Exhumed channel sandstone networks within fluvial fan deposits from the Oligo-Miocene Caspe Formation, South-east Ebro Basin (North-east Spain)

The Oligo‐Miocene Caspe Formation corresponds to the middle fluvial facies of the wider Guadalope‐Matarranya fluvial fan, located in the South‐east Ebro foreland basin (North‐east Spain). At the time of the Caspe Formation deposition, this sector of the Ebro basin underwent a very continuous, moderate sedimentation rate. Lithofacies comprise deposits from channellized and unchannellized flows. Channellized flow lithofacies form multi‐storey ribbon‐like sandstone bodies that crop out as extensive sandstone ridges belonging to exhumed channel networks. Width/thickness ratios of these channel‐fill bodies average close to six. Sinuosity is usually low (most common values around 1·1), although it can be high locally (up to 2). Thicknesses range from a few metres to 15 m. Unchannellized flow lithofacies form tabular bodies that can be ascribed to overbank deposits (levées, crevasse splays and fine‐grained floodplain deposits) and also to frontal lobes, although recognition of this last case requires exceptional outcrop conditions or geophysical subsurface studies. The unchannellized flow lithofacies proportion ranges from 75% to 97·8%. Methods applied to this study include detailed three‐dimensional architectural analysis in addition to sedimentological analysis. The architecture is characterized by an intricate network of highly interconnected ribbon‐like sandstone bodies. Such bodies are connected by three kinds of connections: convergences, divergences and cross‐cuttings. Although the Caspe Formation lithofacies and architecture resemble anastomosed channels (low topographic gradient, high preservation potential, moderate aggradation rate, high lateral stability of the channels, dominance of the ribbon‐like morphologies and high proportion of floodplain to channel‐fill sediments), an unambiguous interpretation of the channel networks as anastomosed or single threaded cannot be established. Instead, the observed architecture could be considered as the product of the complex evolution of a fluvial fan segment, where different network morphologies could develop. A facies model for aggrading ephemeral fluvial systems in tectonically active, endorheic basins is proposed.     

A relationship between alluvial backswamps and avulsion cycles: an example from the Willwood Formation of the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming

Stratigraphically limited intervals from the Lower Eocene Willwood Formation contain laterally extensive carbonaceous shales and ribbon sandstone networks associated with channel avulsion. We present data from one such interval that documents the avulsion sequence. Vertical sections measured along the outcrop of this interval are similar and comprise a basal carbonaceous shale overlain by fine-grained deposits on which weakly developed, hydromorphic paleosols formed. The paleosols enclose and are locally incised by ribbon sandstones, some of which cut down to and partly through the carbonaceous shale. The ribbons have width/thickness ratios between 3 and 13. Some ribbons cluster at a particular stratigraphic level, which, together with paleocurrent trends, suggests that they formed channel networks. Sections are capped by yellow-brown paleosols showing moderate pedogenic development. We suggest that the carbonaceous shales developed in low-lying topogeneous swamps in distal portions of the floodplain far from the trunk channel. Such a location set limits on the sediment that they received. The mudrocks with weakly developed paleosols and associated ribbon sandstones are interpreted as crevasse-splay complexes resulting from avulsion of the trunk river. The ribbon sandstones represent ancient feeder channels of the avulsion complex. The rapid influx of avulsion deposits appears to have been crucial to preserving the organic material, and this study reveals an important and as yet uncharacterized link between trunk channel processes and the accumulation of organic-rich deposits in distal alluvial swamps. Similar deposits are found in other stratigraphic units in the Rocky Mountain region, and the development of these and other organic-rich deposits should be reassessed in terms of channel avulsion.     

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

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

The geometry and organization of fluviodeltaic channel sandstones in the Jurassic Saltwick Formation, Yorkshire, England

