Physical Properties and their Relationship to Texture and Consolidation Effects in Pliocene-Quaternary Sediments from Madeira Abyssal Plain

Multi-sensor core logger data and index properties were measured onboard the JOIDES resolution during ODP Leg 157 and compared with grain size distribution and carbonate contents measured in the on-shore laboratory. Cored sediments are similar in grain size, but very variable in carbonate content. Magnetic susceptibility clearly defines the volcanic turbidite layers, whereas GRAPE density and acoustic velocity help to define the coarser (silty) bases of some organic or calcareous turbidite layers. Index properties are mostly controlled by consolidation effects.     

Factors controlling reservoir properties and hydrocarbon accumulation of lacustrine deep-water turbidites in the Huimin Depression,Bohai Bay Basin,East China

Lacustrine deep-water turbidite plays are a novel area for exploration in the Huimin Depression, Bohai Bay Basin. Turbidites in the Shang 847 block, a typical turbidite play in the Huimin Depression, provide an opportunity to study the factors controlling the reservoir properties and hydrocarbon accumulation in lacustrine turbidite sandstones. The reservoir quality of turbidite sandstones (very fine-grained, moderately to well sorted, mainly lithic arkose) in this study area are mainly controlled by the distribution patterns of carbonate cements and pseudomatrix. Significant inverse relationships exist between the volume of carbonate cement and both porosity and permeability of the turbidite sandstones. Carbonate cement is located preferentially near the margins of the sandstone bodies. Sandstones with distance from the sandstone–mudstone contact surface less than 0.7 m or with thickness less than 1.2 m are commonly tightly cemented (carbonate cement >15%) with low porosity and permeability (lower than 10% and 0.1 mD, respectively). The source of carbonate cement was most likely external, probably derived from the surrounding mudstone. Most pore-filling carbonate cements occurred during late diagenesis at burial depths greater than 2200 m. The petrophysical properties of turbidites have a positive relationship with the content of kaolinite and chlorite, but have a negative relationship with the content of illite. 2-D and 3-D reconstructions of non-oil bearing and oil-bearing layers indicate that dissolution of carbonate cement, feldspars and unstable rock fragments was more developed in oil-bearing layers than in non-oil bearing layers and hance oil-bearing layers have higher porosity and larger pore sizes. Petrophysical property appears to have a significant effect on the hydrocarbon accumulation in the turbidite sandstones. Sandstones with porosities lower than 9% and/or permeabilities lower than 0.78 mD are not prone to contain oil.     

西菲律宾海15万年以来的浊流沉积及其成因

MD06-3052孔取自西菲律宾海吕宋岛岸外上陆坡,通过AMS14 C测年、沉积物粒度和浮游有孔虫氧同位素记录,揭示了15万年以来5个浊流沉积层的特征和浊积事件的发生时间。浊流沉积物粒度明显较上下层的粗,主要组分为砂质和粉砂质沉积。通过AMS14 C测年和氧同位素年代标尺,计算了5个浊流沉积层发生的时间分别为13.3、20.4、34.3、41.7和121.8kaBP,其中上部4次浊积事件发生于末次冰期,特别是MIS 3晚期和MIS 2期的低海平面时期,仅底部一次出现于末次间冰期MIS 5e中期相对低海平面时期,因而推测研究区浊流沉积事件的主要诱因是低海平面时期的海平面波动造成临近陆架上的沉积物不稳定,同时较陡的陆坡为浊流沉积提供了有利地形,因而造成了向陆坡方向的浊流搬运。     

Sound velocity in carbonate sediments from the Whiting Basin,Puerto Rico

A series of sediment cores were obtained from the Whiting Basin southeast of Puerto Rico to investigate the factors affecting the velocity of sound in marine carbonate deposits. The cores indicated that the deposits in the Whiting Basin are similar to abyssal-plain deposits with lenticular turbidite sequences alternating with pelagic sediments. The sediment, comprised of highly porous sands and silts, averaged 80% calcium carbonate consisting of aragonite, low-Mg calcite and high-Mg calcite.Normal methods for predicting sound velocity from the physical properties of the deposits were found to be inaccurate for these samples. The established relationships of grain size and porosity to sound velocity were invalid because the sands found in the cores consisted of hollow-foram tests, causing high porosity independent of grain size. The rigidity of the deposit was the most significant factor determining sediment sound velocity and was itself controlled by the sediment source, transportation effects and the packing of the deposit. Future work is needed to accurately measure the effect of these factors on the rigidity modulus.     

