磷质富集带与工业磷矿分布区。     

Coupled ‘storm‐flood’ depositional model: Application to the Miocene–Modern Baram Delta Province,north‐west Borneo

The Miocene to Modern Baram Delta Province is a highly efficient source to sink system that has accumulated 9 to 12 km of coastal–deltaic to shelf sediments over the past 15 Myr. Facies analysis based on ca 1 km of total vertical outcrop stratigraphy, combined with subsurface geology and sedimentary processes in the present‐day Baram Delta Province, suggests a ‘storm‐flood’ depositional model comprising two distinct periods: (i) fair‐weather periods are dominated by alongshore sediment reworking and coastal sand accumulation; and (ii) monsoon‐driven storm periods are characterized by increased wave‐energy and offshore‐directed downwelling storm flow that occur simultaneously with peak fluvial discharge caused by storm precipitation (‘storm‐floods’). The modern equivalent environment has the following characteristics: (i) humid‐tropical monsoonal climate; (ii) narrow (ca <100 km) and steep (ca 1°), densely vegetated, coastal plain; (iii) deep tropical weathering of a mudstone‐dominated hinterland; (iv) multiple independent, small to moderate‐sized (10² to 10⁵ km²) drainage basins; (v) predominance of river‐mouth bypassing; and (vi) supply‐dominated shelf. The ancient, proximal part of this system (the onshore Belait Formation) is dominated by strongly cyclical sandier‐upward successions (metre to decametre‐scale) comprising (from bottom to top): (i) finely laminated mudstone with millimetre‐scale silty laminae; (ii) heterolithic sandstone–mudstone alternations (centimetre to metre‐scale); and (iii) sharp‐based, swaley cross‐stratified sandstone beds and bedsets (metre to decimetre‐scale). Gutter casts (decimetre to metre‐scale) are widespread, they are filled with swaley cross‐stratified sandstone and their long axes are oriented perpendicular to the palaeo‐shoreline. The gutter casts and other associated waning‐flow event beds suggest that erosion and deposition was controlled by high‐energy, offshore‐directed, oscillatory‐dominated, sediment‐laden combined flows within a shoreface to delta front setting. The presence of multiple river mouths and exceptionally high rates of accommodation creation (characteristic of the Neogene to Recent Baram Delta Province; up to 3000 m Ma⁻¹), in a ‘storm‐flood’‐dominated environment, resulted in a highly efficient and effective offshore‐directed sediment transport system.     

四川盆地龙门山区甘溪石沟里泥盆系养马坝组风暴沉积特征及其地质意义

通过对四川盆地龙门山区甘溪石沟里剖面实测,建立了石沟里剖面泥盆系养马坝组风暴沉积的识别标志,进而对其风暴岩进行了系统研究。石沟里养马坝组风暴沉积的重要标志包括冲刷面、渠模等风暴侵蚀构造和粒序层理、平行层理、丘状交错层理等风暴浪构造。该区养马坝组发育了6种类型的风暴沉积单元组成序列,据此建立了完整的风暴序列模式,由粒序层理段(Sa)、平行层理段(Sb)、丘状交错层理段(Sc)、波状层理段(Sd)和泥岩段(Se)组成,底部常发育冲刷面和渠模构造。龙门山区甘溪石沟里养马坝组风暴沉积可分为近源风暴和远源风暴2种类型,依据风暴沉积的剖面结构类型和沉积构造特点,建立了该区风暴沉积序列的分布模式。龙门山区甘溪石沟里养马坝组发育的风暴沉积是该区混合沉积发育、抑制生物礁发育的重要控制因素,对于该区古地理重建具有重要的指示意义。     

Palaeo‐ice streams,trough mouth fans and high‐latitude continental slope sedimentation

The classical model of trough mouth fan (TMF) formation was developed in the Polar North Atlantic to explain large submarine fans situated in front of bathymetric troughs that extend across continental shelves to the shelf break. This model emphasizes the delivery of large volumes of subglacial sediment to the termini of ice streams flowing along troughs, and subsequent re‐deposition of this glacigenic sediment down the continental slope via debris‐flow processes. However, there is considerable variation in terms of the morphology and large‐scale sediment architecture of continental slopes in front of palaeo‐ice streams. This variability reflects differences in slope gradient, the relative contributions of meltwater sedimentation compared with debris‐flow deposition, and sediment supply/geology of the adjacent continental shelf. TMF development is favoured under conditions of a low (<1°) slope gradient; a passive‐margin tectonic setting; abundant, readily erodible sediments on the continental shelf ‐ and thus associated high rates of sediment delivery to the shelf edge; and a wide continental shelf. The absence of large sediment fans on continental slopes in front of cross‐shelf troughs should not, however, be taken to indicate the former absence of palaeo‐ice streams in the geological record.     

