Sedimentology,sequence stratigraphy and syn-rift model of younger part of Washtawa Formation and early part of Kanthkot Formation,Wagad, Kachchh basin,Gujarat

The 600 m thick prograding sedimentary succession of Wagad ranging in age from Callovian to Early Kimmeridgian has been divided into three formations namely, Washtawa, Kanthkot and Gamdau. Present study is confined to younger part of the Washtawa Formation and early part of the Kanthkot Formation exposed around Kanthkot, Washtawa, Chitrod and Rapar. The depositional architecture and sedimentation processes of these deposits have been studied applying sequence stratigraphic context. Facies studies have led to identification of five upward stacking facies associations (A, B, C, D, and E) which reflect that deposition was controlled by one single transgressive — regressive cycle. The transgressive deposit is characterized by fining and thinning upward succession of facies consisting of two facies associations: (1) Association A: medium — to coarse-grained calcareous sandstone — mudrocks alternations (2) Association B: fine-grained calcareous sandstone — mudrocks alternations. The top of this association marks maximum flooding surface as identified by bioturbational fabrics and abundance of deep marine fauna (ammonites). Association A is interpreted as high energy transgressive deposit deposited during relative sea level rise. Whereas, facies association B indicates its deposition in low energy marine environment deposited during stand-still period with low supply of sediments. Regressive sedimentary package has been divided into three facies associations consisting of: (1) Association C: gypsiferous mudstone-siltstone/fine sandstone (2) Association D: laminated, medium-grained sandstone — siltstone (3) Association E: well laminated (coarse and fine mode) sandstone interbedded with coarse grained sandstone with trough cross stratification. Regressive succession of facies association C, D and E is interpreted as wave dominated shoreface, foreshore to backshore and dune environment respectively. Sequence stratigraphic concepts have been applied to subdivide these deposits into two genetic sequences: (i) the lower carbonate dominated (25 m) transgressive deposits (TST) include facies association A and B and the upper thick (75m) regressive deposits (HST) include facies association C, D and E. The two sequences are separated by maximum flooding surface (MFS) identified by sudden shift in facies association from B to C. The transgressive facies association A and B represent the sediments deposited during the syn-rift climax followed by regressive sediments comprising association C, D and E deposited during late syn-rift stage.     

Lithostratigraphy and depositional environment of the Permian Nowra Sandstone in the southwestern Sydney Basin,Australia

Lithofacies in the mid‐Permian Nowra Sandstone indicate a middle/upper shoreface to foreshore environment of deposition under the influence of storm‐generated waves and north‐northeasterly directed longshore currents. Palaeogeographic reconstruction for the Nowra Sandstone portrays a sand‐dominated high energy shelf and offshore shoal forming a sequence thickening seaward away from the western shore of the Sydney Basin. The shoal‐crest at the outer edge of the shelf trends north‐northeast. It is characterized by fine‐ to medium‐grained sandstone with upper flow regime structures and a high proportion of conglomerate, whereas coarser sandstone with lower energy bedforms occurs along the seaward side of the shoal. In the deeper water to the east, the lower Nowra Sandstone becomes rapidly thinner as it passes seaward, via bioturbated storm redeposited sandstone beds, into the shelf deposits of the Wandrawandian Siltstone. This sequence accumulated during a regressive event and the base of the formation becomes progressively younger eastward. The sand may have been supplied by rivers along the western coast but the major source was south of the study area. The lower Nowra Sandstone is separated from the upper part of the formation by an extensive ravinement surface overlain by the Purnoo Conglomerate Member. In contrast to the lower unit, the upper Nowra Sandstone forms a westward thickening wedge that represents a backstepping nearshore sand facies that accumulated during a transgression. The upper Nowra Sandstone passes vertically and laterally eastward into the Berry Siltstone. Thus both boundaries of the Nowra Sandstone are diachronous, first younging eastward and then westward as a response to a regressive‐transgressive episode.     

