Alluvial fan and lacustrine sediments from the Stephanian A and B (La Magdalena, Ciñera—Matallana and Sabero) coalfields, northern Spain

Vertical sequence analysis within 1500-2500 m thick coarse-grained coalfield successions allows six sedimentary associations to be distinguished. These are interpreted in terms of depositional environments on, or related to alluvial fans which fringed a fault bounded source region. (i) Topographic valley and fanhead canyon fills: occurring at the bases of the coalfield successions and comprising sporadically reddened, scree, conglomeratic thinning and fining upward sequences, and fine-grained coal-bearing sediments. (ii) Alluvial fan channels: conglomerate and sandstone filled. (iii) Mid-fan conglomeratic and sandstone lobes: laterally extensive, thickly bedded (1-25 m) and varying from structureless coarse conglomerates and pebbly sandstones, to stratified fine conglomerates and cross-bedded sandstones. (iv) Interlobe and interchannel: siltstones, fine-grained sheet sandstones, abundant floras, thin coals and upright trees. (v) Distal fan: 10 cm-1.5 m thick sheet sandstones which preserve numerous upright trees, separated by silt-stones and mudstones with abundant floras, and coal seams. The sheet sandstones and normally arranged in sequences of beds which become thicker and coarser or thinner and finer upwards. These trends also occur in combination. (vi) Lacustrine: coals, limestones, and fine-grained, low-energy, regressive, coarsening upward sequences. Proximal fan sediments are only preserved in certain basal deposits of these coalfields. The majority of the successions comprise mid and distal alluvial fan and lacustrine sediments. Mid-fan depositional processes consisted of debris flows and turbulent streamflows, whilst sheetfloods dominated active distal areas. A tropical and seasonal climate allowed vegetation to colonize abandoned fan surfaces and perhaps resulted in localized diagenetic reddening. Worked coals, from 10s cm-20 m thick, occur in the distal fan and lacustrine environments. These alluvial fan deposits infill‘California-like’basins developed and preserved along major structural zones. In many of their characteristics, in particular the occurrence of thinning and fining, and thickening and coarsening upward sequences and megasequences, these sediments have similarities to documented ancient submarine fan deposits.     

The sedimentary history of a debris-flow dominated, Devonian alluvial fan–a study of textural inversion

Karlskaret fan, with a radius of less than 11/2 km and dominated by debris-flow conglomerates, is one of numerous alluvial fans built out from the fault margins of Hornelen Basin (Devonian, Norway). The fan body is more than 170 m thick proximally, consists of four main coarsening-upwards segments and thins distally by a rising of its base and by a vigorous interfingering with very fine-grained sediments originating from an adjacent, impinging floodbasin system. Within the entire fan body, and within individual lobes, is a proximal-distal (and vertical) facies change from sheet-like, polymodal debris-flow conglomerates through matrix-rich conglomerates that are commonly distorted by loading, slumping and faulting, to remarkably sheet-like, matrix-rich granule sandstone of subaqueous debris-flow origin. Because the alluvial fan prograded into an actively aggrading floodbasin the primary fanglomerates, themselves having been subject to some sorting on the fan surface, incorporated large quantitites of very fine sediments. This inclusion of fines, effectively a textural inversion on the lower fan reaches, frequently led to remobilization and resedimentation of material beyond the fan toe. Anomalous maximum particle size/bed thickness relationships and a variety of graded textures within these resedimented beds suggest deposition in lacustrine areas of the adjacent floodbasin.     

Gravel-topped offshore bar sequences in the Lower Carboniferous of southern Ireland

