Anatomy of turbidites and linked debrites based on long distance (120 × 30 km) bed correlation, Marnoso Arenacea Formation, Northern Apennines, Italy

Much of our understanding of submarine sediment‐laden density flows that transport very large volumes (ca 1 to 100 km³) of sediment into the deep ocean comes from careful analysis of their deposits. Direct monitoring of these destructive and relatively inaccessible and infrequent flows is problematic. In order to understand how submarine sediment‐laden density flows evolve in space and time, lateral changes within individual flow deposits need to be documented. The geometry of beds and lithofacies intervals can be used to test existing depositional models and to assess the validity of experimental and numerical modelling of submarine flow events. This study of the Miocene Marnoso Arenacea Formation (Italy) provides the most extensive correlation of individual turbidity current and submarine debris flow deposits yet achieved in any ancient sequence. One hundred and nine sections were logged through a ca 30 m thick interval of time‐equivalent strata, between the Contessa Mega Bed and an overlying ‘columbine’ marker bed. Correlations extend for 120 km along the axis of the foreland basin, in a direction parallel to flow, and for 30 km across the foredeep outcrop. As a result of post‐depositional thrust faulting and shortening, this represents an across‐flow distance of over 60 km at the time of deposition. The correlation of beds containing thick (> 40 cm) sandstone intervals are documented. Almost all thick beds extend across the entire outcrop area, most becoming thinly bedded (< 40 cm) in distal sections. Palaeocurrent directions for flow deposits are sub‐parallel and indicate confinement by the lateral margins of the elongate foredeep. Flows were able to traverse the basin in opposing directions, suggesting a basin plain with a very low gradient. Small fractional changes in stratal thickness define several depocentres on either side of the Verghereto (high) area. The extensive bed continuity and limited evidence for flow defection suggest that intrabasinal bathymetric relief was subtle, substantially less than the thickness of flows. Thick beds contain two distinct types of sandstone. Ungraded mud‐rich sandstone intervals record evidence of en masse (debrite) deposition. Graded mud‐poor sandstone intervals are inferred to result from progressive grain‐by‐grain (turbidite) deposition. Clast‐rich muddy sandstone intervals pinch‐out abruptly in downflow and crossflow directions, in a fashion consistent with en masse (debrite) deposition. The tapered shape of mud‐poor sandstone intervals is consistent with an origin through progressive grain‐by‐grain (turbidite) deposition. Most correlated beds comprise both turbidite and debrite sandstone intervals. Intrabed transitions from exclusive turbidite sandstone, to turbidite sandstone overlain by debrite sandstone, are common in the downflow and crossflow directions. This spatial arrangement suggests either: (i) bypass of an initial debris flow past proximal sections, (ii) localized input of debris flows away from available sections, or (iii) generation of debris flows by transformation of turbidity currents on the basin plain because of seafloor erosion and/or abrupt flow deceleration. A single submarine flow event can comprise multiple flow phases and deposit a bed with complex lateral changes between mud‐rich and mud‐poor sandstone.     

鄂尔多斯盆地上三叠统延长组长7段深水重力流沉积类型

以鄂尔多斯盆地上三叠统延长组长7段取芯段为主要研究对象,以详细的岩芯观察为基础,以Z43井为例,研究鄂尔多斯盆地延长组长7段深水重力流沉积类型及其特征.研究结果表明,研究区主要发育砂质碎屑流沉积、低密度浊流沉积及混合事件层三种沉积类型.砂质碎屑流沉积整体呈块状,岩性为中—细砂岩,内部可见多个接触面,为多套砂质碎屑流沉积...     

Transformation,partitioning and flow–deposit interactions during the run‐out of megaflows

