Upper miocene shallow-water turbidites from western Tuscany

A sequence of graded ophiolitic sandstones, 120 m thick (Sanguigna Formation), outcrops within the Messinian Evaporite Group in a limited area near Gabbro, Fine Basin, western Tuscany.The formation lies between fine-grained sediments laid down under a thin water-cover. The graded beds show, on the other hand, many features typical of proximal turbidites, such as amalgamated layers, scour-and-fill structures, clay flakes and lumps, top-truncated Bouma sequences. Grain-size analyses suggest that they were deposited from high-density turbidity flows.The petrographic composition and the grain fabric indicate that the feeding was from the northeast across the Fine Basin. From the inferred dimensions and depth of the basin, the mean slope should have been less than 1°. The turbidity currents probably originated at a river mouth during flood stages.The Sanguigna graded beds are compared with occurrences of shallow-water turbidites.     

辽河盆地大凌河油层湖底扇沉积特征

辽河盆地位于辽宁省南部,渤海湾盆地东北角,是继中生代发育起来的第三纪断陷盆地。分东部凹陷,西部凹陷和大民屯凹陷等二级构造单元(图1)。     

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.     

Tectonic and sedimentary evolution of the Lower Pliocene Periadriatic foredeep in Central Italy

The Periadriatic foredeep (Italy) was generated by Neogene downbending of the Adria Plate under the Apennine Chain. The basin is filled with Plio-Pleistocene siliciclastic turbidites. Its substratum consists of the carbonate succession of the southwestern Adria Plate margin. The influence of the basin’s morphology on sedimentation and subsequent tectonic evolution is investigated in the Abruzzo sector of the foredeep (Cellino Basin). The substratum is composed of Messinian evaporites that dip towards the Apennines (W). A NNW component along the depocentral axis is divided into four blocks with different depths. The substratum was also affected by a Messinian extensional fault system, not involving the overlying Pliocene sequence. This morphology controlled the distribution of the turbidites in the lower part of the Cellino Basin. The Plio-Pleistocene compressional deformation of the foredeep produced an inner complex structure (Internal Structure), involving the foredeep substratum and an outer imbricate thrust system (Coastal Structure), detached over the faulted Messinian evaporites. This thrust system is parallel to the extensional faults, suggesting a strong influence of the substratum morphology on the development of the compressional structures. The overall structural setting was validated with a balanced cross-section. Out-of-sequence thrusting and non-coeval deformation within each thrust sheet characterize the local tectonic history.     

Submarine fan facies of the Upper Cretaceous Great Valley sequence,northern and central California

The Upper Cretaceous part of the Great Valley Sequence provides a unique opportunity to study deep-marine sedimentation within an arc-trench gap. Facies analysis delineates submarine fan facies similar to those described from other ancient basins. Fan models and facies of Mutti and Ricci-Lucchi allow reconstruction of the following depositional environments: basin plain, outer fan, midfan, inner fan, and slope. Basin plain deposits are characterized by hemipelagic mudstone with randomly interbedded thin sandstone beds exhibiting distal turbidite characteristics. Outer fan deposits are characterized by regularly interbedded sandstone and mudstone, and commonly exhibit thickening-upward (negative) cycles that constitute depositional lobes. The sandstone occurs as proximal to distal turbidites without channeling. Midfan deposits are characterized by the predominance of coarse-grained, thick, channelized sandstone beds that commonly are amalgamated. Thinning-upward (positive) cycles and braided channelization also are common. Inner fan deposits are characterized by major channel-fill complexes (conglomerate, pebbly sandstone, and pebbly mudstone) enclosed in mudstone and siltstone. Positive cycles occur within these channel-fill complexes. Much of the fine-grained material consists of levee (overbank) deposits that are characterized by rhythmically interbedded thin mudstone and irregular sandstone beds with climbing and starved ripples. Slope deposits are characterized by mudstone with little interbedded sandstone; slumping and contortion of bedding is common. Progressions of fan facies associations can be described as retrogradational and progradational suites that correspond, respectively, to onlapping and offlapping relations in the basin. The paleoenvironments, fan facies associations, and tectonic setting of the Late Cretaceous fore-arc basin are similar to those of modern arc—trench systems.     

