The formation of large mudwaves by turbidity currents on the levees of the Toyama deep-sea channel, Japan Sea

The development of mudwaves on the levees of the modern Toyama deep‐sea channel has been studied using gravity core samples combined with 3·5‐kHz echosounder data and airgun seismic reflection profiles. The mudwaves have developed on the overbank flanks of a clockwise bend of the channel in the Yamato Basin, Japan Sea, and the mudwave field covers an area of 4000 km². Mudwave lengths range from 0·2 to 3·6 km and heights vary from 2 to 44 m, and the pattern of mudwave aggradation indicates an upslope migration direction. Sediment cores show that the mudwaves consist of an alternation of fine‐grained turbidites and hemipelagites whereas contourites are absent. Core samples demonstrate that the sedimentation rate ranged from 10 to 14 cm ka^?1 on the lee sides to 17–40 cm ka^?1 on the stoss sides. A layer‐by‐layer correlation of the deposits across the mudwaves shows that the individual turbidite beds are up to 20 times thicker on the stoss side than on the lee side, whereas hemipelagite thicknesses are uniform. This differential accretion of turbidites is thought to have resulted in the pattern of upcurrent climbing mudwave crests, which supports the notion that the mudwaves have been formed by spillover turbidity currents. The mudwaves are interpreted to have been instigated by pre‐existing large sand dunes that are up to 30 m thick and were created by high‐velocity (10°ms^?1), thick (c. 500 m) turbidity currents spilling over the channel banks at the time of the maximum uplift of the Northern Japan Alps during the latest Pliocene to Early Pleistocene. Draping of the dunes by the subsequent, lower‐velocity (10^?1ms^?1), mud‐laden turbidity currents is thought to have resulted in the formation of the accretionary mudwaves and the pattern of upflow climbing. The dune stoss slopes are argued to have acted as obstacles to the flow, causing localized loss of flow strength and leading to differential draping by the muddy turbidites, with greater accretion occurring on the stoss side than on the lee slope. The two overbank flanks of the clockwise channel bend show some interesting differences in mudwave development. The mudwaves have a mean height of 9·8 m on the outer‐bank levee and 6·2 m on the inner bank. The turbidites accreted on the stoss sides of the mudwaves are 4–6 times thicker on the outer‐bank levee than their counterparts on the inner‐bank levee. These differences are attributed to the greater flow volume (thickness) and sediment flux of the outer‐bank spillover flow due to the more intense stripping of the turbidity currents at the outer bank of the channel bend. Differential development of mudwave fields may therefore be a useful indicator in the reconstruction of deep‐sea channels and their flow hydraulics.     

Crevasse splays from the rapidly aggrading, sand-bed, braided Niobrara River, Nebraska: effect of base-level rise

Base-level rise of ≈2·35 m on the Niobrara River has resulted in aggradation of the channel belt and a recent avulsion. Overbank areas have become flooded by rising groundwaters, and more than eight crevasse splays have formed between 1993 and 1997. Two crevasse splays, situated on the west and east sides of the Niobrara, have been studied using ground-penetrating radar (GPR), shallow boreholes and topographic surveys. The vibracores and GPR profiles provide a nearly three-dimensional view of the architecture of crevasse splay deposits. The east splay was initiated in the winter of 1993/94 and has expanded to cover an area ≈200 m by 1000 m, with sediment up to 2·5 m thick. The west splay, which was initiated by the opening of a crevasse channel through a levee in the autumn of 1995, covers an area ≈150 m by 250 m, with up to 1·2 m of sand deposited in a single year. The Niobrara splays are sand dominated and characterized by bedload deposition within channels, 5–30 m wide and 0·5–2 m deep, with the development of slipfaces where splays prograde into standing bodies of water. Sedimentary structures in cores include horizontal lamination, ripple lamination and sets of cross-stratification. There is a slight tendency for splays to coarsen up, but individual beds within the splays often fine up. The abundance of crevasse splays on the Niobrara River contrasts with other braided river floodplains. In the Niobrara, crevasse splay formation followed aggradation within the channel belt, which occurred in response to base-level rise. The link between crevasse splays, channel aggradation and base-level rise has important implications for the interpretation of ancient braided river and floodplain sequences. It is suggested that crevasse splay deposits should be an important component of aggrading fluvial sediments and, hence, should be preserved within the rock record. In this case, the aggradation and crevassing have been tied to a rise in base-level elevation, and it is suggested that similar deposits should be preserved where braided rivers are affected by base-level rise, for instance during transgression and filling of palaeovalleys.     

