Control factors on turbidite sedimentation in a deep-sea trench setting. – The example of the Schlieren Flysch (Upper Maastrichtian-Lower Eocene,Central Switzerland)

Abstract

Deep-sea turbidite sedimentation in convergent margin settings generally is controlled by tectonic uplift, climate and eustatic sea-level variations. The rate of tectonic uplift governs the relief of the source area and the position of the base level (coinciding with sea-level), climate influences the rate and style of weathering and continental runoff and eustatic seal-level additionally shifts the base level, functioning with the concurrently working tectonic movements. Thus, these factors primarly determine the availability of sediment (yield and nature of material and the site of intermittent storage) at the basin margin which is unlocked periodically to flow downslope to the basin.

This paper attempts to decipher quantitatively the importance of the individual factors in the Late Maastrichtian to Early Eocene Schieren Flysch Croup. The flysch was deposited in a moderately converging remnant oceanic trench basin. Mean parameters are calculated on the basis of formations and the duration of nannofossil zones comprised in. For transposing these zone into absolute age intervals the problem of inconsistent durations in current time scales had to be solved by a best-fit approach. Frequencies and periodicities of turbidite events, decompacted and compacted sedimentation rates (the latter are considered as apparent denudation rates) are calculated to reveal the dynamics of sedimentation. Climatic evidence is deduced from clay mineralogy. Changing uplift rates in the drainage area are indirectly interpreted from back-stripped tectonic subsisdence rates in the basin.

The obtained data point to an immediate control of sub-duction-Iinked tectonic uplift in the bordering drainage and shelf area on turbidite sedimentation, as frequency and thickness of the turbidite events are closely correlated with the increasing tectonic subsisdence in the basin (assumed to match the rate of subduction and underplating). This general trend is modified by the temporary migration of the oceanic hinge zone towards the trench causing periodically the starvation of outer portions of the basin at the transition from Early to Late Paleocene and Late Paleocene to Eocene. Regional climatic trends additionnaly rule the turbidite facies development and apparent denudation rates. In the upper part of Early Eocene series high rate mud dominated sediments correlate with warm/humid conditions and in Late Paleocene deposits low rate sandy sediments coincide with cool ones. During the Late Paleocene period the global 2nd-order sea-level lowering probably may be responsible for the by-passing of the shelf by the coarse grained sediments.     

泥盆系弗拉阶/法门阶之交事件沉积和海平面变化

在华南板块南部被动大陆边缘和西伯利亚板块南部活动大陆边缘弗拉阶/法门阶之交识别出7种物理事件相: 细粒钙屑浊积岩相、钙质角砾岩相、软变形灰岩相、含微球粒的粒泥灰岩相、凝灰质砾岩相、黑色页岩相和火山喷溢相.它们在法门阶下Palmatolepis triangularis带底部和/或上Palmatolepis rhenana带底部具有广泛的分布, 可能是两次陨击事件记录, 是良好的高分辨率年代地层对比标志.弗拉期/法门期之交的海平面变化不具有同步性和一致性, 可分辨出2种型式(阶跃型和渐进型) 和5种状态(弗拉期最末期下降→法门期最初期上升、弗拉期最末期上升→法门期最初期下降、弗拉期最末期上升→法门期最初期上升、弗拉期最末期下降→法门期最初期下降、弗拉期最末期与法门期最初期海平面变化不明显).弗拉阶/法门阶之交生物的阶梯状绝灭可能与从上Palmatolepis rhenana带底部至Palmatolepis crepida带不均匀分布的6次陨击事件密切相关.      

Age models for the Cape Blanc Debris Flow and the Mauritania Slide Complex in the Atlantic Ocean off NW Africa

Age models for the emplacement time of mass flow deposits from the Cape Blanc Debris Flow, the Mauritania Slide Complex and a levee of the Mauritania Canyon were obtained by offshore X-ray fluorescence (XRF) element stratigraphy on five gravity cores, allowing the assessment of slope instability in this part of the NW African continental margin with respect to climate-related sea-level variations during the Quaternary. The Cape Blanc Debris Flow emplaced approximately 155 kyr ago whereas deposition of the Mauritania Slide Complex is linked to the rapid sea-level rise at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary. Turbidites on a levee of the Mauritania Canyon close to the Mauritania Slide Complex occurred at stage boundaries. These findings agree with other studies which show that the NW African continental margin has been unstable over the last Quaternary cycles, and that downslope sediment transport is frequently coupled to periods of climatic changes at stage boundaries.     