Four megabeds (I to IV) were recognized throughout the Cerro Bola inlier, a glacially influenced depositional area of the Carboniferous Paganzo Basin, south‐western La Rioja Province, Argentina. Such anomalous thick beds are associated with the collapse of an unstable basin margin after periods of large meltwater discharge and sediment accumulation. Failure of these previously deposited sediments triggered mass flows and associated turbidity currents into the basin. Megabed I is up to 188 m thick and was deposited during a transgressive stage by re‐sedimentation of ice‐rafted debris. Also part of the transgressive stage, Megabeds II, III and IV are up to 9 m thick and are associated with a dropstone‐free period of flooding. Megabeds were subdivided into three divisions (1 to 3) that represent a spectrum of flow properties and rheologies, indicative of a wide range of grain support mechanisms. These divisions are proposed as an idealized deposit that may or may not be completely present; the Cerro Bola megabeds thus display bipartite or tripartite organization, each division inferred to reflect a rheologically distinct phase of flow. Division 1 is a basal layer that consists of clast‐supported and matrix‐supported, pebble conglomerate, rarely followed by weak normally graded to ungraded, very coarse‐ to coarse‐grained sandstone. This lower interval is interpreted to be the deposit of a concentrated density flow and is absent in bipartite megabeds. Division 2 is represented by a mud‐rich sandstone matrix with dispersed granule to pebble‐size crystalline and mudstone clasts. It also includes fragments of sandstone up to boulder size, as well as rafts of cohesive muddy material and wood fragments. Division 2 is interpreted to be a result of debris‐flow deposition. A debrite‐related topography, resulting from the freezing of high yield strength material, captures and partially confines the succeeding upper division 3, which fills the topographic lows and pinches out against topographic highs. Division 3 is rich in mudstone chips and consists of very coarse‐grained, dirty sandstones grading upward to siltstones and mudstones. It is interpreted to be a deposit of a co‐genetic turbidity current. Spectral gamma ray and petrographic analyses indicate that both debrite and co‐genetic turbidite have high depositional mud content and are of similar composition. One of the megabeds is correlated with an initial slump‐derived debris flow, which suggests that the mass flow becomes partitioned both at the top, generating a co‐genetic turbidity current and, at the base, segregating into a concentrated density flow that seems to behave as a gravelly traction carpet.     

Can liquefied debris flows deposit clean sand over large areas of sea floor? Field evidence from the Marnoso‐arenacea Formation,Italian Apennines

The Marnoso‐arenacea Formation in the Italian Apennines is the only ancient rock sequence where individual submarine sediment density flow deposits have been mapped out in detail for over 100 km. Bed correlations provide new insight into how submarine flows deposit sand, because bed architecture and sandstone shape provide an independent test of depositional process models. This test is important because it can be difficult or impossible to infer depositional process unambiguously from characteristics seen at just one outcrop, especially for massive clean‐sandstone intervals whose origin has been controversial. Beds have three different types of geometries (facies tracts) in downflow oriented transects. Facies tracts 1 and 2 contain clean graded and ungraded massive sandstone deposited incrementally by turbidity currents, and these intervals taper relatively gradually downflow. Mud‐rich sand deposited by cohesive debris flow occurs in the distal part of Facies tract 2. Facies tract 3 contains clean sandstone with a distinctive swirly fabric formed by patches of coarser and better‐sorted grains that most likely records pervasive liquefaction. This type of clean sandstone can extend for up to 30 km before pinching out relatively abruptly. This abrupt pinch out suggests that this clean sand was deposited by debris flow. In some beds there are downflow transitions from turbidite sandstone into clean debrite sandstone, suggesting that debris flows formed by transformation from high‐density turbidity currents. However, outsize clasts in one particular debrite are too large and dense to have been carried by an initial turbidity current, suggesting that this debris flow ran out for at least 15 km. Field data indicate that liquefied debris flows can sometimes deposit clean sand over large (10 to 30 km) expanses of sea floor, and that these clean debrite sand layers can terminate abruptly.     

Matrix‐rich and associated matrix‐poor sandstones: Avulsion splays in slope and basin‐floor strata

A common facies observed in deep‐water slope and especially basin‐floor rocks of the Neoproterozoic Windermere Supergroup (British Columbia, Canada) is structureless, coarse‐tail graded, medium‐grained to coarse‐grained sandstone with from 30% to >50% mud matrix content (i.e. matrix‐rich). Bed contacts are commonly sharp, flat and loaded. Matrix‐rich sandstone beds typically form laterally continuous units that are up to several metres thick and several tens to hundreds of metres wide, and commonly adjacent to units of comparatively matrix‐poor, scour‐based sandstone beds with large tabular mudstone and sandstone clasts. Matrix‐rich units are common in proximal basin‐floor (Upper Kaza Group) deposits, but occur also in more distal basin‐floor (Middle Kaza Group) and slope (Isaac Formation) deposits. Regardless of stratigraphic setting, matrix‐rich units typically are directly and abruptly overlain by architectural elements comprising matrix‐poor coarse sandstone (i.e. channels and splays). Despite a number of similarities with previously described matrix‐rich beds in the literature, for example slurry beds, linked debrites and co‐genetic turbidites, a number of important differences exist, including the stratal make‐up of individual beds (for example, the lack of a clean sandstone turbidite base) and their stratigraphic occurrence (present throughout base of slope and basin‐floor strata, but most common in proximal lobe deposits) and accordingly suggest a different mode of emplacement. The matrix‐rich, poorly sorted nature of the beds and the abundance and size of tabular clasts in laterally equivalent sandstones imply intense upstream scouring, most probably related to significant erosion by an energetic plane‐wall jet or within a submerged hydraulic jump. Rapid energy loss coupled with rapid charging of the flow with fine‐grained sediment probably changed the rheology of the flow and promoted deposition along the margins of the jet. Moreover, these distinctive matrix‐rich strata are interpreted to represent the energetic initiation of the local sedimentary system, most probably caused by a local upflow avulsion.     