Within the Kinsale Formation (Lower Carboniferous) of southern Ireland are pebbly sandstones and conglomerates contained in what is known locally as the Garryvoe conglomerate facies. In this facies there are three main groups of lithologies: (a) heterolithic mudrocks and sandstones characterized by a wide variety of wave-produced structures; (b) sandstones dominated by swaley cross-stratification (SCS), parallel lamination, and rare hummocky cross-stratification (HCS); and (c) pebbly sandstones and conglomerates occurring as discrete beds or as gravel clasts dispersed through SCS sets. Successions of the facies comprise units of heterolithic mudrock and rippled sandstone alternating repeatedly with coarsening-upward units of SCS pebbly sandstone capped by top-surface granule and pebble lags. The Garryvoe conglomerate facies accumulated in a system of offshore bars on a muddy shallow-marine shelf that was dominated by waves and currents generated by storms. Sands and gravels were bypassed from a contemporaneous northerly coastal zone to the shelf, where they were moulded by the storm-generated flow into low, broad, sand ridges (offshore bars). The elongate bars were spaced kilometres apart, oriented obliquely to the coast, and separated by muddy interbar troughs. Their surfaces were largely covered by hummocky and swaley forms. Long-term, gradual seaward migration of the offshore bars concentrated gravels on landward flanks from the dispersed pebbly sands that were on the crests and seaward flanks. Exceptionally intense storms could form laterally extensive winnowed gravel lags above thinned bar sequences. Such storms could also flush gravel-bearing turbidity currents into muddy interbar trough areas.     

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.     

东营凹陷北带古近系沙四段砂砾岩体沉积特征及沉积模式

综合岩心观察、薄片鉴定、砂砾岩厚度及百分含量等资料,对东营凹陷北带沙四段砂砾岩的沉积特征、成因类型及沉积演化模式进行了系统研究。结果表明,东营凹陷北带沙四段砂砾岩储层中块状层理、粒序层理、平行层理、叠覆冲刷构造、交错层理发育,同时变形构造、泥岩撕裂屑、重荷模和火焰构造常见。碎屑颗粒表现为无分选-中等分选、棱角状-次棱角状到次圆状的近物源沉积特征。岩相类型以块状层理砾岩相、递变层理砾岩相、递变层理砂质砾岩相、交错层理砾质砂岩相、平行层理砾质砂岩相、块状层理砾质砂岩相、块状砂岩相、平行层理砂岩相、块状层理砂岩相、变形层理砂岩相、泥质撕裂变形砂岩相、薄层透镜状或压扁层理砂岩相为主。综合古地貌、砂砾岩沉积特征及沉积机制等,认为东营凹陷北带沙四段主要发育近岸水下扇、湖底扇和扇三角洲等成因类型的砂砾岩扇体。在沉积演化上,沙四下亚段沉积时期,胜坨地区和民丰地区发育近岸水下扇沉积,利津地区发育扇三角洲沉积,扇体规模较小,横向连续性较差;沙四上亚段沉积时期,胜坨地区和民丰地区广泛发育近岸水下扇-湖底扇沉积,利津西部地区发育扇三角洲沉积,扇体规模较大,横向连片发育。     

Stream-dominated alluvial fan and lacustrine depositional systems in Cenozoic strike-slip basins, Denali fault system, Yukon Territory, Canada