Internal architecture and sedimentary evolution of coarse-grained, turbidite channel-levee complexes, Early Eocene Regência Canyon, Espírito Santo Basin, Brazil

Successions of Early Eocene coarse-grained turbidites up to 400 m thick fill fault-controlled canyons along the eastern Brazilian continental margin. They form part of a Late Albian to Early Eocene transgressive succession characterized by onlapping, deepening-upward sedimentation. In the Lagoa Parda oil field (Regência Canyon, Espírito Santo Basin) the turbidite facies consist mostly of unstratified conglomerate and sandstone, with interbedded bioturbated mudstone and thin-bedded, stratified sandstone. Within the main Regência Canyon, the coarser grained facies occur within 38 deeply incised channels. The fills are 9 to >50 m thick, 210 to >1050 m wide and >1 km long. The finer grained facies build asymmetrical levees that are higher and thicker on the left side (looking downstream) of their channels, probably as an effect of the Coriolis force (to the left in the Southern Hemisphere). Nine levee successions up to 50 m thick are associated with the 20 youngest channels. The deposits filling the low-sinuosity Lagoa Parda channels record successive channel abandonment through relatively rapid avulsions. Avulsions of unleveed channels took place randomly, but channels with well-developed levees show preferential avulsion to the right (looking downstream), opposite to the direction of preferential levee growth. Lagoa Parda channels can be grouped into three complexes 20–100 m thick. These complexes have an estimated duration of about 140 000 years. It is suggested that control of the development of individual channel complexes was related to variation in sediment supply, in turn probably related to climatic changes. The deposition of each channel complex would have followed an increase in sediment supply into the Regência Canyon through delta/fan-delta and littoral drift systems, which in turn would have responded to phases of higher denudation rates in the high-relief, ancestral coastal ranges of south-eastern Brazil. Overall, the three Lagoa Parda channel complexes form a turbidite succession characterized by channel fills that become narrower, thinner and finer grained upward. These trends were induced mostly by a longer term (>400 000 years) decrease in sediment supply, which in turn resulted from the combined effects of a long-term (second-order) trend of sea-level rise, and the decreasing fault activity at the basin margin and source area.     

Perched lobe formation in the Gulf of Cadiz: Interactions between gravity processes and contour currents (Algarve Margin, Southern Portugal)

The Gulf of Cadiz is swept by the strong saline Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW). On the Algarve Margin (South Portugal), this current has constructed fine-grained contourite drifts. This margin is dissected by the Portimao Canyon and three short channels that only incise the upper slope, and are absent on a terrace located at mid-slope depths along the Algarve Margin. High-resolution seismic profiles and sediment cores highlight the original architecture of the sedimentary deposits on this terrace. Coarse-grained lenticular chaotic bodies formed during major relative sea-level lowstands are intercalated within the drift. The lobate shape and sandy nature of the lenticular chaotic bodies and their location at the mouths of the three short channels suggest they are gravity-generated deposits that are perched on the middle continental slope.In the Gulf of Cadiz, the interaction between contour current and gravity processes is strongly controlled by climatic variations and relative sea-level changes during the late Quaternary. During cold periods when sea-level was low, erosion intensified on the continental shelf and the deepest part of MOW was active. Sediment was transported downslope through the channels and deposited on sedimentary lobes perched on the mid-slope terrace. During warm periods when relative sea-level was high, the supply of sediment from the shelf was shut off and the shallowest part of MOW was more active. Contourite drifts fill the channels and bury the sandy lobes.     

冰芯对于过去全球变化研究的贡献

系统地总结了冰芯在揭示过去气候环境变化、太阳活动、温室气体、火山活动、人类活动等方面研究所取得的成就,着重对一些有争议的重大问题(如Younger Dryas事件、温室气体与气候变化之间的关系、南北半球气候变化之间的关系等)进行了论述,并对其中个别问题提出了可能的解决途径.指出冰芯微生物、冰芯环境磁学将是冰芯研究的新方向.     

藏北那曲盆地中—上侏罗统拉贡塘组浊流沉积特征及微量元素地球化学

藏北那曲地区中上侏罗统拉贡塘组发育典型的深水浊流沉积,根据浊积岩鲍马序列和粒度特征,可以进一步将其区分为近源砂质浊积岩和远源细屑浊积岩。微量及稀土元素地球化学研究表明,拉贡塘组浊积岩富集Cr、Co、Sc、Th等元素,无Ce负异常或负异常不明显,沉积物物源主要来自于变质岩区或再循环的沉积岩分布区。那曲盆地是冈底斯中生代多岛弧盆系统的组成部分之一,中上侏罗世深水浊流沉积形成于活动大陆边缘中的弧后盆地环境,该弧后盆地的形成与班公湖怒江中特提斯洋盆的洋壳向南的俯冲作用有关。     

