Evaluating delta asymmetry using three‐dimensional facies architecture and ichnological analysis,Ferron ‘Notom Delta’, Capital Reef,Utah, USA

Delta asymmetry occurs where there is strong wave influence and net longshore transport. Differences in the morphology and facies architecture between updrift and downdrift sides of asymmetric deltas are potentially significant for exploration and exploitation of resources in this class of reservoirs. Although delta asymmetry has been recognized widely from modern wave‐influenced deltaic shorelines, there are few documented examples in the ancient record. Based on an integrated sedimentological and ichnological study, the along‐strike variability and delta asymmetry within a single parasequence (Ps 6) is documented in continuously exposed outcrops of the Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale Formation near Hanksville in southern Utah. Two intra‐parasequence discontinuity surfaces are recognized which allow subdivision of the parasequence into three bedsets, marked as Ps 6‐1 to Ps 6‐3. Four facies successions are recognized: (i) wave/storm‐dominated shoreface; (ii) river‐dominated delta front; (iii) wave/storm‐reworked delta front; and (iv) distributary channel and mouth bar. Dips of cross‐strata within distributary‐mouth bars and shorefaces show a strong downdrift (southward) component. Ps 6‐3 predominantly consists of river‐dominated delta‐front deposits, whereas Ps 6‐1 and Ps 6‐2 show an along‐strike facies change with shoreface deposits in the north, passing into heterolithic, river‐dominated delta‐front successions south to south‐eastward, and wave/storm‐reworked delta‐front deposits further to the south‐east. Trace fossil suites correspondingly show distinct along‐strike changes from robust and diverse expressions of the archetypal Cruziana Ichnofacies and Skolithos Ichnofacies, into suites characterized by horizontal, morphologically simple, facies‐crossing ichnogenera, reflecting a more stressed, river‐dominated environment. Further south‐eastward, trace fossil abundance and diversity increase, reflecting a return to archetypal ichnofacies. The overall facies integrated with palaeocurrent data indicate delta asymmetry. The asymmetric delta consists of sandier shoreface deposits on the updrift side and mixed riverine and wave/storm‐reworked deposits on the downdrift side, similar to that observed in the modern examples. However, in contrast to the recent delta asymmetry models, significant paralic, lagoonal and bay‐fill facies are not documented in the downdrift regions of the asymmetric delta. This observation is attributed to a negative palaeoshoreline trajectory during delta progradation and subsequent transgressive erosion. The asymmetric delta was induced by net longshore transport from north to south. The forced regressive nature of the delta precludes significant preservation of topset mud.     

Evaluating along‐strike variation using thin‐bedded facies analysis,Upper Cretaceous Ferron Notom Delta,Utah

Thin‐bedded delta‐front and prodelta facies of the Upper Cretaceous Ferron Notom Delta Complex near Hanksville in southern Utah, USA, show significant along‐strike facies variability. Primary initiation processes that form these thin beds include surge‐type turbidity currents, hyperpycnal flows and storm surges. The relative proportion of sedimentary structures generated by each of these depositional processes/events has been calculated from a series of measured sedimentological sections within a single parasequence (PS6–1) which is exposed continuously along depositional strike. For each measured section, sedimentological data including grain size, lithology, bedding thickness, sedimentary structures and ichnological suites have been documented. Parasequence 6–1 shows a strong along‐strike variation with a wave‐dominated environment in the north, passing abruptly into a fluvial‐dominated area, then to an environment with varying degrees of fluvial and wave influence southward, and back to a wave‐dominated environment further to the south‐east. The lateral facies variations integrated with palaeocurrent data indicate that parasequence 6–1 is deposited as a storm‐dominated symmetrical delta with a large river‐dominated bayhead system linked to an updip fluvial feeder valley. This article indicates that it is practical to quantify the relative importance of depositional processes and determine the along‐strike variation within an ancient delta system using thin‐bedded facies analysis. The wide range of vertical stratification and grading sequences present in these event beds also allows construction of conceptual models of deposition from turbidity currents (i.e. surge‐type turbidity currents and hyperpycnal flows) and storm surges, and shows that there are significant interactions and linkages of these often paired processes.     

