SEDIMENTATION IN THE RIFT ZONE OF THE JUAN DE FUCA RIDGE

The sediments of the upper Swartkops River are almost exclusively gravels and boulder beds derived from the Cretaceous Uitenhage Group and the Paleozoic Cape Supergroup rocks. Many of the cobbles and boulders are second-cycle clasts, the great majority of which are quartzitic in composition. Pebble size and shape were examined and fabric analysis was performed on samples from 22 sites in the study area. Pebble imbrication planes dip consistently upstream at angles of 20? to 50? and pebble long axes generally are aligned normal to the flow direction. Clasts in the braid-plain deposits range from a few millimeters to tens of centimeters (large boulders over a meter in diameter are not uncommon). Pebble roundness ranges from 0.2 to 0.9 (averaging 0.43) and sphericity values range from 0.3 to 0.9 (averaging 0.59). The gravel clasts are angular to well-rounded, but are predominantly subrounded. Zingg diagram plots show a majority of discoidal pebbles, but there is a diversity of shapes reflecting the complex source area from which some resedimented clasts originated.

Channel and bar morphology is complex, with gravel bars often merging laterally and longitudinally with main and secondary channels. Both channels and bars are terraced stepwise downstream and across the braid plain. Bar tops are armored by both small and large clasts, whereas channels may be lined with cobbles or boulders, but often exhibit small pebble lags. Algal mats occur as fresh curtains in all standing pools of water and dried crusty deposits on pebbly substrates in inactive channels.

Imbrication studies demonstrate conclusively that pebble imbrication is the most meaningful indicator of flow direction in a gravel deposit and is far more reliable than rare cross-bedding encountered in bar-top sands, where bedforms often migrate laterally rather than downstream. The Swartkops braid-plain gravels resemble the ancient deposits of the Ventersdorp Contact Reef, both deposits being characterized by boulder-rich gravels, poor clast sorting, resedimented pebbles from a proximal fault-bounded source, and algal mats. Although heavy minerals are lacking in the Swartkops, trapping of fines by algal filaments appears to occur during low-flow conditions.