Terrestrial-marine transition in the Cambrian rocks of Kangaroo Island, South Australia

The upper part of the Lower Cambrian succession in northeast Kangaroo Island comprises three interbedded facies associations. The fine-grained association is composed of siltstone, mudstone and minor sandstone. It contains flat lamination and abundant ripple cross-lamination which shows bipolar palaeocurrents, and occurs in combinations of flaser bedding, lenticular bedding and wavy lamination. Although body fossils are relatively rare, trilobite traces and desiccation cracks are common, and the association is interpreted as a predominantly subtidal to intertidal deposit. The conglomerate facies association contains horizontally bedded cobble to boulder conglomerate, with subordinate trough cross-stratified coarse sandstone to granule/pebble conglomerate. Fabrics and structures in the coarse conglomerates are consistent with alluvial transport (stream and debris flow), but not beach deposition. The conglomerate association is attributed to tectonic uplift and erosion of a Precambrian-Lower Cambrian succession developed adjacent to the present north coast of Kangaroo Island. Southward progradation of an alluvial fan complex occurred across east-west oriented tidal flats on which limited wave activity reworked sand and fine gravel, but not coarser material. The sandstone facies association mainly comprises trough cross-stratified and plane-laminated sandstone, the latter with current lineation predominantly sub-parallel to the east-west shoreline. Trough cross-stratification is ascribed to onshore waves and longshore currents, and current lineation to predominantly shore-parallel tidal currents, augmented by longshore drift and storm surge. Tectonic movements gave rise to cycles of transgression and regression as tidal and alluvial processes dominated alternately.     

A subtidal bar model for the eze-aku sandstones,Nigeria

“Coarsening upward” successions typical of subtidal sand bars have been recognised in the NE-trending linear sandstone bodies which occur within marine shale in the Eze-Aku Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of southeastern Nigeria.The ideal succession, 15–20 m thick, consists of the following units from bottom to top: (1) bioturbated grey siltstone (offshore mud); (2) wave-ripple-laminated, fine-grained well-sorted sandstone (offshore sands); (3) trough and tabular, cross-bedded medium-grained sandstone with channelled base (subtidal channel complex); (4) trough cross-bedded, medium-grained sandstone with bimodal-bipolar paleocurrent pattern (subtidal bar); (5) coarse, pebbly trough cross-bedded sandstone with wave-rippled top, rare burrows and a bimodal-bipolar paleocurrent pattern (subtidal bar). A sixth facies, not a part of the normal sequence, consists of coarse, carbonate-cemented pebbly sandstone grading into pure shell-limestone (bar margin).The sand bars seem to have grown on a shallow mud-bottomed, wave-worked inland sea inhabited by burrowers. A model for the stages of the vertical growth of the bar is presented.     

An iron-bearing wave-dominated siliciclastic shelf: Facies analysis and palaeogeographic implications (Silurian-Lower Devonian Sierra Grande Formation,Southern Argentina)

The Sierra Grande Formation (Silurian-Early Devonian) consists of quartz arenites associated with clast supported conglomerates, mudstones, shales and ironstones. Eight sedimentary facies are recognized: cross-stratified and massive sandstone, plane bedded sandstone, ripple laminated sandstone, interstratified sandstone and mudstone, laminated mudstone and shale, oolitic ironstone, massive conglomerate and sheet conglomerate lags. These facies are interpreted as shallow marine deposits, ranging from foreshore to inner platform environments. Facies associations, based on vertical relationships among lithofacies, suggest several depositional zones: (a) beach to upper shoreface, with abundant plane bedded and massive bioturbated sandstones; (b) upper shoreface to breaker zone, characterized by multistorey cross-stratified and massive sandstone bodies interpreted as subtidal longshore-flow induced sand bars; (c) subtidal, nearshore tidal sand bars, consisting of upward fining sandstone sequences; (d) lower shoreface zone, dominated by ripple laminated sandstone, associated with cross-stratified and horizontal laminated sandstone, formed by translatory and oscillatory flows; and (e) transitional nearshore-offshore and inner platform zones, with heterolithic and pelitic successions, and oolitic ironstone horizons. Tidal currents, fair weather waves and storm events interacted during the deposition of the Sierra Grande Formation. However, the relevant features of the siliciclastics suggest that fair weather and storm waves were the most important mechanisms in sediment accumulation. The Silurian-Lower Devonian platform was part of a continental interior sag located between southern South America and southern Africa. The Sierra Grande Formation was deposited during a second order sea level rise, in which a shallow epeiric sea flooded a deeply weathered low relief continent.     

