Seismic stratigraphic analysis of non-marine Lower Cretaceous strata in the Wessex and North Celtic Sea Basins

Non-marine strata of Early Cretaceous age ('Wealden facies') are found at outcrop in the type localities of the Wessex Basins, southern England (and adjacent subsurface) and in extensive and thick successions filling the North Celtic Sea Basin. Sedimentology, paleontology, petrology and geochemistry have traditionally been used as evidence in determining the climatic, tectonic and sea level controls on Wealden facies, sedimentary processes and stratigraphy. Analysis of seismic data, through seismic facies and sequence stratigraphic analysis, allows direct comparison of the Wealden in these basins and new interpretations to be made of the tectonic and depositional influences. In the north-eastern end of the North Celtic Sea Basin, tectonic controls on seismic facies can be demonstrated and are related to coarse-grained fan-delta horizons documented in core. In the south-western North Celtic Sea Basin, adjacent to the Cretaceous proto-Atlantic, tectonic controls are less apparent, and changes in relative sea level were probably more important in controlling the preservation of stratigraphic sequences. Where the non-marine Lower Cretaceous succession is imaged clearly, the stratigraphic similarity between parts of the North Celtic Sea and the Weald and Channel Basins suggests a wider control by relative sea-level fluctuations. However, important variations in seismic facies within the basins indicate localized, dominant tectonic control. The recognition of a very distinctive 'lower' Wealden seismic facies, observed as undulatory (?channelized) and downlapping reflections, is contrasted with either the parallel or synsedimentary fault-dominated 'upper' Wealden facies. These seismic characteristics reflect the previously recognized climatic/tectonic change from Hastings to Weald Clay Group environments. The debate on tectonics versus eustacy is further complicated: palaeoclimate appears to be a third process responsible for stratigraphic variation.     

The Wealden (non-marine Lower Cretaceous) of the Wessex Sub-basin,southern England

The Wealden Beds (non-marine Lower Cretaceous) of the Wessex Sub-basin, southern England, are exposed principally in coastal sections on the Isle of Wight and in Dorset. Geological Conservation Review sites within these strata have been extensively documented since the earliest days of geological enquiry in Great Britain. The succession is dominated by the alluvial Wessex Formation which demonstrates a broad east–west transition from meanderplain lithofacies to coarser-grained alluvial sediments, in relative proximity to the Cornubian source massif. The meanderplain sediments on the Isle of Wight are of international importance for their plant and animal fossils, the latter including many dinosaurs and their trackways. Upper Barremian transgression resulted in the spread of muddy lakes and coastal lagoons from the Weald Sub-basin into the eastern part of the Wessex Sub-basin, around or through the Purbeck–Isle of Wight structure. The resulting richly fossiliferous mudrock-dominated strata are now represented by the Vectis Formation on the Isle of Wight and in Swanage Bay, Dorset. The Geological Conservation Review sites in the Wessex Sub-basin are documented and interpreted, with particular reference to research history, chronostratigraphy, structural context, palaeoenvironments, palaeobiology and palaeoclimatology. New directions for research are proposed, as applicable.     

The marginal Wealden (non-marine Lower Cretaceous) between Wiltshire and Buckinghamshire,England

Non-marine Lower Cretaceous beds of Wealden aspect have long been known from the northern margin of the Wessex–Weald Basin, between Wiltshire and the south Midlands. Termed the Whitchurch Sands Formation, these badly exposed and generally poorly fossiliferous strata appear to represent interdigitating alluvial and brackish-marine units separated by significant sedimentary breaks. Geological Conservation Review sites within the Whitchurch Sands are described and interpreted for their chronostratigraphic, palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic significance.     

The non-marine Lower Cretaceous Wealden strata of southern England

The non-marine Lower Cretaceous Wealden strata of the Wessex-Weald Basin (southern England) are introduced, with reference to the depositional model developed by Professor Percival Allen FRS (Allen, 1975). To demonstrate this model and the development of Wealden palaeoenvironments through time, Wealden sites have been selected for the Geological Conservation Review programme. Site selection rationale is briefly outlined.     

A Wealden guide I: the Weald Sub-basin

The Wealden strata of southern England provide a range of evidence for Early Cretaceous non-marine environments and their inhabitants, and a climate of warm to hot, 'Mediterranean' aspect. Because of its exposure, and its range of facies, distinguishing a variety of sedimentary environments, the Wealden has long fascinated geologists intent on providing an environmental model. This article is one of two intended to give an overview of Wealden environments, providing the geological framework of these strata. In this article, the type-succession in the Weald Sub-basin of south-east England is summarized and briefly interpreted.     

