Sedimentological and stratigraphic investigations of a sequence of 106 varves from glacial Lake Assiniboine,Saskatchewan

Sediments retrieved from a long core on the floor of glacial Lake Assiniboine, Saskatchewan, expose 106 couplets, consisting of thick, light coloured, silt-rich beds and thin, dark, clay-rich beds. The couplets contain sharp lower and upper contacts of the silt bed, silty and clayey laminations within both the silt and clay beds, and ice-rafted debris in the silt beds, which are features characteristic of glacial varves.Seasonal variations in runoff are reflected in grain size profiles of individual silt beds in the varves. Mean grain size maxima in the lower portion of the silt bed suggest that snow accumulation during the previous winter had been substantial and that a warm spring combined with a rapid melting rate generated significant volumes of nival meltwater runoff. Coarse laminae higher in the silty part of the couplet imply that substantial meltwater inflow was produced by summer melting of glacier ice.Vertical trends in clay bed thicknesses, silt bed thicknesses, and total couplet thicknesses were strongly influenced by the proximity of meltwater inflow channels and lake depth. These interpretations, and correlation of the core to varve exposures at the surface, formed the framework for a paleohydrological reconstruction. Close to 11,000 BP, ice dammed the outlet of glacial Lake Assiniboine and the water depth rose about 2 m yr^–1. Eventually the lake became deep enough for couplets to form. Varve years 1–40 contain thick clay beds, silt beds, and couplets as a result of the proximal inflow of meltwater. A decline in silt bed and couplet thicknesses from varve years 41–85 occurred in response to ice retreat and more distal inflow. Varve deposition ceased in the shallow part of the basin probably because underflow currents from the distal source were redirected. Varve years 86–106 are distinguished by an increase in silt bed and couplet thicknesses and a decrease in clay bed thickness caused by a reduction in water depth and a return to proximal inflow. Varved sedimentation terminated when Lake Assiniboine drained through the Assiniboine valley to Lake Agassiz.     

Multiple scattering and energy transfer of seismic waves – separation of scattering effect from intrinsic attenuation – I. Theoretical modelling

Summary. In order to separate the scattering effect from the intrinsic attenuation, we need a multiple scattering model for seismic wave propagation in random heterogeneous media. In this paper, we apply radiative transfer theory to seismic wave propagation and formulate in the frequency domain the energy density distribution in space for a point source. We consider the cases of isotropic scattering and strong forward scattering. Some numerical examples are shown. It is seen that the energy density–distance curves have quite different shapes depending on the values of medium seismic albedo B ₀=η_s/(η_s+η_a) where η_s is the scattering coefficient and η_a is the absorption coefficient of the medium. For a high albedo ( B > 0.5) medium, the energy–distance curve is of arch shape and the position of the peak is a function of the extinction coefficient of the medium η_e=η_s+η_a. Therefore it is possible to separate the scattering effect and the absorption based on the measured energy density distribution curves.     

On the connection between the critical value of the "vertical" electrical anisotropy and earthquake prediction

Summary. It is shown that at any orientation of a dipole of direct current at the surface of a uniform anisotropic halfspace there exists a unique critical value η_cr of the "vertical" electric anisotropy η. For η > η_cr not all field lines are closed, and three straight field lines pass through the centre of the dipole. Also there exists a unique value η_eq > η_cr, where equatorial η is equal to zero. If η > η_eq then equatorial ρ_app is negative since the electric vector is turned more than through 90° at the equator of dipole, and it is shown that η_cr= 1.79, η_eq= 1.93 if the axis of dipole is directed symmetrically with respect to the axes of anisotropy. Routine observations of variations of ρ_app with the aim of earthquake prediction should be carried out taking into account the possibility of great fluctuations on η far from the epicentre of an earthquake.     