Anatomy of a transgressive lag: Panther Tongue Sandstone, Star Point Formation, central Utah

Abstract The Panther Tongue of the Star Point Formation in central Utah contains a variety of transgressive lag deposits that, when mapped regionally, show a sensitive dependence upon pre‐existing topography of the palaeoshoreline. The Panther Tongue consists of a coarsening‐upward sandstone wedge that prograded into the Western Interior Seaway during Late Cretaceous (Santonian) time. High‐resolution sequence stratigraphic analysis revealed that this member was deposited during the long‐distance (>50 km) regression and transgression of a delta into shallow‐marine environments, containing basal highstand, forced regression, lowstand and transgressive systems tracts. Based on grain size, clast composition, lateral extent and stratigraphic position, the coarse sandstones on top of the Panther Tongue were classified into four types: (1) simple; (2) dispersed; (3) oxidized; and (4) local lags. The simple lag is composed of dark grey coarse sandstone with oyster fragments and shark teeth. This lag is typically extensively bioturbated and massive. Laminated and cross‐bedded units are also common. This type of coarse sandstone is interpreted as a typical transgressive lag. The dispersed lag differs in that it contains abundant mud and commonly occurs as multiple beds in thick intervals of muddy sandstone. Mixing of bay/estuarine and shallow ‐ marine mud with simple lag sand may be responsible for deposition of this type of coarse sandstone. The oxidized lag is distinctive in its reddish colour with extensive bioturbation and is commonly overlain by a simple lag. The local lag is composed of thin‐bedded, dark grey, coarse sandstone, occurring locally between the mouth bar and distributary channel. The variation in types, grain size and bed thickness of the coarse‐grained lags was mainly controlled by antecedent topography as suggested by immediately underlying lithofacies. Relatively thick (≈30 cm) simple lags are present on top of mouth‐bar sandstones, whereas dispersed lags are common on top of the distributary channel sandstone and in bay/estuarine and shallow‐marine mudstones. Erosion of topographic highs (mouth bar) resulted in relatively thick accumulation of simple lags. In topographic low areas such as distributary channel, estuary, bay and shallow‐marine environments, fine‐grained muddy sands that were eroded from the nearby topographic highs were redeposited. Intermittent storm waves transported coarse sands both landward and seaward, forming a dispersed lag. The net effect was reworking of local topographic relief during overall transgression, forming an apparently planar transgressive surface of erosion.     

鄂尔多斯东北部太原组上部灰岩段高分辨层序地层分析

根据对露头、测井和岩心资料的垂向分析和横向对比,结合古生物化石资料,在识别关键性界面的基础上,对鄂尔多斯东北部下二叠统太原组上部灰岩段建立了高分辨层序地层格架,划分出5个三级层序。研究层段为有陆源碎屑混入的碳酸盐缓坡沉积,形成于华北晚古生代最大海侵阶段。各层序分别由低位体系域的下切谷充填沉积的砂岩、砂砾岩,海侵体系的灰岩、泥灰岩、泥岩、煤和高位体系域的碎屑岩和煤组成。区内厚达数十米的桥头砂岩主要由几个层序低位域下切河谷充填沉积叠置而成。通过编制的各层序海侵域灰岩的厚度和分布图,证实层序3、4沉积期海侵范围最大。早二叠世早期海侵来自东南和西南两个方向      

Stratigraphic and biofacies patterns in the Middle Pennsylvanian Magoffin marine unit in the Appalachian Basin, U.S.A.

The Magoffin marine unit is a Middle Pennsylvanian age interval of marine strata that directly overlies the Taylor, Copeland, and correlative coal zones in the Appalachian Basin. For this study the Magoffin was measured, described, and sampled at 17 localities along a northeast to southwest transect in the center of the Middle Pennsylvanian outcrop belt in eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. Throughout the study area the base of the Magoffin is characterized by a thin, dark, highly fossiliferous limestone with a brachiopod-dominated fossil assemblage. The limestone base is usually overlain by a fining-upward sequence consisting of fossiliferous dark shales or mudstones with mollusk-dominated assemblages. These dark mudstones include a fissile black shale with a distinctive Posidonia fauna deposited over part of the study area. The lower, fining sequence is overlain by a thicker, coarsening sequence bearing brachiopod-dominated fossil assemblages. The lower beds of the Magoffin, particularly the basal limestone, are persistent and relatively uniform throughout the study area. In contrast, strata in the upper part of the Magoffin sequence show a high degree of geographic variability, with localities in the southwestern half of the study area showing two successive, thick, coarsening-upward sequences of strata, while those to the northeast record a single thinner coarsening-upward sequence.The widespread, uniform nature of the basal Magoffin limestone appears to indicate rapid transgressive flooding of the coal-swamp and associated environments accompanied by a hiatus in clastic influx into the Magoffin seaway. Nearshore brachiopod faunas were replaced by deeper-water, possibly dysaerobic-adapted mollusk faunas as transgression progressed, culminating in the fissile black shales and monotaxic Posidonia fauna deposited beneath a localized pycnocline during maximum transgression. The onset of regression is indicated by the reverse of the stratigraphic sequence of faunas observed during transgression, and by the return of rapid clastic influx into the basin.     