Ancient stream-dominated (‘wet’) alluvial fan deposits have received far less attention in the literature than their arid/semi-arid counterparts. The Cenozoic basin fills along the Denali fault system of the northwestern Canadian Cordillera provide excellent examples of stream-dominated alluvial fan deposits because they developed during the Eocene-Oligocene temperate climatic regime in an active strike-slip orogen. The Amphitheatre Formation filled several strike-slip basins in Yukon Territory and consists of up to 1200 m of coarse siliciclastic rocks and coal. Detailed facies analysis, conglomerate: sandstone percentages (C:S), maximum particle size (MPS) distribution, and palaeocurrent analysis of the Amphitheatre Formation in two of these strike-slip basins document the transition from proximal, to middle, to distal and fringing environments within ancient stream-dominated alluvial-fan systems. Proximal fan deposits in the Bates Lake Basin are characterized by disorganized, clast-supported, boulder conglomerate and minor matrix(mud)-supported conglomerate. Proximal facies are located along the faulted basin margins in areas where C:S = 80 to 100 and where the average MPS ranges from 30 to 60 cm. Proximal fan deposits grade into middle fan, channelized, well organized cobble conglomerates that form upward fining sequences, with an average thickness of 7 m. Middle fan deposits grade basinward into well-sorted, laterally continuous beds of normally graded sandstone interbedded with trough cross-stratified sandstone. These distal fan deposits are characteristic of areas where C:S = 20 to 40 and where the average MPS ranges from 5 to 15 cm. Fan fringe deposits consist of lacustrine and axial fluvial facies. Palaeogeographic reconstruction of the Bates Lake Basin indicates that alluvial-fan sedimentation was concentrated in three parts of the basin. The largest alluvial-fan system abutted the strike-slip Duke River fault, and prograded westward across the axis of the basin. Two smaller, coarser grained fans prograded syntaxially northward from the normal-faulted southern basin margin. Facies analysis of the Burwash Basin indicates a similar transition from proximal to distal, stream-dominated alluvial fan environments, but with several key differences. Middle-fan deposits in the Burwash Basin define upward coarsening sequences 50 to 60 m thick composed of fine-grained lithofacies and coal in the lower part, trough cross-stratified sandstone in the middle, and conglomerate in the upper part of the sequence. Upward-coarsening sequences, 90–140 m thick, also are common in the fan fringe lacustrine deposits. These sequences coarsen upward from mudstone, through fine grained, ripple-laminated sandstone, to coarse grained trough cross-stratified sandstone. The upward-coarsening sequences are basinwide, facies independent, and probably represent progradation of stream-dominated alluvial-fan depositional systems. Coal distribution in the Amphitheatre Formation is closely coupled with predominant depositional processes on stream-dominated alluvial fans. The thickest coal seams occur in the most proximal part of the basin fill and in marginal lacustrine deposits. Coal development in the intervening middle and distal fan areas was suppressed by the high frequency of unconfined flow events and lateral channel mobility.     

安徽绩溪新元古代海底扇沉积环境分析

研究区位于安徽绩溪县杨溪镇,区内主要发育一套新元古代浅变质碎屑岩系,厚度为639.7 m。碎屑岩以泥岩、泥质粉砂岩、砂岩、含砾砂岩和砾岩为主,发育水平层理,粒序层理,韵律层理等沉积构造,可见鲍马层序Ta、Tc、Td、Te段。碎屑组分以跃移组分为主,含量为35%～58%。地层上段厚为254.8 m,包含粉砂岩、泥质粉砂岩和粉砂质泥岩,水平层理和粒序层理发育,为中扇-外扇扇叶沉积,中段厚为192.5 m,主要为细砂岩、粉砂岩和泥质粉砂岩,砂岩条带广泛发育,属于中扇水道沉积,下段厚为192.4 m,为一套砾岩层,砾石分选较差,砾岩层间夹有粉砂质泥岩,为上扇水道滞留沉积。总体上,形成一套退积的海底扇沉积序列。     

渤海湾盆地车西洼陷陡坡带古近系沙河街组沙三下段“源-汇”系统

依据渤海湾盆地车镇凹陷车西洼陷陡坡带古近系沙河街组沙三下段岩心、测井以及三维地震资料,对研究区的“源-汇”系统进行了研究。结果表明:(1)车西洼陷沙三下段为一个三级层序,并可进一步划分为低位、湖侵与高位3个体系域,其陡坡带沙三下段发育杂基支撑中砾岩、碎屑支撑中砾岩、杂基支撑细砾岩、碎屑支撑细砾岩、砂质砾岩、含砾砂岩、粗砂岩、中砂岩、细砂岩、递变层理砂岩、滑塌岩等11种重力流成因岩石类型及深湖泥岩,表现为典型的近岸水下扇沉积;不同体系域时期扇体规模整体呈“由大变小,再变大”的演化趋势。(2)车西洼陷陡坡带自西向东识别出6套供源体系,可分为有沟道为主供源体系和滑塌为主供源体系,分别形成沟道供源为主近岸水下扇和滑塌供源为主近岸水下扇类型,其中滑塌供源为主近岸水下扇中的滑塌变形构造更发育、更普遍,但其扇体规模较沟道供源为主近岸水下扇小。(3)进一步的“溯源”分析结果表明,沙三下段沉积时期,研究区物源区母岩以碳酸盐岩为主,其在强烈的构造活动、湿热气候作用下,易于发育石漠化古地貌,剥蚀作用较为强烈,由此形成的频发的季节性重力流进入湖盆,形成该地区的近岸水下扇沉积;不同体系域时期扇体规模的差异主要受物源区气候和植被覆盖的控制。     