Post glacial lacustrine event sedimentation in an ancient mountain setting: Carboniferous Lake Malanzán (Western Argentina)

Lacustrine deposits of the Malanzán Formation record sedimentation in a small and narrow mountain paleovalley. Lake Malanzán was one of several water bodies formed in the Paganzo Basin during the Late Carboniferous deglaciation. Five sedimentary facies have been recognized. Facies A (Dropstones-bearing laminated mudstones) records deposition from suspension fall-out and probably underflow currents coupled with ice-rafting processes in a basin lake setting. Facies B (Ripple cross-laminated sandstones and siltstones) was deposited from low density turbidity currents in a lobe fringe environment. Facies C (Massive or graded sandstones) is thought to represent sedimentation from high and low density turbidity currents in sand lobes. Facies D (Folded sandstones and siltstones) was formed from slumping in proximal lobe environments. Facies E (Wave-rippled sandstones) records wave reworking of sands supplied by turbidity currents above wave base level.The Lake Malanzán succession is formed by stacked turbidite sand lobe deposits. These lobes were probably formed in proximal lacustrine settings, most likely relatively high gradient slopes. Paleocurrents indicate a dominant direction from cratonic areas to the WSW. Although the overall sequence shows a regressive trend from basin fine-grained deposits to deltaic and braided fluvial facies, individual lobe packages lack of definite vertical trends in bed thickness and grain size. This fact suggests aggradation from multiple-point sources, rather than progradation from single-point sources. Sedimentologic and paleoecologic evidence indicate high depositional rate and sediment supply. Deposition within the lake was largely dominated by event sedimentation. Low diversity trace fossil assemblages of opportunistic invertebrates indicate recolonization of event beds under stressed conditions.Three stages of lake evolutionary history have been distinguished. The vertical replacement of braided fluvial deposits by basinal facies indicates high subsidence and a lacustrine transgressive episode. This flooding event was probably linked to a notable base level rise during postglacial times. The second evolutionary stage was typified by the formation of sand turbidite lobes from downslope mass-movements. Lake history culminates with the progradation of deltaic and braided fluvial systems     

敦煌莫高窟顶几种典型床面蚀积量变化过程的初步观测

通过对莫高窟窟顶自然和人工床面的风蚀、输导及堆积沙量变化的野外监测,初步观测结果表明：在偏西风作用下,自然状况下的戈壁床面阻截了来自鸣沙山40％的沙量,其余60%的沙量进入窟区;而偏东风又可将偏西风、偏南风作用下沉积于窟顶90％的沙量吹回到鸣沙山边缘。床面阻、输性质与沙源供给状况密切相关。沙源丰富时,风沙流以较饱和形式输送,易形成输沙床面性质;沙源匮乏时,风沙流多以不饱和形式输送,形成阻沙-输沙床面性质。砾石直径较大（＞4 cm）的床面主要呈现堆积性质,对偏西的风沙流阻滞功效比较明显,每100 m阻沙率可达45％;偏东风作用下,每100 m阻沙率可达19％; 而砾石直径较小（1 cm）的床面,主要以风沙输沙功能为主,是一个非堆积搬运床面。     

Stratigraphic development of an Upper Jurassic deep marine syn‐rift succession,Inner Moray Firth Basin,Scotland

The stratigraphic development of an Upper Jurassic syn‐rift succession exposed at outcrop in the Inner Moray Firth Basin has been investigated using high‐resolution biostratigraphy and sedimentology. A continuous 970 m thick section, exposed in the hangingwall of the Helmsdale Fault was logged in detail. The succession spans 8 Ma and contains eight lithofacies types, which indicate deposition in a deep marine setting. Boulder beds contain large, angular clasts, with bed thicknesses typically >2 m and poor sorting suggesting deposition by debris flows. An inverse clast stratigraphy is observed; the oldest boulder beds contain sandstone clasts of Upper Old Red Sandstone (ORS) with younger debris flows containing clasts of Middle ORS calcareous siltstone. A marked change from siliciclastic to carbonate dominated sedimentation occurred during the Early Tithonian, interpreted primarily as a result of change in lithologies in the footwall catchment from sandstone to calcareous siltstone, which reduced supply of siliciclastic sediment. Secondary factors are identified as increased aridity in the Early Tithonian, which reduced sand supply from the hinterland and a third‐order Early Tithonian eustatic sea‐level rise, which trapped coarser clastic sediment within the hinterland. Biostratigraphy allows calculation of variations in sedimentation rates with recognition of: (1) an early rift phase characterised by sandy turbidite deposition, when sedimentation rates averaged 0.08 m/ky, (2) a rift climax phase from the Early Kimmeridgian where sedimentation rates increased steadily to a maximum of 0.64 m/ky in the Early Tithonian, with strata dominated by boulder scale clast‐supported debris flows and (3) a late stage of rifting from the mid Tithonian, where sedimentation rates decreased to 0.07 m/ky. Overall sedimentation rates are comparable to those of other deep marine rift basins. Unroofing a resistant lithology on the footwall of a rift has important implications for siliciclastic sediment supply in rift basins.     