Outcrop-scale acoustic facies analysis and latest Quaternary development of Hueneme and Dume submarine fans, offshore California

The uppermost Quaternary deposits of the Hueneme and Dume submarine fans in the Santa Monica Basin have been investigated using a closed-spaced grid of boomer seismic-reflection profiles, which give vertical resolution of a few tens of centimetres with acoustic penetration to 50 m. Acoustic facies integrated with geometry define six architectural elements, some with discrete subelements that are of a scale that can be recognized in outcrops of ancient turbidite systems. In the Santa Monica Basin, the relationship of these elements to fan morphology, stratigraphy and sediment source is precisely known.
The width of upper Hueneme fan valley has been reduced from 5 km since the last glacial maximum to 1 km at present by construction of laterally confined sandy levees within the main valley. The middle fan comprises three main subelements: thick sand deposits at the termination of the fan valley, low-gradient sandy lobes typically 5 km long and < 10 m thick, and scoured lobes formed of alternating sand and mud beds with many erosional depressions. The site of thickest lobe sediment accumulation shifts through time, with each sand bed deposited in a previous bathymetric low (i.e. compensation cycles). The lower fan and basin plain consists of sheet-like alternations of sand and mud with shallow channels and lenses.
Variations in the rate of late Quaternary sea level rise initiated changes in sediment facies distribution. At lowstand, and during the approximately 11 ka stillstand in sea level, the Hueneme Fan was fed largely by hyperpycnal flow from the Santa Clara River delta, depositing high sediment waves on the right hand levee and thick sandy lobes on the middle fan. At highstand of sea level, most turbidity currents were generated by failure of silty prodelta muds. In contrast, the smaller Dume Fan was apparently always fed from littoral drift of sand through a single-canyon point source.     

Turbidite depositional architecture across three interconnected deep-water basins on the north-west African margin

ABSTRACT The Moroccan Turbidite System (MTS) on the north‐west African margin extends 1500 km from the head of the Agadir Canyon to the Madeira Abyssal Plain, making it one of the longest turbidite systems in the world. The MTS consists of three interconnected deep‐water basins, the Seine Abyssal Plain (SAP), the Agadir Basin and the Madeira Abyssal Plain (MAP), connected by a network of distributary channels. Excellent core control has enabled individual turbidites to be correlated between all three basins, giving a detailed insight into the turbidite depositional architecture of a system with multiple source areas and complex morphology. Large‐volume (> 100 km³) turbidites, sourced from the Morocco Shelf, show a relatively simple architecture in the Madeira and Seine Abyssal Plains. Sandy bases form distinct lobes or wedges that thin rapidly away from the basin margin and are overlain by ponded basin‐wide muds. However, in the Agadir Basin, the turbidite fill is more complex owing to a combination of multiple source areas and large variations in turbidite volume. A single, very large turbidity current (200–300 km³ of sediment) deposited most of its sandy load within the Agadir Basin, but still had sufficient energy to carry most of the mud fraction 500 km further downslope to the MAP. Large turbidity currents (100–150 km³ of sediment) deposit most of their sand and mud fraction within the Agadir Basin, but also transport some of their load westwards to the MAP. Small turbidity currents (< 35 km³ of sediment) are wholly confined within the Agadir Basin, and their deposits pinch out on the basin floor. Turbidity currents flowing beyond the Agadir Basin pass through a large distributary channel system. Individual turbidites correlated across this channel system show major variations in the mineralogy of the sand fraction, whereas the geochemistry and micropalaeontology of the mud fraction remain very similar. This is interpreted as evidence for separation of the flow, with a sand‐rich, erosive, basal layer confined within the channel system, overlain by an unconfined layer of suspended mud. Large‐volume turbidites within the MTS were deposited at oxygen isotope stage boundaries, during periods of rapid sea‐level change and do not appear to be specifically connected to sea‐level lowstands or highstands. This contrasts with the classic fan model, which suggests that most turbidites are deposited during lowstands of sea level. In addition, the three largest turbidites on the MAP were deposited during the largest fluctuations in sea level, suggesting a link between the volume of sediment input and the magnitude of sea‐level change.     

Internal architecture and sedimentary evolution of coarse-grained, turbidite channel-levee complexes, Early Eocene Regência Canyon, Espírito Santo Basin, Brazil

Successions of Early Eocene coarse-grained turbidites up to 400 m thick fill fault-controlled canyons along the eastern Brazilian continental margin. They form part of a Late Albian to Early Eocene transgressive succession characterized by onlapping, deepening-upward sedimentation. In the Lagoa Parda oil field (Regência Canyon, Espírito Santo Basin) the turbidite facies consist mostly of unstratified conglomerate and sandstone, with interbedded bioturbated mudstone and thin-bedded, stratified sandstone. Within the main Regência Canyon, the coarser grained facies occur within 38 deeply incised channels. The fills are 9 to >50 m thick, 210 to >1050 m wide and >1 km long. The finer grained facies build asymmetrical levees that are higher and thicker on the left side (looking downstream) of their channels, probably as an effect of the Coriolis force (to the left in the Southern Hemisphere). Nine levee successions up to 50 m thick are associated with the 20 youngest channels. The deposits filling the low-sinuosity Lagoa Parda channels record successive channel abandonment through relatively rapid avulsions. Avulsions of unleveed channels took place randomly, but channels with well-developed levees show preferential avulsion to the right (looking downstream), opposite to the direction of preferential levee growth. Lagoa Parda channels can be grouped into three complexes 20–100 m thick. These complexes have an estimated duration of about 140 000 years. It is suggested that control of the development of individual channel complexes was related to variation in sediment supply, in turn probably related to climatic changes. The deposition of each channel complex would have followed an increase in sediment supply into the Regência Canyon through delta/fan-delta and littoral drift systems, which in turn would have responded to phases of higher denudation rates in the high-relief, ancestral coastal ranges of south-eastern Brazil. Overall, the three Lagoa Parda channel complexes form a turbidite succession characterized by channel fills that become narrower, thinner and finer grained upward. These trends were induced mostly by a longer term (>400 000 years) decrease in sediment supply, which in turn resulted from the combined effects of a long-term (second-order) trend of sea-level rise, and the decreasing fault activity at the basin margin and source area.     