A coarse grained turbidite system with morphotectonic control (Middle Albian, Ondarroa, northern Iberia)

The Middle Albian Ondarroa turbidite system is a coarse grained, deep water unit which outcrops in the north-eastern part of the Basque-Cantabrian region, west of the Pyrenees. It is about 18 km long and 7 km wide, and shows an unusual ‘L’shape resulting from both a direct morphotectonic confinement and the presence of nearby shallow water carbonate buildups. Eight main facies have been distinguished within this turbidite system: (1) clast-supported conglomerates; (2) mud-supported conglomerates; (3) slump deposits; (4) normally graded pebbly sandstones; (5) cross stratified sandstones; (6) interbedded graded sandstones and mudstones; (7) interbedded non-graded sandstones and mudstones: and (8) mudstones. Inner system, middle system, outer system and basin plain divisions have been distinguished. The inner turbidite system is characterized by stacked channel fill conglomerates and lesser sandy turbidites and mudstones. The middle system consists of sandy and conglomeratic fining upwards sequences, normally several metres thick. The outer system has alternating non-channellized sandstones and mudstones, without any predictable vertical arrangement. The basin plain is characterized by mudstone-siltstone laminations and lesser, randomly occurring thin bedded sandy turbidites. Three main channel fills make up the inner turbidite system. Although all of them can be compared with the valley channel fills of the modern Mississippi Fan, and thus their bases can be interpreted as sequence boundaries, only the lowermost and the uppermost channel bases are documented as allocyclic boundaries. The Ondarroa turbidite system was deposited in an immature passive margin subjected to transtensional movements. It filled a composite pull apart depression with coarse clastics derived from a narrow platform to the north of the present outcrops which was invaded by fan deltas. A major pattern of sinistral strike-slip faulting linked to the opening of the Bay of Biscay is invoked to explain the Ondarroa turbidite system appearance and its tectonic confinement.     

The Cambro-Ordovician Cap Enragé Formation, Queébec, Canada: conglomeratic deposits of a braided submarine channel with terraces

The Cambro-Ordovician Cap Enragé Formation is interpreted as a deep submarine channel complex of conglomerates, pebbly sandstones and massive sandstones. The formation is up to 270 m thick, and crops out in a coastal belt 50 km long. In general terms, it has previously been interpreted as a deep sea channel deposit, with the channel about 300 m deep, at least 10 km wide and trending south-westward, parallel to the coastal outcrops. Eight facies have been defined in this study and they have been grouped into three major facies associations. In the Coarse Channelled Association, conglomerates with carbonate boulders up to about 4 m are associated with graded-stratified finer grained conglomerates. Facies of this association make up about 25% of all the beds in the formation. The association is also characterized by abundant major channels 1–10 m deep and up to 250 m wide. Excellent outcrop allows the reconstruction of topographic highs (bars) within the channels and the association is interpreted as a braided channel and bar system. The second association, Multiple-Scoured Coarse Sandstones, contains some graded-stratified fine conglomerates, along with massive to structureless coarse and pebbly sandstones, and rare cross-bedded pebbly sandstones. Deep channels are absent, but multiple channelling on the scale of 0.5–1 m is characteristic. In the absence of the very coarse conglomerates and deeper channelling, this association is interpreted as being deposited on topographically higher terrace areas adjacent to the main braid plain. The third facies association, Unchannelled Sandstones, is characterized by massive sandstones with abundant fluid-escape structures, classical turbidites and thin shales. In the absence of any scouring deeper than a few tens of centimetres, this association is interpreted as being deposited on an even higher and smoother terrace, farther from the braid plain. Palaeoflow directions for conglomerate facies indicate fairly consistent south-westward transport, apparently parallel to the base of the Cambro-Ordovician continental slope. Flow directions in the finer-grained facies are rather variable, suggesting complex bar development and overbank spills. Thinning-and fining-upward sequences are present on two scales. The smaller, 1–10 m sequence, is related to channel filling and abandonment. Thicker sequences (10–100 m), with facies of the Multiple Scoured, and Unchannelled Sandstone Associations, may indicate switching of a main channel away from the area and its subsequent burial by marginal terrace and higher terrace deposits.     

