Ramp sedimentation across a middle Albian,Arctic embayment: Influence of subsidence,eustasy and sediment supply on stratal architecture and facies distribution,Lower Cretaceous,Western Canada Foreland Basin

Regional mapping of Middle Albian, shallow‐marine clastic strata over ca 100 000 km² of the Western Canada Foreland Basin was undertaken to investigate the relationship between large‐scale stratal architecture and lithology. Results suggest that, over ca 5 Myr, stratal geometry and facies were dynamically linked to tectonic activity in the adjacent Cordillera. Higher frequency modulation of accommodation is most reasonably ascribed to eustasy. The Harmon and Cadotte alloformations were deposited at the southern end of an embayment of the Arctic Ocean. The Harmon alloformation, forming the lower part of the succession, constitutes a wedge of marine mudstone that thickens westward over 400 km from <5 m near the forebulge to >150 m in the foredeep. Constituent allomembers are also wedge‐shaped but lack distinct clinothems, a rollover point or downlapping geometry. Ubiquitous wave ripples indicate that the sea floor lay above storm wave base. Deposition took place on an extremely low‐gradient ramp, where accommodation was limited by effective wave base. Lobate, river‐dominated deltas fringed the southern margin of the basin. The largest deltas are stacked in the same area, suggesting protracted stability of the feeder river. A buried palaeo‐valley on the underlying sub‐Cretaceous unconformity may have influenced compaction and controlled river location for ca 3 Myr. Adjacent to the western Cordillera, a predominantly mudstone succession is interbedded with abundant storm beds of very fine‐grained sandstone and siltstone that reflect supply from the adjacent orogen. Bioturbation indices in the Harmon alloformation range from zero to six which reflects the influence of stressors related to river‐mouth proximity. Harmon alloformation mudstone grades abruptly upward into marine sandstone and conglomerate of the overlying Cadotte alloformation. The Cadotte is composed of three allomembers ‘CA’ to ‘CC’, that represent the deposits of prograding strandplains 200 × 300 km in extent. Allomembers ‘CA’ and ‘CB’ are strongly sandstone‐dominated, whereas allomember ‘CC’ contains abundant conglomerate in the west. The dominantly aggradational wedge of Harmon alloformation mudstone records flexural subsidence driven by active thickening in the adjacent orogen: the high accommodation rate trapped coarser clastic detritus close to the basin margin. In contrast, the tabular, highly progradational sandstone and conglomerate bodies of the Cadotte alloformation record a low subsidence rate, implying tectonic quiescence in the adjacent orogen. Erosional unloading of the orogen through Cadotte time steepened rivers to the extent that they delivered gravel to the shore. These observations support an ‘anti‐tectonic’ model of gravel supply proposed previously for the United States portion of the Cretaceous foreland basin. Because Cadotte allomembers do not thicken appreciably into the foredeep, accommodation changes that controlled these transgressive–regressive successions were probably of eustatic origin.     

Dynamic stratigraphy of composite peripheral unconformity in a foredeep basin

This study employs facies analysis and basic principles of sequence stratigraphy to correlate isolated outcrop sections and reveal the depositional history of the Chmielnik Formation – a prominent mid‐Serravalian clastic wedge formed on the basinward forebulge flank of the Polish Carpathian Foredeep. The coarse‐grained clastic wedge, up to 30 m thick and spanning ca 1·1 Ma within biozone NN6, consists of fluvio‐deltaic, foreshore and shoreface deposits with a range of large littoral sand bars, all enveloped in muddy offshore‐transition deposits. Its dynamic stratigraphy indicates rapid shoreline shifts and environmental changes due to the interplay of forebulge tectonism, sediment supply and third‐order eustatic cycles. A similar interplay of tectonism and eustasy is recognizable in the whole middle Miocene sedimentary succession deposited on the forebulge flank, demonstrating an extreme case of an accommodation‐controlled shelf and indicating tectonic cycles of the forebulge uplift and subsidence spanning ca 800 to 900 ka. The episodes of forebulge uplift correlate with the main pulses of orogen thrusting. The resulting composite peripheral unconformity differs markedly from the idealized model of a ‘steady‐state’ stepwise onlap driven by forebulge continuous retreat. It is concluded that the foredeep peripheral unconformities, instead of being simplified in accordance with this idealized model, should rather be studied in detail because they bear a valuable high‐resolution record of regional events and give unique insights into the local role of tectonics, eustasy and sediment supply.     

