Lake Winnipeg: geological setting and sediment seismostratigraphy

Lake Winnipeg, the seventh largest lake in North America, is located at the boundary between the Interior Plains and the Canadian Shield in Manitoba, Canada. Seismic profiles were obtained in Lake Winnipeg on two geoscientific cruises in 1994 and 1996. These data indicate the morphology of the bedrock surface. In most cases, a clear distinction between low relief Paleozoic carbonate rock and high relief Precambrian rock can be made. In northern Lake Winnipeg, the eastern limit of Paleozoic rock is clearly demarcated 30 km west of the previous estimate of its position. In southern Lake Winnipeg, all or most of the Paleozoic sequence terminates at a prominent buried escarpment in the centre of the lake. This indicates that Paleozoic rock on the eastern shore, known from drilling and outcrops, is an outlier. Major moraines are apparent as abrupt, large ridges having a chaotic internal reflection pattern. These include the Pearson Reef Moraine, the George Island Moraine and the offshore extension of The Pas Moraine. Little evidence for extensive or thick till was observed. Instead, fine-grained sediments deposited in glacial Lake Agassiz rest directly on bedrock over most of the lake basin. Hence an episode of erosion to bedrock was associated with glaciation and/or deglaciation. The Agassiz Sequence sediments are well-stratified, drape underlying relief and in some areas are over 100 m thick. In places, stratification in these sediments is disrupted, perhaps by dewatering. Evidence of erosion of Agassiz Sequence sediments by recent currents was observed. The contact between the Agassiz Sequence and the overlying Winnipeg Sequence sediments is a marked angular unconformity. The Agassiz Unconformity indicates up to 10 m of erosion in places. The low-relief character of this unconformity precludes subaerial erosion and the lack of till, moraines, or extensive deformation precludes glacial erosion. Waves appear to be the most likely erosional agent, either in waning Lake Agassiz or early Lake Winnipeg time. Winnipeg Sequence sediments, in places very thin, mantle most of the lakefloor. These sediments were deposited in the present Lake Winnipeg and are faintly stratified to massive and reach about 10 m in thickness in deep water. On the surface of the Winnipeg Sequence, vigorous, episodic currents are thought to contribute to the construction of flow-transverse sand waves as much as 6 m high in a deep, narrow constriction in the lake.     

Quaternary stratigraphy of the fladen area,central North Sea: A multidisciplinary study

Based on detailed stratigraphic investigations on a 200.6m long core (BGS borehole No. 81/26) from the Fladen Ground area (British sector), core material from the Sleipner field (Norwegian sector) and shallow seismic profiles between the core-sites, the following conclusions are drawn: (1) The North Sea was glaciated sometime during th elaterpart of Matuyama reversed period. A complete glacial-interglacial-glacial cycle is recorded in these sediments. (2) In a period of marine sedimentation in the Middle Pleistocene, a transgression-regression cycle under boreal-arctic regime is recorded. (3) The Fladen area has subsided between 0.9 and 0.6 m/ka through the later parts of the Quaternary (4) A major glacial event dated at between 130 and 200 ka is recorded as a thick till unit in 81/26. This till, which was deposited by ice moving from the southwest (Scotland), probably represents a period when the Scandinavian and British ice sheets coalesced in the North Sea. (5) Based on the seismic data and the stratigraphy of the Sleipner core, an ice-free, open embayment/dry land is favoured for the central North Sea during the Late Weichselian. (6) From the amino-acid data, it is shown that there has been an episodic style of sedimentation through the Quaternary. (7) of the investigated sediments (which span the last 1 mill. year) ca 98% have been deposited under arctic to boreal-arctic conditions.     