Facies architecture of a submarine fan channel–levee complex: the Juniper Ridge Conglomerate, Coalinga, California

The Upper Cretaceous Juniper Ridge Conglomerate (JRC) near Coalinga, California, provides a rare, high-quality exposure of a submarine channel to overbank transition. The facies architecture of the JRC comprises a thick, predominantly mudstone sequence overlain by a channellized conglomerate package. Conglomeratic bounding surfaces truncate successions of interbedded turbiditic sandstones and mudstones both vertically and laterally. Thick-bedded, massive sandstones are interbedded with conglomerates. Facies architecture, palaeocurrent indicators, slump features, sandstone percentages and sandstone bed thickness trends lead to the interpretation that these elements comprise channel and overbank facies. A vertical sequence with conglomerate at the base, followed by thick-bedded sandstone, and capped by interbedded turbiditic sandstone and mudstone form a fining-upward lithofacies association that is interpreted as a single channel-fill/overbank system. Three similar lithofacies associations can be related to autocyclic processes of thalweg migration and submarine fan aggradation or to allocyclically driven changes in sediment calibre.     

Structures and textures in Triassic braided stream conglomerates ('Bunter' Pebble Beds) in the Sherwood Sandstone Group, North Staffordshire, England

ABSTRACT In the northern parts of the Needwood and Stafford/Eccleshall Basins, England, the Pebble Beds of the Sherwood Sandstone Group contain thick successions of texturally mature, fluvial pebble/cobble conglomerates which are organized into either horizontal or cross-stratified sets. The horizontally lying sets, generally coarser grained and more poorly sorted than the cross-bedded sets, are usually disorganized and either matrix- or clast-supported, although thin lenses of well-sorted, occasionally openwork units, interpreted as falling stage phenomena, are often present. The cross-stratified conglomerates have foresets exhibiting remarkable textural organization, with a coarse, bimodal (sometimes matrix-supported) part grading upwards or being abruptly overlain by a finer, well-sorted (occasionally openwork) part and finally capped by sandstone. These rhythmic textural changes are attributed partly to an avalanche process at high stage and partly to falling stage conditions. The most common types of vertical association are thick successions of horizontally bedded conglomerates (up to 20 m) and sequences of an upwards coarsening nature (2-12 m) in which cross-stratified sets are overlain by flat-lying sets. The environment of deposition of the gravels is interpreted as one in which water depths at high stage were greater than depths in most modern braided stream plains (proglacial or alluvial fan) but shallower than depths associated with the Pleistocene catastrophic floods from which texturally mature, giant gravel bars have been recorded. Recent braided streams with relatively confined channels and considerable bar/channel relief are better analogues. In particular, medial or mid-channel bars with a two-tier structure (subaqueous and partly emergent portions) may explain the upward-coarsening sequences in which horizontally lying conglomerates overlie cross-stratified conglomerates. The thicker sequences of horizontally stratified conglomerates represent proximal, longitudinal bar deposits. Sheets of pebbly sandstone and argillaceous sandstone lying between the conglomerates, and commonly occurring towards the top of the succession, largely represent deposition from sandwaves and dunes. Finer, interbedded, argillaceous sandstones, siltstones and mudstones are interpreted as overbank and waning-flood deposits. Basin-forming tectonism of increasing intensity probably caused the initial coarsening upwards of the lower part of the succession, whilst more stable tectonic conditions and decreasing relief on the margins of the basins and in the areas of provenance in the Midlands and the Hercynides, account for the upwards-fining of the upper part of the succession.     