Palaeoenvironments, palaeogeography, and physiography of a large, shallow, muddy ramp: Late Cenomanian-Turonian Kaskapau Formation, Western Canada foreland basin

The Kaskapau Formation spans Late Cenomanian to Middle Turonian time and was deposited on a low‐gradient, shallow, storm‐dominated muddy ramp. Dense well log control, coupled with exposure on both proximal and distal margins of the basin allows mapping of sedimentary facies over about 35 000 km². The studied portion of the Kaskapau Formation is a mudstone‐dominated wedge that thins from 700 m in the proximal foredeep to 50 m near the forebulge about 300 km distant. Regional flooding surfaces permit mapping of 28 allomembers, each of which represent an average of ca 125 kyr. More than 200 km from shore, calcareous silty claystone predominates, whereas 100 to 200 km offshore, mudstone and siltstone predominate. From about 30 to 100 km offshore, centimetre‐bedded very fine sandstone and mudstone record along‐shelf (SSE)‐directed storm‐generated geostrophic flows. Five to thirty kilometres from shore, decimetre‐bedded hummocky cross‐stratified fine sandstone and mudstone record strongly oscillatory, wave‐dominated flows whereas some gutter casts indicate shore‐oblique, apparently mostly unidirectional geostrophic flows. Nearshore facies are dominated by swaley cross‐stratified or intensely bioturbated clean fine sandstone, interpreted as recording, respectively, areas strongly and weakly affected by discharge from distributary mouths. Shoreface sandstones grade locally into river‐mouth conglomerates and sandstones, including conglomerate channel‐fills up to 15 m thick. Locally, brackish lagoonal shelly mudstones are present on the extreme western margin of the basin. There is no evidence for clinoform stratification, which indicates that the Kaskapau sea floor had extremely low relief, lacked a shelf‐slope break, and was probably nowhere more than a few tens of metres deep. The absence of clinoforms probably indicates a long‐term balance between rates of accommodation and sediment supply. Mud is interpreted to have been transported >250 km offshore in a sea‐bed nepheloid layer, repeatedly re‐suspended by storms. Fine‐grained sediment accumulated up to a ‘mud accommodation envelope’, perhaps only 20 to 40 m deep. Continuous re‐working of the sea floor by storms ensured that excess sediment was redistributed away from areas that had filled to the ‘accommodation envelope’, being deposited in areas of higher accommodation further down the transport path. The facies distributions and stratal geometry of the Kaskapau shelf strongly suggest that sedimentary facies, especially grain‐size, were related to distance from shore, not to water depth. As a result, the ‘100 to >300 m’ depth interpreted from calcareous claystone facies for the more central parts of the Interior Seaway, might be a significant overestimate.     

Foredeep submarine fans and forebulge deltas: orogenic off-loading in the underfilled Karoo Basin

Third-order sequence stratigraphic analysis of the Early Permian marine to continental facies of the Karoo Basin provides a case study for the sedimentation patterns which may develop in an underfilled foreland system that is controlled by a combination of supra- and sublithospheric loads. The tectonic regime during the accumulation of the studied section was dominated by the flexural rebound of the foreland system in response to orogenic quiescence in the Cape Fold Belt, which resulted in foredeep uplift and forebulge subsidence. Coupled with flexural tectonics, additional accommodation was created by dynamic loading related to the process of subduction underneath the basin. The long-wavelength dynamic loading led to the subsidence of the peripheral bulge below base level, which allowed for sediment accumulation across the entire foreland system.A succession of five basinwide regressive systems tracts accumulated during the Artinskian (5 My), consisting of foredeep submarine fans and correlative forebulge deltas. The progradation of submarine fans and deltaic systems was controlled by coeval forced and normal regressions of the proximal and distal shorelines of the Ecca interior seaway respectively. The deposition of each regressive systems tract was terminated by basinwide transgressive episodes, that may be related to periodic increases in the rates of long-wavelength dynamic subsidence.     