Reflected sediment gravity flows and their deposits in flysch of Middle Dalmatia, Yugoslavia

The Eocene flysch of Middle Dalmatia comprises several beds that are interpreted to have been deposited from reflected sediment gravity flows. Their compositions are similar and two bed types are differentiated: complex beds that are debrite-plus-turbidite couplets, and turbidites. The sequence alternations in the turbidite part of the bed, opposing ripples within the same bed, and opposite flow directions indicated by flutes and ripples are indicative of flow reflections. The influence of seiches is suggested by the occurrence of symmetrical (oscillation) ripples. The palaeotransport directions of reflected flows show wide dispersal. A geometry of small, fault-controlled sub-basins with centripetal palaeotransport patterns is proposed.     

Analytical study of turbidites, Otadai Formation, Boso Peninsula, Japan

On the Boso Peninsula, southeast of Tokyo, individual turbidite layers have been traced over about 38 km with the aid of tuff marker-beds. Sandstones are generally much more variable in thickness than the interbedded mudstones, showing lenticular shapes with great lateral continuities up to 30 km or more. But the latter have greater extents than the former, forming extensive sheets with a slight upslope thickening. Most sandstones show vertical and lateral grading, while mudstones gradually coarsen upslope. Sandstones have a variety of sedimentary structures typical of turbidites, whereas mudstones are virtually devoid of them throughout. Sandstones contain intensely abraded shallow-water fauna in contrast with mudstones with well-preserved deep-water fauna. Thus, mudstones are mostly of hemipelagic origin, and turbiditic mudstones, if present, are of negligible amounts. In general, individual sandstone beds are much more variable in thickness on the upstream side than on the downstream side. This is probably because of the existence of some minor channels and the adjacent levee-like embankments on the upslope side. At the base of thicker sandstone beds local penecontemporaneous erosion has usually taken place, giving rise to a few minor channels bordered by small levee-like embankments on both sides. The downslope side of the largest channel is commonly flanked by the greatest embankment that is coincident with the thickest part of each sandstone layer. Sandstones in the minor channels and levee-like embankments contain a lot of mud lumps torn out of the substratum, which decrease in size and amount and improve in roundness with increasing distance from the channels. In general, thicker sandstones show Bouma abcde sequences around the thickest part. Bouma d-division and convolution are developed preferentially on the downstream side of the thickest part. With decreasing bed thickness laterally, the complete depositional sequences arc successively replaced by Bouma bcde, then cde, and de sequences downslope, while by Bouma bc/c and then c/e sequences upslope. The facies transition of the horizon studied probably represents a section extending from the downslope end of the channelized portion of a suprafan to the outer portion with a smooth surface.     

Turbidite sedimentation during Alpine thrusting: the Taveyannaz sandstones of eastern Switzerland