Early Triassic intertidal/subtidal patterns of sedimentation along the southern margins of the Tethyan seaway,Jordan

The early Triassic Dardur Formation, exposed along the northeastern margin of the Dead Sea area, comprises some 63 m of siliciclastic and carbonate rocks, arranged in two coarsening-upward sequences. Each sequence begins with a heterolithic facies (silty shale dolomite and marlstone) and terminates with a sandstone facies.The occurrence of mixed carbonate-dominated clastic coarsening-upward facies sequences, containing pelecypode and ostracode fossils and trace fossils is attributed to deposition in a tidally-dominated environment. Bedload traction transport was responsible for deposition of the sandstone facies in a permanently submerged, shallow subtidal zone, whereas the presence of small scale interference oscillation ripple marks, tidal rhythmites and mudcracks in the heterolithic facies indicate deposition under more fluctuating intertidal conditions.The organization of heterolithic and sandstone into vertically-stacked, coarsening-upward marine facies sequences is attributed to a deepening-upward trend from intertidal to subtidal conditions, in response to a series of minor local transgressions and regressions along the southern margins of the Tethyan seaway during early Triassic times.     

Sedimentary facies of the central part of radial tidal sand ridge system of the eastern China coast

A unique radial tidal sand ridge system (RTSRS) has developed under a complex tidal current field on the eastern China coast between the Yangtze River delta to the south and the abandoned Yellow River (Huanghe) delta to the north. The present study examines the sedimentary evolution of a ridge-channel pair in the central RTSRS. Three cores, with two on the ridges and one in the channel, were drilled to reveal the late Pleistocene-Holocene deposits of the system. Five sedimentary facies were distinguished, i.e. ridgeshallow subtidal facies, ridge-deep subtidal facies, nearsurface channel bottom facies, middle tidal flat facies and low tidal flat facies. The ridge-shallow subtidal facies consists of sandy strata with ripple cross beddings, horizontal lamina, and massive beddings. Bioturbation seldom occurs. The ridge-deep subtidal facies is primarily characterized by sandy and muddy interlayers with common flaser and lenticular bedding structures. Bioturbation appears abundantly. Massive and graded sediment sequences of storm origin are present as characterized by rich shell fragments. The nearsurface channel bottom facies consists of loose, soft, clayey silt deposits with deformed sedimentary layers. This facies occurs in the deeper part of the active channels. The middle tidal flat and lower tidal flat facies composed of silt-clay couplets prevailed primarily in the tidal flats. Incomplete sedimentary successions show that coastal plain deposits dominate in the study area during 12–13 ka B.P. The sandy ridge and channel facies became dominant during 4–6 ka B.P. when the sea level receded temporarily. Tidal ridge and channel in the study area became active during the last four decades. Sediment reworking due to typhoon and sandy ridge migration plays a key role in shaping the present radial ridge system.     

Aeolian to marine transition in Cambro—Ordovician cratonic sheet sandstones of the northern Mississippi valley, U.S.A.