黄河河口段与海河河口段沉积物碳酸盐对比分析

利用筛析-沉降法对黄河系及海河系沉积物进行了粒度特征分析,黄河系沉积物以极细砂-粗粉砂为主,分选性中等,粒度分布正偏,峰态曲线尖窄;海河系沉积物以细粉砂为主,分选性较差,粒度分布正偏,峰态曲线较平缓。测定黄河系及海河系沉积物碳酸盐的粒度百分含量及碳酸盐加权粒度百分含量,结果表明:黄河系沉积物碳酸盐粒度百分含量加权平均值为11.36%,细砂碳酸盐粒度百分含量较高(15.24%),随粒度越细波动式降低后逐步增加,并在黏土富集,达20.67%;海河系沉积物中碳酸盐粒度百分含量加权平均值为15.05%,比黄河系略高,呈两端高中间低不对称鞍形粒度分布。黄河系与海河系碳酸盐粒度百分含量受粒度控制,对全样碳酸盐贡献最大的粒度黄河系为粗粉砂,海河系为细粉砂。黄河系全岩碳酸盐平均粒度百分含量与马兰黄土相近,与黄渤海泥质区相当,表明黄河沉积物的主要来源是马兰黄土,黄河在沉积物搬运过程中对黄土碳酸盐没有明显改造,黄河沉积物黏土组分是黄渤海泥质区沉积物高碳酸盐的主要影响因素。     

东北太平洋胡安·德富卡隆起西翼晚第四纪以来的碳酸盐记录

通过对东北太平洋胡安·德富卡隆起西翼沉积柱样中的碳酸盐含量和浮游有孔虫氧同位素测试以及浮游有孔虫丰度、溶解指数和粗组分的统计,发现在晚第四纪约65 ka以来碳酸盐含量变化幅度大(0 4%~77 2%),相差非常悬殊,但其变化未呈现出冰期时溶解作用减弱、间冰期时溶解作用强烈这样明显的旋回性。粗组分分析结果显示,地层中有明显的浊流沉积发育。另外,碳酸盐含量和浮游有孔虫丰度分析结果揭露了研究区的 CCD在3 500 m左右。研究认为,在约65 ka来水深浅于3 500 m的区域碳酸盐含量的无规律性变化应与浊流沉积影响有直接的关系,而水深深于3 500 m的区域碳酸盐含量主要受控于深海碳酸盐的溶解作用。     

Turbidites deposited on Southern Central Chilean seamounts: Evidence for energetic turbidity currents

Gravity cores obtained from isolated seamounts located within, and rising up to 300 m from the sediment-filled Peru–Chile Trench off Southern Central Chile (36°S–39°S) contain numerous turbidite layers which are much coarser than the hemipelagic background sedimentation. The mineralogical composition of some of the beds indicates a mixed origin from various source terrains while the faunal assemblage of benthic foraminifera in one of the turbidite layers shows a mixed origin from upper shelfal to middle-lower bathyal depths which could indicate a multi-source origin and therefore indicate an earthquake triggering of the causing turbidity currents. The bathymetric setting and the grain size distribution of the sampled layers, together with swath echosounder and sediment echosounder data which monitor the distribution of turbidites on the elevated Nazca Plate allow some estimates on the flow direction, flow velocity and height of the causing turbidity currents. We discuss two alternative models of deposition, both of which imply high (175–450 m) turbidity currents and we suggest a channelized transport process as the general mode of turbidite deposition. Whether these turbidites are suspension fallout products of thick turbiditic flows or bedload deposits from sheet-like turbidity currents overwhelming elevated structures cannot be decided upon using our sedimentological data, but the specific morphology of the seamounts rather argues for the first option. Oxygen isotope stratigraphy of one of the cores indicates that the turbiditic sequences were deposited during the last Glacial period and during the following transition period and turbiditic deposition stopped during the Holocene. This climatic coupling seems to be dominant, while the occurrence of megathrust earthquakes provides a trigger mechanism. This seismic triggering takes effect only during times of very high sediment supply to the shelf and slope.     

Effect of texture of carbonate soils in South Iran coasts on aggregate crushing

Aggregate crushing is a phenomenon occurring in carbonate soils under shear and compressive loads resulting in settlement of the offshore structures such as piers, bridges, waterfronts, wharfs, and oil and gas extraction platform foundations. Therefore, it is of significant importance to address the above-mentioned issue through a comprehensive study. In the present research, the texture of carbonate soil in south Iran coasts and its effect at high hydrostatic pressure (2?MPa) on aggregate crushing was studied. The physical properties of coastal soils, such as the effective grain size, shape index, and angularity were then characterized to investigate their effect on grain crushing grade. The results showed that the effective grain size, shape index, angularity, and calcium carbonate content are the main parameters affecting the crushing of grains and consequently settlement of marine soils. Based on the above parameters, a relationship is proposed to estimate grain crushing in carbonate soils.     