Within the Middle Jurassic Saltwick Formation of Yorkshire, England, 65% of the fluvial channel sandstones (n= 22) have width to thickness ratios in the range 17–30. More than 90% lie in the range 17–67 and are classified as narrow sheet channel sandstones. A broad sheet channel sandstone (c. 15 m thick, 3 km wide, width to thickness ratio of 200) occurs at the base of the formation in the proximal part of the studied depositional system. The thicknesses of the channel sandstones are in the range 4 m to more than 22 m, with 90% in the range 4–12 m. The widths of the channel sandstone sections are in the range 100–800 m, with 80% between 100 and 400 m. In plan view the channel sandstones display relatively constant thicknesses across the main part (80%) of the channel body. Channel sandstones are usually multistorey. The storeys are separated by major scour surfaces, with depths of scour ranging from 2 m to 8–10 m. The individual storeys are 4–13 m thick, and transverse and oblique storey sections have lateral extents of 60–480 m. Vertical stacking of storeys is accompanied by a decrease in the width to thickness ratio of the channel sandstones, whereas lateral stacking of storeys is accompanied by an increase. Mudstones and siltstones within channel sandstone bodies occur at the top of storeys and were in most cases deposited during channel abandonment. The Saltwick Formation was deposited during increasing accommodation forming a transgressive systems tract. The channel sandstone to interchannel sediment ratio is highest in the lower parts of the transgressive systems tract. The quantitative geometry and architecture data from the Saltwick Formation may be useful for describing and modelling humid delta plain hydrocarbon reservoirs of transgressive systems tracts.     

Architecture of fluvial-dominated valley-fill deposits in the Cretaceous Fall River Formation

The Fall River Formation is a 45 m thick layer of fluvial-dominated valley-fills and shore-zone strata deposited on the stable cratonic margin of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway. Fall River deposits in Red Canyon, in the south-west corner of South Dakota (USA), expose a cross-section of a 3.5 km wide valley-fill sandstone and laterally adjacent marine deposits. The marine deposits comprise three 10 m thick upward-shoaling sequences; each composed of multiple metres-thick upward-coarsening successions. The lower two of these sequences are laterally cut by the valley-fill sandstone, and are capped by metres-thick muddy palaeosols. The upper sequence spans the top of the valley-fill sandstone, and is overlain by the Skull Creek Shale. The 30 m thick valley sandstone is partitioned into four distinct fills by major erosion surfaces, and each of these fills contain many metres-thick channel-form bodies. Deposits in the lower parts of these fills are sheet-like, top-truncated channel bodies, whereas deposits in the upper parts of fills are upward-concave, laterally amalgamated channel bodies, more completely preserved heterolithic channel bodies, or wave-deposited sheets. Each valley-fill basal erosion surface records an episode of valley incision and relative sea-level fall, and the gradual progression from fluvial to more estuarine deposits upwards within each fill records relative sea-level rise. All fills are dominantly channel deposits and are capped by marine flooding surfaces. The dominance of channel deposits, the gradual change to more estuarine facies in the upper parts of fills, and the location of flooding surfaces at valley-fill tops all suggest that sediment supply initially kept pace with relative sea-level rise and valleys filled during late marine lowstand and transgression, not during subsequent highstands. Recently proposed facies models have focused on variations in the relative strength of tide, wave and river currents as controls on valley-fill deposits. However, relative rates of sediment supply and basin accommodation change, and the shift in this ratio along the depositional profile during multiple-scale cycles in relative sea-level, are equally important controls on the style of valley-fill deposits.     

Architecture of an Oligocene fluvial ribbon sandstone in the Ebro Basin,North‐eastern Spain

Fluvial ribbon sandstone bodies are ubiquitous in the Ebro Basin in North‐eastern Spain; their internal organization and the mechanics of deposition are as yet insufficiently known. A quarrying operation in an Oligocene fluvial ribbon sandstone body in the southern Ebro Basin allowed for a three‐dimensional reconstruction of the sedimentary architecture of the deposit. The sandstone is largely a medium‐grained to coarse‐grained, moderately sorted lithic arenite. In cross‐section, the sandstone body is 7 m thick, occupies a 5 m deep incision and wedges out laterally, forming a ‘wing’ that intercalates with horizontal floodplain deposits in the overbank region. Three architectural units were distinguished. The lowest and highest units (Units A and C) mostly consist of medium‐grained to coarse‐grained sandstone with medium‐scale trough cross‐bedding and large‐scale inclined stratasets. Each of Units A and C comprises a fining‐up stratal sequence reflecting deposition during one flood event. The middle unit (Unit B) consists of thinly bedded, fine‐grained sandstone/mudstone couplets and represents a time period when the channel was occupied by low‐discharge flows. The adjoining ‘wing’ consists of fine‐grained sandstone beds, with mudstone interlayers, correlative to strata in Units A and C in the main body of the ribbon sandstone. In plan view, the ribbon sandstone comprises an upstream bend and a downstream straight reach. In the upstream bend, large‐scale inclined stratasets up to 3 m in thickness represent four bank‐attached lateral channel bars, two in each of Units A and C. The lateral bars migrated downflow and did not develop into point bars. In the straight downstream reach, a tabular cross‐set in Unit A represents a mid‐channel transverse bar. In Unit C, a very coarse‐grained, unstratified interval is interpreted as deposited in a riffle zone, and gives way downstream to a large mid‐channel bar. The relatively simple architecture of these bars suggests that they developed as unit bars. Channel margin‐derived slump blocks cover the upper bar. The youngest deposit is fine‐grained sandstone and mudstone that accumulated immediately before avulsion and channel abandonment. Deposition of the studied sandstone body reflects transport‐limited sediment discharges, possibly attaining transient hyperconcentrated conditions.     