西菲律宾海末次冰期以来的浊流沉积及其古环境意义

菲律宾海西部吕宋岛岸外MD98－2188钻孔揭示末次冰期以来发生过数次浊流沉积事件。研究发现浊流沉积层具有密度高、颜色亮度大等物理特征,含有较多粗沉积组分和翼足类化石碎片,说明其来源于浅海沉积物。本文运用AMS 14C测年和浮游有孔虫氧同位素建立精细的年龄模式,发现浊流沉积层段主要与末次盛冰期、冰期Heinrich变冷事件以及氧同位素4期等低海平面时期相对应,推测与千年尺度北半球气候冷期相关的海平面快速上升可能是西菲律宾海浊流沉积的触发原因。这对于认识快速气候变化的环境后果和开展西菲律宾海晚第四纪地层划分对比都有重要意义。     

Precession-punctuated growth of a late Miocene submarine-fan lobe on Gavdos (Greece)

Sedimentary cycles in an upper Miocene succession of hemipelagic sediments (marls) and laminites (sapropels) were deposited in an outerarc basin and are related to the astronomical cycles of precession and eccentricity. Individual marl-laminite couplets correspond with the cycle of precession which has a periodicity of about 22 kyr. The lower part of the succession contains a turbidite interval comprising a number of distinct turbidite sequences. The turbidite sequences occur within or substitute entirely the laminite beds, so that turbidite deposition is similarly precession punctuated. The turbidite facies is characteristic for small, prograding fan lobes fed by small-volume turbidites. The abundant plant remains, the local palaeogeographic setting and the association with laminites (related to wet climate) suggest a river-fed submarine fan-lobe, where the timing of sediment transport is largely controlled by river floods during periods of high precipitation and continental run-off. The onset and ending of the turbidite interval is most likely linked with either autocyclic processes or by tectonic steepening of the hinterland relief. Sea-level changes seem least important for the triggering of turbidites, which is in contrast with current beliefs.     

Review on Research on Paleo-Sea Level Reconstruction Based on Foraminiferal Oxygen Isotope in Deep Sea Sediments

Sea level reconstruction is an important proxy for climate change. It can be compared with other reconstructed climatic factors as well as the results of the computer model-based reconstruction to offer a better recognition of the relationship between sea-level changes and other factors in the climate system. Oxygen isotope record obtained from calcium foraminiferal shell in deep-sea sediments contains global continental ice volume signal which can be used to reconstruct the evolution of paleo-sea level. Researchers reconstructed many long time scale and continuous records of sea level change by using foraminiferal oxygen isotope ratio data. In the future of paleo-sea level reconstruction, however, researchers need to contrast the sea level reconstruction with other climate proxy results to validate its accuracy and employ the interdisciplinary study method to acquire further development.     

A Holocene dust record in arid central Asia inferred from Lake Barkol,northwest China

Grain-size distributions and detrital minerals were investigated for modern dust and for lacustrine sediment in Lake Barkol region, northwest China. Characteristics of the modern dust and lacustrine sediments, principle component analysis, and changes of quartz contents all suggest grain size 45–138 μm in the core sediment is the dust sensitive component. It indicates that high dust flux climate occurred at mid-Holocene (5.5–4.5 cal ka BP), corresponding to the high dust flux record in northwest Pacific and the drought interval of deserts in northwest China during the mid-Holocene. The strong dust activity is in contradiction with the climatic optimum recorded by the lacustrine evidence in Xinjiang. Different responses of the dust source region and watershed to the regional climate may have led to the inconsistency between dust and climate records during the mid-Holocene in arid central Asia.     

Early diagenesis in Pleistocene coral reefs, southern Sinai, Egypt: response to tectonics, sea-level and climate