The southern English Wealden (non-marine Lower Cretaceous): overview of palaeoenvironments and palaeoecology

Geological Conservation Review sites representing the non-marine Lower Cretaceous Wealden strata provide field evidence for the physical and biological development of what is now southern England, between approximately 120 and 135 million years ago. Knowledge of Wealden climates, palaeogeology, landscapes, hydrology and palaeobiology is synthesized and summarised, with reference to the Weald and Wessex sub-basins.     

A re-evaluation of Ophiomorpha burrows in the Wealden Group (Lower Cretaceous) of southern England

Attribution of burrows in the Wealden Group of southern England to Ophiomorpha is rejected. The burrows are essentially cylindrical, unlined and with a meniscate fill. Any outer knobbly appearance is due to diagenetic poikilotopic cementation or to differential weathering of a mudchip-sand fill. The variable nature of meniscate fill reflects passage of the producer through the thin-bedded, alternating sand-mud sediments or along sand-mud interfaces. The burrows are assigned to Beaconites, though, since the identity of this ichnotaxon has been questioned, reference is also made to Taenidium. Two ichnoassociations are recognized: (1) a Beaconites antarcticus-Scoyenia (or Taenidium-Scoyenia) association (Weald Clay) of marginal lacustrine situation with fluvial input, and (2) a Beaconites barretti-Planolites (or Taenidium-Planolites ) association of the fluvial (lacustrine delta) of the Lee Ness Sandstone (Ashdown Formation). The Wealden burrows offer no inherent indications of palaeosalinity, and inferences made on supposed occurrences of Ophiomorpha in the Wealden Group must be reassessed. Other occurrences of Ophiomorpha in non-marine facies are questioned.     

Percival Allen FRS (1917–2008): a personal tribute

This paper summarises the author's research association with Percival (‘Perce’) Allen FRS (1917–2008), whose wide-ranging and seminal contributions to Wealden (non-marine Lower Cretaceous) sedimentological and palaeoenvironmental interpretation spanned seven decades. The Geological Conservation Review (GCR) Special Issue on the Wealden was initiated as a collaborative research programme initiated during the late 1990s. Stemming from this, the GCR accounts are seen very much as the summation of Perce Allen's lifelong Wealden studies, as demonstrated by GCR sites throughout southern England.     

A Wealden guide II: the Wessex Sub-basin

Part 1 of 'A Wealden guide' ( Geology Today , 2006, v.22, n.3) provided an introduction to the non-marine Early Cretaceous Wealden strata of southern England, and an account of the succession that outcrops within the Weald Sub-basin. This second article focuses on the Wealden of the Wessex Sub-basin, exposed on the Isle of Wight and Dorset coasts of southern and south-west England.     

A new ornithischian dinosaur and the terrestrial vertebrate fauna from a bone bed in the Wealden of Ardingly,West Sussex

The Wealden Supergroup of south-east England has long been of interest to palaeontologists because of its diverse flora and fauna. The Supergroup is Early Cretaceous in age, occupying the time period immediately after the enigmatic end-Jurassic extinction. Wealden faunas therefore have the potential to be informative about the tempo and mode of post-extinction recovery, but due to lack of exposure in this densely populated part of southern England, are difficult to sample. In the summer of 2012, a number of ex situ fossiliferous blocks of sandstone, siltstone and limestone were discovered from building excavations at Ardingly College, near Haywards Heath in West Sussex. The sedimentology of the blocks indicates that they are from the Valanginian Hastings Group, and that Ardingly College is underlain by the Grinstead Clay Formation, rather than the Ardingly Sandstone Member. The blocks contain a diverse invertebrate fauna and flora, as well as vertebrate remains, which are found in a distinct sandstone horizon that probably represents the Top Lower Tunbridge Wells pebble bed. A tooth from an ornithschian dinosaur cannot be referred to any of the ornithischian taxa known from the Wealden Supergroup, and therefore represents a new taxon. Teeth of the crocodilian Theriosuchus extend the known range of this taxon in the Wealden, while teeth of an ornithocheird pterosaur confirm the presence of these animals in the skies above the Wealden sub-basins. Fusainized plant remains and the wing-case of a cupedid beatle indicate that wildfire was a ubiquitous feature of the Weald Sub-basin during the Valanginian.     