Cratonic quartz sandstones have presented several intractable problems. Besides their extreme textural and compositional maturity and paucity of shale, their sheet-like geometry is particularly notable. If the sandstones were entirely marine, as long supposed, such geometry is difficult to explain in terms of modern shelf sediments, which are generally held to be either relict or only slightly reworked by the Holocene transgression (palimpsest). Re-study of two quartz sandstones in the northern Mississippi Valley region reveals evidence for significant non-marine deposition followed by varying degrees of marine reworking during transgressions. Facies patterns are similar in the Cambrian Wonewoc and Ordovician St Peter sandstones, both of which overlie unconformities. In both, a large-scale cross-stratified facies believed to represent aeolian ergs passes laterally into a planar-and-channelled facies inferred to represent sand plains composed of braided fluvial and aeolian sand sheet deposits. Criteria of aeolian deposition in both facies include adhesion structures, large ripple index, fine climbing translatent lamination, grainfall and grainflow stratification. Criteria of braided fluvial deposition include shallow channels containing sequences of thinning-upward sets of trough cross-stratification, reactivation surfaces, low-index ripples, and polygonal cracks. Probable aeolian sand sheets contain flat bedding punctuated by small channels, adhesion structures, and coarse-sand ripples with large index. There is a conspicuous absence of trace and body fossils from these inferred non-marine deposits. In contrast is a burrowed and trough cross-stratified facies characterized by medium-scale cross-bedding alternating with bioturbated intervals and rare brachiopod or trilobite-mould coquinas, which is interpreted as shallow marine. In both formations, this last facies replaces laterally and overlaps the other two, reflecting transgression and variable reworking. The main areas of non-marine deposits in both formations are capped by a thin, burrowed subfacies that represents the culmination of each transgression; that is, a stillstand during which sediment influx ceased and both physical winnowing and bioturbation were intense. It is suggested that the sheet-like geometry of many cratonic quartz sandstones is due primarily to initial sand dispersal by aeolian and fluvial processes. That such processes must have been orders-of-magnitude more important on pre-Devonian, vegetation-free landscapes than they have been since, not only helps to explain the sheet-like character but also the exceptional maturity of the older cratonic sandstones.     

鄂尔多斯盆地东缘大宁—吉县地区山西组页岩岩相与沉积相特征

以鄂尔多斯盆地东缘大宁—吉县地区二叠系山西组为研究对象,综合应用岩心、薄片及测井资料,开展山32亚段岩相类型、岩相组合和沉积相研究,研究结果表明:山32亚段包括粉砂质泥岩/页岩相、纹层状层理含粉砂泥岩/页岩相、透镜状层理粉砂质泥岩/页岩相、钙质页岩相、煤层、碳质页岩相、黑色页岩相、波状层理泥质粉砂岩相、交错层理中—细砂...     

Progradational Holocene carbonate tidal flats of Crooked Island,south‐east Bahamas: An alternative to the humid channelled belt model

The stratigraphic record of many cratonic carbonate sequences includes thick successions of stacked peritidal deposits. Representing accumulation at or near sea‐level, these deposits have provided insights into past palaeoenvironments, sea‐level and climate change. To expand understanding of carbonate peritidal systems, this study describes the geomorphology, sedimentology and stratigraphy of the tidal flats on the Crooked‐Acklins Platform, south‐east Bahamas. The Crooked Island tidal flats extend continuously for ca 18 km on the platformward flank of Crooked Island, reaching up to 2 km across. Tidal flats include four environmental zones with specific faunal and floral associations and depositional characteristics: (i) supratidal (continuous supratidal crust and pavement); (ii) upper intertidal, with the mangrove Avicennia germinans and the cyanobacteria Scytonema; (iii) lower intertidal (with the mangrove Rhizophora mangal) and (iv) non‐vegetated, heavily burrowed subtidal (submarine). These zones have gradational boundaries but follow shore‐parallel belts. Coring reveals that the thickness of this mud‐dominated sediment package generally is <2 m, with depth to Pleistocene bedrock gradually shallowing landward. The facies succession under much of the tidal flat includes a basal compacted, organic‐rich skeletal‐lithoclast lag above the bedrock contact (suggesting initial flooding). This unit grades upward into rhizoturbated skeletal sandy mud (subtidal) overlain by coarsening‐upward peloid‐foraminifera‐gastropod muddy sand (reflecting shallowing to intertidal elevations). Cores from landward positions include stacked thin indurated layers with autoclastic breccia, root tubules and fenestrae (interpreted as supratidal conditions). Collectively, the data reveal an offlapping pattern on this prograding low‐energy shoreline, and these Holocene tidal flats may represent an actualistic analogue for ancient humid progradational tidal flats. Nonetheless, their vertical facies succession is akin to that present beneath channelled belt examples, suggesting that facies successions alone may not provide unambiguous criteria for prediction of the palaeogeomorphology, lateral facies changes and heterogeneity in stratigraphic analogues.     