Origin and evolution processes of hybrid event beds in the Lower Cretaceous of the Lingshan Island,Eastern China

On the basis of detailed sedimentological investigation, three types of hybrid event beds (HEBs) together with debrites and turbidites were distinguished in the Lower Cretaceous sedimentary sequence on the Lingshan Island in the Yellow Sea, China. HEB 1, with a total thickness of 63–80 cm and internal bipartite structures, is characterised by a basal massive sandstone sharply overlain by a muddy sandstone interval. It is interpreted to have been formed by particle rearrangement at the base of cohesive debris flows. HEB 2, with a total thickness of 10–71 cm and an internal tripartite structure, is characterised by a normal grading sandstone base, followed by muddy siltstone middle unit and capped with siltstones; the top unit of HEB 2 may in places be partly or completely eroded. The boundary between the lowest unit and the middle unit is gradual, whereas that between the middle unit and the top unit is sharp. HEB 2 may be developed by up-dip muddy substrate erosion. HEB 3, with a total thickness up to 10 cm and an internal bipartite structure, is characterised by a basal massive sandstone sharply overlain by a muddy siltstone interval. The upper unit was probably deposited by cohesive debris flow with some plant fragments and rare mud clasts. HEB 3 may be formed by the deceleration of low-density turbidity currents. The distribution of HEBs together with debrites and turbidites implies a continuous evolution process of sediment gravity flows: debris flow → hybrid flow caused by particle rearrangement → high-density turbidity current → hybrid flow caused by muddy substrate erosion → low-density turbidity current → hybrid flow caused by deceleration.     

Origin and terminal architecture of a submarine slide: a case study from the Permian Vischkuil Formation,Karoo Basin,South Africa

Submarine mass movement deposits exposed in the Vischkuil Formation, Laingsburg Karoo Basin, South Africa, provide a rare opportunity to analyse and interpret their emplacement history and deformation processes at a scale comparable to seismic examples. An up to 80 m thick slide deposit, continuously exposed in two 2 km long sub‐parallel sections, passes from extensionally deformed material (clastic dykes and down‐dip facing low‐angle shear surfaces) down‐dip into a compressional toe zone with large (tens of metres amplitude) folds dissected by steep, up‐dip facing thrust planes. The compressional shear planes sole out onto a highly sheared décollement and cross‐cutting relationships indicate an up‐depositional dip younging in the timing of fold dissection. Lithofacies characteristics and detailed correlation of volcanic ash and other marker beds over more than 500 km² in the bounding undeformed stratigraphy indicate a low‐gradient (<0·1°) basin floor setting. The slide is abruptly overlain by an up to 50 m thick debrite with sandy clasts supported by an argillaceous matrix. Shear loading of the debris flow is interpreted to have driven large‐scale deformation of the substrate through the generation of high shear stresses at a rheological interface due to: (i) the abrupt contact between the slide and the debrite; (ii) the coincident thickness distributions of the debrite and slide; (iii) the distribution of the most intense folding and thrusting under the thickest parts of the debrite; (iv) the preservation of fold crests with only minor erosion along fold limbs; (v) the presence of the debrite under overturned folds; (vi) the presence of laterally extensive marker beds directly above deformation units indicating minimal depositional topography; and (vii) the demonstrably local derivation of the slide as individual folded beds are mapped into undeformed strata outside the areas of deformation. The debrite is directly overlain by fine‐grained turbidite sandstone beds that show widespread vertical foundering into the debrite. This case study demonstrates that intensely deformed strata can be generated by negligible amounts of down‐dip movement in a low‐gradient, fine‐grained basin floor setting with the driver for movement and deformation being the mass imbalance resulting from emplacement of episodic debris flows. Simple interpretation of an unstable slope setting based on the presence of such deformed strata should be treated with caution.     