Turbidites in the Upper Carboniferous Ross Formation, western Ireland: reconstruction of a channel and spillover system

ABSTRACT The Upper Carboniferous deep‐water rocks of the Shannon Group were deposited in the extensional Shannon Basin of County Clare in western Ireland and are superbly exposed in sea cliffs along the Shannon estuary. Carboniferous limestone floors the basin, and the basin‐fill succession begins with the deep‐water Clare Shales. These shales are overlain by various turbidite facies of the Ross Formation (460 m thick). The type of turbidite system, scale of turbidite sandstone bodies and the overall character of the stratigraphic succession make the Ross Formation well suited as an analogue for sand‐rich turbidite plays in passive margin basins around the world. The lower 170 m of the Ross Formation contains tabular turbidites with no channels, with an overall tendency to become sandier upwards, although there are no small‐scale thickening‐ or thinning‐upward successions. The upper 290 m of the Ross Formation consists of turbidites, commonly arranged in thickening‐upward packages, and amalgamated turbidites that form channel fills that are individually up to 10 m thick. A few of the upper Ross channels have an initial lateral accretion phase with interbedded sandstone and mudstone deposits and a subsequent vertical aggradation phase with thick‐bedded amalgamated turbidites. This paper proposes that, as the channels filled, more and more turbidites spilled further and further overbank. Superb outcrops show that thickening‐upward packages developed when channels initially spilled muds and thin‐bedded turbidites up to 1 km overbank, followed by thick‐bedded amalgamated turbidites that spilled close to the channel margins. The palaeocurrent directions associated with the amalgamated channel fills suggest a low channel sinuosity. Stacks of channels and spillover packages 25–40 m thick may show significant palaeocurrent variability at the same stratigraphic interval but at different locations. This suggests that individual channels and spillover packages were stacked into channel‐spillover belts, and that the belts also followed a sinuous pattern. Reservoir elements of the Ross system include tabular turbidites, channel‐fill deposits, thickening‐upward packages that formed as spillover lobes and, on a larger scale, sinuous channel belts 2·5–5 km wide. The edges of the belts can be roughly defined where well‐packaged spillover deposits pass laterally into muddier, poorly packaged tabular turbidites. The low‐sinuosity channel belts are interpreted to pass downstream into unchannellized tabular turbidites, equivalent to lower Ross Formation facies.     

Processes of late Quaternary turbidity current flow and deposition on the Var deep-sea fan, north-west Mediterranean Sea

High-resolution seismic boomer profiles, with a vertical resolution of less than 1 m, together with piston cores and previous side-scan sonar data, are used to describe late Quaternary sedimentation on the Var deep-sea fan. Chronological control is provided by foram biostratigraphy and radiocarbon dating in cores, and is extended over the fan by seismic correlation. Regional erosional events correspond to the oxygen isotopic stage 2 and 6 glacial maxima. Cores and seismic data define a widespread surface sand layer that is correlated with prodelta failure in 1979 and subsequent submarine cable breaks. Numerical modelling constrains the character of this 1979 turbidity current. It originated from a relatively small slide on the upper prodelta that put sufficient material in suspension to form an accelerating turbidity current which eroded sand from the Var Canyon. The turbidity current was only 30 m thick on the Upper Valley, but experienced significant flow expansion in the Middle Valley to thicknesses of more than 120 m, where it spilled over the eastern Var Sedimentary Ridge at a velocity of about 2·5 m s^?1. Other Holocene turbidity currents (with a recurrence interval of 1000 years) were somewhat muddier and thicker, but also deposited sand on the levees of the Middle Valley, and are inferred to have had a similar slide-related origin. Late Pleistocene turbidity currents deposited thick mud beds on the Var Sedimentary Ridge. The presence of sediment waves and the mean cross-flow slope inferred from levee asymmetry indicates that some of these flows were many hundreds of metres thick and flowed at velocities of about 0·35 m s^?1. This contrast with Holocene turbidites suggests that a slide origin is unlikely. Estimated times for deposition of thick mud beds on the levees are many days to weeks. The Late Pleistocene flows may therefore result from hyperpycnal flow of glacial outwash in the Var River. The variation in the Late Pleistocene to Holocene turbidite sedimentation is controlled more by variations in sediment supply than by sea-level change.     