Tectonically induced climate and its control on the distribution of depositional systems in a continental foreland basin, Cloverly and Lakota Formations (Lower Cretaceous) of Wyoming, U.S.A.

Continental sediments of the Cloverly and Lakota Formations (Lower Cretaceous) in Wyoming are subdivided into three depositional systems: perennial to intermittent alluvial, intermittent to ephemeral alluvial, and playa. Chert-bearing sandstones, conglomerates, carbonaceous mudrocks, blocky mudrocks, and skeletal limestones were deposited by perennial to intermittent alluvial systems. Carbonaceous mudrocks contain abundant wood fragments, cuticle and cortical debris, and other vascular plant remains representing deposition in oxbow lakes, abandoned channels, and on floodplains under humid to seasonal conditions. Intraformational conglomerates, sandstones, bioturbated and blocky mudrocks with caliche nodules, and bioturbated limestones characterize deposition in intermittent to ephemeral alluvial systems. Bioturbated limestones are encased in bioturbated mudrocks with abundant pseudo-slickensides. The presence of caliche nodules in some of the blocky to bioturbated mudrocks is consistent with supersaturation and precipitation of calcium carbonate from groundwater under semi-arid conditions. Caliche nodules, pseudo-slickensides, and carbonate-rich floodplain sediments are interpreted to have been deposited by intermittent to ephemeral alluvial systems under seasonal to semi-arid climatic conditions. Laminated mudrocks, siltstones, vuggy carbonates, bedded to nodular evaporites, pebbly mudrocks, and diamictites were deposited in evaporative alkaline lakes or playas. Pebbly mudrocks and diamictites are interpreted to represent deposition from channelized and unchannelized hyperconcentrated flows on a playa, resulting from intense rain events within the basin.The areal abundance and distribution of these depositional systems change systematically across the overfilled portion of the Early Cretaceous Cordilleran foreland basin in Wyoming. The lower part (A-interval) of the Cloverly and Lakota Formations is characterized by deposits of perennial to intermittent rivers that existed 300 to 1000 km east of the Sevier fold-and-thrust belt. Proximal to the Sevier fold-and-thrust belt, the A-interval of the Cloverly Formation and upper Ephraim Formation of the Gannett Group are typified by deposits of intermittent to ephemeral rivers and their associated floodplains. In the middle part (B-interval) of the Cloverly Formation, intermittent to ephemeral alluvial systems expand to 600 km into the basin. The upper part (C-interval) of the Cloverly Formation is characterized by playa deposits in the Bighorn and Wind River Basins and intermittent to ephemeral alluvial deposits along the front of the ancestral Sevier Mountains. Deposits of perennial to intermittent alluvial systems in the C-interval of the Cloverly and Lakota Formations are restricted to the Black Hills region, almost 900 km to the east of the Sevier Mountains. The change in the areal distribution of depositional systems through time within this continental foreland basin may be attributed to the development of a rain shadow associated with the uplift of the Sevier Mountains in the Early Cretaceous.     