鄂尔多斯盆地陇东地区延长组重力流沉积特征及其模式

利用岩心、测井资料和重力流沉积理论,系统研究了鄂尔多斯盆地陇东地区延长组重力流沉积特征及其沉积模式。该区重力流沉积物可分为浊积岩、砂质碎屑流沉积物、泥质碎屑流沉积物和滑塌岩。其中,浊积岩发育正粒序;砂质碎屑流沉积物以冻结块状沉积为特征;泥质碎屑流沉积物以泥质为主,内部含少量砂质颗粒和砂质团块;滑塌岩发育包卷层理等液化构造。不同重力流沉积物发育程度差异明显,浊积岩和砂质碎屑流沉积物的钻遇井数最多,泥质碎屑流沉积物最少。在重力流单期沉积厚度方面,砂质碎屑流沉积物单期沉积厚度平均为0.986m,明显高于其他类型;浊流沉积厚度最低,平均厚度为0.414m。本区重力流是由三角洲前缘沉积物失稳滑塌所致,砂质碎屑流沉积物和浊积岩是主要的重力流沉积类型,其次为滑塌岩和泥质碎屑流沉积物。砂质碎屑流沉积物主要发育于北东向曲流河三角洲前缘前方的深水区;浊积岩主要发育于西部、西南部和南部物源形成的辫状河三角洲前缘前方的深水区域;泥质碎屑流沉积物和富含泥砾砂质碎屑流沉积物在平面分布极少,且规律不明显。     

Slurry-flow deposits in the Britannia Formation (Lower Cretaceous), North Sea: a new perspective on the turbidity current and debris flow problem

The Lower Cretaceous Britannia Formation (North Sea) includes an assemblage of sandstone beds interpreted here to be the deposits of turbidity currents, debris flows and a spectrum of intermediate flow types termed slurry flows. The term ‘slurry flow’ is used here to refer to watery flows transitional between turbidity currents, in which particles are supported primarily by flow turbulence, and debris flows, in which particles are supported by flow strength. Thick, clean, dish‐structured sandstones and associated thin‐bedded sandstones showing Bouma T_b–e divisions were deposited by high‐ and low‐density turbidity currents respectively. Debris flow deposits are marked by deformed, intraformational mudstone and sandstone masses suspended within a sand‐rich mudstone matrix. Most Britannia slurry‐flow deposits contain 10–35% detrital mud matrix and are grain supported. Individual beds vary in thickness from a few centimetres to over 30 m. Seven sedimentary structure division types are recognized in slurry‐flow beds: (M₁) current structured and massive divisions; (M₂) banded units; (M₃) wispy laminated sandstone; (M₄) dish‐structured divisions; (M₅) fine‐grained, microbanded to flat‐laminated units; (M₆) foundered and mixed layers that were originally laminated to microbanded; and (M₇) vertically water‐escape structured divisions. Water‐escape structures are abundant in slurry‐flow deposits, including a variety of vertical to subvertical pipe‐ and sheet‐like fluid‐escape conduits, dish structures and load structures. Structuring of Britannia slurry‐flow beds suggests that most flows began deposition as turbidity currents: fully turbulent flows characterized by turbulent grain suspension and, commonly, bed‐load transport and deposition (M₁). Mud was apparently transported largely as hydrodynamically silt‐ to sand‐sized grains. As the flows waned, both mud and mineral grains settled, increasing near‐bed grain concentration and flow density. Low‐density mud grains settling into the denser near‐bed layers were trapped because of their reduced settling velocities, whereas denser quartz and feldspar continued settling to the bed. The result of this kinetic sieving was an increasing mud content and particle concentration in the near‐bed layers. Disaggregation of mud grains in the near‐bed zone as a result of intense shear and abrasion against rigid mineral grains caused a rapid increase in effective clay surface area and, hence, near‐bed cohesion, shear resistance and viscosity. Eventually, turbulence was suppressed in a layer immediately adjacent to the bed, which was transformed into a cohesion‐dominated viscous sublayer. The banding and lamination in M₂ are thought to reflect the formation, evolution and deposition of such cohesion‐dominated sublayers. More rapid fallout from suspension in less muddy flows resulted in the development of thin, short‐lived viscous sublayers to form wispy laminated divisions (M₃) and, in the least muddy flows with the highest suspended‐load fallout rates, direct suspension sedimentation formed dish‐structured M₄ divisions. Markov chain analysis indicates that these divisions are stacked to form a range of bed types: (I) dish‐structured beds; (II) dish‐structured and wispy laminated beds; (III) banded, wispy laminated and/or dish‐structured beds; (IV) predominantly banded beds; and (V) thickly banded and mixed slurried beds. These different bed types form mainly in response to the varying mud contents of the depositing flows and the influence of mud on suspended‐load fallout rates. The Britannia sandstones provide a remarkable and perhaps unique window on the mechanics of sediment‐gravity flows transitional between turbidity currents and debris flows and the textures and structuring of their deposits.     