Flow parameters of turbidity currents in a low-sinuosity giant deep-sea channel

Flow parameters (velocity and density) for turbidity currents in the Northwest Atlantic Mid-Ocean Channel (NAMOC) have been determined based on two different approaches, channel geometry and grain-size distributions of turbidites. Channel geometry has been obtained by a quantitative morphological analysis of the NAMOC which shows three genetically different segments in the upper 2000 km: (1) an upper 350 km-long ‘equilibrium channel’, (2) a middle 700 km-long ‘modified equilibrium channel’and (3) a lower ‘basement-controlled channel’which is more than 1000 km-long. In contrast to other meandering submarine channels the NAMOC has very low sinuosities and gradients. A consistently higher right-hand levee limits mean flow velocities to 3ms^?1 and channel geometry indicates mean flow velocities of 0·86 m s^?1 that decrease within the equilibrium channel to 0·05 m s^?1. Grain-size distributions on the levees and in the channel suggest strong vertical velocity and density gradients for bank-full flows with velocities of up to 8 m s^?1 and excess densities up to 87 kg m^?3 at the base, and 0·45 m s^?1 and 4 kg m^?3 at the top. The internal shear produced by these strong vertical gradients results in a decoupling of the current head and body. Channel geometry appears to be mainly the result of the slowly moving dilute body of the current.     

Facies of slurry-flow deposits, Britannia Formation (Lower Cretaceous), North Sea: implications for flow evolution and deposit geometry

ABSTRACT Mud‐rich sandstone beds in the Lower Cretaceous Britannia Formation, UK North Sea, were deposited by sediment flows transitional between debris flows and turbidity currents, termed slurry flows. Much of the mud in these flows was transported as sand‐ and silt‐sized grains that were approximately hydraulically equivalent to suspended quartz and feldspar. In the eastern Britannia Field, individual slurry beds are continuous over long distances, and abundant core makes it possible to document facies changes across the field. Most beds display regular areal grain‐size changes. In this study, fining trends, especially in the size of the largest grains, are used to estimate palaeoflow and palaeoslope directions. In the middle part of the Britannia Formation, stratigraphic zones 40 and 45, slurry flows moved from south‐west and south towards the north‐east and north. Most zone 45 beds lens out before reaching the northern edge of the field, apparently by wedging out against the northern basin slope. Zone 40 and 45 beds show downflow facies transitions from low‐mud‐content, dish‐structured and wispy‐laminated sandstone to high‐mud‐content banded units. In zone 50, at the top of the formation, flows moved from north to south or north‐west to south‐east, and their deposits show transitions from proximal mud‐rich banded and mixed slurried beds to more distal lower‐mud‐content banded and wispy‐laminated units. The contrasting facies trends in zones 40 and 45 and zone 50 may reflect differing grain‐size relationships between quartz and feldspar grains and mud particles in the depositing flows. In zones 40 and 45, quartz grains average 0·30–0·32 mm in diameter, ≈ 0·10 mm coarser than in zone 50. The medium‐grained quartz in zones 40 and 45 flows may have been slightly coarser than the associated mud grains, resulting in the preferential deposition of quartz in proximal areas and downslope enrichment of the flows in mud. In zone 50 flows, mud was probably slightly coarser than the associated fine‐grained quartz, resulting in early mud sedimentation and enrichment of the distal flows in fine‐grained quartz and feldspar. Mud particles in all flows may have had an effective grain size of ≈ 0·25 mm. Both mud content and suspended‐load fallout rate played key roles in the sedimentation of Britannia slurry flows and structuring of the resulting deposits. During deposition of zones 40 and 45, the area of the eastern Britannia Field in block 16/26 may have been a locally enclosed subbasin within which the depositing slurry flows were locally ponded. Slurry beds in the eastern Britannia Field are ‘lumpy’ sheet‐like bodies that show facies changes but little additional complexity. There is no thin‐bedded facies that might represent waning flows analogous to low‐density turbidity currents. The dominance of laminar, cohesion‐dominated shear layers during sedimentation prevented most bed erosion, and the deposystem lacked channel, levee and overbank facies that commonly make up turbidity current‐dominated systems. Britannia slurry flows, although turbulent and capable of size‐fractionating even fine‐grained sediments, left sand bodies with geometries and facies more like those deposited by poorly differentiated laminar debris flows.     