鄱阳湖滨沙岭地区网纹层的顶界年代

鄱阳湖滨沙岭地区的沙山由交替出现的砂层与粉砂层构成。对3个剖面的调查发现,该地区发育的网纹大体可分为3种类型,Ⅰ类网纹密集且粗大,为典型的网纹,位于剖面底部,Ⅱ类网纹较稀疏、细,位于Ⅰ类网纹之上,Ⅲ类网纹界线模糊,位于剖面上部。Ⅰ类、Ⅱ类网纹属于成熟的网纹,而Ⅲ类属于不成熟的网纹。对剖面中砂层的光释光测年表明,测量等效剂量时没有出现信号饱和的问题,年剂量也没有受风化作用的影响,因而OSL年龄可以视为砂层的沉积年龄。基于砂层的沉积年龄,我们判断成熟网纹层的沉积时代早于80 ka,不成熟网纹层的沉积时代略晚于71 ka,而早于29 ka。     

青海湖东岸的风沙堆积

风沙堆积和风成沙丘的发育在分布上服从于两条规律, 一条是地带性规律, 即绝大多数沙漠均分布于干旱地区, 或在副热带高压带及其产生的信风带, 或在温带干旱大陆中心, 另一条是非地带性规律, 即在某些非干旱区域如河流、海岸或湖泊的沙质滨岸地带, 只要有一定的风力条件也可形成风沙堆积。     

国内外红层分布及其地貌发育的对比研究

为了解全球红层的时空分布规律及其地貌发育的差异,对国内外红层的分布、形成年代、地质构造背景、古地理环境、岩性和地貌特征等进行了对比研究。结果表明：国内红层主要分布于东南、西南、西北等地区,形成年代主要为中生代,尤以白垩纪为主,构造环境主要为古陆块活化时形成的断陷/拗陷盆地;沉积环境几乎全部为陆相,形成于干旱或半干旱古气候条件;岩性复杂,兼具砾岩、砂岩、粉砂岩和泥岩,发育了丹霞地貌、红层高原、红层山地和红层丘陵等多种地貌类型。国外红层的形成年代跨度很大,从前寒武纪到新近纪均有发育,呈现出从老陆块向新陆块扩展的趋势;构造环境分为山前/山间拗陷堆积、地台拗陷堆积、裂谷盆地堆积和弧后盆地堆积;沉积环境以陆相为主,兼具滨-浅海相和海陆过渡相,也形成于干旱、半干旱气候;岩性以砂岩、粉砂岩和泥岩为主,砾岩较少;发育的地貌类型相对单一。     

A 4D sedimentological approach to reconstructing the flood frequency and intensity of the Rhône River (Lake Bourget,NW European Alps)

A high-resolution sedimentological study of Lake Bourget was conducted to reconstruct the flood frequency and intensity (or magnitude) in the area over the last 350 years. Particular emphasis was placed on investigating the spatio-temporal distribution of flood deposits in this large lake basin. The thicknesses of deposits resulting from 30 flood events of the Rhône River were collected over a set of 24 short sediment cores. Deposit thicknesses were compared with instrumental data for the Rhône River discharge for the period from 1853 to 2010. The results show that flood frequency and intensity cannot be reliably reconstructed from a single core because of the inhomogeneous flood-deposit geometry in such a large lake. From all documented flood-deposit thicknesses, volumes of sediment brought into the lake during each flood event were computed through a Kriging procedure and compared with the historical instrumental data. The results show, in this study, that reconstructed sediment volumes are well correlated to maximal flood discharges. This significant correlation suggests that the increase of embankment and dam settlements on the Rhône River during the last 150 years has not significantly affected the transport of the smallest sediment fraction during major flood events. Hence, assessment of the flood-sediment volumes deposited in the large Lake Bourget is the only way to reliably reconstruct the flood frequency and intensity.     