Theropod dinosaur diversity and palaeobiology in the Wealden Group (Early Cretaceous) of England: evidence from a previously undescribed tibia

A robust, partial right tibia of a theropod dinosaur (Natural History Museum London collections, BMNH R9385) is described for the first time. The specimen was collected at Hastings, Sussex (England) in the last century, and is among the oldest known of English Wealden Group theropods. It represents a tetanuran theropod that may have been about 3 m in total length, and is distinct from all currently known Wealden theropods for which tibiae have been described. The present specimen is significant palaeobiologically in exhibiting a series of theropod tooth marks on its caudal surface, indicating predation or scavenging by another theropod.     

Leptolepid otoliths from the Hauterivian (Lower Cretaceous) Lower Weald Clay (southern England)

Teleostean saccular otoliths from the upper part of the late Hauterivian Lower Weald Clay Formation of the Wealden Supergroup exposed at Langhurstwood Quarry, West Sussex, UK, and Clockhouse Brickworks, Surrey, UK are described for the first time. Two new species of the genus Leptolepis, Leptolepis wealdensis and Leptolepis toyei are described. Many of the specimens are densely packed on individual bedding planes and they are interpreted as coprocoenotic accumulations. Additional mechanisms of deposition and concentration are discussed, in particular wave action. Ontogenetic series show isometric growth of the otoliths, and some specimens show growth rings on two orders of magnitude.     

A tiny maniraptoran dinosaur in the Lower Cretaceous Hastings Group: Evidence from a new vertebrate-bearing locality in south-east England

In contrast to the Barremian Wessex Formation on the Isle of Wight, the remains of small theropods are rare in the Berriasian-Valanginian Hastings Group of the English mainland. Both units are part of the dinosaur-rich Wealden Supergroup (Berriasian-Aptian) of southern Britain. Here we report the cervical vertebra of a small dinosaur from the Pevensey Pit at Ashdown Brickworks, a site located northwest of Bexhill, East Sussex. The pit yields a rich assemblage of vertebrate fossils from the Valanginian Wadhurst Clay Formation of the Hastings Group. The new specimen, a near-complete but water-worn posterior cervical vertebra, is tiny (total centrum length = 7.1 mm) but evidently from an adult theropod. Its large hypapophysis, X-shaped neural arch and amphicoelous centrum suggest referral to Maniraptora, and the subparallel anterior and posterior articular surfaces imply that it does not belong to a deinonychosaur. The X-shaped neural arch recalls a similar condition seen in oviraptorosaurs while the high neural canal/articular surface ratio (0.70) is bird-like. The specimen is significant in representing the first maniraptoran to be reported from the Hastings Group but is otherwise indeterminate. By comparing the specimen to better known maniraptorans and estimating the proportions of the animal to which it belongs, we suggest that the total skeletal length of this maniraptoran was somewhere between 16 and 40 cm. It may therefore have been among the smallest of known Mesozoic dinosaurs.     

Depositional setting and vertebrate biostratigraphy of the Triassic Dockum Group of Texas

Triassic strata of the Dockum Group in Texas comprise two major upward-fining alluvial-lacustrine depositional sequences. The two sequences are represented by the (1) Santa Rosa-Tecovas, and (2) Trujillo-Cooper Canyon Formations. The second sequence is much thicker than the first, and occupies a greater geographic part of the Dockum basin. Each sequence of alluvial and lacustrine sediment accumulation is characterized by sediment derivation from a different source terrain. The unconformable relationship between the two depositional sequences, the change in mineralogical composition and presumed source areas between these units, differences in paleocurrent orientation between units, and evidence for intervening episodes of local deformation indicate that the sequences are of tectonic origin. These strata are not the product of a single sediment dispersal system, such as the centripetally-drained lacustrine delta complex previously envisioned for the Dockum basin. Both Dockum sequences are comprised largely of two typical alluvial facies associations; stream channel facies, and overbank flood-plain facies, that are similar to those described in nearly all fluvial deposits. In addition, the Dockum Group contains a peculiar lacustrine facies that accumulated in local flood-plain depressions, and probably resulted from subsidence over areas of subsurface salt dissolution. Vertebrate fossil assemblages are found in all three Dockum facies associations. Five fossiliferous sites in the Dockum are discussed in the context of these three depositional settings. The Dockum tetrapod diversity is reviewed in a hierarchical phylogeny with remarks on the history of collection, stratigraphic distribution of genera, and their taxonomic status. The stratigraphic ranges of tetrapod taxa do not support the recently proposed successive Otischalkian, Adamanian, Revueltian, and Apachean biochrons within the Dockum Group. Instead, a few index fossils provide a broad framework for correlation of Late Triassic nonmarine strata of the Dockum with the Carnian and Norian Alpine marine stages.     