A case of normal regression with sea level transgression: Example from the Ganurgarh shale,Vindhyan basin,Maihar area,M.P., India

The Ganurgarh shale, a formation belonging to the Bhander Group of Vindhyan basin is investigated using field based detailed lithofacies and petrofacies analyses in order to interpret the depositional environment in a sequence stratigraphic context. Five major lithofacies have been recognized consisting of calcareous sandstones, laminated mudstones, rippled siltstones, red-grey shales and sandy limestones characterized by small to large-scale cross-bedding, ripple cross-lamination of wave and current origin, parallel lamination, low-angle horizontal bedding, flaser and lenticular bedding, mud-cracks, salt pseudomorphs, convolute bedding and load structures. The constituent lithofacies are recurring and grouped into three lithofacies associations where, the association A is composed of fining upwards and B with coarsening upwards cycles at the lower and middle levels of the succession respectively, are dominantly arenaceous whereas, the association C occurring at upper levels is fining upwards (FU) and becomes calcareous with meager representation of clastics. Petrographically, the section offers three main petrofacies viz., (a) sandstone- (b) siltstone- (c) sandy limestone-petrofacies. Lithofacies characters complimented with petrography show that deposition occurred within the shoreface (subtidal) to foreshore intertidal domain involving tidal flats with sub-environments ranging from intertidal to supratidal. However, lithofacies associations within the Ganurgarh shale of Maihar area represent a case of normal regression during sea level transgression. In the beginning, probably because of excessive sediment supply the sea level had a falling trend during an overall transgressive phase ultimately culminating into limestone sedimentation.     

The applicability of modern tidal analogues to pre‐vegetation paralic depositional models

In modern siliciclastic environments terrestrial and aquatic vegetation binds substrate, controls weathering and erosion rates, influences run‐off, sediment supply and subsequent depositional architecture. This study assesses the applicability of modern depositional models that are impacted by vascular vegetation, as analogues for ancient pre‐land plant systems. A review of pre‐Devonian published literature demonstrates a paucity of described tidal successions; this is possibly due to the application of modern analogues for interpreting the record when there is a lack of tidal indicators. This paucity suggests a need for revised models of tidal deposition that consider the different environmental conditions prior to land plant evolution. This study examines the Ordovician–Silurian Tumblagooda Sandstone, which is exposed in the gorge of the Murchison River and coastal cliffs near Kalbarri, Western Australia. The Tumblagooda Sandstone comprises stacked sand‐rich facies, with well‐preserved bedforms and trace fossils. Previous interpretations of the depositional setting have proposed from a mixed sheet‐braided fluvial and intertidal flats; to a continental setting dominated by fluvial and aeolian processes. An enigmatic element is the rarity of mud‐rich facies preserved in the succession. Outcrop logging, facies and petrographic analysis record dominantly shallow water conditions with episodes of emergence. Abundant ichnotaxa indicate that marine conditions and bi‐directional flow structures are evidence for an intertidal and subtidal depositional environment. A macrotidal estuary setting is proposed, with evidence for tidal channels and repeated fluvial incursions. Physical and biogenic sedimentary structures are indicative of tidal conditions. The lack of clay and silt resulted in the absence of flaser or lenticular‐bedding. Instead cyclic deposition of thin beds and foreset bioturbation replaced mud drape deposits. Higher energy conditions prevailed in the absence of the binding activity of plants in the terrestrial and marine realm. This is suggestive of different weathering processes and a reduction in the preservation of some sedimentary features.     