砾石级沙粒胶结体抗风蚀效益的实验研究

塔克拉玛干沙漠腹地部分垄间地表发育了一种由众多沙粒胶结而成的大颗粒物质,称为沙粒胶结体(sand cemented bodies,缩写为SCB),其直径达到粗沙级、极粗沙级和砾石级。为了研究其对地表风沙活动的影响,本研究以野外采集的砾石级沙粒胶结体(gravel-size sand cemented bodies,缩写为GSSCB)为实验材料,在净风和挟沙风条件下进行了GSSCB覆盖沙面的抗风蚀模拟实验。结果表明:床面的蚀积状态与来流条件、GSSCB覆盖度和风速均有关,净风时所有覆盖度床面均呈风蚀状态,挟沙风时随覆盖度和风速而变化,床面可呈3种状态-风蚀、蚀积平衡、风积;在风蚀状态时,床面风蚀率随覆盖度增大以指数形式降低,随风速增大而以多种函数形式增加,抗风蚀效率随覆盖度增大而逐渐增加,但不同覆盖度范围增加率不同;挟沙风条件下呈蚀积平衡状态时的床面覆盖度临界C_b值与风速大小有关,随风速增加呈幂函数形式增加;在挟沙风条件下,覆盖度大于C_b值时床面呈风积状态,积沙率与风速的关系较为复杂,80%覆盖度床面积沙率随风速增大呈对数形式增加,但40%覆盖度床面积沙率则随风速增加呈指数形式降低。可见,由于与砾石的物理性质相近,GSSCB覆盖确实具有与砾石相类似的抗风蚀效益,并且在一定覆盖度条件下还能捕获风沙流挟沙颗粒。因此,塔克拉玛干沙漠腹地丘间地天然发育的GSSCB对于地表蚀积过程具有重要影响。GSSCB可作为一种新型固沙技术进行开发。     

Palaeomagnetism of a sequence of red beds of the Middle and Upper Sections of Pagnazo Group (Argentina) and the correlation of Upper Palaeozoic-Lower Mesozoic rocks

Palaeomagnetic data from 182 hand samples collected in a rock sequence of about 620-m of red beds of Late Palaeozoic to Early Triassic age exposed in north-western Argentina (30.3° S 67.7° W), are given.
After cleaning, the majority of the Upper Palaeozoic samples (Middle Section of Paganzo Group) show reversed polarity and yield a palaeomagnetic pole at 78° S 249° E (α₉₅= 3°). They also record a polarity transition which we have correlated with the Middle Permian Quebrada del Pimiento Normal Event. The position of the palaeomagnetic pole and the K-Ar age of a basalatic sill at the base of the sequence support this correlation.
Stable remanent magnetization has been isolated in the majority of samples from the Upper Section of the Paganzo Group; it is predominantly reversed and reveals three normal events and also three geomagnetic excursions suggesting an Illawarra Zone age (post Kiaman, Late Tatarian-Early Scythian). The palaeomagnetic pole of the reversely magnetized samples is located at 75° S 285° E(α₉₅= 13°).
The red beds involved in this study are correlated with red beds from the Corumbataí Formation (State of Paraná, Brazil) and with igneous rocks from the Quebrada del Pimiento Formation (Province of Mendoza, Argentina).
The South American Middle and Upper Permian, Upper Permian—Lower Triassic, Lower, Middle and Upper Triassic and Middle Jurassic palaeomagnetic poles reflect a quasistatic period with mean pole at 82° S 244° E, (α₉₅= 4°) which followed the South American Late Palaeozoic polar shift.     

王峪口水库库岸滑坡特征及形成机制

王峪口水库库岸滑坡地层主要为一套上新统砾石层、夹砂层、粘土层．区内滑坡具有明显的分期性与群发性特点．滑坡形成的主要原因是该套地层夹有饱水软化的粘土层和易于液化的饱水砂层;地震则可能是其触发因素．     

腾格里沙漠东南缘铁路沿线流沙固定的原理与措施

本文研究地区位于腾格里沙漠东南缘,为温带草原化荒漠。包头至兰州铁路六次穿越腾格里沙漠,延长线达40公里。尤以中卫县沙坡头地区自然条件严酷,铁路线两侧全为高大密集的格状流动沙丘。如何固定这段线路两侧流沙,使铁路免遭风沙危害,成为列车运行畅通中极待解决的重大课题。沙坡头沙漠科学研究站经30年(1956-1986年)定位研究和实践,初步解决了以下几个问题:1.植物固沙的可行性程度; 2.适宜的固定植物种及其合理配置; 3.植物固沙的基本指标; 4.以"固"为主,"固阻"结合的铁路防护体系的可行性方案。这为我国西北沙漠地区今后铁路建设提供了一个沙害整治模式,在科学上和实践中均有重要意义。     