龙门山前陆盆地底部不整合面: 被动大陆边缘到前陆盆地的转换

晚三叠世龙门山前陆盆地是在扬子板块西缘被动大陆边缘的基础上由印支造山运动而形成的,盆地中地层充填厚度巨大,包括晚三叠世卡尼期至瑞提期的马鞍塘组、小塘子组和须家河组,持续时间达20Myr,显示为1个以不整合面为界的构造层序。位于晚三叠世龙门山前陆盆地构造层序与下伏古生代-中三叠世被动大陆边缘构造层序之间的不整合面属于龙门山前陆盆地的底部不整合面,标志了扬子板块西缘从被动大陆边缘盆地到前陆盆地的转换。该底部不整合面位于晚三叠世马鞍塘组与中三叠世雷口坡组之间,显示为平行不整合面或角度不整合面,在接触面上发育冲蚀坑、古喀斯特溶沟、溶洞、溶岩角砾、古风化壳的褐铁矿、黏土层及石英、燧石细砾岩等底砾岩。该不整合面向南东方向不断地切削下伏地层,且均发育岩溶风化面,上覆的晚三叠世地层沿不整合面向南东超覆,显示了从整合面到不整合面的变化过程,并随着逆冲楔的推进向南东方向迁移,其超覆线、侵蚀带和相带的走向线与龙门山冲断带的走向大致平行。底部不整合面显示为典型的前陆挠曲不整合面,标志着龙门山前陆盆地的形成和扬子板块西缘挠曲下降和淹没过程,底部为古喀斯特作用面,下部为碳酸盐缓坡和海绵礁建造,上部为进积过程中形成的三角洲沉积物,具有向上变粗的垂向结构,表明底部不整合面和前缘隆起的抬升是扬子板块西缘构造负载的挠曲变形的产物,显示了在卡尼期松潘-甘孜残留洋盆的迅速闭合和逆冲构造负载向扬子板块的推进过程。本次在对晚三叠世龙门山前陆盆地底部不整合面的风化壳、残留厚度、地层缺失、剥蚀厚度、地层超覆等研究的基础上,计算了底部不整合面迁移速率、前缘隆起迁移速率、地层上超速率和前缘隆起的剥蚀速率,并与逆冲楔推进速率进行了对比,结果表明,底部不整合面迁移速率、前缘隆起的迁移速率、地层上超速率均介于3~18mm·a^-1之间,其与逆冲楔推进速率(5~15mm·a^-1)相似,因此,可用底部不整合面迁移速率、前缘隆起的迁移速率和地层上超速率代表逆冲楔推进速率。但是前缘隆起的剥蚀速率很小,介于0.02~0.08mm·a^-1之间,仅为逆冲楔推进速率的1/100。     

Turbidites facies response to the morphological confinement of a foredeep (Cervarola Sandstones Formation,Miocene, northern Apennines,Italy)

The Cervarola Sandstones Formation, Aquitanian–Burdigalian in age, was deposited in an elongate, north‐west stretched foredeep basin formed in front of the growing northern Apennines orogenic wedge. As other Apennine foredeep deposits, such as the Marnoso‐arenacea Formation, the stratigraphic succession of the Cervarola Sandstones Formation records the progressive closure of the basin due to the propagation of thrust fronts towards the north‐east, i.e. towards the outer and shallower foreland ramp. This process produces a complex foredeep that is characterized by syn‐sedimentary structural highs and depocentres that strongly influence lateral and vertical turbidite facies distribution. This work describes and discusses this influence, providing a high‐resolution physical stratigraphy with ‘bed by bed’ correlations of an interval ca 1000 m thick, parallel and perpendicular to the palaeocurrents and to the main structural alignments, on an area of ca 30 km that covers the proximal portion of the Cervarola basin in the northern Apennines. The main aim is to show, for the first time ever, a detailed facies analysis of the Cervarola Sandstones Formation, based on a series of bed types that have proven fundamental to understand the morphology of the basin. The knowledge of the vertical and lateral distribution of these bed types, such as contained‐reflected and slurry (i.e. hybrid) beds, together with other important sedimentary structures, i.e. cross‐bedded bypass facies and delamination structures, is the basis for better understanding of facies processes, as well as for proposing an evolutionary model of the foredeep in relation to the syn‐sedimentary growth of the main tectonic structures. This makes the Cervarola Sandstones, like the Marnoso‐arenacea Formation, a typical example of foredeep evolution.     

Tectonic and eustatic control on deposition and preservation of Upper Cretaceous ooidal ironstone and associated facies: Peace River Arch area, NW Alberta, Canada