Depositional environments of Upper Miocene (Messinian) evaporite deposits of the Sicilian Basin*

In Sicily, Messinian evaporitic sedimentary deposits are developed under a wide variety of hypersaline conditions and in environments ranging from continental margin (subaerial), to basin-margin supratidal, to intertidal, to subtidal and out into the hypersaline basin proper. The actual water depth at the time of deposition is indeterminate; however, relative terms such as ‘wave base’ and ‘photic zone’ are utilized. The inter-fingering relationships of specific evaporitic facies having clear and recognizable physical characteristics are presented. These include sub-aerial deposits of nodular calcium sulphate formed displacively within clastic sediments; gypsiferous rudites, arenites and arenitic marls, all of which are reworked sediments and are mixed in varying degrees with other clastic materials (subaerial, supratidal, and intertidal to deep basinal deposits). Laminated calcium sulphate alternating with very thin carbonate interlaminae and having two different aspects; one being even and continuous and the other of a wavy, irregular appearance (subtidal, intertidal, and supratidal deposits). Nodular calcium sulphate beds, usually associated with wavy, irregular laminated beds (supratidal, sabkha deposits); very coarsely crystalline gypsum beds (selenite), associated with more even, laminated beds (subaqueous, intertidal to subtidal deposits); wavy anastomozing gypsum beds, composed of very fine, often broken crystals (subaqueous, current-swept deposits); halite having hopper and chevron structures (supratidal to intertidal); and halite, potash salts, etc. having continuous laminated structure (subaqueous, possibly basinal). Evidence for diagenetic changes is observed in the calcium sulphate deposits which apparently formed by tectonic stress and also by migrating hypersaline waters. These observations suggest that the common, massive form of alabastrine gypsum (or anhydrite, in the subsurface) may not always be ascribed to original depositional features, to syndiagenesis or to early diagenesis but may be the result of late diagenesis.     

Palaeoecology, facies and stratigraphy of shallow marine macrofauna from the Upper Oligocene (Palaeogene) of the southern Pre-North Sea Basin of Astrup (NW Germany)

The 22 meter thick marine carbonate Upper Oligocene series of Astrup (NW Germany) is correlated with the Chattian type section of Doberg. It indicates a more constrained palaeogeographical and biostratigraphical position ranging from the biozones of Chlamys (C.) decussata (upper Chattian A) to Chlamys (C.) semistriatus (lower Chattian C). The macrofauna can be subdivided into three main benthic communities: A. the ?coarse gravel spondylid beach fauna?? of the shore zone with ?pebble beach facies?? dominated by sessile brachiopods, large balanids, spondylids, oysters or small regular echinoids. Borings are common in pebbles; B. the ?glauconite fine gravel brachiopod-bryozoan littoral fauna?? of the shallow subtidal zone where a terebratulid/lithothamnid dominated fauna/flora is present. The rhodophyceans were most possibly anker stones and substrates for cirripeds and serpulids; C. the ?glauconite carbonate sand phytal fauna?? of the shallow subtidal zone with a rich benthic mollusc dominated fauna. Indirect evidence for seagrass and macroalgae occurs on the attachment negatives of balanids and oysters, and also on Cibicides foraminifera or bryozoans like Cellepora. The facies types along the Wiehengebirge Island and Teutoburger Wald Peninsula coasts of the southern Pre-North Sea Basin differ with respect to their benthic communities to that of the siliciclastic Leipziger and the Rhenish Bay facies.     