Reservoir characteristics and their effects on hydrocarbon accumulation in lacustrine turbidites in the Jiyang Super-depression,Bohai Bay Basin,China

A great difference exists between the hydrocarbon charging characteristics of different Tertiary lacustrine turbidites in the Jiyang Super-depression of the Bohai Bay Basin, east China. Based on wireline log data, core observation and thin-section analyses, this study presents detailed reservoir property data and their controlling effects from several case studies and discusses the geological factors that govern the hydrocarbon accumulation in turbidite reservoirs. The lacustrine fluxoturbidite bodies investigated are typically distributed in an area of 0.5–10 km², with a thickness of 5–20 m. The sandstones of the Tertiary turbidites in the Jiyang Super-depression have been strongly altered diagenetically by mechanical compaction, cementation and mineral dissolution. The effect of compaction caused the porosity to decrease drastically with the burial depths, especially during the early diagenesis when the porosity was reduced by over 15%. The effect of cementation and mineral dissolution during the late-stage diagenesis is dominated by carbonate cementation in sandstones. High carbonate cement content is usually associated with low porosity and permeability. Carbonate dissolution (secondary porosity zone) and primary calcite dissolution is believed to be related to thermal maturation of organic matter and clay mineral reactions in the surrounding shales and mudstone. Two stages of carbonate cementation were identified: the precipitation from pore-water during sedimentation and secondary precipitation in sandstones from the organic acid-dissolved carbonate minerals from source rocks. Petrophysical properties have controlled hydrocarbon accumulation in turbidite sandstones: high porosity and permeability sandstones have high oil saturation and are excellent producing reservoirs. It is also noticed that interstitial matter content affects the oil-bearing property to some degree. There are three essential elements for high oil-bearing turbidite reservoirs: excellent pore types, low carbonate cement (<5%) and good petrophysical properties with average porosity >15% and average permeability >10 mD.     

Field expressions of the transformation of debris flows into turbidity currents, with examples from the Polish Carpathians and the French Maritime Alps

Various transformation mechanisms can generate turbidity currents from subaqueous debris flows. Different transformation mechanisms have been described and interpreted in the past from laboratory experiments and from deposits, but the two approaches have not generally been linked. This has made the genetic interpretation and comparison of deposits difficult. In this paper a generic classification scheme of debrite–turbidite couplets is proposed based on transformation mechanisms inferred from laboratory experiments. Five different flow types (called A–E herein) and their resulting deposits are detailed, but they are all part of a continuous spectrum, and a mixture of types is likely to be found in the field. Type A flows are strong, dense debris flows that undergo little transformation. Their deposit will be a debrite overlain by a thin turbidite, which is separated from it by a clear grain size break. Type B flows are weaker and can develop waves at the debris flow-turbidity current interface. The deposit will be a debrite with a wavy top overlain by a turbidite that is thicker than for type A flows. For type C flows, the interfacial waves will grow so much that the debris flow disintegrates into separate parts. The deposit will consist of debrite lenses encased in a turbidite. Type D flows will undergo even more mixing than type C flows so that the debrite parts will be mixed. Their deposit will be a turbidite with laterally varying areas of debrite characteristics near the bed. Type E flows will be so transformed that the debris flow character has disappeared and the flow is a turbidity current with high sediment concentration. The deposit will be largely turbiditic. The flow types and deposits will be illustrated with some examples from two field areas: the Polish Carpathians and the French Maritime Alps.     

Gas hydrate disturbance fabrics of southern Hydrate Ridge sediments (ODP Leg 204): Relationship with texture and physical properties

Soupy and mousse-like fabrics are disturbance sedimentary features that result from the dissociation of gas hydrate, a process that releases water. During the core retrieval process, soupy and mousse-like fabrics are produced in the gas hydrate-bearing sediments due to changes in pressure and temperature conditions. Therefore, the identification of soupy and mousse-like fabrics can be used as a proxy for the presence of gas hydrate in addition to other evidence, such as pore water freshening or anomalously cool temperature. We present here grain-size results, mineralogical composition and magnetic susceptibility data of soupy and mousse-like samples from the southern Hydrate Ridge (Cascadia accretionary complex) acquired during Leg 204 of the Ocean Drilling Program. In order to study the relationship between sedimentary texture and the presence of gas hydrates, we have compared these results with the main textural and compositional data available from the same area. Most of the disturbed analyzed samples from the summit and the western flank of southern Hydrate Ridge show a mean grain size coarser than the average mean grain size of the hemipelagic samples from the same area. The depositional features of the sediments are not recognised due to disturbance. However, their granulometric statistical parameters and distribution curves, and magnetic susceptibility logs indicate that they correspond to a turbidite facies. These results suggest that gas hydrates in the southern Hydrate Ridge could form preferentially in coarser grain-size layers that could act as conduits feeding gas from below the BSR. Two samples from the uppermost metres near the seafloor at the summit of the southern Hydrate Ridge show a finer mean grain-size value than the average of hemipelagic samples. They were located where the highest amount of gas hydrates was detected, suggesting that in this area the availability of methane gas was high enough to generate gas hydrates, even within low-permeability layers. The mineralogical composition of the soupy and mousse-like sediments does not show any specific characteristic with respect to the other samples from the southern Hydrate Ridge.     