The Late Coniacian, shallow-marine Bad Heart Formation of the Western Canada foreland basin is very unusual in that it contains economically significant ooidal ironstone. Deposition of shallow-water and iron-rich facies appears to have been localized over the crest and flanks of a subtle intrabasinal arch, in part interpreted as a forebulge and partly attributed to reactivation of the long-lived Peace River Arch. The formation comprises two upward-shoaling allomembers, typically 5–10 m thick, that are bounded by regionally mappable ravinement surfaces. The lower unit, allomember 1, grades up from laminated mudstone to bioturbated silty sandstone, which is abruptly overlain by bioturbated ooidal silty sandstone grading into an almost clastic-free ooidal ironstone up to 7 m thick. Ooidal ironstone was concentrated into NW- to SE-trending ridges, kilometres wide and tens of kilometres long. Ironstone formation appears to have been promoted by: (a) drowning of the arch, which progressively curtailed sediment supply; and (b) enhanced reworking over the shallowly submerged arch and over a fault-bounded block that underwent episodic vertical movement of 10–20 m during Bad Heart deposition. Allomember 2 also shoals upwards from mudstone to bioturbated and laminated silty sandstone but lacks ooids, apparently reflecting a rejuvenated supply of detrital sediment from the arch. The marine ravinement surface above allomember 2 is a Skolithos firmground, above which is developed a regional blanket of ooidal sediment. In the east, ooids are dispersed in a bioturbated silty sandstone with abundant evidence of repeated reworking and early siderite and phosphate cements. Westwards, this facies grades, over about 40 km, into almost clastic-free ooidal ironstone about 5 m thick; the lateral facies change may reflect progressive clastic starvation distal to a low-relief source area. The two allomembers are interpreted to reflect eustatic oscillations of about 10 m, superimposed on episodic tectonic warping and block-faulting events. The development of ooidal ironstone immediately above initial marine flooding surfaces indicates a close relationship to marine transgression, reflecting sediment-starved conditions. Ironstone does not appear to be related to either sequence boundaries or maximum flooding surfaces. The Bad Heart Formation is blanketed by marine mudstone deposited in response to major flexural subsidence and rejuvenation of clastic sources in the Cordillera to the SW.     

Progradation geometries of carbonate platforms: examples from the Triassic of the Dolomites, northern Italy

Various types of progradation of Triassic carbonate platforms are described from the Dolomites of the Southern Alps. The internal and external geometric relationships are exposed in spectacular natural sections and, moreover, their scale (500–1000 m of thickness) is such that they can be compared with features found in seismic profiles. The different types of progradation are controlled by a number of factors which, normally, interact with each other. These factors include: rate of basinal sedimentation, rate of subsidence, width of the platform, depth of the surrounding basin and eustatic variations of sea-level. Progradation is not a continuous process but episodic. Moments of massive debris input, during which the platform advances, alternate with long periods of negligible progradation, during which basinal sediments accrete and onlap the toe of slope. Upper boundary relationships of the prograding platforms include offlap, toplap and erosional truncation. Lower boundary relationships are horizontal, climbing and descending progradations. A variety of phenomena and circumstances have caused the cessation of progradation of the Triassic platforms. They include volcanism, collapse of margins, drowning (rapid relative rise of sea-level), subaerial exposure (relative fall of sea-level) and, probably, a natural decay of the system. In the Triassic of the Dolomites, two main progradation models can be put forward: in the Ladinian model, progradation took place simultaneously with aggradation (relative rise of sea-level), whereas the characteristic feature of the Carnian model is toplap (relative stillstand of sea-level).     

Tectonically-driven underfilled–overfilled cycles,the middle Cretaceous in the northern Cordilleran foreland basin

It is shown that the middle Cretaceous succession in the northern Cordilleran foreland basin consists of several-million-year tectonically-driven cycles comprising two components: strata deposited in an underfilled basin with a prominent forebulge zone and strata deposited in an overfilled basin lacking evidence of a forebulge. The episodic thrusting of the Cordilleran orogenic wedge and its rich sediment supply to the basin are two main controlling factors for the formation of these cycles. A qualitative model of several-million-year tectonically-driven underfilled–overfilled cycle for migration and stratigraphic fill in this basin is proposed. During the early underfilled period (orogenic loading period), due to orogenic loading of emplaced thrust sheets, flexural subsidence is created in the region proximal to the mountain belt and a prominent forebulge is developed. During the late underfilled period (early orogenic unloading period), as the cratonward migration of the subsidence center of sediment loading in the foredeep zone, forebulge zones and backbulge zones migrate cratonwards, forming a diachronic erosion surface in the central basin. During the overfilled period (late orogenic unloading period), a prominent erosion forms in the proximal basin and a peripheral sag develops above the forebulge area of the previous underfilled period. This model may provide a pattern to subdivide sedimentary successions in the Cordilleran foreland basin. Using this model, alternative interpretations are suggested for some important, but controversial stratigraphic phenomena in the Cretaceous Cordilleran foreland basin: traditionally defined eustatic highstands, wide sedimentation area of the basin, erosion surfaces and widespread subtle topographic uplifts in the central basin, high-frequency coarsening-up cycles, extensively distributed erosive-based sandstones and conglomerates enclosed in marine mudstones.     