Jet-efflux deposits of a subaqueous ice-contact fan,glacial Lake Rinteln,northwestern Germany

The coarse-grained, ice-contact, Porta Subaqueous Fan/Delta Complex was deposited in glacial Lake Rinteln at the margin of the Saalian ice sheet that advanced south of the Weser Chains, NW Germany. The ice-proximal depositional system was up to 15 km long and 10 km wide. The present study deals with ice-proximal subaqueous fan deposits, which are interpreted as products of a subcritical plane-wall outflow jet that periodically passed into a supercritical jet with hydraulic jump. The proximal facies assemblage consists of the coarse, clast-supported gravelly deposits of a hyperconcentrated (high-density) effluent and of related cohesionless debris flows attributed to the conduit or immediate proximal jet outflow zone of flow establishment. The intermediate facies assemblage, attributed to the outflow jet proximal zone of flow transition, is dominated by normally graded and cross-stratified gravels with scour structures at their bases; these gravels were deposited by a high-density effluent capable of forming mouthbar-like features. These deposits pass downcurrent into an assemblage of planar parallel-stratified and planar and trough cross-stratified sands and pebbly sands (partially interpreted as antidunes), with abundant scour structures and intercalated layers of fine sand/silt and silty mud, attributed to the jet distal zone of flow transition. The distal facies assemblage consists of trough cross-stratified sands and pebbly sands, and is attributed to the outflow jet proximal zone of established flow. The sedimentary succession as a whole has wedge-shape geometry, with a gentle fan-shaped inclination of the bedding from the southeast to the southwest. Repeated vertical alternations of supercritical and subcritical deposits and muddy interlayers can be attributed to temporary fluctuations in the meltwater outflow, whereas the overall upward fining of the succession indicates a net decline of meltwater discharges.     

胜利油区早古生代沉积相

早古生代，胜利油区作为华北地台的一部分，接受了一套以海相碳酸盐岩为主的沉积，其沉积相与其他地区既有相似性，又有特殊性。文中首先按沉积岩类型，将沉积相划分为碎屑沉积相系和碳酸盐岩沉积相系。根据岩石的沉积构造、指相矿物、生物化石等，将下古生界沉积相进一步划分为４个相９种亚相，并对各种相的特征进行了简要说明。在单井相分析的基础上，利用单因素和三端元作图法编制了基础图件，结合相序的变化规律和区域地质背景，对区内早古生代不同时期的沉积相展布特征进行了探讨：馒头期—徐庄期，基本为潮上到潮间带；张夏期—崮山期，发育有潮下浅滩和开阔海两种主要沉积相；长山期—早奥陶世，以潮间—潮下带为主；中奥陶世，以浅水的潮上、潮间带与较深水的潮下带间互出现。研究早古生代沉积相，对于评价碳酸盐岩储层和烃源岩有重要意义。     

Intertidal clay-drape couplets (Gironde estuary, France)

Clay-drape couplets on subaqueous dunes have been regarded as a diagnostic feature of the subtidal environment since Visser's seminal paper (1980). The new observation of clay-drape couplets in the intertidal zone on a present day tidal bar of the Gironde estuary shows that they are not restricted to the subtidal zone.
In the intertidal zone, low-tide slack-water clay drapes are deposited in the bottomsets of the dominant current dunes when the muddy water retained in the troughs is absorbed into the sand during the emergence of the intertidal bar. They drape emergence run-off ripples generated by the drainage currents in the bottomsets. High-tide slack-water clay drapes are deposited over the entire dune surface and are preserved on the lee side of the dunes and in the bottomsets. They drape the subordinate current ripples. Low-tide and high-tide slack-water clay drapes enclose one thin rippled sand layer (the subordinate current bundle) and are isolated from other adjacent clay-drape couplets by the dominant current bundle.
The clay-drape couplets deposited in the intertidal zone can be distinguished from their subtidal counterparts on the basis of two morphological differences:
1. In the intertidal zone, the low-tide clay drape is only present in the bottomsets of the dunes, whereas in the subtidal zone equivalent clay drapes are also present on the lower part of the lee side of the dunes.
2. In the intertidal zone, low-tide clay drapes are deposited in the bottomsets of the dunes over emergence run-off ripples oriented in the direction of the drainage currents (i.e. in a direction normal to the tidal currents). Conversely, in the subtidal zone, the equivalent clay drapes are typically deposited over ripples oriented in the tidal-current direction (ebb or flood). There is a difference of polarity of 90° between the intertidal and subtidal small-scale bedforms draped by the low-tide slack-water drapes.     