The Taveyannaz sandstones of eastern Switzerland are a succession of turbidites found within the Tertiary North Helvetic Flysch system; they represent a portion of the early, underfilled stage of the North Alpine Foreland Basin. The Taveyannaz sandstones were deposited in two sub-basins (Inner and Outer basins) separated by a topographic high trending ENE-WSW (parallel to the subsequent structural strike of the region), interpreted as an emergent thrust tip that propagated into the basin. The southerly Inner basin is therefore considered as a ‘piggy-back’basin comprising a 140 m thick succession dominated by approximately 12 very thick bedded sandstones with thick mudstone caps; these very thick bedded sandstone-mudstone couplets are interpreted as having resulted from the ponding of megaturbidite flows in the topographically confined Inner basin. Intercalated with the very thick bedded sandstones are thin to medium bedded sandstones. The Outer (northerly) basin comprises at least 240 m of turbidites characterized by sandstone packets (5–50 m thick) with extensive amalgamation of beds and a dominantly symmetrical vertical bed thickness and grain size profile. Intercalated between the sandstone packets are laminated graded siltstones and mudstones. The Inner basin sediments underwent localized deformation on the sea floor, generating an irregular surface topography which was then capped by a mud sheet emplaced by superficial sliding. During the emplacement of the mud sheet, large sandstone blocks (up to 130 m across) were incorporated from the underlying succession. The resultant geometry of the upper surface of the Inner basin sandstones exhibits vertical walls which truncate, and are perpendicular to, the underlying beds. The depositional style and structural control of the Taveyannaz sandstones, in association with the emplacement of superficial mud sheets, reflect processes that are highly analogous to those occurring in modern accretionary wedge environments. The sandstone packets of the Outer basin reflect a cyclical pattern of sedimentation alternating between deposition of sandstones and mudstones. The autocyclical or allocyclical controls on these high frequency alternations are difficult to interpret; likely mechanisms include lobe switching, climatic variations, eustatic sea level fluctuations and changes of horizontal in-plane deviatoric stress on the lithosphere. In this example, an alternative mechanism is speculated upon. This is based on the analogy with accretionary wedge processes. In this hypothesis, it is proposed that high frequency fluctuations in the accommodation space available on the shelf may result from fluctuations in the topographic slope of an accretionary wedge around its critical taper. Hence, during periods of accelerated frontal accretion, the taper angle of the thrust wedge becomes subcritical resulting in a broad, low angle topographic slope and increased shelfal accommodation. Consequently, sediment becomes trapped in a relatively landward position. The necessary rejuvenation of the surface slope of the thrust wedge to a critical taper is achieved through internal reactivation resulting in tectonic uplift and hence a relative fall in sea level; this leads to the reworking of sediment to the base of slope or outer trench. Repeated alternations of relative sea level between a subcritical highstand and a supercritical lowstand are considered to be sufficient to generate the observed alternations between sandstone and mudstone packages in the turbidite basin.     

Middle-fan deposits from the late precambrian kongsfjord formation submarine fan,Northeast Finnmark,Northern Norway

The 3.2 km-thick late Precambrian Kongsfjord Formation Submarine Fan shows well-developed middle-fan facies-associations. Channel deposits are characterised by discrete packets of coarse-grained, medium to thick-bedded, amalgamated sandstone turbidites and other mass-flow deposits, generally 10 to 30 m thick. Individual beds, or packets of beds, wedge out and channel bases cut down by up to 11 m over a lateral distance of 150 m. Channel deposits often comprise a thinning-and-fining-upward sequence although they vary greatly in clarity. Interchannel deposits occur as packets, tens of centimetres to 25 m thick, of thin and very thin bedded Bouma T_cde siltstones and mudstones. Palaeocurrents within interchannel deposits commonly diverge from those of adjacent channel sandstones. Within the interchannel deposits, isolated beds or packets of beds occur that are both thicker bedded and coarser grained than the surrounding beds; these unusual deposits are sheet-like or fill small channels, and are interpreted as crevasse splays, lobes and channels. Packets, up to a few metres thick, of laterally discontinuous siltstone turbidites occur immediately above some of the channel sandstones, rarely below, and in some cases within interchannel deposits. These siltstones are thin to medium-bedded, show Bouma T_cd, with T_c often as climbing-ripple lamination, and commonly show soft-sediment deformation as slides, slumps, liquefaction and fluidisation structures. Palaeoflow within these packets, compared to adjacent channel sandstones, diverges by up to 90°, and in some cases channel sandstones are seen to pass laterally into these deposits with a swing in palaeocurrents from parallel to the inferred channel axis, to perpendicular to it. These deposits are thought to be levees. Channel-margin deposits are most distinctive, and they are recognised by extreme lateral wedging of channel sandstones, with concomitant thinning and fining of individual beds and their amalgamation towards the channel axis. Sliding and slumping of channel margin deposits is common. Throughout the Kongsfjord Formation Submarine Fan, channel sandstone palaeocurrents suggest a sediment-transport direction to the NE quadrant, although some channels funnelled sediment towards the southeast.     