Clinoform deposition across a boundary between orogenic front and foredeep – an example from the Lower Cretaceous in Arctic Alaska

The Lower Cretaceous Fortress Mountain Formation occupies a spatial and temporal niche between syntectonic deposits at the Brooks Range orogenic front and post‐tectonic strata in the Colville foreland basin. The formation includes basin‐floor fan, marine‐slope and fan‐delta facies that define a clinoform depositional profile. Texture and composition of clasts in the formation suggest progressive burial of a tectonic wedge‐front that included older turbidites and mélange. These new interpretations, based entirely on outcrop study, suggest that the Fortress Mountain Formation spans the boundary between orogenic wedge and foredeep, with proximal strata onlapping the tectonic wedge‐front and distal strata downlapping the floor of the foreland basin. Our reconstruction suggests that clinoform amplitude reflects the structural relief generated by tectonic wedge development and load‐induced flexural subsidence of the foreland basin.     

Cyclic facies architecture as a key to depositional controls in a distal foredeep: Campanian Mesaverde Group,Wyoming, USA

The Mesaverde Group consists of a thick wedge of fluvial, littoral-deltaic and shallow marine clastics shed into the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway of North America. The western parts of the seaway lay within the strongly subsiding foredeep of the active Sevier fold and thrust belt further to the west. The study area is located east of the axis of maximum subsidence and is thus in a favourable position to record competing effects of eustasy, sediment supply and thrust-load induced subsidence. Facies and sequence analysis carried out on high quality outcrop and well log data led to the recognition of a complex depositional cycle hierarchy within the typical storm- and wave-dominated inner shelf/shoreface/strand plain and delta systems of the Mesaverde. Fourth-order parasequences and parasequence bundles of estimated 100–400 ka duration are the best recognizable, ubiquitous and most useful stratigraphic units. Their arrangement with respect to sequence boundaries, however, varies with their overall stratigraphic position and also differs from the Exxon models. Mesaverde progradation was interrupted by a major transgression that occurred out of phase with the aggradational to progradational stacking trend of third-order sequences. A proposed genetic model relates large-scale (second-order) sequence architecture to tectonics: a Sevier thrust event as well as Laramide uplift within the foredeep controlled non-linear changes in the accommodation/supply ratio. Parasequence stacking patterns and sequence boundary formation, in contrast, were the product of (global?) eustasy enhanced by short-term, perhaps local, changes in the rates of subsidence and detrital influx.     

印支期龙门山造山楔推进作用与前陆型礁滩迁移过程研究

马鞍塘期龙门山前陆盆地是印支期造山楔加载于扬子地台西缘而形成的挠曲前陆盆地。根据地表露头、钻孔剖面和地震反射剖面资料,本文通过分析前陆盆地早期前陆缓坡型鲕粒滩-硅质海绵礁组合在时间和空间上的迁移规律,标定了卡尼期龙门山造山楔的推进速率。结果表明:卡尼期马鞍塘组是分布于底部不整合面之上的第一套地层单元,在垂向上前陆型鲕粒滩-硅质海绵礁组合显示为鲕粒灰岩滩-生物碎屑滩-硅质海绵礁灰岩-泥页岩的向上变细的沉积序列,记录了前缘隆起边缘碳酸盐缓坡和海绵礁的构建和淹没过程,反映了在相对海平面的持续上升中鲕粒滩-硅质海绵礁被淹没致死的过程。在横向上,盆地结构显示为西厚东薄,并向西倾斜的不对称盆地,由西向东依次分布了深水盆地、碳酸盐缓坡和海绵礁和浅水滨岸带等沉积物类型,显示了从龙门山造山楔向前陆一侧具有泥页岩向鲕粒滩-硅质海绵礁的变化特征。其中鲕粒滩-硅质海绵礁丘组合发育于15～30m深度的前陆同斜缓坡上,呈面向西的条带状展布,其走向线与龙门山冲断带的走向大致平行。并可将其划分为7个鲕粒滩-硅质海绵礁相带,表明卡尼期硅质海绵礁丘和滩沿底部不整合面向南东方向的前陆缓坡超覆,其超覆线和相带的走向与龙门山冲断带的走向平行,显示了7条硅质海绵礁丘和滩是随着相对海平上升过程而向南东方向的前陆缓坡超覆过程中逐次形成的。卡尼期硅质海绵礁迁移速率为18mm·yr-1,其与龙门山造山楔推进速率(15mm·yr-1)基本一致,表明印支期龙门山逆冲楔推进速率与前陆鲕粒滩-硅质海绵礁丘迁移速率具有明显的耦合关系。据此,本次提出了龙门山前陆盆地早期前陆型碳酸盐缓坡和硅质海绵礁的迁移模式,其形成的过程为:龙门山造山楔于卡尼期初始构造负载于扬子板块西缘,导致了前陆地区的挠曲沉降,形成了前陆盆地,驱动了相对海平面的持续上升,前陆盆地处于欠补偿状态,当相对海平面上升速率与硅质海绵礁生长速率相同时,在15～30m深度的前陆同斜缓坡上发育了鲕粒滩-硅质海绵礁丘组合,随着龙门山造山楔不断地的向前陆地区推进,前陆盆地内相对海平面持续上升,逐次在前陆缓坡上15～30m深度的的位置开启了新的硅质海绵礁群的生长窗,形成了本区卡尼期7条带状展布的鲕粒滩-硅质海绵礁丘组合。因此,硅质海绵礁的淹没过程和迁移过程是龙门山造山楔向扬子克拉通推进过程的沉积响应,显示了在卡尼期-诺利期松潘-甘孜残留洋盆的迅速闭合和逆冲楔构造负载向扬子板块推进的动力学过程。     