文昌B凹陷北坡珠海组潮汐沉积特征及演化

文昌凹陷珠海组是重要的含油层系,但目前缺乏对文昌B凹陷北坡珠海组沉积特征的系统性研究,制约了该地区进一步勘探。以钻测井、岩芯、分析化验以及地震等资料为基础,对文昌B凹陷北坡珠海组进行层序地层划分、地震相识别、沉积特征及其演化分析。综合研究表明,珠海组发育三个三级层序;研究区广泛发育潮汐复合层理、双向水流的羽状交错层理以及强烈的生物扰动和虫孔等构造,为典型潮坪的潮间带和潮下带沉积;在三个地震层序中识别出7种典型地震相并建立地震相与沉积相响应关系,以对沉积相展布进行研究;早渐新世末,海水开始侵入盆地,由于神狐隆起的障蔽作用,其沉积主要受潮汐作用控制,伴随海侵的进行,沉积了珠海组厚层的潮坪沉积,此后海侵进一步加剧,障壁逐渐消失,波浪作用增强,逐渐过渡到新近系正常滨浅海沉积;各层序高位体系域的潮下带和潮间带砂坪沉积与其上泥坪沉积和海侵浅海泥沉积组成良好的储盖组合,其中潮汐水道和水下沙坝楔形沉积体为砂体较厚、分选好的优质储层,也是下一步勘探的有利目标。     

扬子克拉通北缘中元古界神农架群乱石沟组叠层石类型及其沉积学意义*

扬子克拉通北缘神农架地区中元古界神农架群叠层石十分发育。该群下部乱石沟组中叠层石类型丰富,根据形态可分为柱状、穹状、层状叠层石以及锥状、层柱状、包心菜状、墙状叠层石和叠层石丘等。研究区叠层石以中小型为主,少数为大型和巨型;多数无壁,部分具单层壁;对称性和继承性由好到一般,部分较差。研究表明,叠层石的形态和规模,与水动力条件、水体深度及陆源组分含量关系密切,其中层状叠层石主要发育于潮间带上部,柱状叠层石产于潮间带下部和浅潮下带,穹状叠层石出现在潮间带和潮下带,锥状叠层石多见于潮间带下部和潮下带,层柱状、锥柱状叠层石则集中于潮间带,叠层石丘位于潮间带和潮下带。依据各类型叠层石宏观和微观特征、垂向组合类型、沉积构造及沉积岩相相互关系,并结合碳、氧同位素测试结果,综合研究认为: 虽然叠层石的形成受生物和环境等多重因素影响,但生物因素主要影响叠层石的微观组构,水动力条件则控制叠层石的宏观形态类型,水体深度影响叠层石的规模;另外,生物繁盛、陆源物质供给少的环境更有利于叠层石发育。     

Synorogenic alluvial-fan – fan-delta deposition in the Papuan foreland basin: Plio-Pleistocene Era Formation,Papua New Guinea