Ichnology and Depositional Environment of the Cambrian Nagaur Sandstone (Nagaur Group) Along the Dulmera Section,Bikaner-Nagaur Basin,Rajasthan

Abstract: The Lower Cambrian Nagaur Sandstone (Marwar Supergroup) has yielded trace fossils Treptichnus, Cruziana, serially repeated Rusophycus, Diplichnites, Monomorphichnus, Bergaueria, arthropod swimming traces and leap frogging marks of Cruziana ichnofacies. This ichnofossils assemblage is dominantly preserved in fine to medium grained red sandstone beds of the Mohra Member (Nagaur Sandstone). The presence of graded rip-up clasts, current ripples, dune cross-stratification with mud drapes and tidal bundles indicates a subtidal paleoenvironment for the deposition of Nagaur Sandstone Formation, which is corroborated by the Cruziana ichnofacies trace fossil assemblage.     

The role of wave reworking on the architecture of storm sandstone facies, Bell Island Group (Lower Ordovician), eastern Newfoundland

Stacked shallow marine cycles in the Lower Ordovician, Bell Island Group, of Bell Island, Newfoundland, show upward thickening and upward coarsening sequences which were deposited on a storm-affected shelf. In the Beach Formation each cycle has a facies sequence comprised, from base to top, of dark grey mudstones, light grey mudstones, tabular sandstones and mudstones, lenticular sandstones and mudstones, and thick bedded lenticular sandstones, reflecting a progressive increase of wave orbital velocities at the sediment surface. The mudstones and tabular sandstones reflect an environment in which the sea floor lay in the lower part of the wave orbital velocity field and in which tempestites were deposited as widespread sheets from weak combined flow currents. The lenticular sandstones in the succeeding facies are wave reworked sands, commonly lying in erosional hollows and having erosional tops and internal hummocky cross-stratification. Planar lamination is relatively uncommon and sole marks are mainly absent. In this facies oscillatory currents were dominant and accumulated sand in patches generally 10–30 m in diameter. The facies formed on the inner shelf where the oscillatory currents generated by storm waves had powerful erosional effects and also determined the depositional bedforms. Mud partings and second-order set boundaries within sandstone beds are believed to separate the products of individual storms so that many lenticular sandstone beds represent the amalgamation of several event beds. This interpretation has important implications for attempts to estimate event frequency by counting sandstone beds within a sequence and for estimates of sand budgets during storm events. The thick bedded lenticular facies appears to have been formed by erosion of the mud beds between the lenticular sands, leading to nearly complete amalgamation of several lenticular sand bodies except for residual mud partings. In the overlying Redmans Formation the process of amalgamation progressed even further so that nearly all the mud partings were removed, resulting in the formation of thick bedded tabular sandstones. Sequence stratigraphic analysis of the cyclical sequence suggests that the cycles were eustatically controlled. The rising limb of the sea level curve produced only the dark grey mudstone part of the cycle while the remainder of the cycle was deposited on the falling limb. There is a gradational but rapid facies transition from the tabular to the lenticular sandstone facies which is interpreted as occurring at the inflexion point on the falling limb. The thick bedded facies of the Beach Formation and the thick bedded tabular facies of the Redmans Formation represent periods of maximum sea level fall. The stacked cycles in the Beach Formation are interpreted as an aggradational, high frequency sequence or parasequence set bounded at the top by a sequence boundary and succeeded by the three aggradational parasequences of the Redmans Formation. The recognition of storm facies with sandstone beds of very different bed length has important implications for the reservoir modelling of such facies.     