珠江口盆地荔湾3-1气田珠江组深水扇沉积相分析

根据已钻井取芯段岩相分析,从荔湾3-1气田珠江组深水扇沉积体系中划分出巨厚层和厚层块状砂岩相、厚层正粒序砂岩相、厚层逆粒序砂岩相、平行—板状斜层理砂岩相、滑塌变形砂岩相、薄层砂岩夹层相、薄层（粉）砂岩与泥岩互层相、厚层粉砂岩相、厚层泥岩相和层状深水灰岩相等10种岩相类型和识别出砂岩相组合、泥岩相组合、（粉）砂岩与泥岩互...     

Turbidites in the Upper Carboniferous Ross Formation, western Ireland: reconstruction of a channel and spillover system

ABSTRACT The Upper Carboniferous deep‐water rocks of the Shannon Group were deposited in the extensional Shannon Basin of County Clare in western Ireland and are superbly exposed in sea cliffs along the Shannon estuary. Carboniferous limestone floors the basin, and the basin‐fill succession begins with the deep‐water Clare Shales. These shales are overlain by various turbidite facies of the Ross Formation (460 m thick). The type of turbidite system, scale of turbidite sandstone bodies and the overall character of the stratigraphic succession make the Ross Formation well suited as an analogue for sand‐rich turbidite plays in passive margin basins around the world. The lower 170 m of the Ross Formation contains tabular turbidites with no channels, with an overall tendency to become sandier upwards, although there are no small‐scale thickening‐ or thinning‐upward successions. The upper 290 m of the Ross Formation consists of turbidites, commonly arranged in thickening‐upward packages, and amalgamated turbidites that form channel fills that are individually up to 10 m thick. A few of the upper Ross channels have an initial lateral accretion phase with interbedded sandstone and mudstone deposits and a subsequent vertical aggradation phase with thick‐bedded amalgamated turbidites. This paper proposes that, as the channels filled, more and more turbidites spilled further and further overbank. Superb outcrops show that thickening‐upward packages developed when channels initially spilled muds and thin‐bedded turbidites up to 1 km overbank, followed by thick‐bedded amalgamated turbidites that spilled close to the channel margins. The palaeocurrent directions associated with the amalgamated channel fills suggest a low channel sinuosity. Stacks of channels and spillover packages 25–40 m thick may show significant palaeocurrent variability at the same stratigraphic interval but at different locations. This suggests that individual channels and spillover packages were stacked into channel‐spillover belts, and that the belts also followed a sinuous pattern. Reservoir elements of the Ross system include tabular turbidites, channel‐fill deposits, thickening‐upward packages that formed as spillover lobes and, on a larger scale, sinuous channel belts 2·5–5 km wide. The edges of the belts can be roughly defined where well‐packaged spillover deposits pass laterally into muddier, poorly packaged tabular turbidites. The low‐sinuosity channel belts are interpreted to pass downstream into unchannellized tabular turbidites, equivalent to lower Ross Formation facies.     