前陆盆地二级层序内可容纳空间发育演化及三级层序对比

强烈不对称的楔型地层是前陆盆地的典型特点,前隆带地层大量减薄或缺失、前隆带与前渊带三级层序的细分对比是建立前陆盆地层序地层格架的关键.结合前人对前陆盆地岩石圈挠曲变形模拟的认识,经过对库车前陆盆地的实例分析表明,前陆盆地挤压构造活动引起前渊带沉降、而前隆带隆升,导致可容纳空间发育在横向上不协调.可容纳空间的不协调发育与前隆的产生和迁移的动态演化过程相伴随: 在构造的活动期,前隆隆升并向冲断带迁移,盆地变窄变深,可容纳空间发育的不协调性逐渐增强; 在构造宁静期,盆地变宽变浅,可容纳空间整体性发育.因此,前陆盆地二级层序在地震剖面上具双层结构(如库车盆地侏罗系、白垩系卡普沙良群),其下层为一组楔状、向冲断带收缩的退积反射; 上层反射呈带状、延续范围广.层序的对比模式为: 在二级层序的底部,三级层序向克拉通渐次超覆; 在二级层序的中部,三级层序的分布向冲断带渐次收缩; 在二级层序的上部,三级层序分布广泛,可对比性强(如库车盆地下第三系).      

Sediment dispersal and quantitative stratigraphic architecture across an ancient shelf

Two large (200 to 300 km), near‐continuous outcrop transects and extensive well‐log data (ca 2800 wells) allow analysis of sedimentological characteristics and stratigraphic architecture across a large area (ca 60 000 km²) of the latest Santonian to middle Campanian shelf along the western margin of the Western Interior Seaway in eastern Utah and western Colorado, USA. Genetically linked depositional systems are mapped at high chronostratigraphic resolution (ca 0·1 to 0·5 Ma) within their sequence stratigraphic context. In the lower part of the studied interval, sediment was dispersed via wave‐dominated deltaic systems with a ‘compound clinoform’ geomorphology in which an inner, wave‐dominated shoreface clinoform was separated by a muddy subaqueous topset from an outer clinoform containing sand‐poor, gravity‐flow deposits. These strata are characterized by relatively steep, net‐regressive shoreline trajectories (>0·1°) with concave‐landward geometries, narrow nearshore belts of storm‐reworked sandstones (2 to 22 km), wide offshore mudstone belts (>250 km) and relatively high sediment accumulation rates (ca 0·27 mm year^?1). The middle and upper parts of the studied interval also contain wave‐dominated shorefaces, but coeval offshore mudstones enclose abundant ‘isolated’ tide‐influenced sandstones that were transported sub‐parallel to the regional palaeoshoreline by basinal hydrodynamic (tidal?) circulation. These strata are characterized by relatively shallow, net‐regressive shoreline trajectories (<0·1°) with straight to concave‐seaward geometries, wide nearshore belts of storm‐reworked sandstones (19 to 70 km), offshore mudstone belts of variable width (130 to >190 km) and relatively low sediment accumulation rates (ca ≤0·11 mm year^?1). The change in shelfal sediment dispersal and stratigraphic architecture, from: (i) ‘compound clinoform’ deltas characterized by across‐shelf sediment transport; to (ii) wave‐dominated shorelines with ‘isolated’ tide‐influenced sandbodies characterized by along‐shelf sediment transport, is interpreted as reflecting increased interaction with the hydrodynamic regime in the seaway as successive shelfal depositional systems advanced out of a sheltered embayment (‘Utah Bight’). This advance was driven by a decreasing tectonic subsidence rate, which also suppressed autogenic controls on stratigraphic architecture.     

