Fluvial gravel facies architecture of late Pleistocene age at Po Chue Tam, Lantau Island, Hong Kong: tectonic versus climatic control? |
| |
Authors: | Yuhai Wang Dan-Ping Yan |
| |
Institution: | a Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China;b Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Zhengding 050800, People's Republic of China;c Faculty of Geoscience and Resource, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, People's Republic of China |
| |
Abstract: | A cross-section of fluvial gravel deposits of late Pleistocene age exposed at Po Chue Tam, Lantau Island, Hong Kong contains two facies: a lower facies of planar cross-bedded gravel (Gp) and an overlying facies of clast-supported, massive gravels (Gcm). The Gp gravels include five gravel couplets. Each couplet consists of a clast-supported, coarse gravel-dominated bed and an overlying clast-supported, fine gravel-dominated bed with a discrete bounding surface. Tectonic uplift predating the last interglacial transgression produced a large amount of detritus in the source area. Excessive peak rainfall intensity resulting from enhanced seasonality of monsoonal precipitation in the following glacial period triggered catastrophic floods, which transported mature detritus in large quantities into a fault-controlled piedmont basin. The Gp gravels were deposited by pulsating flood flows. In relation to kinematic waves of particles, bedload sediment was longitudinally sorted and segregated into a train of gravel sheets. They draped over each other and accreted laterally due to expansion of flow, producing planar cross stratifications that are characteristic of recurrent, couplet-style coarse/fine cross beds. In contrast, Gcm gravels were laid down as a single, nearly horizontal bed by a catastrophic flood that was not subject to flow pulsation. |
| |
Keywords: | Magmo-tectonism Monsoon precipitation Catastrophic flood Flow pulsation Gravel couplet Planar cross stratification |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|