The Pliocene to possibly Pleistocene uppermost Orubadi and Era Formations, southwest margin of the Papuan Peninsula, are interpreted as having been deposited in alluvial-fan, fan-delta and shallow-marine environments. The alluvial-fan facies consists primarily of lenticular, coarse-grained conglomerate (up to 2 m boulders) and cross-bedded and horizontally laminated sandstone. Conglomerate and sandstone were deposited in shallow fluvial channels and by overbank sheetfloods. The facies also contains thick mudflow diamictite and minor tuff and terrestrial mudstone. The shallow-marine and fan-delta facies, in contrast, consists of heterogeneously interbedded marine and terrestrial mudstone, sandstone, diamictite, conglomerate and limestone. Marine mudstone is calcareous, sandy, bioturbated, and contains marine shells. Limestone is mostly packstone that has a varied, open-marine fauna. Rare coral boundstone is also present. Marine sandstone is burrowed to bioturbated and is hummocky cross-stratified in places. Some marine mudstone contains sandstone pillows formed by loading of unconsolidated sand by storm waves. Other sandstone in the fan-delta facies is cross-bedded, lacks shells and was probably deposited by fluvial processes. Several conglomerate beds in the fan-delta facies are well sorted and imbricated and were also deposited by stream floods. The synorogenic Orubadi and Era Formations were deposited in a foreland basin formed from loading of the Papuan–Aure Fold and Thrust Belt on the edge of the Australian craton. Deformation in the fold and thrust belt was probably related to docking and compression of the Finisterre Terrane–Bismarck Arc against the New Guinea Orogen. The Era Formation interfingers with the reefal Wedge Hill Limestone in which reef facies likely grew on a deforming anticline. Era Formation siliciclastics were sourced from volcanic, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks that were uplifted in the orogen to the northeast. Volcanic sediment was derived mostly from a then-active volcanic arc likely related to southward subduction at the Trobriand Trough.     

柴北缘石炭系克鲁克组泥页岩岩相特征与沉积环境分析

柴北缘石炭系克鲁克组发育了一套厚层富有机质细粒沉积岩,是研究区页岩气勘探的主力层系。克鲁克组泥页岩形成于陆表海沉积环境,与深海富硅质泥页岩和湖相富碳酸盐泥页岩具有显著差异,目前研究程度相对较低,因此对其开展岩相与沉积环境研究具有十分重要的沉积学与油气地质学意义。通过野外露头和岩心观察,薄片鉴定、X射线衍射分析等技术,以区分标志明显、易于识别为主要原则,综合矿物组成、沉积构造、化石组合及其他混入物等因素,将柴北缘石炭系克鲁克组泥页岩划分出10种主要岩相类型,分别指示不同的沉积微环境。其中,煤岩、水平层理碳质黏土岩、透镜状层理粉砂质黏土岩、波状层理黏土质粉砂岩、脉状层理粉砂岩均属于潮坪沉积;富含菱铁矿结核的块状黏土岩为潟湖沉积;块状泥灰岩和块状生屑灰岩属碳酸盐台地沉积;而含介壳粉砂型泥岩和介壳型泥岩则属于潟湖与局限台地之间的过渡沉积,具有原地混积的特点。由于陆表海平缓的古坡脚,致使区内沉积体系受短期海平面升降变化影响显著,随滨线快速迁移,不同沉积环境的泥页岩在垂向上频繁叠置,交互出现,可总结出3种主要的岩相组合类型,分别形成于局限台地相潟湖相潮坪相组合,局限台地相潟湖相组合和局限台地相生物碎屑浅滩相组合。在泥页岩的岩相类型、特征、沉积环境及垂向演化序列研究的基础上,最终建立了陆表海泥页岩沉积模式。     

江西修水地区中元古界双桥山群修水组内波内潮汐沉积

详细论述了江西修水地区中元古界双桥山群修水组中的深水牵引流内波内潮汐的沉积特征及形成环境。深水牵引流内波内潮汐沉积具双向递变、单向递变和对偶层递变层序；其岩相可划分为双向交错层理砂岩相，单向交错层理砂岩相，砂岩、板岩薄互层相，波状、脉状、透镜状细砂岩、粉砂岩、板岩相；发育双向和单向交错层理、曲线型和干涉波痕及波状、脉状、透镜状层理；在综合分析的基础上，进一步建立了该区水道型和非水道型内波内潮汐沉积模式。