粤北丹霞盆地晚白垩世丹霞组沉积相及古气候意义

粤北丹霞山作为世界自然遗产"中国丹霞"的典型代表,在地貌方面已经积累了丰富的研究成果,但是对丹霞地貌成景地层(晚白垩世红层)的沉积环境和古气候的研究较少。通过对巴寨剖面丹霞组的野外观测、砾石统计、室内砂岩样品薄片鉴定及粒度分析,进行详细的沉积相研究。巴寨剖面丹霞组出露巴寨段和锦石岩段,前者以砾岩为主,发育粒序层理及平行层理、底侵蚀面、叠瓦状构造等,而后者以发育大型交错层理的风成砂岩夹古土壤为特征。在盆地其他位置,可见丹霞组白寨顶段砾岩地层。研究结果表明,在巴寨剖面的晚白垩世丹霞组红层中,可以识别出正粒序层理砾岩、逆粒序层理砾岩、平行层理砾岩、无沉积构造砾岩、大型交错层理风成砂岩、中—薄层砂岩、古土壤7种岩相。巴寨段砾石大小主要为0.5～9.5 cm,成分以脉石英、石英砂岩及砖红色砂岩为主。锦石岩段砂岩粒径为0.03～0.5 mm,分选性好,以跳跃组分为主,指示风成环境。丹霞组从巴寨段到锦石岩段沉积物粒度变细、沉积速率由快变慢,指示了由河流主导的冲积扇沉积体系向沙漠沉积体系的转变,反映了古气候向干热变化,锦石岩段的风成砂岩可能与东亚中纬度地区晚白垩世Campanian期古气候广泛的干旱化有关。丹霞组沉积末期(白寨顶段),古气候条件再次变湿,降水增加,河流将粗粒碎屑物再次搬运到盆地发生沉积,新的冲积扇叠覆在锦石岩段风成砂岩—古土壤序列之上。     

Carboniferous calcretes in the Canadian Arctic

Calcrete palaeosols have been found in the Upper Carboniferous Canyon Fiord Formation of southwestern Ellesmere Island, Canadian Arctic. These calcretes were developed in fluvial and shallow marine sediments that accumulated within two adjacent subbasins, in which the tectono-sedimentary environment led to the deposition of five different sedimentary facies: (i) floodbasin sandstones; (ii) alluvial fan sandstones; (iii) alluvial fan conglomerates; (iv) braided fluvial sandstones; and (v) shallow marine limestones. Nodular/massive palaeosol profiles, consisting of cryptic, nodular, massive and laminar horizons, occur within the floodbasin sandstone and alluvial fan sandstone facies. Plugged palaeosol profiles, consisting of cryptic, plugged and laminar horizons, are restricted to the alluvial fan conglomerate facies. Massive/brecciated palaeosol profiles, consisting of cryptic, massive/brecciated and laminar horizons, occur essentially within the shallow marine limestone facies. The relationships between calcrete profiles and sedimentary facies suggest that profile types were controlled mainly by the texture and composition of the parent material: nodular/massive profiles are restricted to silicate-rich sandstone hosts, plugged profiles are restricted to carbonate-rich conglomerate hosts and massive/brecciated profiles are restricted to limestone hosts. Important relationships also exist between the maturity levels of nodular/massive profiles and sedimentary facies: profiles are generally mature in the floodbasin sandstones, invariably immature in the alluvial fan sandstones and absent from the braided fluvial sandstones. These different maturity levels were probably controlled mainly by exposure time, vegetation and substrate composition.     

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.     

江西龙虎山地区红层沉积相分析及与丹霞地貌发育关系研究——以仙人城景区为例

江西龙虎山地区以发育老年期丹霞地貌为特色,其成景地层为晚白垩世河口组红层,目前对这套红层的沉积相认识程度还比较低。龙虎山仙人城景区河口组出露厚度达百余米,沉积构造发育,且人工开凿的台阶可以直达山顶,这为沉积相分析提供了便利条件。根据野外露头岩性组成、沉积构造等特点,识别出6种岩相单元:无沉积构造砾岩、正粒序层理砾岩、逆粒序层理砾岩、平行层理砾岩、含砾砂岩、古土壤。砾石统计结果表明,砾石粒径范围主要为3~4 cm,最大可达12.5 cm,成分以紫红色凝灰岩为主,砂岩、花岗岩和石英次之、变质岩（主要是片岩）较少,磨圆度主要为次棱角状,其次为棱角状。在显微镜下,砂岩碎屑颗粒主要呈棱角-次棱角状,分选性较差,粒径为0.05~2.00 mm,主要由石英、长石和岩屑组成,总体具有结构和成分成熟度中等偏低的特点。野外露头宏观和室内显微分析结果表明,仙人城丹霞地貌的成景地层为河流主导的冲积扇沉积体系的产物。在龙虎山地区,丹霞地貌的空间分布与盆地冲积扇沉积相的平面展布具有较好的一致性,盆地边缘冲积扇成因的厚层砾岩为后期丹霞地貌的形成和演化提供了物质基础。      