Deep‐water foreland basin deposits of the Cerro Toro Formation,Magallanes basin,Chile: architectural elements of a sinuous basin axial channel belt

Coarse‐grained deep‐water strata of the Cerro Toro Formation in the Cordillera Manuel Señoret, southern Chile, represent the deposits of a major channel belt (4 to 8 km wide by >100 km long) that occupied the foredeep of the Magallanes basin during the Late Cretaceous. Channel belt deposits comprise a ca 400 m thick conglomeratic interval (informally named the ‘Lago Sofia Member’) encased in bathyal fine‐grained units. Facies of the Lago Sofia Member include sandy matrix conglomerate (that show evidence of traction‐dominated deposition and sedimentation from turbulent gravity flows), muddy matrix conglomerate (graded units interpreted as coarse‐grained slurry‐flow deposits) and massive sandstone beds (high‐density turbidity current deposits). Interbedded sandstone and mudstone intervals are present locally, interpreted as inner levée deposits. The channel belt was characterized by a low sinuousity planform architecture, as inferred from outcrop mapping and extensive palaeocurrent measurements. Laterally adjacent to the Lago Sofia Member are interbedded mudstone and sandstone facies derived from gravity flows that spilled over the channel belt margin. A levée interpretation for these fine‐grained units is based on several observations, which include: (i) palaeocurrent measurements that indicate flows diverged (50° to 100°) once they spilled over the confining channel margin; (ii) sandstone beds progressively thin, away from the channel belt margin; (iii) evidence that the eroded channel base was not very well indurated, including a stepped margin and injection of coarse‐grained channel material into surrounding fine‐grained units; and (iv) the presence of sedimentary features common to levées, including slumped units inferring depositional slopes dipping away from the channel margin, lenticular sandstone beds thinning distally from the channel margin, soft sediment deformation and climbing ripples. The tectonic setting and foredeep architecture influenced deposition in the axial channel belt. A significant downstream constriction of the channel belt is reflected by a transition from more tabular units to an internal architecture dominated by lenticular beds associated with a substantially increased degree of scour. Differential propagation of the fold‐thrust belt from the west is speculated to have had a major control on basin, and subsequently channel, width. The confining influence of the basin slopes that paralleled the channel belt, as well as the likelihood that numerous conduits fed into the basin along the length of the active fold‐thrust belt to the west, suggest that proximal–distal relationships observed from large channels in passive margin settings are not necessarily applicable to axial channels in elongate basins.     

Franciscan Complex olistostrome at Crescent City, northern California

An olistostrome and bounding turbidites are exposed within the late Mesozoic Franciscan Complex along the Crescent City (California) coastline. Facies grade in character from Mutti & Ricci Lucchi (1978) mixed facies B, C and D, to F (the olistostrome), to mixed A, B and E, progressing upwards within the Franciscan stratigraphic section. The facies F unit outcrop is up to 600 m thick and extends 12 km along strike. It consists of oblate to tabular blocks, up to 200 m in maximum dimension, of greenstone, tonalite, radiolarian chert, limestone, phyllite and greywacke dispersed in a scaly argillite matrix. The olistostromal origin of the unit is indicated by depositional contacts with bounding turbidites, by the presence of abundant recycled sedimentary clasts within the unit, and by the presence of sedimentary breccias and associated dismembered, slump-folded turbidites both within the olistostrome and among subjacent turbidites. Sandstones are chiefly feldspathic litharenites that were very likely derived from the partially dissected, late Mesozoic Sierran-Klamath magmatic are. Franciscan rocks record an early pervasive, layer-parallel flattening strain in such features as extensional faults, necking and pinch-and-swell structures. Several scales of extensional faulting account for the juxtaposition of turbidites of different facies and/or with varying degrees of stratal disruption, the formation of sandstone lozenges, and the formation of scaly foliation in the olistostrome matrix. The latter resulted from the juxtaposition of lenticles with varying concentrations of silt and clay. These were ultimately derived from the finer divisions of turbidite beds that were incorporated into the olistostrome. The presence of gradational contacts between some sandstone olistoliths and the olistostrome matrix, and of sandstone dykes that intrude fractures and associated drag-folded turbidite beds indicate that Franciscan sediments were not lithified during their early deformation. These sediments were deposited in either a trench or trench slope basin, and were first deformed either by gravity collapse of the trench slope cover or, less likely, by vertical loading beneath the toe of the accretionary wedge. They later were folded during internal shortening of the growing Franciscan accretionary prism.     