New insight into the evolution of large-volume turbidity currents: comparison of turbidite shape and previous modelling results

The Marnoso Arenacea Formation provides the most extensive correlation of individual flow deposits (beds) yet documented in an ancient turbidite system. These correlations provide unusually detailed constraints on bed shape, which is used to deduce flow evolution and assess the validity of numerical and laboratory models. Bed volumes have an approximately log‐normal frequency distribution; a small number of flows dominated sediment supply to this non‐channelized basin plain. Turbidite sandstone within small‐volume (<0·7 km³) beds thins downflow in an approximately exponential fashion. This shape is a property of spatially depletive flows, and has been reproduced by previous mathematical models and laboratory experiments. Sandstone intervals in larger‐volume (0·7–7 km³) beds have a broad thickness maximum in their proximal part. Grain‐size trends within this broad thickness maximum indicate spatially near‐uniform flow for distances of ∼30 km, although the flow was temporally unsteady. Previous mathematical models and laboratory experiments have not reproduced this type of deposit shape. This may be because models fail to simulate the way in which near bed sediment concentration tends towards a constant value (saturates) in powerful flows. Alternatively, the discrepancy may be the result of relatively high ratios of flow thickness and sediment settling velocity in submarine flows, together with very gradual changes in sea‐floor gradient. Intra‐bed erosion, temporally varying discharge, and reworking of suspension fallout as bedload could also help to explain the discrepancy in deposit shape. Most large‐volume beds contain an internal erosion surface underlain by inversely graded sandstone, recording waxing and waning flow. It has been inferred previously that these characteristics are diagnostic of turbidites generated by hyperpycnal flood discharge. These turbidites are too voluminous to have been formed by hyperpycnal flows, unless such flows are capable of eroding cubic kilometres of sea‐floor sediment. It is more likely that these flows originated from submarine slope failure. Two beds comprise multiple sandstone intervals separated only by turbidite mudstone. These features suggest that the submarine slope failures occurred as either a waxing and waning event, or in a number of stages.     

Key signatures of turbidite and sandy debris and core examples in Liaohe Basin

Gravity flow is a widely-distributed fluid type in nature. Various classification schemes of gravity flow are proposed by different researchers from different viewpoints. The scheme of turbidity flow and debris flow is adopted in this paper. The sedimentary characteristics of turbidite and sandy debrite are summarized and discussed to clarify most typical facies marks of these two rock types. The study shows that turbidite and sandy debris can be identified by the following typical characteristics during the outcrop and core observation: If the graded bedding is developed in sandstone,it should be identified as turbidite;if the muddy rip-up clast or no bedding structure(massive sandstone)is developed in sandstone,it should be identified as sandy debris. These characteristics are the most reliable signatures to distinguish turbidite and sandy debris. In addition,some other sedimentary structures such as deformation bedding,climbing ripple cross bedding,wavy bedding,parallel bedding,scouring surface,lithologic abrupt interface,and flute cast also have certain indicative significance. It is necessary to make a comprehensive judgment based on the sedimentary background,vertical combination of lithofacies,geophysics and other materials when these characteristics are presented in the study.     

浊积岩和砂质碎屑流岩关键识别标志及辽河盆地岩心实例*

重力流是自然界中广泛存在的一种流体形式,不同学者基于不同切入点往往会提出多种重力流的划分方案。采用浊流和碎屑流的二分方案,对浊积岩和砂质碎屑流岩的沉积特征展开综述和探讨,旨在进一步概括这2类岩石的沉积特征,明确具有指示意义的最典型相标志。研究表明,在野外露头和钻井岩心中,可以通过以下典型特征鉴别浊积岩和砂质碎屑流岩: 砂岩内若发育以正粒序为特征的递变层理,则应该将其认定为浊积岩;若砂岩内发育泥岩撕裂屑、漂浮状泥砾或不含任何层理构造(块状砂岩),则应该将其认定为砂质碎屑流岩。这些特征是鉴别浊积岩和砂质碎屑流岩最可靠的标志。此外,变形层理、爬升波纹交错层理、波状层理、平行纹层、冲刷侵蚀界面、岩性突变界面和槽模等沉积构造也具有一定指示意义,出现这些特征时需要结合沉积背景、岩相的垂向组合关系和地球物理等资料进行综合判断。     

松辽盆地北部青山口组重力流特征研究及其地质意义

为在陆相湖盆寻找有利勘探目标,在岩芯观察和沉积、构造分析的基础上,对岩芯观察资料、三维地震资料、钻井资料和测井曲线资料等进行了较为详细的研究。研究表明,松辽盆地北部青山口组发育广泛的湖相泥岩沉积,沉积相主要为三角洲平原、三角洲内前缘、三角洲外前缘、深湖-半深湖和滨湖。湖区发育大规模重力流沉积,该区发现的重力流沉积主要有滑动岩型、滑塌岩型、碎屑流型、浊积岩型等类型;重力流岩石学特征表明青山口组二段下部的重力流沉积,主要为滑动岩型和滑塌型,岩性主要以粉砂岩,泥质粉砂岩,粉砂质泥岩薄互层为特征,局部含油或有油迹;而青山口组一段顶部的重力流沉积,主要为碎屑流型和浊流型,岩性上以粗砂岩、粉砂岩、粉砂质泥岩、泥岩的薄互层为主。初步探讨了重力流的发育和控制机制,分析表明青山口组重力流沉积是湖区的有利储层区域,英台大安地区为最有利储层。该研究对深入了解湖相储层特征起指导作用。重力流沉积勘探在松辽盆地还处于探索阶段,其研究为在大型陆相湖盆中寻找新的有利勘探目标奠定坚实基础。在陆相湖盆中研究深水重力流沉积,对沉积学研究具有推动作用。     