滇东黔西晚二叠世早期辫状河三角洲沉积体系及其聚煤特征

滇东黔西上二叠统底部发育着一套玄武岩质砾岩，本文针对云南富源和贵州盘县一带的底砾岩进行综合研究，认为这套砾岩为辫状河三角洲沉积，并进一步识别出砾质辫状河道、砂质辫状河道、砾质河口坝、砂质河口坝等沉积类型。文中还对该辫状河三角洲的沉积序列、发育背景以及与聚煤作用关系等问题做了一定分析，认为三角洲朵体之间地区以及在衰退的三角洲朵体之上成煤较好。     

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)。     

The Proterozoic (1.85 Ga) Älvestorp Conglomerate,Bergslagen, Central Sweden

The Älvestorp conglomerates, deposited in an alluvial fan setting, form part of the Svecofennian orogenic belt in west Bergslagen, south central Sweden and are estimated to be as old as c. 1.85 Ga. Reaching a thickness of one kilometre, their architecture and form suggest an alluvial origin. Along sections, massive conglomerates often grade into pebbly mudstones and greenschist facies slates, while pure slates with dolomite concretions and olistolites occur in dark slatey mudstones on the eastern shore of lake Brunnsjön. Inner fan trenches are filled with massive, clast‐supported conglomerates that contain more than 80 percent epiclastic tuffaceous material. The Älvestorp conglomerate is therefore classified as the product of a Proterozoic stream‐flow channel and debris flow, or alluvial fan. The Grythyttan Basin to the north originated by extension after the first of two orogenic stages of Bergslagen.     

Coarse-grained submarine fan and slope apron deposits in a Cretaceous back-arc basin, Antarctica

The Cretaceous of west James Ross Island, Antarctica represents the proximal fill of a late Mesozoic back-arc basin that was probably initiated by oblique extension during the early development of the Weddell Sea. The succession records sedimentation in two contrasting depositional systems: a laterally persistent slope apron flanking the faulted basin margin interrupted both spatially and temporally by coarse-grained submarine fans. Slope apron deposits are dominated by thinly interbedded turbiditic sandstones and mudstones (mudstone association), interspersed with non-channelized chaotic boulder beds, intraformational slump sheets and isolated exotic blocks representing a spectrum of mass-flow processes from debris flow to submarine gliding. Localized sand-rich sequences (sandstone-breccia association) represent sandy debris lobes at the mouths of active slope chutes. The submarine fan sediments (conglomerate association) are typified by coarse conglomerates and pebbly sandstones, interpreted as the deposits of high-density turbidity currents and non-cohesive debris flows. Three assemblages are recognized and are suggested to represent components of the inner channelled zone of coarse-grained submarine fans, from major fan channels through ephemeral, marginal channels or terraces to levee or interchannel environments. The occurrence of both slope apron and submarine fan depositional systems during the Early and Mid-Cretaceous is attributed to localized input of coarse arc-derived sediment along a tectonically active basin margin. Periods of extensive fan development were probably linked to regional tectonic uplift and rejuvenation of the arc source region; cyclicity within individual fan sequences is attributed to migration or switching of fan channels or canyons. Slope apron sedimentation was controlled largely by intrabasinal tectonics. Local unconformities and packets of amalgamated slide sheets and debris flow deposits probably reflect episodic movement on basin margin faults. Differential subsidence across the basin margin anchored the basin slope for at least 20 Myr and precluded basinward progradation of shallow marine environments.