Transitional submarine fan deposits from the late Precambrian Kongsfjord Formats submarine fan, NE Finnmark, N. Norway

ABSTRACT Three transitional submarine fan environments are recognized in the late Precambrian, 3-2 km thick Kongsfjord Formation in NE Finnmark, North Norway, namely: (1) middle to outer fan; (2) fan lateral margin, and (3) fan to upper basin-slope deposits. Middle to outer fan deposits have a high proportion of sandstones, typically showing Bouma T _bede with T _a in the thicker beds. Deposition was mainly from sheet flows with rare shallow channels. Middle to outer fan deposits are an association of sandstone packets less than 10 m thick but commonly only a few metres thick, interpreted as channels or lobes. Interchannel and fan fringe deposits occur as discrete packets of beds between the thicker bedded and coarser grained channel or lobe deposits. Fan lateral margin deposits are recognized on the basis of their stratigraphic position adjacent to inner/middle fan deposits. They are characterized by: (a) a relatively high proportion of fine-grained sandstone/siltstone turbidites compared to other major fan environments; (b) relatively small channels oriented at various angles to the regional basin slope; (c) lobes associated with channels, and (d) abundant clastic dykes and other soft-sediment deformation. Fan lateral margin deposits are distinguished from the outer fan/basin plain successions on account of the very high proportion of siltstone turbidites comparable with middle fan inter-channel deposits. Fan to upper basin-slope deposits occur at the top of the formation as an alternation of sandstone turbidites, most of which are laterally discontinuous, and very thin-bedded upper basin-slope siltstones with slide deposits.     

The radiolarian evidence for the accretion of the Fu-saki Formation with the inferred oceanic plate stratigraphy: A case of weakly-metamorphosed accretionary complex in Ishigaki Jima,southern Ryukyu Arc,Japan

The island of Ishigaki Jima, located in the western part of the southern Ryukyu Arc, Japan, is underlain by a basement comprising the Tumuru and Fu-saki formations. The former is a pelitic glaucophane schist with a metamorphic age of 220–190 Ma, and the latter is a weakly metamorphosed accretionary complex, composed mainly of chert, mudstone and sandstone with minor amounts of limestone and mafic rocks. The Fu-saki Formation was weakly metamorphosed at ∼140 Ma. Latest Carboniferous–Early Jurassic microfossils have been obtained from the limestones, cherts and siliceous mudstones of this formation, but no fossils have been collected from the phyllitic mudstones. The radiolarian fauna of the phyllitic mudstones described herein indicates a late Pliensbachian–early Toarcian (Early Jurassic) age. This result, when combined with existing data, enables the reconstruction of an oceanic plate stratigraphy, showing a succession of (in ascending order) Upper Carboniferous–Triassic cherts, Sinemurian–lower Pliensbachian siliceous mudstones and upper Pliensbachian–lower Toarcian phyllitic mudstones and sandstones. The radiolarians from the phyllitic mudstones are important in constraining the timing of the accretion of the Fu-saki Formation to the base of the Tumuru Formation.     

Geometry,distribution and fill of erosional scours in a heterolithic,distal lower shoreface sandstone reservoir analogue: Grassy Member,Blackhawk Formation,Book Cliffs,Utah, USA