Sheet-flow deposits of graded beds and mudstones on an alluvial sandflat-playa system: Upper Triassic Blomidon redbeds, St Mary's Bay, Nova Scotia

The 400 m of Blomidon redbeds accumulated in a semi-arid rift valley in the subtropics. At St Mary's Bay, these redbeds are 64% sandy mudstone (playa mudflats), 25% graded beds (sandflats at the toes of alluvial fans), 10% fissile claystone (playa lakes), and 1% channel sandstone (stream channels). Flash floods in mountains south of the valley flowed down alluvial fans to spread out to the north-east as sheet flows on sandflats and playa mudflats. Deceleration of the sheet flows deposited graded beds 2–83 cm in thickness on the sandflats and thin layers of mud on the playas. Nine sequences, consisting of arrangements of six lithologies, compose 90% of the graded beds. In order of decreasing abundance, these are: ripple cross-laminated siltstone → horizontally laminated mudstone; fining-upward, ripple cross-laminated siltstone; ripple cross-laminated sandstone → horizontally laminated mudstone; cross-bedded sandstone horizontally laminated mudstone; ripple cross-laminated sandstone → ripple cross-laminated siltstone; rippledrift cross-laminated siltstone horizontally laminated mudstone; fining-upward, ripple-drift cross-laminated siltstone; cross-bedded sandstone → ripple cross-laminated siltstone; and cross-bedded sandstone → ripple cross-laminated siltstone → horizontally laminated mudstone. The sheet flows, perhaps up to 1 m in depth, had a high concentration of suspended load. Deposition was dominantly during lower flow regime conditions and moderate to rapid flow deceleration. There are 32 thinning and fining-up cycles where a sandflat package of graded beds is transitionally followed by a playa package of sandy mudstone. The cycles range in thickness from 1·3 to 13·3 m, averaging 4·6 m. Each cycle is initiated by avulsion to a new active channel network on a fan. Gradual abandonment of the channel network produces the thinning and fining-up cycle. The cycles are grouped in three 60–70 m fining-up megacycles. Upwards within each megacycle, the packages of sandy mudstone compose a progressively larger proportion of the cycles. Each megacycle evidently was initiated by a brief period of tectonic movement on the border faults that produced greater relief of the highlands relative to the valley floor. Subsequent erosion gradually lowered the relief to yield a fining-up megacycle.     

Sedimentology and evolution of the Martinsburg Formation (Upper Ordovician) fine-grained turbidite depositional system, central Appalachians

The Upper Ordovician Martinsburg Formation of eastern Pennsylvania consists of mudstone, siltstone, and sandstone turbidites that accumulated in a tectonically active foreland basin. The mudstone-rich Bushkill Member, the stratigraphically lowest unit of the Martinsburg in this area, grades upward into approximately equal proportions of mudstone, siltstone, and sandstone of the Ramseyburg Member. Many of the turbidites of these units are arranged in small-scale (1–9 m) fining-upward sequences that are interpreted as reflecting the influence of external or allocyclic controls such as variations in the local rate of sea-level rise and/or variations in the intensity of tectonic activity in shelf/nearshore or hinterland areas rather than more commonly cited autocyclic mechanisms. The thick (approximately 2000 m) Bushkill-Ramseyburg coarsening-upward sequence records progradation of a muddy turbidite depositional system along the axis of the foreland basin. Although this sequence accumulated during a Caradocian eustatic rise in sea-level, sedimentation rates landward of the shoreline were apparently great enough to allow for long-term seaward progradation of the shelf source. The paucity of depositional lobe-like facies (coarsening-upward sequences) in the Bushkill Member allows for tentative comparison of the progradational Bushkill-Ramseyburg system with the active fan lobe of the Mississippi Fan. Progradation of the Bushkill-Ramseyburg system ceased abruptly when mudstone turbidites and laminated black shale of the upper unit of the Martinsburg, the Pen Argyl Member, accumulated. The great thickness of some mudstone turbidite beds of the Pen Argyl Member is interpreted to record topographic confinement of the central Appalachian foreland basin, which may have helped to preclude continued progradation of the Bushkill-Ramseyburg turbidite system.     