A sequence stratigraphic model for an intensely bioturbated shallow-marine sandstone: the Bridport Sand Formation, Wessex Basin, UK

The Bridport Sand Formation is an intensely bioturbated sandstone that represents part of a mixed siliciclastic‐carbonate shallow‐marine depositional system. At outcrop and in subsurface cores, conventional facies analysis was combined with ichnofabric analysis to identify facies successions bounded by a hierarchy of key stratigraphic surfaces. The geometry of these surfaces and the lateral relationships between the facies successions that they bound have been constrained locally using 3D seismic data. Facies analysis suggests that the Bridport Sand Formation represents progradation of a low‐energy, siliciclastic shoreface dominated by storm‐event beds reworked by bioturbation. The shoreface sandstones form the upper part of a thick (up to 200 m), steep (2–3°), mud‐dominated slope that extends into the underlying Down Cliff Clay. Clinoform surfaces representing the shoreface‐slope system are grouped into progradational sets. Each set contains clinoform surfaces arranged in a downstepping, offlapping manner that indicates forced‐regressive progradation, which was punctuated by flooding surfaces that are expressed in core and well‐log data. In proximal locations, progradational shoreface sandstones (corresponding to a clinoform set) are truncated by conglomerate lags containing clasts of bored, reworked shoreface sandstones, which are interpreted as marking sequence boundaries. In medial locations, progradational clinoform sets are overlain across an erosion surface by thin (<5 m) bioclastic limestones that record siliciclastic‐sediment starvation during transgression. Near the basin margins, these limestones are locally thick (>10 m) and overlie conglomerate lags at sequence boundaries. Sequence boundaries are thus interpreted as being amalgamated with overlying transgressive surfaces, to form composite erosion surfaces. In distal locations, oolitic ironstones that formed under conditions of extended physical reworking overlie composite sequence boundaries and transgressive surfaces. Over most of the Wessex Basin, clinoform sets (corresponding to high‐frequency sequences) are laterally offset, thus defining a low‐frequency sequence architecture characterized by high net siliciclastic sediment input and low net accommodation. Aggradational stacking of high‐frequency sequences occurs in fault‐bounded depocentres which had higher rates of localized tectonic subsidence.     

Late Pleistocene mammoth remains from Coastal Maine, USA

Remains identified as those of a woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) dated at 12,200 ± 55 ¹⁴C yr B.P. were recovered while excavating in a complex sequence of glaciomarine sediments in Scarborough, Maine, USA. The mammoth was found in the top meter of a fossiliferous unit of mud and sand laminites. These sediments were deposited during a marine regressive phase following the transgression that accompanied northward retreat of the margin of the Laurentide ice sheet. A Portlandia arctica valve from the underlying transgressive unit provides a minimum age of 14,820 ± 105 ¹⁴C yr B.P. for local deglaciation. The mammoth, an adult female, died in midwinter with no evidence of human involvement. Tusk growth rates and oxygen-isotope variation over the last few years of life record low seasonality. The mammoth was transported to the site as a partial carcass by the late-glacial proto-Saco River. It sank in a near-shore setting, was subjected to additional disarticulation and scattering of elements, and was finally buried in sediments reworked by the shallowing sea.     

Upper Carboniferous to Lower Permian transgressive–regressive sequences of central Spitsbergen,Arctic Norway

Investigation of the Upper Carboniferous to Lower Permian sedimentary strata of central Spitsbergen shows that this highly cyclic rock succession is composed of four long-term transgressive–regressive cycles. These long-term cycles are themselves composed of stacked higher order cycles. Transgressive phases are characterized by increasing accommodation space, and include a basal transgressive part of marked retrogradation of facies belts and thickening-upward component cycles. Regressive phases are characterized by decreasing accommodation space, displayed by progradation of facies belts, overall shallowing and increased restriction of the depositional environment, influx of coarse terrigenous sediments and increasing evidence of exposure and/or non-deposition. The oldest transgressive–regressive sequence identified, Sequence 1, is of Serpukhovian to Bashkirian age and represents a syn-rift sequence. Also composed of syn-rift sediments is the transgressive–regressive Moscovian to mid-Gzhelian-aged Sequence 2. The late Gzhelian to late Asselian Sequence 3 is mainly a post-rift sequence. The youngest sequence, Sequence 4, is of Sakmarian to possible Artinskian age, and is also composed of post-rift sediments. The individual transgressive–regressive cycles are defined as second-order cycles, based on lithological signatures, lateral extent of bounding unconformities, and the actual time period the cycles span. Local tectonic activity is believed to control to some extent the development of short-term cycles in the syn-rift succession. However, cyclicity within the long-term cycles is mainly controlled by eustatic sea-level fluctuations, and therefore enables them to be correlated to other Circum-Arctic regions. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cross-platform architecture of a sequence boundary in mixed siliciclastic-carbonate lithofacies, Middle Cambrian, southern Great Basin, USA