Stages of development in the Polish Carpathian Foredeep basin

In southern Poland, Miocene deposits have been recognised both in the Outer Carpathians and the Carpathian Foredeep (PCF). In the Outer Carpathians, the Early Miocene deposits represent the youngest part of the flysch sequence, while in the Polish Carpathian Foredeep they are developed on the basement platform. The inner foredeep (beneath the Carpathians) is composed of Early to Middle Miocene deposits, while the outer foredeep is filled up with the Middle Miocene (Badenian and Sarmatian) strata, up to 3,000mthick. The Early Miocene strata are mainly terrestrial in origin, whereas the Badenian and Sarmatian strata are marine. The Carpathian Foredeep developed as a peripheral foreland basin related to the moving Carpathian front. The main episodes of intensive subsidence in the PCF correspond to the period of progressive emplacement of the Western Carpathians onto the foreland plate. The important driving force of tectonic subsidence was the emplacement of the nappe load related to subduction roll-back. During that time the loading effect of the thickening of the Carpathian accretionary wedge on the foreland plate increased and was followed by progressive acceleration of total subsidence. The mean rate of the Carpathian overthrusting, and north to north-east migration of the axes of depocentres reached 12 mm/yr at that time. During the Late Badenian-Sarmatian, the rate of advance of the Carpathian accretionary wedge was lower than that of pinch-out migration and, as a result, the basin widened. The Miocene convergence of the Carpathian wedge resulted in the migration of depocentres and onlap of successively younger deposits onto the foreland plate.     

Evidence for a transgressive barrier within a regressive strandplain system: Implications for complex coastal response to environmental change

Clastic, depositional strandplain systems have the potential to record changes in the primary drivers of coastal evolution: climate, sea‐level, and the frequency of major meteorological and oceanographic events. This study seeks to use one such record from a southern Brazilian strandplain to highlight the potentially‐complex nature of coastal sedimentological response to small changes in these drivers. Following a 2 to 4 m highstand at ca 5·8 ka in southern Brazil, falling sea‐level reworked shelf sediment onshore, forcing coastal progradation, smoothing the irregular coastline and forming the 5 km wide Pinheira Strandplain, composed of ca 500 successive beach and dune ridges. Sediment cores, grab samples and >11 km of ground‐penetrating radar profiles reveal that the strandplain sequence is composed of well‐sorted, fine to very‐fine quartz sand. Since the mid‐Holocene highstand, the shoreline prograded at a rate of ca 1 to 2 m yr^?1 through the deposition of a 4 to 6 m thick shoreface unit; a 1 to 3 m thick foreshore unit containing ubiquitous ridge and runnel facies; and an uppermost beach and foredune unit. However, the discovery of a linear, 100 m wide barrier ridge with associated washover units, a 3 to 4 m deep lagoon and 250 m wide tidal inlet within the strandplain sequence reveals a period of shoreline transgression at 3·3 to 2·8 ka during the otherwise regressive developmental history of the plain. The protected nature of Pinheira largely buffered it from changes in precipitation patterns, wave energy and fluvial sediment supply during the time of its formation. However, multiple lines of evidence indicate that a change in the rate of relative sea‐level fall, probably due to either steric or ice‐volume effects, may have affected this coastline. Thus, whereas these other potential drivers cannot be fully discounted, this study provides insights into the complexity of decadal‐scale to millennial‐scale coastal response to likely variability in sea‐level change rates.     

有效厚度拟合定量恢复原始地层超覆点位置

地层超覆点的迁移是层序地层分析和海平面变化曲线编制的重要依据。受构造抬升、海平面下降或二者共同作用影响,地层超覆点在沉积后常被剥蚀。如何恢复其原始沉积时的位置,至今尚无定量方法提出。基于地层厚度自盆地边缘向盆地中心依次增大,或先增大、后减小的分布特点,采用指数与线性相结合的分段函数模型,利用未剥蚀区地层厚度数据拟合外推恢复原始地层超覆点位置。该方法适用于被动大陆边缘、大型三角洲沉积区及坳陷型盆地,应用于巽他陆架晚新生代地层分析,取得满意效果.     