An experimental investigation of sand–mud suspension settling behaviour: implications for bimodal mud contents of submarine flow deposits

The settling behaviour of particulate suspensions and their deposits has been documented using a series of settling tube experiments. Suspensions comprised saline solution and noncohesive glass‐ballotini sand of particle size 35·5 μm < d < 250 μm and volume fractions, φ_s, up to 0·6 and cohesive kaolinite clay of particle size d < 35·5 μm and volume fractions, φ_m, up to 0·15. Five texturally distinct deposits were found, associated with different settling regimes: (I) clean, graded sand beds produced by incremental deposition under unhindered or hindered settling conditions; (II) partially graded, clean sand beds with an ungraded base and a graded top, produced by incremental deposition under hindered settling conditions; (III) graded muddy sands produced by compaction with significant particle sorting by elutriation; (IV) ungraded clean sand produced by compaction and (V) ungraded muddy sand produced by compaction. A transition from particle size segregation (regime I) to suppressed size segregation (regime II or III) to virtually no size segregation (IV or V) occurred as sediment concentration was increased. In noncohesive particulate suspensions, segregation was initially suppressed at φ_s ～ 0·2 and entirely inhibited at φ_s ≥ 0·6. In noncohesive and cohesive mixtures with low sand concentrations (φ_s < 0·2), particle segregation was initially suppressed at φ_m ～ 0·07 and entirely suppressed at φ_m ≥ 0·13. The experimental results have a number of implications for the depositional dynamics of submarine sediment gravity flows and other particulate flows that carry sand and mud; because the influence of moving flow is ignored in these experiments, the results will only be applicable to flows in which settling processes, in the depositional boundary, dominate over shear‐flow processes, as might be the case for rapidly decelerating currents with high suspended load fallout rates. The ‘abrupt’ change in settling regimes between regime I and V, over a relatively small change in mud concentration (<5% by volume), favours the development of either mud‐poor, graded sandy deposits or mud‐rich, ungraded sandy deposits. This may explain the bimodality in sediment texture (clean ‘turbidite’ or muddy ‘debrite’ sand or sandstone) found in some turbidite systems. Furthermore, it supports the notion that distal ‘linked’ debrites could form because of a relatively small increase in the mud concentration of turbidity currents, perhaps associated with erosion of a muddy sea floor. Ungraded, clean sand deposits were formed by noncohesive suspensions with concentrations 0·2 ≤ φ_s ≤ 0·4. Hydrodynamic sorting is interpreted as being suppressed in this case by relatively high bed aggradation rates which could also occur in association with sustained, stratified turbidity currents or noncohesive debris flows with relatively high near‐bed sediment concentrations.     

Contrasting sediment gravity flow processes in the late Llandovery,Rhuddnant Grits turbidite system,Welsh Basin

The Rhuddnant Grits turbidite system was deposited within an elongate, fault-bounded trough in the late Llandovery (Telychian) Welsh Basin. Two groups of sandstones are identified within the system: high-matrix sandstones and laminated sandstones. The high-matrix sandstones are medium to very thick bedded, fine to very coarse-grained muddy sandstones. The high-matrix sandstone beds are almost entirely structureless and have several features indicative of deposition from high density turbidity currents, probably undergoing late stage debris flow behaviour (e.g. grain size discontinuities, inverse grading, floating clasts). The laminated sandstones are thin to very thin bedded, fine-grained and have a distinctive mud/silt lamination. Tractional structures and convolution are common in these beds. They were probably deposited by slow moving, dilute turbidity currents. Dissimilar palaeocurrent vectors and estimates of flow properties from the two types of sandstone support the contrasting nature of the depositing flows. A coarsening and thickening upwards trend is identified in the laminated sandstones of the Rhuddnant Grits Formation. This trend is not reflected in the high-matrix sandstone beds. Although the high-matrix sandstones appear in packets or groups within the laminated sandstone background, they were otherwise deposited in an entirely random manner throughout the exposed system. This may suggest that the two types of sandstone are the result of different triggering mechanisms at source, or of contrasting flow properties developed early in the flow histories.     