Architecture of coastal and alluvial deposits in an extensional basin: the Carboniferous Joggins Formation of eastern Canada

Abstract The Joggins Formation was deposited in the Cumberland Basin, which experienced rapid mid‐Carboniferous subsidence on bounding faults. A 600 m measured section of coastal and alluvial plain strata comprises cycles tens to hundreds of metres thick. The cycles commence with coal and fossiliferous limestone/siltstone intervals, interpreted as widespread flooding events. These intervals are overlain by coarsening‐upward successions capped by planar‐based sandstone mounds, up to 100 m in width that represent the progradation of small, river‐generated delta lobes into a standing body of open water developed during transgression. The overlying strata contain sand‐rich heterolithic packages, 1–8 m thick, that are associated with channel bodies 2–3 m thick and 10–50 m wide. Drifted plant debris, Calamites groves and erect lycopsid trees are preserved within these predominantly green‐grey heterolithic sediments, which were deposited on a coastal wetland or deltaic plain traversed by channel systems. The cycles conclude with red siltstones, containing calcareous nodules, that are interbedded with thin sandstones and associated with both single‐storey channel bodies (1–1·5 m thick and 2–3 m wide) and larger, multistorey channels (3–6 m thick) with incised margins. Numerous channel bodies at the same level suggest that multiple‐channel, anastomosed river systems were developed on a well‐drained floodplain. Many minor flooding surfaces divide the strata into parasequences with dominantly progradational and aggradational stacking patterns. Multistorey channel bodies are relatively thin, fine grained and modestly incised, and palaeosols are immature and cumulative. The abundance and prominence of flooding surfaces suggests that base‐level rise was enhanced, whereas the lack of evidence for abrupt basinward stepping of facies belts, coupled with the absence of strong fluvial incision and mature palaeosols, suggests that base‐level fall was suppressed. These architectural features are considered to reflect a tectonic architectural signature, in accordance with the high‐subsidence basinal setting. Evidence for restricted marine influence and variation in floral assemblages suggests modulation by eustatic and climatic effects, although their relative importance is uncertain.     

冀东油田老爷庙地区古近系东营组碎屑岩岩溶储层分布规律

碳酸盐岩地层中的岩溶储层十分常见,但在碎屑岩地层研究中,却很少见到关于岩溶储层的报道。在对冀东油田老 爷庙地区古近系东营组储层研究项目中,发现碎屑岩同样存在岩溶储层,而且其分布规律和控制因素与碳酸盐岩岩溶储层 十分相似。东营组砂岩储层为三角洲-湖泊沉积,钙质胶结十分普遍。根据岩心和测井资料分析发现,砂岩岩溶储层发育 在新近系和古近系之间的区域不整合面之下,孔隙主要是由砂岩中钙质胶结物溶蚀产生的。根据岩心和测井资料统计分析, 不整合面之下砂岩岩溶储层带的厚度为150 m 左右。因此,对于钙质胶结的砂岩来说,不整合面之下是有利储层发育带。     

A Preliminary Study on the Red Beds in the Northern Heyuan Basin, Guangdong Province, China

The red beds of the northern Heyuan Basin （Guangdong Province, China） are more than 4,000 m thick. Based on the lithological characters, in ascending order these beds are divided into the Dafeng Formation, Zhutian Formation, and Zhenshui Formation of the Nanxiong Group, Shanghu Formation and Danxia Formation. The Nanxiong Group with relatively mature coarse clastic rocks attains about 2940 m in thickness. The Dafeng Formation is 837 m thick, consisting of conglomerates and sandy conglomerates; the Zhutian Formation, which is 1.200 m thick, consists of purplish red sandstone with gravels, poorly sorted sandstone, feldspathic quartzose sandstone banded granular conglomerate, siltstone, and sandy mudstone. The Zhutian Formation is rich in calcareous concretions. Heyuannia （Oviraptoridae） and turtle fossils were found in this formation. The Zhenshui Formation deposited to a thickness of 900 m consists of coarse sediments, including granular conglomerate, and gravelly sandstone with well developed cross-beddings; the Shanghu Formation, which is 820 m thick, consists of purplish red granular conglomerate coarse sandstone intercalated with fine si~tstone; the Danxia Formation characterized by the Danxia ~andform is composed of coarse c~astic gravels and sandy gravels. The lower part of the Nanxiong Group whence dinosaur eggs and derived oviraptorosaurs come, belongs to the Late Cretaceous. No fossils are found in the Shanghu Formation or the Danxia Formation, but their stratigraphic order of superposition on the Nanxiong Group clearly shows their younger age.     