Many shoreface sandstone reservoirs host significant hydrocarbon volumes within distal intervals of interbedded sandstones and mudstones. Hydrocarbon production from these reservoir intervals depends on the abundance and proportion of sandstone beds that are connected by erosional scours, and on the lateral extent and continuity of interbedded mudstones. Cliff‐face exposures of the Campanian ‘G2’ parasequence, Grassy Member, Blackhawk Formation in the Book Cliffs of east‐central Utah, USA , allow detailed characterization of 128 erosional scours within such interbedded sandstones and mudstones in a volume of 148 m length, 94 m width and 15 m height. The erosional scours have depths of up to 1·1 m, apparent widths of up to 15·1 m and steep sides (up to 35°) that strike approximately perpendicular (N099 ± 36°) to the local north–south palaeoshoreline trend. The scours have limited lateral continuity along strike and down dip, and a relatively narrow range of apparent aspect ratio (apparent width/depth), implying that their three‐dimensional geometry is similar to non‐channelized pot casts. There is no systematic variation in scour dimensions, but ‘scour density’ is greater in amalgamated (conjoined) sandstone beds over 0·5 m thick, and increases upward within vertical successions of upward‐thickening conjoined sandstone beds. There is no apparent organization of the overall lateral distribution of scours, although localized clustering implies that some scours were re‐occupied during multiple erosional events. Scour occurrence is also associated with locally increased amplitude and laminaset thickness of hummocky cross‐stratification in sandstone beds. The geometry, distribution and infill character of the scours imply that they were formed by storm‐generated currents coincident with riverine sediment influx (‘storm floods’). The erosional scours increase the vertical and lateral connectivity of conjoined sandstone beds in the upper part of upward‐thickening sandstone bed successions, resulting in increased effective vertical and horizontal permeability of such intervals.     

东濮凹陷沙三段的风暴沉积

东濮凹陷下第三系沙三段发育风暴沉积,主要特征有:(1)具重力流沉积特征的变形构造;(2)反映风暴作用的丘状交错层理、冲刷-充填构造(渠模)、浪成沙纹层理、和震荡波痕;(3)与风浪作用相关的生物活动,包括潜穴、钻孔和生物逃逸现象;(4)可与海相风暴岩对比的“似鲍马层序”以及(5)多变的砂层顶面形态。根据风暴砂层的性质,可将风暴岩系划分为三个微相:(1)水道充填沉积;(2)漫溢沉积微相;(3)末稍沉积微相。     

Sedimentology and tectonic implications of Cretaceous fan-delta conglomerates, Queen Charlotte Islands, Canada

The Honna Formation, of Coniacian age, consists of several hundred metres of polymictic clast-supported conglomerate associated with sandstone and mudstone. Five conglomerate facies are recognized: ungraded beds; inverse graded beds; normal graded beds; inverse-to-normal graded beds; and parallel-stratified beds. These facies are interpreted as the deposits of subaqueous cohesionless debris flows and/or high-density turbidity currents. The depositional environment was a deep-water, gravelly fan that draped a fault-controlled, basin-margin slope. The fan is inferred to have passed upslope directly into an alluvial fan (unpreserved); hence, the name fan delta can be applied to the overall depositional system. This type of fan delta, of which the Brae oilfield in the North Sea is an example, is defined here as a deep-water fan delta. The lack of a shelf is in marked contrast to other types of fan delta. Three facies associations are recognized in the Honna Formation: subaqueous proximal-fan conglomerates, distal-fan turbiditic sandstones, and pro-fan/interfan mudstones with thin sandy turbidites. The proximal fan is envisaged as an unchannelled gravel belt with a downslope length of at least 20 km; such a long subaqueous gravel belt lacks a known modern analogue. The distal fan was an unchannelled sandy extension of the proximal gravel belt. It is postulated that the Honna Formation accumulated in a foreland basin which migrated westwards from the Coast Mountains where the Wrangellia-Alexander terrane was colliding with North America. In this model, the Honna fan delta was sourced by a (west-verging) thrust sheet whose sole-thrust was the Sandspit Fault immediately to the east. Deep-water fan deltas appear to develop preferentially when eustatic sea-level is relatively high, so that the‘feeder’ alluvial fan is small, and gravelly throughout. In petroleum exploration and field development, care should be taken to distinguish deep-water fan deltas from base-of-slope (canyon-fed) submarine fans, because the two systems differ significantly in terms of coarse-sediment distribution.     