断陷湖盆洼陷带重力流沉积特征与模式:以南堡凹陷东部东营组为例

利用岩心、粒度、测井信息和重力流沉积理论,系统研究了南堡凹陷东部洼陷带东营组重力流沉积特征和沉积模式。该区重力流沉积砂岩常夹于灰色、灰黑色泥岩中,砂岩相发育,其中正递变层理(含砾)中-细砂岩相(S-3)、粉砂岩相(S-4)和块状层理中-细砂岩相(S-2)发育层数最多,块状层理含砾砂岩相(S-1)次之;S-2沉积厚度最大,S-1和S-3次之。按支撑和沉积机制,将本区重力流分为浊流、砂质碎屑流、颗粒流和液化流,其中砂质碎屑流以基质支撑、冻结块状沉积为特征。不同重力流发育程度有明显差异。从砂岩层数看,浊流最多,砂质碎屑流次之,颗粒流和液化流最少;从单期沉积厚度看,砂质碎屑流最大,平均为1.17m,浊流沉积最小,仅平均为0.25m。为了回避取心的局限性、弱化重力流成因,突出具有油气储集意义的砂层概念,开展了测井岩性解释,结果表明该区重力流沉积为细砂岩或粉砂岩,单层平均厚度2.94m,最大厚度可达9.5m,其中单井中厚度在3m以上的砂体可达22层、累积达107.5m。本区重力流沉积为滑塌成因,除了(扇)三角洲前缘斜坡的自然滑塌外,断层(地震)活动或间歇式火山喷发是其关键的触发机制;断层活动除了提供滑塌的动力外,还影响着其堆积场所和沉积的结构。     

渤海湾盆地东营凹陷碎屑流主控型深水体系沉积过程及模式

【研究目的】碎屑流是深水环境沉积物搬运和分散的重要机制,其相关的砂岩储层是含油气盆地重要的勘探目标,然而,与经典浊流及浊积系统相比,对碎屑流主控型深水体系的发育规律目前仍知之甚少。【研究方法】本文基于岩心、测井及全三维地震资料,通过系统的岩心观察描述、测井及地震资料解释,对渤海湾盆地东营凹陷始新统沙三中亚段深水体系沉积过程及模式开展研究。【研究结果】结果表明,沙三中深水体系发育九种异地搬运岩相,可概括为四大成因类型,反映了块体及流体两种搬运过程。岩相定量统计表明,该深水体系主要由碎屑流沉积构成,浊流沉积很少,碎屑流中又以砂质碎屑流为主。重力流在搬运过程中经历了滑动、滑塌、砂质碎屑流、泥质碎屑流及浊流等5个阶段演变,发育5类主要的深水沉积单元,包括滑动体、滑塌体、碎屑流水道、碎屑流朵体及浊积薄层砂。从发育规模及储层物性上,砂质碎屑流水道、朵体及砂质滑动体构成了本区最重要的深水储层类型。【结论】认为沙三中时期充足的物源供给、三角洲前缘高沉积速率、断陷期频繁的断层活动以及较短的搬运距离是碎屑流主控型深水体系形成及演化的主控因素,最终基于沉积过程、沉积样式及盆地地貌特征综合建立了碎屑流主控型深水体系沉积模式。本研究将进一步丰富深水沉积理论,为陆相深水储层预测提供借鉴。     

河南东濮凹陷古近系沙三中亚段重力流沉积与伴生遗迹化石组合

基于对东濮凹陷97口钻井岩心的详细观察和分析,在古近系沙河街组沙三中亚段湖相沉积中识别出滑动、滑塌、碎屑流和浊流共4种类型的重力流沉积。各种类型沉积的主要判识特征如下: (1)滑动沉积以保留部分原始沉积构造、层内准同生小型断裂构造及较大角度的地层倾角(陡倾构造)发育、伴生Skolithos-Palaeophycus遗迹组合或Planolites-Taenidium遗迹组合为主要特征; (2)滑塌沉积以砂岩层顶、底面均与暗色泥岩呈突变接触以及岩层内部发育各种同生软沉积物变形构造(如包卷层理、火焰状构造、泄水构造、液化脉和各种撕裂屑等)为主要鉴别特征;(3)碎屑流沉积以砂岩呈块状构造、顶部发育漂浮砾石、底部泥岩撕裂屑发育并可见“泥包砾”现象、砂岩顶、底面均与暗色泥岩突变接触为特征;滑塌沉积和碎屑流沉积序列的上部常常伴生Mermoides-Parapaleodictyon遗迹组合; (4)浊流沉积以发育完整或不完整的鲍马序列为主要特征,浊积砂体下部见正粒序层理,底面见有冲刷痕、不规则槽模、重荷模等沉积构造,中上部发育深湖沉积中常见的Semirotundichnus-Puyangichnus遗迹组合。综合分析上述各种重力流沉积特征和伴生遗迹化石组合所体现的水深变化规律,认为遗迹化石组合随着湖水深度的增加呈分带性,与重力流沉积随水深增加而出现的滑动—滑塌—碎屑流—浊流沉积序列具有明显的一致性,且伴随重力流沉积而产生的生物扰动作用是增强的。因此,生物扰动构造(遗迹化石)的研究不仅对湖相沉积中储集层物性的分析具有重要意义,而且针对重力流沉积类型的判识还能提供重要的生物遗迹学信息。