豫西太原组、山西组中潮道沉积的类型和特征

豫西太原组中的潮道为陆表海滨岸潮道类型,其特点为:向上变细的层序,冲刷切割下伏的灰岩层,具大型板状、槽状交错层理和双向交错层理,潮道曲流砂坝发育。山西组下段的潮道为障壁后潮道,位于障壁砂坝后的潮坪区;潮道砂岩泥质杂基较高,正粒序,砂体自海向陆分叉尖灭;潮坪、潮道等亚环境组合影响了其上发育的煤层的厚度变化。山西组上段的潮道为下三角洲平原潮道类型,多位于分流河口,砂岩为正粒序,双(单)粘土层和潮汐周期层序发育。     

潮水盆地下白垩统庙沟组铀的预富集及其找矿意义

潮水盆地早白垩世经历了干旱型、相对潮湿型、干湿型古气候的演变过程。庙沟组下段主要由冲积扇 扇前平原辫状河沉积体系构成 ,上段则以曲流河或河湖交替沉积为特征。干湿型气候条件下“相对滞流环境”有利于铀的聚集与浓缩 ,并主要以吸附铀和解吸铀的形式预富集在庙沟组上段厚层红色或红、灰相间的细碎屑岩及其孔隙水中。笔者认为在压实成岩过程中 ,上述预富集的铀逐渐排出并迁移到孔隙度较高、渗透性较好的砂岩中 ,构成砂岩型铀成矿的直接铀源 ,对庙沟组砂岩型铀成矿起着重要的控制作用。因此 ,笔者提出与厚层红色或红、灰相间的细碎屑岩直接接触的砂体是砂岩型铀矿找矿的重要对象     

豫西荥巩——新密煤田太原组、山西组的沉积环境和聚煤规律

荥巩和新密煤田是豫西北部的两个相邻煤田。主要含煤地层为晚古生代晚石炭世太原组和早二叠世山西组,总厚100—150m;下石盒子组及晚二叠世的上石盒子组在本区仅偶含薄煤层。太原组位于含煤岩系最底部,为碳酸盐岩和碎屑岩交替沉积,灰岩形成于清澈、温暖、浅水的陆表海潮下环境,碎屑岩则为潮道和潮间带为主的潮道、潮坪沉积。太原组含有6—7层薄煤层,形成于咸水或半咸水的泥炭沼泽中。山西组几乎全由碎屑岩组成,下部发育本区的主要可采煤层二1煤。二1煤以下层位为潮坪和横向与之共生的潮道、潮沟及河口潮汐砂脊沉积,二1煤以上为河流作用为主的三角洲沉积,三角洲由北向南进积到半咸水的海湾中。二1煤形成于海退时期,它们堆积在滨海平原的淡水泥炭沼泽中,其厚度变化及发育程度主要受成煤前沉积环境控制,但在本区西部构造较复杂处,煤层厚度受后期构造影响较大。沉积环境对煤层原生厚度的影响主要表现在潮坪和废弃的潮道、潮沟、河口潮汐砂背沉积物之上,煤层发育好,而在二1煤之下有活动的潮道及河口潮汐砂脊发育时,煤层较薄或不发育。     

Distal alluvial deposits in a foreland basin setting—the Lower Freshwater Miocene), Switzerland: sedimentology, architecture and palaeosols

The Lower Freshwater Molasse (Untere Susswasser Molasse) crops out over a wide area of the Swiss Molasse Basin. Coarse grained alluvial fan conglomerates dominate in proximal basin areas along the Alpine front. These conglomerates pass northwards into sandstones and mudstones of an extensive northeastward draining meandering river system which ran parallel to the basin axis. Sedimentological study of outcrops, quarry exposures and boreholes in the basal Miocene (‘Aquitanian‘) has permitted detailed facies analysis of this distal alluvial sequence. The distal Aquitanian is made up of distinct ‘architectural elements’characterized by their geometries and sedimentary structures. Each may be assigned to a particular depositional setting: meander belt, levees, crevasse channels and splays, overbank fines and palaeosols, and lacustrine. Meander belt sandstones were deposited in mixed load channels with a dominant bedload component. Sandstones commonly comprise amalgamated and locally stacked ribbon bodies 2–15 m thick and 150–1500 m wide. Interbedded rippled, laminated and mottled fine grained levee sandstones and siltstones form lenticular packages up to 3 m thick and 30–100 m across. Small scale crevasse channel sandstones 2–4 m thick and 5–10 m across pass laterally into metre scale, medium to fine grained crevasse sandstone sheets. Rare laminated lacustrine siltstones occur only in the north-east part of the basin. Floodplain mudstones and marls make up the remainder of the succession. These display a variety of pedogenic features recording cyclical palaeosol development. Palaeosols show strong variations in morphology and maturity both laterally across the floodplain and downstream along the basin axis, reflecting local variation in aggradation rate associated with proximity to alluvial channel courses as well as regional variation in subsidence and floodplain drainage. Analysis of the organization and distribution of the various sediment bodies permits reconstruction of the fluvial system and allows development of a model for the sedimentary architecture of the Lower Freshwater Molasse in the study area. Integration of palaeosol studies into a well defined architectural framework assists recognition of areal facies belts and may aid location of sand-prone sequences in the subsurface.     