Stratigraphic analysis of mixed siliciclastic-carbonate lithofacies within the Middle Cambrian Bonanza King Formation of the southern Great Basin reveals three distinct facies associations that record a range of depositional environments from semi-arid tidal flats to deeper subtidal, restricted lagoons. Stratigraphic trends, cross-platform facies variations and correlation of individual surfaces across 250 km of the study area suggest that these mixed lithofacies were deposited in three temporally distinct phases. (1) Extensive progradation of mixed peritidal environments culminated in a prolonged episode of subaerial exposure marked by an areally extensive intraclast breccia (0·5–1·2 m thick) that we interpret to be a major Type 1 sequence-bounding disconformity. (2) Abrupt flooding of the exposed platform resulted in the deposition of mixed deeper subtidal lithofacies, including a condensed interval of fissile, fossiliferous shale. (3) Progressive shallowing and aggradational accumulation was accompanied by a decrease in siliciclastics and a shift to pure carbonate deposition. Deep-water siliciclastics and megabreccias record deposition along the base-of-slope off the Middle Cambrian shelf-edge, and are interpreted to represent lowstand deposits emplaced during the prolonged episode of subaerial exposure of the shallow shelf. The presence of fine siliciclastics in both peritidal facies and sharply overlying deeper subtidal facies of the study interval within the Bonanza King suggests a variable, but relatively continuous, influx of terrigenous material throughout an extended period of accommodation change, apparently asynchronous with respect to the predictive model of reciprocal sedimentation. We suggest that the primary siliciclastic source changed with relative sea-level position. During lowered sea level, aeolian processes acting upon the unvegetated Cambrian craton transported fine siliciclastics onto peritidal and shallow-subtidal environments. During higher sea level, coastal siliciclastic reservoirs supplied sediment that was transported for long distances by geostrophic currents flowing along the submerged platform. As opposed to many Cambro-Ordovician grand cycles that are commonly interpreted to consist of a transgressive shaly half-cycle grading upward into a regressive carbonate half-cycle, the sequence boundary within this Middle Cambrian succession occurs within siliciclastic-rich, mixed lithofacies rather than in adjoining purer carbonates, implying that some ‘grand cycles’ should not be considered synonymous with ‘sequences’. Interbasinal correlations of the Type 1 sequence boundary within the mixed unit are speculative, primarily because of the inherent imprecision of available trilobite biostratigraphy. However, there is evidence that an extended episode of subaerial exposure may have been continent-wide during the Ehmaniella trilobite biochron.     

东濮凹陷文南-刘庄地区沙二下亚段浅湖风暴沉积

风暴沉积是一种特殊的事件沉积,反映了区域特定时期的古地理环境和古气候变化。通过区域古地理研究和精细地层对比,探讨了东濮凹陷文南一刘庄地区沙二下亚段沉积时期浅湖风暴沉积证据及特征,在此基础上总结了风暴沉积模式。结果表明：沙二下亚段沉积时期湖盆沉积层序主要受气候条件控制,气候频繁变化导致风暴沉积广泛分布、多期发育;风暴沉积主要发育在湖侵体系域和高水位体系域,沉积早期发育在深水区,而到沉积晚期分布范围扩大;风暴沉积～般发生在每期砂组的边界附近,作为短期、等时的一种事件沉积,可以用来作为层序划分的辅助标志;研究区风暴沉积模式主要有I类和II类两种;I类风暴沉积为类深水风暴沉积,发育A—D段沉积的类鲍马序列层序,但粒度要较深水风暴沉积细得多,多见于漫湖沉积环境相对深水区;II类风暴沉积不发育I类风暴的B和D段沉积;风暴流在风暴停止时越靠近湖盆中央,其沉积特征就越类似深水风暴沉积,反之则越类似II类风暴沉积。     

Sedimentary facies and environmental history of the Late-glacial glaciomarine Fossvogur sediments in Reykjavík, Iceland