前处理步骤与方法对风成红粘土粒度测量的影响

中国北方晚第三纪红粘土堆积为研究古气候与古环境提供了很好的地质记录,其粒度测量作为一个重要的代用指标被广泛应用。粒度测量结果受到前处理方法的影响,但是,现在各个实验室的前处理方法还不一致,这就为粒度数据分析和古气候古环境解释带来了困难。在黄土高原从北到南选择了3个具有代表性的红粘土剖面,对每个剖面从下向上取10块样品总计得到30块样品,对每个样品用不同的前处理方法与步骤（包括化学分离石英的方法）处理后用激光粒度仪进行颗粒测量。结果表明,前处理方法与步骤可以使同一个样品粒度参数发生几倍甚至于二十几倍的变化。综合理论和经验分析,推荐了一种较好的进行风尘堆积粒度测量的前处理方法（正文中方法C）。化学分离的纯石英的粒度分布比本文推荐的方法处理同一个样品的粒度结果偏粗,表明在提纯石英的过程中较细的不稳定矿物已经被剔除。     

Turbidites of the Hatteras and Sohm abyssal plains,western North Atlantic

The distribution, thickness and textural properties of turbidites off the east coast of the United States are defined and discussed. Results of 195 granulometric analyses of turbidite layers are presented.     

Longshore sorting on a beach under wave action

Sorting of sediment on a beach under wave action takes several forms. Stratified layers of finer and coarser sediment, which depend on wave climate, grain size and beach slope are formed. This complex problem can be simplified by defining the cross-shore and longshore sorting according to the angle between the breaking wave and the coast. In the present study, longshore distribution of sediment as well as corresponding beach profiles was measured in a wave basin. Three-dimensional hydraulic model experiments were performed with regular waves. Eighteen sets of experiments performed in longshore sorting mechanism using two different sand beds. The sorting of the bed material and the formation of armour coats along the beach were defined by grain size distributions and dimensionless parameters for sandy beaches.The rate of sediment transport with grain size sorting was measured in a wave basin. A method introduced sorting process was presented in this study. The sediment rate based on sorting mechanism was also discussed with known methods. It has been found that the non-uniformity of the grain size and hence sorting of the beaches play a very important role in the sand transport due to wave motion in a similar way to the case of steady flow in alluvial channels.     

Acoustic backscatter and sediment textural properties of inner shelf sands,northeastern Gulf of Mexico

The relationship between spatial variations of the properties of sea-floor sediments and acoustic backscatter from the surface of the sea floor on the continental shelf off of Panama City, Florida, USA, is investigated using surficial sediment grab samples and digital side-scan sonar data. Acoustic backscatter strength has a high, direct correlation with the mean grain size of the sediments. Acoustic backscatter strength also correlates directly with the carbonate content of the sediments, particularly in medium-and coarse-sand facies, because large, irregularly shaped, carbonate particles affect both the mean grain size of the sediments and the roughness of the surface of the sea floor.     

Filling the gap: A 60 ky record of mixed carbonate-siliciclastic turbidite deposition from the Great Barrier Reef

Late Pleistocene to Holocene margin sedimentation on the Great Barrier Reef, a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic margin, has been explained by a transgressive shedding model. This model has challenged widely accepted sequence stratigraphic models in terms of the timing and type of sediment (i.e. carbonate vs. siliciclastic) deposited during sea-level oscillations. However, this model documents only hemipelagic sedimentation and the contribution of coarse-grained turbidite deposition, and the role of submarine canyons in this process, remain elusive on this archetypal margin. Here we present a new model of turbidite deposition for the last 60 ky in the north-eastern Australia margin. Using high-resolution bathymetry, 58 new and existing radiometric ages, and the composition of 81 turbidites from 15 piston cores, we found that the spatial and temporal variation of turbidites is controlled by the relationship between sea-level change and the variable physiography along the margin. Siliciclastic and mixed carbonate-siliciclastic turbidites were linked to canyons indenting the shelf-break and the well-developed shelf-edge reef barriers that stored sediment behind them. Turbidite deposition was sustained while the sea-level position allowed the connection and sediment bypassing through the inter-reef passages and canyons. Carbonate turbidites dominated in regions with more open conditions at the outer-shelf and where slope-confined canyons dominated or where canyons are generally less abundant. The turn-on and maintenance of carbonate production during sea-level fluctuations also influenced the timing of carbonate turbidite deposition. We show that a fundamental understanding of the variable physiography inherent to mixed carbonate-siliciclastic margins is essential to accurately interpret deep-water, coarse-grained deposition within a sequence stratigraphic context.     