东昆仑阿拉克湖地区第四纪地层时代厘定及环境变迁

根据沉积分析和ESR、OSL1、4C测年数据,对阿拉克湖地区第四纪地层进行了详细的成因划分和时间约束,为第四纪以来高原隆升重大事件及其引起的环境演变提供了重要的时代依据;根据沉积特征和孢粉植物演替对第四纪的环境变迁过程进行了探讨:早更新世湖积地层中出现具亚寒带气候特征的针叶林植物群和中更新世冰碛物覆于早更新世地层之上是研究区第四纪环境演变的重要转折标志;第四纪盆山耦合关系非常明显,山系隆升与沉积盆地具有由北向南迁移的规律。     

Sedimentary facies and element variation of Upper Permian strata in Qujiang-Renhua area,Guangdong, China

The Upper Permian strata of the Qujiang-Renhua area, Guangdong Province, is a coal-bearing sequence. Sedimentary facies analyses and correlation of element-content variation in sedimentary rocks reveal the following regularities: (1) The evolution of continental facies → transition facies → marine facies is reflected by a tendency for K, Ga and Ti to decrease and for Mg, Ca and Sr to increase. (2) K, Ga and Ti show a tendency to decrease, but Ca, Mg, V and Sr tend to increase in the order of lacustrine facies → littoral facies → gulf and lagoonal facies. (3) Lacustrine facies → lagoonal facies → gulf facies is paralleled by a decrease in K, Cu, Pb, V and Ba, as well as by an increase in Ca, Mg and Mn in siderite nodules. Discussions are also made in the present paper of the differences between drill core samples and surface samples, between pyrite, siderite and calc-siliceous nodules, and between light and heavy minerals separated from sandstone in respect to their components.     

The Vendian succession of northeastern Spitsbergen: Petrogenesis of a dolomite-tillite association

The sedimentary record of late Precambrian time is magnificently displayed in the highland snowfields of northeastern Spitsbergen (Svalbard). Vendian strata are represented essentially by the Polarisbreen Group which consists mostly of dolostone and includes two dolomitic glacial units. The oldest sediments in the Polarisbreen Group compose the Elbobreen Formation (c. 400 m), which is divided into four laterally-persistent members. The Lower Carbonate Member (E1, 125 m) contains a distinctive basal dark-grey limestone (with microspar-filled synaeresis cracks) suggested to be of lagoonal origin and associated with minor dolostone, shale and chert. Higher parts of the member are dominantly dolostone, partly stromatolitic, with some shale and sandstone; shallow subtidal to intertidal deposition is indicated by the dominance of intraclastic lithologies and relics of anhydrite. Penecontemporaneous dolomite is partially overprinted by microsparry dolomite, thought to be of groundwater origin.The redefined Petrovbreen Member (E2) consists of diamictite and other detrital dolostone. Pronounced thickness variations (2–40 m) are thought to be original depositional features. The member represents the deposits of a short glacial period in which the following depositional processes are inferred: lodgement (massive diamictite), subaqueous meltout (massive and bedded diamictite), ice-rafting (lithologies bearing dropstones, and possibly also diamictite), redeposition by sediment gravity flows (some diamictite and conglomerate; rhythmite and shale), current winnowing (thin tabular conglomerate), subaerial or subaqueous meltwater action (channelled conglomerate and sandstone), periglacial shrinkage (diamictite wedge-fillings).The MacDonaldryggen Member (E3, 230 m) is a monotonous succession of shaly dolostone of lagoonal origin. It grades up into the Slangen Member (E4, 25 m) which consists of subtidal to intertidal dolarenite with anhydrite relics succeeded by fenestral dolostone that was fractured and cemented by saline groundwaters in an emergent environment.The Wilsonbreen Formation (160 m) represents a return to glacial deposition, but this time longer-lasting and with substantial extra-basinal material represented. The Gropbreen Member (W1, 28–107 m) and the Ormen Member (W3, 44–139 m) consist dominantly of dolomitic diamictite with subordinate conglomerate and sandstone and are separated by a Middle Carbonate Member (W2, 3–30 m) which contains distinctive rhythmitic and stromatolitic limestone as well as sandstone. The same depositional processes can be recognised as in the Petrovbreen Member, but the Wilsonbreen Formation is overall of somewhat more continental aspect (lower proportion of rhythmite and dropstone structures). In addition there are: basal breccia and crack-fillings formed by frost-shattering of the underlying cemented dolostone, tabular sandstone thought to be formed by wave reworking of outwash, a striated (terrestrial) cobble pavement, supraglacially-derived breccia horizons, periglacial wedges filled by sand and the W2 assemblage of possible lacustrine origin.The Dracoisen Formation (525 m) represents an abrupt return to non-glacial conditions. An upward-deepening wave-dominated succession of pure dolostone (D1, 20 m) and impure dolostone (D2, 105 m) is succeeded by offshore black shale (D3, 150 m) and then by a very-shallow water succession of evaporite lacustrine aspect with a dolostone containing evaporite relics (D5, 10 m) separating dolomitic sandstone and shale (D4, 80 m and D6, 150 m). The contact with the transgressive Cambrian sandstones above is poorly exposed.Deposition of the succession dominantly under marine conditions is inferred, but it is difficult to rule out a lacustrine environment at any particular horizon. This dolomite—tillite association can be explained by penecontemporaneous (and minor secondary) dolomite formation in marginal environments (with warm climatic indicators at some levels) being sharply interrupted, because of rapid climatic changes, by glacial sediments containing abundant detrital dolomite. Since the latter sediments make up only 17% of the 1080m-thick succession, glacial conditions only occupied a small proportion of Vendian time.     