Anatomy of a subaqueous ice-contact fan and delta complex, Middle Pleistocene, North-west Germany

This paper presents a detailed analysis of the high‐resolution facies architecture of the Middle Pleistocene Porta subaqueous ice‐contact fan and delta complex, deposited on the northern margin of glacial Lake Weser (North‐west Germany). A total of 10 sand and gravel pits and more than 100 wells were examined to document the complex facies architecture. The field study was supplemented with a ground‐penetrating radar survey and a shear‐wave seismic survey. All collected sedimentological and geophysical data were integrated into a high‐resolution three‐dimensional geological model for reconstructing the spatial distribution of facies associations. The Porta subaqueous fan and delta complex consist of three fan bodies deposited on a flat lake‐bottom surface at the margin of a retreating ice lobe. The northernmost fan complex is up to 55 m thick, 6·2 km wide and 6·5 km long. The incipient fan deposition is characterized by high‐energy flows of a plane‐wall jet. Very coarse‐grained, highly scoured jet‐efflux deposits with an elongate plan shape indicate a high Froude number, probably >5. These jet‐efflux sediments are deposited in front of a large ～3·2 km long, up to 1·2 km wide, and up to 25 m deep flute‐like scour, indicating the most proximal erosion and bypass area of the jet that widens and deepens with distance downstream to the region of maximum turbulence (approximately five times the conduit diameter). Evidence for subsequent flow splitting is given by the presence of two marginal gravel fan lobes, deposited in front of 1·3 to 2·5 km long flute‐like scours, that are 0·8 to 1 km wide and 7 to 20 m deep. In response to continued aggradation, small jets developed at the periphery of these bar‐like deposits and filled in the low areas adjacent to the original superelevated regions, locally raising the depositional surface and characterized by large‐scale trough cross‐stratified sand and pebbly sand. The incision of an up to 1·2 km wide and up to 35 m deep channel into the evolving fan is attributed to a catastrophic drainage event, probably related to a lake outburst and lake‐level fall in the range of 40 to 60 m. At the mouth of this channel, highly scoured jet‐efflux deposits formed under hydraulic‐jump conditions during flow expansion. Subsequently, Gilbert‐type deltas formed on the truncated fan margin, recording a second lake‐level drop in the range of 30 to 40 m. These catastrophic lake‐level falls were probably caused by rapid ice‐lobe retreat controlled by the convex‐up bottom topography of the ice valley.     

Sedimentary facies of the Nova Scotian upper and middle continental slope, offshore eastern Canada

A detailed survey of the upper and middle Nova Scotian continental slope at 42°50′N and 63°30′W indicates a complex morphology dominated by mass movements on various scales and an immature turbidity current channel. The range of sediment facies is diverse including hemipelagic and turbidite muds, turbidite sands and gravelly sandy muds of debris flow origin. Deformed units, interpreted as slump deposits are also observed. Several facies associations, related to discrete morphological environments, are recognized. Thick turbidite sand units with minor intervening mud beds are characteristic of the high-relief uppermost slope and channel margin. Thinner turbidite sands, deformed slump beds and various mud facies are associated with small-scale, hummocky mid-slope topography. Sand beds are more abundant in the depressions than on intervening hummocks indicating the preferred transport paths of small turbidity currents. At the lower end of the main turbidity current channel, frequent turbidite sand beds with relatively minor mud beds are deposited on a depositional lobe. In areas unaffected by mass movements, alternating bioturbated mud and sandy muds make up the core sequences. A local model of sedimentation is proposed for this area and illustrates that simple models of continental slope sedimentation only apply to a limited range of settings.     

Fluvial channel and overbank deposits from the Westphalian of the Durham coalfield, NE England

The Westphalian (Upper Carboniferous) Coal Measures of the Durham coalfield in NE England were deposited in lower and upper delta plain environments. Distributary channels crossed the plain and were separated by shallow, interdistributary lakes and bays. Detailed observation of three-dimensional (3-D) opencast (surface) mine exposures, in collaboration with subsurface borehole analysis, has revealed the existence of five varieties of channel deposits and two associated overbank facies within the Durham Coal Measures. Major distributary channels were the major avenues of sediment transport across the Coal Measures plain, were variably sinuous, mostly 1–2 km wide and deposited elongate belts of sand mostly up to 5 km wide. Proximal, major crevasse splay channels formed by the breaching of major channel banks during flood events, were straight, sand-filled and up to 400 m wide. Minor distributary channels formed by the sustained operation of such crevasses, varied from straight to highly sinuous, and deposited ‘shoestring’ sand/mud belts up to a few hundred metres wide. Minor crevasse channels, generally straight and up to 50 m wide, were formed through bank breaching of minor, and in a few cases major, distributaries. Distal feeder channels formed down-palaeocurrent extensions of minor distributaries which supplied interdistributary minor delta subsystems, were generally straight and up to 200 m wide. Of the two types of channel overbank (levee) deposits recognized, one, comprising thinly interbedded fine-grained sandstone and siltstone/claystone, is mostly, though not exclusively, associated with major distributary channels. The other, consisting of ‘massive’ siltstones with regularly spaced, thin claystone bands, is uniquely developed at the margins of minor distributary channels. The lower part of the Westphalian A succession in the northern Pennines records a change in the depositional environment upwards from a lower to upper delta plain. Through this transition, major channel deposits show evidence of having evolved from being of dominantly low sinuosity to being more variable in morphology. Channel sedimentation was profoundly influenced by regular, possibly seasonal, variations in flow stage and sediment load.     