The Bude Formation (Lower Westphalian), SW England: siliciclastic shelf sedimentation in a large equatorial lake

The 1300-m-thick turbiditic Bude Formation was deposited in a lake, Lake Bude, but disagreement persists over whether the environment was a deltaic or deep-water fan. The tectonic setting of the lake was the northern flank of a northerly advancing Variscan foreland basin, close to the Westphalian palaeo-equator. Palaeocurrents indicate sediment sourcing from all quadrants except the south. There is a dm-m scale cyclicity, whereby sandstone bodies comprising amalgamated event beds alternate with mudstone intervals containing non-amalgamated event beds. The ‘ideal’ cycle is a symmetrical coarsening-up/fining-up cycle, consisting of three facies (1, 2 and 3) arranged in 12321 order. Facies 3, in the middle of the cycle, is an amalgamated sandstone body up to 10 m thick which interfingers laterally with thin (cm) mudstone layers. The sandstone body comprises amalgamated beds of very fine sandstone which are largely massive and up to 0.4 m thick. Channels are absent except for scours up to 0.2 m deep which truncate the interfingering mudstone layers. Sandstone bodies are inferred to be tongue-shaped in three dimensions. Facies 1 and 2, completing the 12321 cycle, are respectively dark-grey fine and light-grey coarse, varved(?) mudstone containing thin (< 0.4 m) sandstone event beds. Fossils and burrows indicate that facies 1 and 2 were deposited, respectively, in brackish (rarely marine) and fresh water. Hence, the ideal cycle (12321) reflects an upward decrease then increase in salinity (brackish-fresh-brackish); this is attributed to the lake sill being periodically overtopped by the sea, due to glacio-eustatic sea-level oscillations. The resulting oscillations in lake depth produced the coarsening-up/fining-up (regressive-transgressive) cyclicity, the central sandstone body representing the regressive maximum. Event beds are interpreted as river-fed turbidites deposited during catastrophic storm-floods. Combined-flow ripples and other wave-influenced structures occur in event beds throughout the ideal cycle, suggesting deposition of the entire Bude Formation above storm wave base. The proposed environment is a shelf, of continental-shelf dimensions, but lacustrine instead of marine. Sandstone bodies are interpreted to be river-connected tongues or lobes. The absence of cycles containing nearshore or emergent facies is attributed to: (i) the lake sill preventing the water level from falling below sill level, thereby insulating the lake floor from eustatically forced emergence; and (ii) relatively distal deposition, beyond the reach of shoreline progradations. The lack of palaeoflow from the south is attributed to a (now eroded?) deep-water trough lying to the south, in front of the northerly advancing orogen. Some facies 2 laminated mudstone beds grade laterally into massive and/or contorted beds, interpreted as in-situ seismites (Facies 4), consistent with an active foreland basin setting. Development of seismites was possibly facilitated by gas bubbles and/or weak cohesion in the (fresh water) bottom mud. The late Quaternary Black Sea, with its broad northwestern shelf, is probably a good physiographical analogue of Lake Bude, and was likewise fresh at times.     

塔里木盆地塔中32井中上奥陶统内潮汐沉积

塔里木盆地塔中32井的中、上奥陶统钻遇厚度为1 462 m。它是一套巨厚的深灰色泥岩、页岩与灰色砂岩、粉砂岩互层夹少量灰岩的地层。其中深灰色泥岩、页岩最多；砂岩和粉砂岩主要分布于上部和下部，中部砂岩和粉砂岩较少；鲕粒灰岩数量少，主要夹于深灰色泥页岩中。这些砂岩和鲕粒灰岩既可单独成层，但更常见它们与深灰色泥页岩组合成薄互层。薄互层中发育脉状、波状和透镜状层理，并普遍发育交错层理和双向交错纹理。这些特征表明砂岩和鲕粒灰岩为深水斜坡上的内潮汐沉积的产物。这些内潮汐沉积进一步划分为4种类型：双向交错纹理细砂岩型、单向交错层和双向交错纹理中-细砂岩型、韵律性砂泥岩薄互层型和鲕粒灰岩型。它们具有5种垂向沉积层序，在剖面上常形成多旋回韵律性沉积组合。