Fast reconnaissance of carbonate dissolution based on the size distribution of calcareous ooze on Walvis Ridge, SE Atlantic Ocean

We present a new index of carbonate fragmentation based on the size distribution of bulk sediments in core MD962094 from Walvis Ridge (SE Atlantic Ocean). The carbonate fragmentation index is constructed by taking a ratio of the two coarsest fractions in the grain size distributions of the bulk calcareous ooze. The coarsest two fractions (25–90 μm and >90 μm) of the bulk sediments consist primarily of complete shells and fragments of adult foraminifera shells, and juvenile foraminifera shells and fragments, respectively. The ratio of the proportions of the two fractions is interpreted as a measure of fragmentation of the foraminifera shells caused by carbonate dissolution. Downcore changes in our carbonate fragmentation index compare very well with those in the coarse-carbonate fragmentation index in sediments from a nearby core on Walvis Ridge. The latter commonly used fragmentation index is defined as a ratio of foraminifera fragments over whole foraminifera in the >150-μm fraction as seen with a light microscope. Fragmentation is relatively high during glacial stages and relatively low during interglacial stages during the last 300 kyr, caused by the combined effect of wind-driven upwelling of corrosive water and increased production of organic matter, decreasing the preservation potential of carbonates both during and after deposition. The carbonate fragmentation index we present here provides a precise and fast method to establish a downcore fragmentation record. It can be applied to bulk sediments that are carbonate-rich (CaCO₃>68%) and to all other deep-marine sediments of which the grain size distribution of the carbonate-free fraction is available.     

Scale-dependent physical and geoacoustic property variability of shallow-water carbonate sediments from the Dry Tortugas, Florida

 Spatial variability of shallow-water carbonate sediments near Dry Tortugas, Florida, is scale-dependent. Wet bulk density, grain density, porosity, compressional wave velocity, and grain size variability generally increase down to 2.4 m vertically and 850 m laterally. Grain size is most variable, followed by porosity, wet bulk density, compressional wave velocity, and grain density bothvertically and laterally, consistent with Walther’s Law. Variability was empirically modeled by linear regression analysis to predict variability based on scale, characterize sediment property variability, and quantify sedimentisotropy.     

鲁中黄土粒度特征及其成因探讨

鲁中黄土是风成的,主要由低空地方风系（北向风）搬运的近源物质堆积而成,其次是高空气流携带而来的内陆远源物质;主要物源区为冰期裸霞的莱州湾海底和黄泛平原。粗颗粒含量变化一较好地反映本区气候的冷暖周期变化。中更新世中后期本区开始转冷,发育离石黄土;末次间冰期时,气候温湿形成厚层Ｓ１;到末次冰期气候变得更为干冷,冬季风效应增强,粗颗粒含量增多。到全新世气候向现代气候转变,但在转暖的过程中有短回冷事件,形     

滨里海盆地科尔占地区石炭系沉积相

科尔占地区位于滨里海盆地阿斯特拉罕-阿克纠宾斯克隆起带东南部的比伊克扎尔次级隆起上,该地区广泛发育下二叠统孔谷组盐岩,以盐岩沉积为界,它将整个剖面划分为盐上层系（以碎屑岩为主的含油气层系）和盐下层系（以碳酸盐岩为主的含油气层系）两个大的含油气层系,石炭系为盐下层系中主要的含油气层系之一。通过对研究区唯一的盐下井K井岩屑及其薄片的详细观察,并结合该井测井资料,分析了石炭系的沉积特征,并对其沉积相进行了划分与描述。K井石炭系主要发育3种类型沉积相,分别为深水浊积扇相、斜坡相和台地相,其中深水浊积扇相可进一步划分为内扇、中扇和外扇3个亚相,台地相划分为滩间洼地和台内滩2个亚相。利用K井钻探结果,结合区域资料,初步预测出科尔占地区早石炭世和中石炭世末期沉积相带的平面分布特征。