印度河扇水道堤岸外侧更新世沉积物波发育特征与形成过程分析*

印度河扇更新世发育的沉积物波结构复杂、形态多样,其形成过程的认识程度低。本次研究通过高分辨率地震数据和地震解释技术,研究了印度河扇沉积物波的波长、形态、波峰变化等形态特征;阐述了沉积物波与沉积物变形特征的差异、识别了两者的区分标志;总结了水道堤岸斜坡和区域斜坡上沉积物波的分布规律;在此基础上,讨论了沉积物波的形成机理和控制因素,分析了沉积物波的形成过程,并建立了印度河扇沉积物波的形成模式。研究表明: (1)研究区沉积物波波长平均为486.84 m,最大1473 m;波高在10~60 m之间,平均30 m。(2)沉积物波的形态有对称型和非对称型,其迁移方式有上坡迁移型、加积型和下坡迁移型;沉积物波主要发育在水道堤岸的斜坡上,在区域斜坡上也发育少量的沉积物波,这2种沉积物波波脊的走向差异很大,水道堤岸斜坡上的沉积物波主要分布于水道凹岸堤岸的外侧,距离水道越远其规模(波长、波高)越小,波脊走向近于NE-SW方向,与水道的走向平行或斜交;区域斜坡上的沉积物波波脊的走向多为NW-SE向,平行于区域斜坡的走向,离源区越远规模越大。(3)水道堤岸斜坡上的沉积物波是由水道型浊流在离心力的作用下,溢出水道的凹岸,在堤岸外侧的斜坡上沉积形成的,堤岸斜坡的角度对沉积物波的发育规模影响不大,浊流的强度和输沙量对其规模影响大;区域斜坡上发育的沉积物波是由顺坡而下的非水道化的浊流沉积形成;滑塌变形造成的起伏地貌以及早期沉积物波的存在,也都影响了后期沉积物波的发育。     

印度河扇水道堤岸外侧更新世沉积物波发育特征与形成过程分析*

印度河扇更新世发育的沉积物波结构复杂、形态多样,其形成过程的认识程度低。本次研究通过高分辨率地震数据和地震解释技术,研究了印度河扇沉积物波的波长、形态、波峰变化等形态特征;阐述了沉积物波与沉积物变形特征的差异、识别了两者的区分标志;总结了水道堤岸斜坡和区域斜坡上沉积物波的分布规律;在此基础上,讨论了沉积物波的形成机理和控制因素,分析了沉积物波的形成过程,并建立了印度河扇沉积物波的形成模式。研究表明: (1)研究区沉积物波波长平均为486.84 m,最大1473 m;波高在10~60 m之间,平均30 m。(2)沉积物波的形态有对称型和非对称型,其迁移方式有上坡迁移型、加积型和下坡迁移型;沉积物波主要发育在水道堤岸的斜坡上,在区域斜坡上也发育少量的沉积物波,这2种沉积物波波脊的走向差异很大,水道堤岸斜坡上的沉积物波主要分布于水道凹岸堤岸的外侧,距离水道越远其规模(波长、波高)越小,波脊走向近于NE-SW方向,与水道的走向平行或斜交;区域斜坡上的沉积物波波脊的走向多为NW-SE向,平行于区域斜坡的走向,离源区越远规模越大。(3)水道堤岸斜坡上的沉积物波是由水道型浊流在离心力的作用下,溢出水道的凹岸,在堤岸外侧的斜坡上沉积形成的,堤岸斜坡的角度对沉积物波的发育规模影响不大,浊流的强度和输沙量对其规模影响大;区域斜坡上发育的沉积物波是由顺坡而下的非水道化的浊流沉积形成;滑塌变形造成的起伏地貌以及早期沉积物波的存在,也都影响了后期沉积物波的发育。     

Turbidite depositional patterns and flow characteristics, Navy Submarine Fan, California Borderland

The late Pleistocene and Holocene stratigraphy of Navy Fan is mapped in detail from more than 100 cores. Thirteen ¹⁴C dates of plant detritus and of organic-rich mud beds show that a marked change in sediment supply from sandy to muddy turbidites occurred between 9000 and 12,000 years ago. They also confirm the correlation of several individual depositional units. The sediment dispersal pattern is primarily controlled by basin configuration and fan morphology, particularly the geometry of distributary channels, which show abrupt 60° bends related to the Pleistocene history of lobe progradation. The Holocene turbidity currents are depositing on, and modifying only slightly, a relict Pleistocene morphology. The uppermost turbidite is a thin sand to mud bed on the upper-fan valley levées and on parts of the mid-fan. Most of its sediment volume is in a mud bed on the lower fan and basin plain downslope from a sharp bend in the mid-fan distributary system. Little sediment occurs farther downstream within this distributary system. It appears that most of the turbidity current overtopped the levée at the channel bend, a process referred to as flow stripping. The muddy upper part of the flow continued straight down to the basin plain. The residual more sandy base of the flow in the distributary channel was not thick enough to maintain itself as gradient decreased and the channel opened out on to the mid-fan lobe. Flow stripping may occur in any turbidity current that is thick relative to channel depth and that flows in a channel with sharp bends. Where thick sandy currents are stripped, levée and mid-fan erosion may occur, but the residual current in the channel will lose much of its power and deposit rapidly. In thick muddy currents, progressive overflow of mud will cause less declaration of the residual channelised current. Thus both size and sand-to-mud ratio of turbidity currents feeding a fan are important factors controlling morphologic features and depositional areas on fans. The size-frequency variation for different types of turbidity currents is estimated from the literature and related to the evolution of fan morphology.     