A detailed account of facies relationships in the Late-glacial Fossvogur beds is presented for the first time. A new interpretation in terms of sedimentary processes has been synthesized in a palaeoenvironmental reconstruction that incorporates the results of a recently completed, systematic ¹⁴C dating project for the Fossvogur beds. The present sedimentological analysis has revealed three marine fossiliferous facies and several diamictite facies. The two uppermost marine facies are separated by a horizon of local deformation and erosion which is ascribed to increased activity at a tidewater glacier margin in Fossvogur. The fact that marine fossiliferous sediments below and above this horizon have been confined to the Allerød chron indicates a temporary expansion of glaciers in the Reykjavík region towards the end of, but within, the Allersd. The relative sea level must have been at least 20 m higher than at present before the expansion, and it was probably even higher during and after the expansion. The total absence of facies indicating either lodgement or melt-out processes, and the abundance of diamictites interpreted as debris-flow deposits as well as frequent erratics in the marine mudrocks favour an interpretation based on a glaciomarine model for the Allerød deposition in Fossvogur. It is suggested that the relatively quiet, submarine conditions indicated by facies towards the top of the Fossvogur beds display continued transgression and an increased distance to the source of sediment supply during the Younger Dryas.     

The carbonate—clastic cycles of the East-Alpine Raibl group: Result of third-order sea-level fluctuations in the Carnian

The Carnian Raibl group of the Eastern Alps consists of three 50–100 m thick, alternating carbonate and clastic third-order cycles, each of which can be traced for hundreds of kilometers. Tectono-eustatic sea-level fluctuations of a few tens of metres, spanning a few millions of years, are the driving mechanism of this cyclicity. The carbonate intervals represent restricted marginal marine, tidal and evaporitic environments. The clastic intervals represent inner and outer shelf facies, and are related to the fluviatile “Schilfsandstein” of the Germanic facies belt. In the Raibl group, contrary to other carbonate/clastic depositional settings, relative sea-level lowstands are dominated by carbonate production, and highstands are dominated by clastic deposition.

Each of the three Raibl cycles corresponds to a type-2 sequence, containing shelf margin, transgressive and highstand systems tracts. During sea-level lowstands, deltaic point sources were near the shelf margin, allowing clastics to bypass the carbonate platform. This setting corresponds to a shelf margin systems tract. Transgressive and highstand systems tracts developed during the subsequent sea-level rise, as deltaic clastics were reworked and redistributed over the carbonate platform, and the deltas retrograded to the inner shelf. The highstand systems tracts are capped by a type 2 sequence boundary, which is conformable in the study area. The systems tracts can be further subdivided into shallowing upward subcycles, caused by fourth-order sea-level fluctuations, believed to represent Milankovitch rhythms.

The middle Raibl cycle is consistently thinner, and may represent a shorter termed, third-order sea-level fluctuation. Our data also corroborate a second-order transgressive trend for the Carnian.     

Mid-cycle condensed shellbeds from mid-Pleistocene cyclothems, New Zealand: implications for sequence architecture

Richly fossiliferous and disconformity-bounded facies successions, termed Mid-Cycle Condensed Shellbeds (MCS), occupy a mid-cycle position within depositional sequences in the Castlecliff section (mid-Pleistocene, Wanganui Basin, New Zealand). These shell-rich intervals (0.1–4.5 m thick) comprise the upper of two loci of shell accumulation in Castlecliff sequences. The lower disconformable contacts are sharp and variably burrowed, and are interpreted as submarine transgressive surfaces formed by storm or tidal current erosion at the feather-edge of contemporary transgressive systems tracts. Above (i.e. seaward) of this erosion surface, macrofossil remains (mainly bivalves and gastropods) accumulated, with little reworking, on the inner-shelf under conditions of reduced terrigenous sediment supply. The upper contacts are sharp transitions from shell-rich to relatively shell-poor lithofacies; parautochthonous shell accumulation was ‘quenched’by downlapping highstand systems tract shelf siltstones and muddy fine sandstones. Castlecliff MCS, together with the basal shell-rich part of overlying highstand systems tracts, occupy a stratigraphic position which corresponds to the condensed section that forms at the transgressive/highstand systems tract boundary in the sequence model of Haq et al. (1987). Palaeoenvironmental analysis indicates that Castlecliff MCS are substantially, if not entirely, transgressive deposits. This study therefore shows that the ‘condensation maximum’within a depositional sequence does not necessarily bracket the transgressive systems tract/highstand systems tract boundary.     