Geometry and facies of Tertiary clinothems, Spitsbergen

Sandstone clinothems from the Battfjellet Formation (Palaeogene) on Spitsbergen are locally exceptionally well preserved along depositional dip-parallel mountainsides. The clinothems are more than 1 km wide and more than 100 m thick. Superposition of several sandstone clinothems separated by mudstones reflects repeated shoreline progradation and transgression. Deposition took place partly on‘post-transgressional’ depositional shelves, and partly by contributing seaward-sloping wedges, or clinothems, to a ramp progradation. Shorelines dominated both by mouth bar and shoreface environments have been identified. The clinothems are organized into an overall progradational architecture with a geometry having features in common with progradational seismic facies.     

The Lower Permian Wasp Head Formation,Sydney Basin: high‐latitude,shallow marine sedimentation following the late Asselian to early Sakmarian glacial event in eastern Australia

The Lower Permian Wasp Head Formation (early to middle Sakmarian) is a ～95 m thick unit that was deposited during the transition to a non‐glacial period following the late Asselian to early Sakmarian glacial event in eastern Australia. This shallow marine, sandstone‐dominated unit can be subdivided into six facies associations. (i) The marine sediment gravity flow facies association consists of breccias and conglomerates deposited in upper shoreface water depths. (ii) Upper shoreface deposits consist of cross‐stratified, conglomeratic sandstones with an impoverished expression of the Skolithos Ichnofacies. (iii) Middle shoreface deposits consist of hummocky cross‐stratified sandstones with a trace fossil assemblage that represents the Skolithos Ichnofacies. (iv) Lower shoreface deposits are similar to middle shoreface deposits, but contain more pervasive bioturbation and a distal expression of the Skolithos Ichnofacies to a proximal expression of the Cruziana Ichnofacies. (v) Delta‐influenced, lower shoreface‐offshore transition deposits are distinguished by sparsely bioturbated carbonaceous mudstone drapes within a variety of shoreface and offshore deposits. Trace fossil assemblages represent distal expressions of the Skolithos Ichnofacies to stressed, proximal expressions of the Cruziana Ichnofacies. Impoverished trace fossil assemblages record variable and episodic environmental stresses possibly caused by fluctuations in sedimentation rates, substrate consistencies, salinity, oxygen levels, turbidity and other physio‐chemical stresses characteristic of deltaic conditions. (vi) The offshore transition‐offshore facies association consists of mudstone and admixed sandstone and mudstone with pervasive bioturbation and an archetypal to distal expression of the Cruziana Ichnofacies. The lowermost ～50 m of the formation consists of a single deepening upward cycle formed as the basin transitioned from glacioisostatic rebound following the Asselian to early Sakmarian glacial to a regime dominated by regional extensional subsidence without significant glacial influence. The upper ～45 m of the formation can be subdivided into three shallowing upward cycles (parasequences) that formed in the aftermath of rapid, possibly glacioeustatic, rises in relative sea‐level or due to autocyclic progradation patterns. The shift to a parasequence‐dominated architecture and progressive decrease in ice‐rafted debris upwards through the succession records the release from glacioisostatic rebound and amelioration of climate that accompanied the transition to broadly non‐glacial conditions.     

Depositional environment and sequence architecture of the Silurian Coralliferous Group,Southern Pembrokeshire,UK

The Lower Silurian siliciclastic Coralliferous Group is shown to have been deposited in an intra‐shelf position 10–15 km south of the palaeogeographic shelf‐break of the Welsh Basin. After a phase of thermal subsidence related to the development of the predominantly Llandovery Skomer Volcanic Group, the shelf basin was transgressed. This transgression was punctuated by an episode of tectonic uplift in southern Pembrokeshire, resulting in subaerial exposure of the shelf and a significant basinward shift in sedimentary environments. Erosion and sediment bypass ensued, with coarse‐grained low‐sinuosity fluvial channels transporting sediment to the northerly Welsh Basin, where significant submarine fans developed. During the early Telychian, renewed transgression took place, with lowstand gravels being ravined and reworked into parasequences of the transgressive systems tract. These thin, coarse‐grained parasequences record deposition within high‐energy wave‐dominated shoreface/inner shelf environments. Further coastal onlap resulted in the closing down of significant coarse‐grained sediment supply, with the remaining Coralliferous Group being dominated by wave‐influenced silts, mud‐shales and thin sandstones comprising the highstand systems tract. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.