The uplifted Pleistocene terraces along the coast of southern Sinai exhibit a well developed reef system formed during isotope stage 9, and a younger one formed during isotope stage 5. An intermediate reef corresponding to isotope stage 7 occurs only as an erosional relic in the study area. The sediments comprise reefal framestones, peri-reefal facies, coral rubble, and siliciclastic-dominated beach and aeolian facies. The compositional and textural complexity of the sediments leads to a highly variable spatial distribution of diagenetic features. However, the geometric relationships and elemental analyses allow a reconstruction of the general diagenetic evolution: during the major eustatic sea-level highstand of isotope stage 9, the Older Reef was constructed and cemented with aragonite and high-Mg calcite. Climate was probably semiarid with some rainy periods which permitted the installation of ephemeral freshwater lenses, especially during the minor sea-level lowstand within isotope stage 9. In these lenses, and during the subsequent major sea-level lowstand, some freshwater dissolution occurred. The highstand during isotope stage 7 led to the construction of the Intermediate Reef. In the Older Reef, some high-Mg calcite precipitated at that time. Dolomite cement formed either in marine interstitial waters modified by some freshwater input, or in a hypersaline context. Phreatic-meteoric low-Mg calcite cement covers, and partly replaces, previous marine cements and dolomite, but is still attributed to the major highstand of isotope stage 7 when freshwater lenses could develop during minor sea-level lowstands. The subsequent major sea-level lowstand was dominated by an arid climate, and only a little freshwater corrosion occurred. The Younger Reef formed during the major highstand of isotope stage 5. Aragonite and high-Mg calcite cements, as well as some dolomite, are common within the reef, whereas freshwater cements are limited to beach and aeolian facies. Due to tectonic uplift, only the lower part of the Older Reef was reflooded during isotope stage 5, and only some aragonite crystals precipitated on top of dolomite or low-Mg calcite. The interrelationships between tectonics, sea-level variations of different orders, and climatic changes thus had a profound impact on the diagenetic history of these reef systems.     

Trends,rhythms and events in Plio-Pleistocene African climate

We analyzed published records of terrigenous dust flux from marine sediments off subtropical West Africa, the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and the Arabian Sea, and lake records from East Africa using statistical methods to detect trends, rhythms and events in Plio-Pleistocene African climate. The critical reassessment of the environmental significance of dust flux and lake records removes the apparent inconsistencies between marine vs. terrestrial records of African climate variability. Based on these results, major steps in mammalian and hominin evolution occurred during episodes of a wetter, but highly variable climate largely controlled by orbitally induced insolation changes in the low latitudes.     

Late Weichselian environmental change in southern Sweden and Denmark

A synthesis is presented of the envronmental and climatic variations that are inferred to have occurred in southern Sweden (up to latitude 59°N) and Denmark during the Weichselian Late-glacial (14-9 ka BP). The chronology and characteristics of the main phases of deglaciation, sea-level change, periglacial activity, soil development, vegetation cover and climate change are summarised. A curve representing the main changes in temperature, including quantitative estimates based upon beetle data and using the ‘mutual climatic range’ method, is presented.     

Carbonate petrography as an indicator of climate and sea-level changes: new data from Bahamian Quaternary units

Coeval stratigraphic units of similar petrology occur throughout the northern Bahamas islands. The petrographic composition of these limestones provides clues about regional sea level and climate changes during the late Quaternary. At least eight fossil shoreline units, which are linked to transgressive episodes between the middle Pleistocene and the late Holocene, are recognized in the Bahamas. The petrographic composition of these units is either dominated by ooids and peloids or by bioclasts. Sedimentological observations demonstrate that oolitic-peloidal units were formed when sea level was higher than today, whereas skeletal units were deposited at or below modern ordnance datum. Skeletal units may reflect times of partial, or modest platform flooding, when the bulk of sediments brought to islands originates from bank-margin reefs. In contrast, oolitic-peloidal units correspond to major flooding events and active water circulation on the bank top. Cement fabrics further show that the early diagenesis of oolitic units took place during warm and humid climatic conditions, whereas skeletal rock bodies underwent subaerial diagenesis during drier climatic conditions characterized by marked seasonal changes. This example from the Bahamas suggests that compositional analysis of limestone from fossil carbonate platforms could be used for resolving ancient climate and sea-level changes.     

Late Quaternary rapid climate change in northern Chile

Analyses of terrigenous sediments from the Chilean continental slope off the southern border of the Atacama desert (27.5°S), focusing on illite crystallinity and the Fe:Al ratio of the sediments, reveal a high-frequency variability of the position of the Southern Westerlies, which is very similar to the coeval short-term climatic events known from Greenland ice cores and from North Atlantic sediments. Besides showing dominantly precession-driven variability in precipitation over the Andes, these analyses also reveal rapid changes in weathering intensity along the Chilean Coastal Range during the last 80,000 years. These rapid changes occur at much shorter timescales than the 19–100 kyr orbital forcing of the Milankovitch cycles.     

A pulse of the Earth:A 27.5-Myr underlying cycle in coordinated geological events over the last 260 Myr

We performed spectral analyses on the ages of 89 well-dated major geological events of the last 260 Myr from the recent geologic literature.These events include times of marine and non-marine extinctions,major ocean-anoxic events,continental flood-basalt eruptions,sea-level fluctuations,global pulses of intraplate magmatism,and times of changes in seafloor-spreading rates and plate reorganizations.The aggregate of all 89 events shows ten clusters in the last 260 Myr,spaced at an average interval of～26.9 Myr,and Fourier analysis of the data yields a spectral peak at 27.5 Myr at the≥96％confidence level.A shorter period of～8.9 Myr may also be significant in modulating the timing of geologic events.Our results suggest that global geologic events are generally correlated,and seem to come in pulses with an underlying～27.5-Myr cycle.These cyclic pulses of tectonics and climate change may be the result of geophysical processes related to the dynamics of plate tectonics and mantle plumes,or might alterna-tively be paced by astronomical cycles associated with the Earth's motions in the Solar System and the Galaxy.     