Sharp‐based marine sandstone bodies in the Mulichinco Formation (Lower Cretaceous), Neuquén Basin,Argentina: remnants of transgressive offshore sand ridges

The interpretation of sharp‐based shallow‐marine sandstone bodies encased in offshore mudstones, particularly transgressive units, has been a subject of recent debate. This contribution provides a multiple‐dataset approach and new identification criteria which could help in the recognition of transgressive offshore sandstone bodies worldwide. This study integrates sedimentology, ichnology, taphonomy and palaeoecology of Mulichinco Formation strata in the central Neuquén Basin (Argentina) in order to describe and interpret sharp‐based sandstone bodies developed in ramp‐type marine settings. These bodies are sandwiched between finer‐grained siliciclastics beneath and thin carbonates above. The underlying sediments comprise progradational successions from offshore mudstones to offshore transition muddy sandstones, grading occasionally into lower shoreface sandstones. The surfaces capping the regressive siliciclastics are flat and regionally extensive, and are demarcated by skeletal concentrations and a Glossifungites suite; they are also marked by sandstone rip‐up clasts, with encrustations and borings on all sides. These surfaces are interpreted as composite discontinuities, cut during a relative sea‐level fall and remodelled during the initial transgression. The overlying transgressive sandstone bodies are 3 to 7 m thick, >4 km long and about three times longer than wide; they are composed of fine‐grained sandstones with little lateral change in grain size. Cross‐stratification and/or cross‐lamination are common, typically with smaller‐scale structures and finer grain size towards the top. Large‐scale, low‐angle (5° to 8°) inclined stratification is also common, dipping at ca 30° with respect to body elongation and dominant currents. These sandstone bodies are interpreted as offshore sand ridges, probably developed under the influence of tidal currents. Intense burrowing is typical at the top of each unit, suggesting an abandonment stage. Final deactivation favoured colonization by epibenthic‐dominated communities and the formation of skeletal‐rich limestones during the latest transgressive conditions. As partial reworking of pre‐existing ridges occurred during this stage, the Mulichinco sandstone bodies are considered the remnants of transgressive offshore sand units.     

Sediments and history of the Rottnest Shelf, southwest Australia: a swell-dominated, non-tropical carbonate margin

The Rottnest Shelf is a narrow, wave-dominated open shelf on the passive continental margin of southwest Australia, adjacent to a hinterland of low relief and sluggish drainage. High physical energy, low nutrients in cool subtropical waters, and rapid postglacial transgression have limited carbonate productivity, restricted grain types, and reworked the transgressed surface to form only a thin ( < 1 m) blanket of carbonate and relict sediment, with little terrigenous influx. Subaerial weathering of the shelf during Late Pleistocene emergence was followed by postglacial drowning, erosional shoreface retreat, and generation of a transgressive lag deposit. Establishment of the warm temperate biota, dominated by bryozoans and calcareous red algae, resulted in bioerosion of the shelf disconformity surface and generation of hardground veneers and thin skeletal carbonate sheets. Linear topographic ridges of Pleistocene limestone partition the shelf into systems with varying physical energy, biota and sediment supply. The Holocene sediments are a shallowing-upward coastal sequence; wave-ripple cross-stratified grainstone (Inner Shelf); and bioturbated bryozoan grainstone to skeletal wackestone (Outer Shelf to Upper Continental Slope), characterised by seaward fining and increasing percentages of planktic carbonate sediment.

Given sufficient time, the Rottnest Shelf could recover from drowning, and form blanket-like skeletal carbonates. Thin ( < 1 m) lags overlying disconformities, which underlie shallowing-upward coastal and shelf sediments a few metres thick, will be generated by glacio-eustatic cycles of sedimentation (10⁵ y duration). Thick (several tens of metres) sediment bodies, composed of wave-rippled to bioturbated skeletal carbonate sediment with a temperate biota, will be formed during longer term (1–10 My) sedimentation cycles. Such cycles have characterised passive margins during the Cenozoic. The Rottnest Shelf thus provides a facies model for temperate shelf sedimentation along passive continental margins.     