Contained turbidites used to track sea bed deformation and basin migration, Sorbas Basin, south-east Spain

ABSTRACT The mechanisms driving subsidence in late orogenic basins are often not easily resolved on account of later fault reactivation and a rapidly changing stress field. Contained turbidites in such basins provide a unique opportunity of monitoring sea bed deformation and evolving bathymetry and hence patterns of subsidence during basin filling. A variety of interpretations have been proposed to explain subsidence in Neogene basins in SE Spain, including extensional, strike‐slip and thrust top mechanisms. Ponded turbidite sheets on the floor of the Neogene Sorbas Basin (SE Spain) were deposited by sand‐bearing currents which ran into enclosed bathymetric deeps where they underwent rapid suspension collapse. The structure and distribution of these sheets (and the thick mudstone caps which overlie them) act as a proxy for the containing sea bed bathymetry at the time of deposition. An analysis of the sheet architecture helps identify a trough‐axial zone of syndepositional faulting and reveals a westwards stepping of the ponding depocentre with time. Fault breaks at the sea bed influenced the position of flow arrest and the distribution of sandstone beds on the basin floor. Westward stepping of the deeper bathymetry was episodic and probably controlled by transverse faults. Re‐locations of the depocentre were accompanied by the destabilization of carbonate sand stores on the margins of the basin, resulting in the repeated emplacement of large‐volume carbonate megabeds and calciturbidites. The fill to the Sorbas Basin was shingled by the onset of compression in the east attributed to transfer of slip between intersecting strike‐slip fault strands. A sinistral fault (a splay of the Carboneras Fault System) propagated through the evolving basin fill from the east as the eastern part of the basin became inverted and the locus of subsidence migrated into the Tabernas area 20 km area to the west. The sedimentological analysis of the basin fill helps see through a late dextral overprint which ultimately juxtaposed basement rocks to the south against the inverted and upended basin, along a late slip‐modified unconformity. Conventional palaeostress analysis of fractures along the basin margin fails to see past this late dextral shearing event. Basin migration parallel to the E–W‐orientated basin axis, slip‐reversal (sinistral to dextral) and the active involvement of strike‐slip faults are now identified as important aspects of the evolution of the Sorbas Basin during the latestTortonian.     

On high-frequency spheroidal modes and the structure of the upper mantle

Summary. The asymptotic properties of spheroidal mode dispersion at high frequency for fixed phase velocity are related to the intercept times τ_β( p ) for P and S waves. If the mode eigenfrequency and the ratio of horizontal to vertical displacement at the surface for the mode are known τ_α( p ) and τ_β( p ) may be separately estimated. If discontinuities exist in the velocity model then 'solotone' effects occur, in frequency at fixed slowness, and in τ_α( p ), τ_β( p ) estimated from the mode dispersion as a function of slowness. The coupling of P and S waves in the spheroidal modes means that the interaction of P waves with upper-mantle discontinuities affects also the estimates of the S wave τ_β( p ) values for which the corresponding turning points lie in the lower mantle. The asymptotic formalism also shows that sharp pulses formed by superposition of spheroidal modes correspond to multiple PS reflections.
A study of τ_α( p ), τ_β( p ) estimates derived from spheroidal modes with periods from 45–50s, calculated for model 1066B, shows that even in the presence of strong upper-mantle discontinuities the errors in intercept time are only about one-tenth of a period. The asymptotic properties may there-for provide a useful means of estimating intercept times from modes with a few seconds period as a supplement to travel-time methods.     