The response of lake margin sedimentary systems to climatically driven lake level fluctuations: Middle Devonian,Orcadian Basin,Scotland

Lake margin sedimentary systems can provide highly sensitive records of sedimentary response to climate change. The Middle Old Red Sandstone of Northern Scotland comprises a thick succession of cyclic lacustrine sediments. Within this succession the deepest lake phase, the Achanarras fish bed, allows bed‐scale correlation over 160 km across the basin. This provides a unique opportunity to examine the character of synchronous lake margin deposits, and their response to climatically driven lake level fluctuations, across a large continental basin. Detailed characterization of two separate lake margin systems was carried out utilizing multiple sections in western Orkney, in the north, and Easter Ross, in the south. Seven facies have been recognized, which include upper and lower shoreface, deep lake, shallow lake, playa, turbidite and fluvial facies. Differences in vertical and lateral facies stacking patterns reflect the response of these systems to climatically driven fluctuations in lake level. Comparison of the northern and southern systems examined highlights the variable response of lake margin systems to the same climatic change and related lake level fluctuations. In the south, a greater fluvial influence is recognized on the development of the lake margin successions, whereas in the northern example, which lay on the downwind margin of the lake, shore zone facies are more commonly developed. The variability recognized can be accounted for by regional variations in sediment supply, coastal physiography, lake size, bathymetry and potential fetch. Lake level stability is also recognized as a major control on the development of lake margin sedimentary systems, as is the linked or unlinked relationship of the catchment and the lake basin climate for which a conceptual model is proposed.     

Early Cretaceous Paleoclimate Characteristics of China: Clues from Continental Climate-indicative Sediments

The Cretaceous was one of the most remarkable ‘greenhouse' climate periods in geological history. Most of the reported studies of the Cretaceous paleoclimate are based upon marine sedimentary records. Large spatial scale paleoclimatic reconstruction, which has a higher time resolution based upon continental sediments in China, is rarely found. This study presents paleoclimate reconstruction for the six time periods of the Early Cretaceous in China by employing continental climate-indicative sediments, including calcareous deposits, coal, oil shale, gypsum, halite, desert sedimentary systems, ferruginous deposits and laterite, copper-bearing deposits, limestone and dolomite. Based on the distribution of the association of climate-indicative sediments and the influences of paleotopography and orogenic belts(or important structural belts) on climate, seven climatic zones have been identified: 1) a warm and humid zone; 2) a warm and humid-warm and arid zone; 3) a warm and arid zone; 4) an arid and hot zone; 5) the Tibet hot and humid zone; 6) a hot and arid-semiarid zone; and 7) a hot and humid-hot and arid one. It is found that the Early Cretaceous climatic zones of China were nearly latitudinally distributed from northwest to southeast. The aridhot climatic zone expanded in the Aptian, suggesting that a hotter and drier climate prevailed in later period of the Early Cretaceous. Conversely, the humid climatic zone expanded in the Albian, indicating that a wetter climate appeared at the end of the Early Cretaceous. The overall distribution pattern of the seven climatic zones indicates that a hot-warm and arid climate was predominant in China; this coincides with a global ‘greenhouse climate' background. However, palaeogeographic features and specific geologic events, such as the existence and disappearance of the eastern high plateau, and the uplift and denudation of Yinshan, Yanshan, Tianshan, Qinling and Dabie Mountains, led to distinctive regional climatic features of the Cretaceous in China.     

白垩纪−古近纪古生物地理区的变化与印度和亚洲的碰撞

Geologic studies of the Late Creta-ceous Paleogene stratigraphic record of southern Tibet reveal distinct episodes of collision and post collisional compression. The composition of sediments exposed along the Indus-Yarlung Zangbo suture, tectonic deformation, paleomagnetism, mag-matic activity of the Gangdese Arc, high pressure metamorphism, paleobiogeography and terrestrial bi-ota changes have been variously used to diagnose the timing of Indian-Eurasian continental plates collision. Among them, paleobiogeography and marine facies cessation are visible scenarios to trace the continental collision. This study recognized that dramatic changes of paleobiogeography happened during early Paleo-gene.