Chute channels in the Holocene high‐sinuosity river deposits of the Firenze plain,Tuscany, Italy

This paper focuses on Holocene deposits of the Firenze alluvial plain (Northern Apennines, Italy) and deals with the sedimentary features of chute channels draining the down‐river edges of the meander neck formed by 70 to 100 m wide and 1 to 1·5 m deep sinuous channels. Two main types of chute channels have been recognized. Type 1 is represented by 3 to 6 m wide and 0·5 to 1 m deep straight channels filled with mud aggregates overlying a basal gravel lag made of reworked caliches. These channels drained the point bar top during floods, and are thought to have been initiated as small rills when a shallow flow overpassed the downstream side of the point bar. Type 2 channels, 3 to 6 m wide and 1 to 1·5 m deep, are moderately to highly sinuous and filled with well‐stratified sand and gravels sourced from nearby rocky highlands. Type 2 channels were connected to the main river channel also during the base flow stage. The transition from Type 1 to Type 2 channels is documented and is interpreted as the result of the meander cut‐off process. Type 1 chute channels represent the early stage of the cut‐off phase, when a headcut is incised on the down‐river edges of the meander neck. The headcut migrates up‐river across the meander neck during floods, when fast currents shape the chute channels into a straight route. The transition from Type 1 into Type 2 channels is linked to the connection of the up‐river migrating headcut with the main channel and the termination of the cut‐off process. At this stage, the cut‐off channel is drained permanently and receives bedload from the main channel. The progressive shaping of the newly formed channel will convert it into the main channel and lead to the formation of an oxbow lake in the abandoned meander branch. Development of chute channels in the Firenze alluvial plain is thought to have heralded a decrease in sinuosity of the main channels, triggered by a climate‐driven increase in water discharge.     

Deep-water fan-channel conglomerates of Late Cretaceous age, southern Chile

The exceptionally well exposed Lago Sofia conglomerate and sandstone lenses in the Upper Cretaceous Cerro Toro Formation of southern Chile are interpreted as the channel and channel margin facies of a deep-sea fan. The north-to-south oriented channels formed on an elongate fan in a narrow retroarc basin between a rising cordillera to the west and the South American craton to the east. The great length of some of the channels (> 120 km) seems to reflect the long duration (> 30 m.y.) and stable nature of the basin. Enclosing the lenses is the fine-grained Cerro Toro Formation which represents overbank turbidite flows and hemipelagic sedimentation on levee and levee flank areas. Foraminiferal assemblages suggest deposition in 1000-2000 m of water. Most of the conglomerate has features developed by tractive currents (parallel- and cross-stratified conglomerate). Most is moderately well sorted, imbricated, and has parallel to inclined stratification; large-scale dunes up to 4 m high are exposed. Typical sediment, gravity flow structures and bedding styles (e.g. pebbly mudstones, graded conglomerate, giant flutes) are not as common in the channel deposits as are tractive features. Tractive features in the gravels apparently were developed by rolling, sliding, and saltation as the bed-load component of highly turbulent, moderate- to low-density turbidity currents flowing in a confined channel. Graded-to-massive conglomerates appear to have been deposited rapidly from fully turbulent flows; diamictites were deposited from debris flows in which fluid viscosity, yield strength, and buoyancy of the fluid were dominant. The three major conglomerate classes recognized do not occur in a systematic manner; vertical and lateral heterogeneity is the rule.     

An experimental investigation of sand–mud suspension settling behaviour: implications for bimodal mud contents of submarine flow deposits