Paleo-environment and provenance in a lacustrine shallow-water delta-meandering river sedimentary system: insights from the Middle–Upper Jurassic formations of the Fukang Sag of Junggar Basin,NW China

The Middle–Upper Jurassic Shishugou Group in the central Junggar Basin was deposited in a lacustrine shallow-water delta-meandering river sedimentary system. The integrated petrological (thin-section, granularity and heavy minerals analysis), geochemical (trace elements and rare earth elements analysis) and geophysical analyses (well logging and 3D-seismic slice analysis) are used to determine redox conditions, paleoclimate, paleosalinity, provenance and sedimentary evolution extant during deposition of the Shishugou Group: (1) the redox condition changed from a weak anoxic/oxic condition to a strongly oxic condition; (2) the climate changed from humid to hot and arid in the Middle–Late Jurassic, which may have resulted in the lake water having slight–medium salinity; (3) the relatively distant northeastern provenance from the Kelameili Mountain is the most important sediment source; and (4) the south provenance from the Tianshan Mountains (Bogeda Shan) decreases with the development of the sag piedmont, which supplies sediments to the southeastern Fukang Sag. The sedimentary environment changed from a lacustrine shallow-water delta to a meandering river during the deposition of the Shishugou Group. The shallow-water meandering river delta was characterised by pervasive mudstones with oxide colours, thin single-layer sand bodies (1–15?m, mean 3?m), relatively low sand–strata ratios (0.2–0.5) and the absence of progradation, mouth bars and reverse rhythms. The gentle slope is the primary condition necessary for the formation of a shallow-water meandering river delta. Paleo-environment (climate change from warm-humid to hot-arid) and the stable and remote Kelameili Mountain provenance played critical roles in the development and evolution of lacustrine–delta-meandering river sedimentary systems.     

A new family of scorpionflies (Insecta; Mecoptera) from the Lower Cretaceous of England

Seven specimens of fossil scorpionflies (Mecoptera) not assignable to any known family were discovered in the Wealden Supergroup (Lower Cretaceous) of southern England. They were found at Rudgwick Brickworks, West Sussex and Smokejacks Brickworks, Surrey and came from the Upper Weald Clay Formation, dated as Barremian (∼129.4–125 Ma). A new family – Englathaumatidae fam. nov., new genus – Englathauma gen. nov. and two new species E. crabbi sp. nov. and E. mellishae sp. nov. are described. A discussion of systematic position of these new taxa within the order Mecoptera is given. Englathaumatidae fam. nov. has been a nomen nudum since the year 2002, due to the first author's untimely death.     

青海扎陵湖和鄂陵湖盆地第四纪河湖相地层研究

通过对扎陵湖和鄂陵湖沿岸的湖积阶地中湖相沉积的野外地质调查和实测剖面,对分布于盆地内的第四纪早更新世-全新世湖相地层进行了详细的研究和划分、重新厘定了该区第四纪岩石地层单元,确立了生物地层和年代地层序列.建立了青海东南部地区第四纪早更新世-全新世湖相地层单位-黄河源群(QH),黄河源群是由第四系下更新统野生沟组(Qp~1γ)、中更新统鄂陵湖组(Qp~2e)、上更新统大野马岭组(Qp~3d)和全新统黑河乡组(Qhh)等4个组组成.为青藏高原湖泊演化、气候变化、古地理变迁研究,以及第四纪地层的划分与对比等提供了新资料.