Characterization of heterogeneity of the Shajara reservoirs of the Shajara formation of the Permo-Carboniferous Unayzah group

Representative sandstone samples were collected from the surface-type section of the Shajara Formation of the Permo-Carboniferous Unayzah Group for reservoir characterization through fractal dimension investigation. Two models based on mercury intrusion technique were employed to represent the pores characteristics of these sandstones. The results show that realistic dimensions and outstanding fractal features of porous structures in Shajara sandstones, when these materials are correlated by thermodynamic model and 3-D fractal model of mercury intrusion. On the basis of sub-Unayzah unconformity, sub-Middle Shajara local unconformity, mudstone of the Middle Shajara and sub-Khuff unconformity, the three porous and permeable sandstone units of Shajara Formation were treated separately and classified here into three fractal dimension units. The units from base to top are: Lower Shajara Fractal Dimension Unit, Middle Shajara Fractal Dimension Unit, and Upper Shajara Fractal Dimension Unit. The thermodynamic model and 3-D fractal model were effectively used to characterize the porous structures of Shajara sandstones in logical and quantitative way.     

Preparation and analysis of coal seam data utilizing paleoenvironment modeling,hazard #7 coal,Eastern Kentucky

Pennsylvanian strata of the Hazard coalfield, Eastern Kentucky, contain fluvial, upper-delta plain facies characterized by thick localized coals, bay-fill shales, levee silt- and sandstones, and channel-fill sands and gravels. Although the deltaic nature of these sediments has long been established, mining and exploration activities in the district require a thorough understanding of small areas within the delta environment. Coal quantity and quality trends in the Hazard #7 seam, the major producer in the area, have been examined in detail.The #7 coal accumulated in a peat swamp restricted laterally by a major fluvial channel. Three types of non-coal parting are recognized. Thin, tabular, fine-grained partings resulted from periods of increased terrigenous influx into the swamp. Lenticular crevasse-splay deposits locally split the coal. Wedge-shaped, fine- to coarse-grained partings, of probable levee origin, are found along the channel margin. Post-swamp deposits consist of thick bay-fill shales, thin shales, silt- and sandstones deposited on floodplains, and channel-fill sandstones and gravels.The modeling technique discussed provides guidance for mine development and regional exploration by prediction of coal seam quantity and quality trends from local geologic features. The thickest #7 coal is split by thin tabular partings and is overlain by thick shale sequences. Coal overlain by silt and sandstone is thinner and unsplit, and typically of higher heat value. Regional seam thinning due to channel scour is recognized. Factors which control the configuration of the coal seam include position within the peat swamp, proximity to the fluvial channel, swamp burial processes, and paleochannel sinuosity.     

秦岭北麓晚二叠世平顶山段辫状河—辫状三角洲沉积体系及其构造涵义

秦岭北麓晚二叠世石千峰组下部的平顶山砂岩段不整合覆于早、中二叠世含煤地层之上,是一套板状交错层理十分发育并以粗碎屑长石砂岩和长石石英砂岩为主的地层,以辫状河道与辫状三角洲充填沉积占优势。平顶山砂岩段呈自南向北并向东、西两侧变薄的朵状体。平顶山砂岩以含大量的新鲜的钾长石和古水流方向自南指向北和北西为特征,明显区别于下伏含煤地层中的砂岩。石千峰组砂岩与下伏煤系砂岩的厚度、古水流方向和岩石矿物成分的截然变化,表明华北石炭、二叠纪克拉通盆地南部的陆表海至晚二叠世已经完全退出华北,盆地南缘出现了新的物源隆起区,古沉积斜坡由原来的向南倾斜转变为向北倾斜。这意味着秦岭—大别构造带与华北板块南缘在此时期已经开始发生了碰撞并隆起成山。平顶山砂岩为硅质胶结,孔渗条件很差,储集油气的希望不大。