A geophysical survey of the Spitsbergen Margin and surrounding areas

New geophysical information including multichannel seismic profiling data obtained by the PGO Sevmorgeologia Ministry of Geology of the former USSR, Murmansk during 1984–1988 is discussed and interpreted in this study. The deep structure, sedimentary cover and stratigraphy of the Spitsbergen Continental Margin, considered to be a passive margin, i.e. divergent in the northern part and strike-slip in the western part, is described.Two genetically different types of plateaus on the continental margin, Yermak in the north and Spitsbergen (Vestnesa) in the west, have been identified.The entire extent of the continental slope of the northern part of the Spitsbergen Continental Margin in the Eurasia Basin is underlain by attenuated continental crust, while at the base of the Southwest Continental Margin, the oceanic crust along almost the entire extent is observed. The sedimentary cover, up to 10 km thick within the West Spitsbergen Continental Margin, is likewise observed. Within the North Spitsbergen Margin, however, it does not exceed 3.5 km in thickness.The extension and deposition within the West Spitsbergen Margin began in early Oligocene, while the rifting with accompanying sedimentation within the North Spitsbergen Continental Margin started probably in Early Cretaceous.     

正在萌芽段的震积地层学

地震是经常发生的,是地球节律的一种反映。震积岩一词是Seilacher A(1969)首先提出的,随后欧美学者掀起了研究高潮。Mutti等(1984)认为浊积岩即震浊积岩,可以作为一个事件地层单元进行填图与追索。我国学者宋天锐(1988)最早提出地震－海啸序列,可以作为燕山地区雾连山组地层划分对比的标志。乔秀夫等(1994．1995) 在华北上震旦统一下寒武坑中建立了“碳酸盐岩液化地震序列”与“萨布哈震积序列”并对华北东部同期地层进行了对比与成因地层学研究。笔者(1991．1994)指出扬子西缘的二叠系震积岩由原地相的地震干扰层与异地相的滑来震积层两部分组成．两者之问被震积不整台面分开 在伸展构造环境下,震积不整合即伸展不整合,它是瞬时间于水下形成的。滑来震积层表现为多旋回的震积序列,其中的化石混积层具有正向有序混积现象,这也与盆地边界正断层多次活动有关。由此,提出“扬子西缘的东吴伸展运动”新认识。将震积岩的研究与构造灾变事件,事件地层学接轨。我国地史上也是一个多震的地区,在我国土地上,完全有可能哺育出现代地层学的一门新分支—— 震积地层学。     

山东昌潍坳陷古近系孔店组划分与分布

孔店组为昌潍坳陷主要的烃源层 ,也是重要的储集层和盖层。由于钻穿孔店组的深井比较少 ,而且生物化石相对稀少 ,加之以前对岩心中的古生物分析不全面 ,因而制约了对研究区孔店组的认识。通过岩石、电性、生物、地震多方面对孔店组的系统研究 ,总结了孔店组的岩石、电性、古生物等方面的特征 ,进而确定孔店组内部界面 ,重新对孔店组进行分段 ,将孔店组的火山岩划归孔店组二段 ,划分出孔店组三段 ,为深层油气勘探提供准确的地层依据。鉴于孔店组划分的变化 ,结合地震剖面对孔店组的分布也做了相应的研究。     

Seismostratigraphic analysis of the Transkei Basin: A history of deep sea current controlled sedimentation

The Earth's climate is controlled by various factors, with large scale ocean currents playing a significant role. In particular, the global thermohaline circulation of water masses like the Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), or the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW), is a global motor for maintaining the exchange of water masses. The AABW and NADW have met and interacted off South Africa since Oligocene times. Here, the narrow deep Agulhas Passage gateway, located between South Africa and the submarine Agulhas Plateau, constrains bottom water exchange between the southeast Atlantic and the southwest Indian Ocean. A seismostratigraphic analysis of sedimentary structures in the Transkei Basin, which opens up at the eastern end of the Agulhas Passage, was carried out, to reconstruct the palaeocurrents off South Africa. The analysis of newly collected high resolution seismic reflection data showed the effect of large scale current deposition. There are at least 5 major sedimentary phases to observe, some of which seem to be influenced by NADW and AABW. The first stage represents ongoing deep sea sedimentation from middle Cretaceous to middle Tertiary times. Later stages are separated by discordances, which represent the onset of AABW and NADW, among others, triggered by the opening of the Drake Passage gateway ( 35 Ma) and the closure of the Isthmus of Panama ( 3 Ma). We found two large drift bodies located one above the other. Corresponding to their shape and position, the older drift is inferred to have been deposited by currents flowing in a north–southerly direction, whereas the younger drift lies perpendicular to it and seems to be built up by west–east flowing currents.