Quartzite development in early Palaeozoic nearshore marine environments

Quartzites are especially characteristic of Proterozoic and Cambro‐Ordovician shallow marine strata, whereas equivalent age fluvial deposits are commonly arkosic. The absence of land vegetation in the pre‐Silurian influenced weathering processes and styles of fluvial deposition. It may also have had an impact on shallow marine sedimentation. Two field studies from the English Channel region are presented to investigate the processes leading to quartzite formation. On Alderney, nearshore marine and fluvial facies occur interbedded on a metre scale and are interpreted to represent deposition on the lower reaches of an alluvial plain, and in beach and upper shoreface environments. The marine and fluvial sandstones display marked differences in textural and mineralogical maturity, pointing to a process of sediment maturation by the destruction of feldspar and labile grains at the shoreline. At Erquy, fully mature, marine quartzites occur bounded above and below by alluvial deposits via sharp or erosional surfaces, and are interpreted to represent high energy, storm and tidally influenced lower shoreface and inner shelf deposits. A model for quartzite development is proposed where, under a cool climate, frequent storms in un‐vegetated, tectonically rejuvenated uplands provided an abundance of arkosic sand to fluvial basins and clastic shorelines. The model proposes that the marine basins were subject to high wave energies, frequent storm events and tidal currents. These were conditions conducive to transforming arkosic sand to quartz‐rich sand by the attrition of feldspar at the shoreline and in the shallow marine environment. On sediment burial, further feldspar destruction occurred during diagenesis. The proposed model highlights the potential for a step change in sediment maturity to occur at the shoreline in early Palaeozoic depositional systems tracts.     

鄂尔多斯盆地东胜东三叠系—侏罗系湖泊风暴沉积的发现及其意义

鄂尔多斯盆地东北部东胜—纳林河一带出露的中生界三叠系—侏罗系—白垩系地层,为一套河湖相沉积（白垩系可能有风成沉积）。在三叠系—侏罗系地层中发育完好的风暴沉积和风暴岩。在东纳林煤矿—德胜西岔路口的109国道两侧长约40 km的三叠系—侏罗系地层中发育风暴沉积,该德胜西剖面连续长度达548 m。这套风暴沉积主要为一套河流—三角洲—湖泊沉积（有少量泥炭沼泽）,并以发育典型的风暴沉积构造:丘状构造（Hummocky Structures,HS）、洼状构造（Swaley Structures,SS）、丘状交错层理（Hummocky Cross Stratification,HCS）和洼状交错层理（Swaley Cross Stratification,SCS）极为引人注目。初步研究认为,这套风暴沉积和风暴岩主要发育在浅水湖泊中。主要特点:1）凡发育有风暴沉积或风暴岩的地方,地层的成层性极差,地层多呈透镜状、豆荚状或波浪状;2）岩层的接触关系主要为冲刷面,很少正常沉积接触,冲刷面呈不规则波浪状,最大起伏可达2 m;3）丘状和洼状构造具有连续的正弦曲线的完美形态,规模在中大型,波长在数米到近百米,高数十厘米到1~2 m;4）岩性及其组合主要为一套黄褐色砾岩+砂岩+灰色泥岩;具有明显的二元结构（下粗上细;下部块状上部发育层理）;在以粗碎屑为主的风暴沉积中砾岩是常见的底部沉积。在纳林煤矿附近有煤层形成的风暴沉积和风暴岩;5）在德胜西岔路口的重要剖面的风暴沉积和风暴岩底部发育了1~3层较厚的砾石层,其中中间一层为厚数十厘米到1~2 m,砾石直径大者可达30~40 cm,大部分具有叠瓦构造,前者可能指示了向湖的风暴回流,后者指示了向岸的冲洗流,揭示了风暴冲洗流非常强劲;6）灰色含砾块状泥岩,砾石呈漂浮状,揭示含砾泥岩是风暴冲洗流形成的类似于泥石流的快速沉积,而非正常天气形成的静水沉积;厚数十厘米的含砾泥岩揭示了当时的沉积速率相当大,也揭示了风暴流极其浑浊,可能几乎接近饱和;7）振荡流占优势,但在某些部位又具有明显的复合流和振荡流特点。8）总体沉积背景是一种宽阔浅水湖泊环境,以原地振荡垂向沉积为主。鄂尔多斯盆地三叠系—侏罗系湖泊风暴沉积是一种新的沉积类型。到目前为止,还未见到有关如此大型的HCS和SCS的相关报道。研究表明,形成这种风暴沉积的水体的最大深度在50 m左右。鄂尔多斯盆地早三叠世—中侏罗世的风暴沉积和风暴岩的长期发育与长期稳定的强烈亚洲季风有关。     

湘西北龙山地区下奥陶统桐梓组潮坪风暴岩的发现及其意义

报道了湘西北地区早奥陶世桐梓组地层中的风暴岩,并对该套事件沉积体的区域展布及表现形式进行了系统阐述。通过对野外剖面的仔细观测和室内资料的综合研究,普遍见指示潮坪环境的半球状叠层石、羽状交错层理等,并识别出各种侵蚀-撕裂构造、粒序层理、韵律层理、变形层理及沙纹-波状层理等风暴沉积标志,丘状交错层理常保存不全,综合分析后认为该风暴岩为潮坪风暴沉积,并进一步划分出4种类型的风暴沉积序列。同时,区内桐梓组见有大套滑塌重力流沉积,经对比,可能为同一飓风事件在不同环境中产生的不同物质记录。该套风暴岩具有重要的地质意义:风暴沉积特征的变化蕴含了丰富的气候变化信息,反映出晚寒武世至早奥陶世时期全球温室继承、转型的一种气候响应。风暴岩、风暴浊积岩及滑塌角砾岩的发现,为该时期“鄂西台洼”的存在提供了新的沉积学证据;也为区内含矿段地层的精细划分和对比提供实际参考;同时,对分析华南板块的向北漂移提供了更仔细、更可靠的参考数据。