Ichnological analysis of transgressive marine tongue in prograding deltaic system: Evidences from Ukra Hill Member, Western Kachchh, India

The Ukra Hill Member exposed only in Western part of Kachchh basin comprises of fossiliferous shales, limestones and glauconitic sandstones in between thick unfossiliferous sandstone. The present study documents abundance of trace fossil Teredolite, occurring as driftwood and bedload log ground as well as re-worked log ground from the basal part of the Ukra Hill Member. These Teredolite bearing horizons are underlain by coarse grained cross bedded sediment with monodominant Psilonichnus tubiformis, while abundant Gyrolithes cycloides along with Rhizocorallium irregulare, R. Jenense occurs in overlying horizons. Three ichnofabrics recognized within the Ukra Hill Member are inferred to represent near shore high energy conditions (Psilonichnus ichnofabric), transgressive condition with subsequent erosion (Teredolites Ichnofabric) and shelf environment (Gyrolithes-Rhizocorallium Ichnofabric). TheTeredolite bearing horizons also occurs with abundant belemnites Neohibolithes ewaldi, which is considered to be index fossil for the Early Aptian sediments. Thus, based on the ichnofabric analysis, the basal part of the Ukra Hill Member represents an Early Aptian transgressive event in Kachchh basin.     

河北省平泉早奥陶世冶里组碳酸盐风暴沉积

河北平泉地区冶里组碳酸盐岩风暴沉积极为发育,含原地型风暴岩、异地型风暴岩、风暴浊积岩和生物截丘灰岩等4种类型.风暴沉积反映本区冶里组沉积时经历了一个完整的海进-海退旋回,当时区内古地理面貌为北高南低、海水北浅南深.此外,风暴沉积在露头层序地层划分中,对于海进体系域和高水位体系域的识别具有重要的指示作用.     

唐古拉山中侏罗统缅甸光牡蛎(Liostrea birmanica REED)壳层的事件沉积成因及其环境意义

唐古拉山地区中侏罗统产出丰富的牡蛎类化石,特别是缅甸光牡蛎Liostrea bir—manica Reed分布更为广泛,而且多以介壳层形式产出。在唐古拉山的冬曲,窝布茸曲及青藏公路108道班等地剖面上,栖息于软基底的表生底栖双壳类Liostrea birmanica形成近原地埋葬的介壳层堆积;内生的Ceratomya动物群则多散布于沉积物中,形成原地埋葬的化石群．它们和以丛藻迹Chondrites为主体的遗迹化石群依次重复出现,构成一个和风暴沉积事件相关的底栖动物群替代序列。Liostrea birmanica介壳层是风暴高峰期的侵蚀和再沉积所形成的,风暴期以后水下沉积间断所形成的轻度固化的软基底则迅速地被潜穴生物占领(丛藻迹Chondrites ich—nosp．和根珊瑚迹Rhizocorallium ichnoSp．);而以深挖穴滤食类型为主的Ceralomya组合则是好天气时的原地埋葬。在大多数情况下,它们指示着介于正常浪基面以下,风暴浪基面以上的低沉积速率浅水碳酸岩台地沉积环境。     

中国南方二叠纪层序地层时空格架及充填特征

据华南二叠纪不同沉积盆地层序地层区域分布、纵向演化及其充填特征分析研究,初步建立了上扬子克拉通-右江盆地-钦防盆地、中扬子克拉通及全区的层序地层时空格架模型;提出层序充填可分为两个阶段:早二叠世碳酸盐缓坡-台地层序充填阶段,晚二叠世陆源碎屑为主与火山碎屑相混层序充填阶段;认为全区二叠纪四个Ⅰ型层序受控于构造隆升事件,晚二叠世层序TST普遍发育火山碎屑沉积,古陆边缘HST或少量SMT/LST大多由三角洲沉积体系进积叠加而成,上扬子克拉通及右江地区的生物礁以海侵和高位型为特色。