Dynamic stress field of a kinematic earthquake source model with k-squared slip distribution

Source models such as the k -squared stochastic source model with k -dependent rise time are able to reproduce source complexity commonly observed in earthquake slip inversions. An analysis of the dynamic stress field associated with the slip history prescribed in these kinematic models can indicate possible inconsistencies with physics of faulting. The static stress drop, the strength excess, the breakdown stress drop and critical slip weakening distance D _c distributions are determined in this study for the kinematic k -squared source model with k -dependent rise time. Several studied k -squared models are found to be consistent with the slip weakening friction law along a substantial part of the fault. A new quantity, the stress delay, is introduced to map areas where the yielding criterion of the slip weakening friction is violated. Hisada's slip velocity function is found to be more consistent with the source dynamics than Boxcar, Brune's and Dirac's slip velocity functions. Constant rupture velocities close to the Rayleigh velocity are inconsistent with the k -squared model, because they break the yielding criterion of the slip weakening friction law. The bimodal character of D _c / D _tot frequency–magnitude distribution was found. D _c approaches the final slip D _tot near the edge of both the fault and asperity. We emphasize that both filtering and smoothing routinely applied in slip inversions may have a strong effect on the space–time pattern of the inferred stress field, leading potentially to an oversimplified view of earthquake source dynamics.     

Is the seismic moment–frequency relation universal?

We evaluate the seismic moment–frequency relation for the Harvard catalogue in the period 1977–1994. This catalogue is composed of about 12 000 earthquakes. After selection of events in terms of depth and energy, we retain about 8000 data points. We estimate two parameters of the seismic moment distribution: the power exponent β and the cut-off value M _m . The method used is a least-squares linear fit on a log–log scale performed over a range selected on the basis of the standard deviation from the histogram. The analysis is carried out for different subdivisions of the Earth in square grids of different sizes. Neither parameter exhibits a dependence on cell size, suggesting the universality of their values and the interpretation of the existence of a cut-off as a finite size effect linked to a finite catalogue length. The variations of the parameters are investigated as a function of time (duration of the catalogue) and versus the number of events used for building up the distribution. Again, β and M _m do not depend on time, but M _m depends on the number of events, reaching a stable value for N ≈ 1000. The only significant change in the parameters is observed for different values of M _0upper in the catalogue, revealing the existence of universality classes.     

Grain size and transport characteristics of non-uniform sand in aeolian saltation

Size frequency distributions of sediment particles in a wind tunnel containing a bed of non-uniform sand are investigated by re-interpreting existing experimental data using particle-size analysis. Each particle sample is classified into one of eight groups according to its size grading. The analysis reveals that the modal shape of the particle-size frequency distributions of the saltating sand at different elevations or longitudinal distances is similar to that of the mixed sand in the bed once the boundary layer is fully developed. The standard deviation of the grain-size frequency distribution increases with increasing elevation above the bed then stays constant, whereas its skewness decreases. The mean grain size decays exponentially with elevation. The aeolian sand mass flux is determined for each size grading at different vertical and horizontal measurement locations. The vertical profile of aeolian horizontal mass flux depends on the size grading. The distribution of the sand transport rate according to the mean grain size in each grading fits the normal distribution. A parameter w_i is defined to reflect the likelihood of saltation for sand particles of the i-th size grading, and the mean sand size corresponding to the maximum value of w_i is found to be 0.2 mm. In addition, wind velocity strongly influences the magnitudes of the particle-size distribution and the sand mass flux distribution in both vertical and longitudinal directions.     

Simple equations of sedimentation: applications to sequence stratigraphy

Abstract An equation to relate the thickness of sediment deposited (ΔSed), eustatic sea-level change (ΔE), and subsidence (ΔSub), to changes in depth of water (ΔD) is: ΔSub +ΔE-ΔSed =ΔD.
Using existing sea-level curves, the equation shows that some transgressive-regressive sequences in a foreland basin and a composite seismic facies sequence on a passive margin cannot result solely from eustatic variation. In each case, the space created by subsidence is greater than that provided by eustatic rise. However, eustatic variation could have triggered sequence development if superimposed on a basin with relatively constant values of the other parameters. Short-period sea-level fluctuations with high rates of change, exceeding 70–100 m Myr^-1 for periods less than 2–3 Myr, affect the stratigraphy and sedimentology more than longer period, higher amplitude variations.
Clinoforms are generated because of lateral variations in sedimentation rate compared to the rate of creation of accommodation space. These variations may result from differing sedimentation rates, subsidence rates, or rates of eustatic change, superimposed on a basin with lateral sediment supply. Clinoform slopes and curvatures are interpre table in terms of these variables as well as the type of sediment supplied and the energy distribution in the basin.
These equations put some well-known geological principles on a simple quantitative basis. They force precision in definition of variables, and may lead to further development of quantitative techniques in stratigraphy and sedimentology.