The settling behaviour of particulate suspensions and their deposits has been documented using a series of settling tube experiments. Suspensions comprised saline solution and noncohesive glass‐ballotini sand of particle size 35·5 μm < d < 250 μm and volume fractions, φ_s, up to 0·6 and cohesive kaolinite clay of particle size d < 35·5 μm and volume fractions, φ_m, up to 0·15. Five texturally distinct deposits were found, associated with different settling regimes: (I) clean, graded sand beds produced by incremental deposition under unhindered or hindered settling conditions; (II) partially graded, clean sand beds with an ungraded base and a graded top, produced by incremental deposition under hindered settling conditions; (III) graded muddy sands produced by compaction with significant particle sorting by elutriation; (IV) ungraded clean sand produced by compaction and (V) ungraded muddy sand produced by compaction. A transition from particle size segregation (regime I) to suppressed size segregation (regime II or III) to virtually no size segregation (IV or V) occurred as sediment concentration was increased. In noncohesive particulate suspensions, segregation was initially suppressed at φ_s ～ 0·2 and entirely inhibited at φ_s ≥ 0·6. In noncohesive and cohesive mixtures with low sand concentrations (φ_s < 0·2), particle segregation was initially suppressed at φ_m ～ 0·07 and entirely suppressed at φ_m ≥ 0·13. The experimental results have a number of implications for the depositional dynamics of submarine sediment gravity flows and other particulate flows that carry sand and mud; because the influence of moving flow is ignored in these experiments, the results will only be applicable to flows in which settling processes, in the depositional boundary, dominate over shear‐flow processes, as might be the case for rapidly decelerating currents with high suspended load fallout rates. The ‘abrupt’ change in settling regimes between regime I and V, over a relatively small change in mud concentration (<5% by volume), favours the development of either mud‐poor, graded sandy deposits or mud‐rich, ungraded sandy deposits. This may explain the bimodality in sediment texture (clean ‘turbidite’ or muddy ‘debrite’ sand or sandstone) found in some turbidite systems. Furthermore, it supports the notion that distal ‘linked’ debrites could form because of a relatively small increase in the mud concentration of turbidity currents, perhaps associated with erosion of a muddy sea floor. Ungraded, clean sand deposits were formed by noncohesive suspensions with concentrations 0·2 ≤ φ_s ≤ 0·4. Hydrodynamic sorting is interpreted as being suppressed in this case by relatively high bed aggradation rates which could also occur in association with sustained, stratified turbidity currents or noncohesive debris flows with relatively high near‐bed sediment concentrations.     

Sedimentary architecture and genesis of Holocene shallow-water mud-mounds, northern Belize

Abstract Cangrejo and Bulkhead Shoals are areally extensive, Holocene biodetrital mud‐mounds in northern Belize. They encompass areas of 20 km² and 35 km² in distal and proximal positions, respectively, on a wide and shallow‐water, microtidal carbonate shelf where storms are the major process affecting sediment dynamics. Sediments at each mound are primarily biodetrital and comprise part of a eustatically forced, dominantly subtidal cycle with a recognizable deepening‐upward transgressive systems tract, condensed section and shallowing‐upward highstand systems tract. Antecedent topographic relief on Pleistocene limestone bedrock also provided marine accommodation space for deposition of sediments that are a maximum of 7·6 m thick at Cangrejo and 4·5 m thick at Bulkhead. Despite differences in energy levels and location, facies and internal sedimentological architectures of the mud‐mounds are similar. On top of Pleistocene limestone or buried soil developed on it are mangrove peat and overlying to laterally correlative shelly gravels. Deposition of these basal transgressive, premound facies tracked the rapid rate of sea‐level rise from about 6400–6500 years BP to 4500 years BP, and the thin basal sedimentation unit of the overlying mound‐core appears to be a condensed section. Following this, the thick and complex facies mosaic comprising mound‐cores represents highstand systems tract sediments deposited in the last ≈ 4500 years during slow and decelerating sea‐level rise. Within these sections, there is an early phase of progradationally offlapping catch‐up deposition and a later (and current) phase of aggradational keep‐up deposition. The mound‐cores comprise stacked storm‐deposited autogenic sedimentation units, the upper bounding surfaces of which are mostly eroded former sediment–water interfaces below which depositional textures have largely been overprinted by biogenic processes associated with Thalassia‐colonized surfaces. Vertical stacking of these units imparts a quasi‐cyclic architecture to the section that superficially mimics metre‐scale parasequences in ancient rocks. The locations of the mud‐mounds and the tidal channels transecting them have apparently been stable over the last 50 years. Characteristics that might distinguish these mud‐mounds and those mudbanks deposited in more restricted settings such as Florida Bay are their broad areal extent, high proportion of sand‐size sediment fractions and relatively abundant biotic particles derived from adjoining open shelf areas.     

Deposition of fine-grained sediments in the abyssal environment of the Algéro-Balearic Basin, Western Mediterranean Sea

Two depositional processes control the mud accumulation on the southern Balearic Abyssal Plain: pelagic settling at a rate of 10 cm/1000 years, and turbidity currents at an average frequency of > 3 per 2000 years. Thermo-haline bottom flow has little effect on the abyssal sediment distribution. Just over half of the Late Quaternary section is made up of turbidite mud. Distinctive properties of turbidite mud are: structural, textural, and compositional continuity from the underlying turbidite sand-silt layer into the overlying mud, grading within the mud layer, a ratio of carbonate percent with the underlying turbidite sand-silt layer of about 0.5, and a proportion of sand of > 1%. Those of (hemi)pelagic mud are: bioturbation, an average of 8% of sand consisting largely of remains of foraminifera and pteropods, a grain size distribution which is virtually normal with a median around 9 φ, and very poor sorting; in general, the properties of (hemi)pelagic muds are the same in widely separated localities and depths in cores. In some instances the clay mineral ratios of the turbidite mud layer are markedly different from those of the overlying (hemi)pelagic mud layer.