Facies architecture and geometry of landward-stepping shoreface tongues: the Upper Cretaceous Cliff House Sandstone (Mancos Canyon, south-west Colorado)

The Campanian Cliff House Formation represents a series of individually progradational shoreface tongues preserved in an overall landward-stepping system. In the Mancos Canyon area, the formation consists of four, 50- to 55-m-thick and 10- to 20-km-wide sandstone tongues, which pinch out landwards into lower coastal plain and lagoonal deposits of the Upper Menefee Formation and seawards into offshore shales of the Lewis Shale Formation. Photogrammetric mapping of lithofacies along the steep and well-exposed canyon walls was combined with sedimentary facies analysis and mapping of the detailed facies architecture. Two major facies associations have been identified, one comprising the mostly muddy and organic-rich facies of lagoonal and lower coastal plain origin and one comprising the sandstone-dominated facies of shoreface origin. Key stratigraphic surfaces were identified by combining the mapped geometry of the lithofacies units with the interpretation of depositional processes. The stratigraphic surfaces (master ravinement surface, shoreface/coastal plain contact, transgressive surface, maximum flooding surface and the sequence boundary) allow each major sandstone tongue to be divided into a simple sequence, consisting of a basal transgressive system tract (TST) overlain by a highstand system tract (HST). Within each sandstone tongue, a higher frequency cyclicity is evident. The high-frequency cycles show a complex stacking pattern development and are commonly truncated in the downdip direction by surfaces of regressive marine erosion. The complexities of the Cliff House sandstone tongues are believed to reflect changes in the rate of sea-level rise combined with the responses of the depositional system to these changes. Synsedimentary compaction, causing a thickness increase in the sandstone tongues above intervals of previously uncompacted lagoonal/coastal plain sediments, also played a role. This study of the facies architecture, geometry and sequence stratigraphy of the Cliff House Formation highlights the fact that there may be some problems in applying conventional sequence stratigraphical methods to landward-stepping systems in general. These difficulties stem from the fact that no single stratigraphic surface can easily be identified and followed from the non-marine to the fully marine realm (i.e. from the landward to the basinward pinch-out of the sandstone tongues). In addition, the effects of synsedimentary compaction and changes in the shoreface dynamics are not easily recognized in limited data sets such as from the subsurface.     

Fluvial to tidal transition in proximal,mixed tide‐influenced and wave‐influenced deltaic deposits: Cretaceous lower Sego Sandstone,Utah, USA

Facies models for regressive, tide‐influenced deltaic systems are under‐represented in the literature compared with their fluvial‐dominated and wave‐dominated counterparts. Here, a facies model is presented of the mixed, tide‐influenced and wave‐influenced deltaic strata of the Sego Sandstone, which was deposited in the Western Interior Seaway of North America during the Late Cretaceous. Previous work on the Sego Sandstone has focused on the medial to distal parts of the outcrop belt where tides and waves interact. This study focuses on the proximal outcrop belt, in which fluvial and tidal processes interact. Five facies associations are recognized. Bioturbated mudstones (Facies Association 1) were deposited in an offshore environment and are gradationally overlain by hummocky cross‐stratified sandstones (Facies Association 2) deposited in a wave‐dominated lower shoreface environment. These facies associations are erosionally overlain by tide‐dominated cross‐bedded sandstones (Facies Association 4) interbedded with ripple cross‐laminated heterolithic sandstones (Facies Association 3) and channelized mudstones (Facies Association 5). Palaeocurrent directions derived from cross‐bedding indicate bidirectional currents which are flood‐dominated in the lower part of the studied interval and become increasingly ebb‐directed/fluvial‐directed upward. At the top of the succession, ebb‐dominated/fluvial‐dominated, high relief, narrow channel forms are present, which are interpreted as distributary channels. When distributary channels are abandoned they effectively become estuaries with landward sediment transport and fining trends. These estuaries have sandstones of Facies Association 4 at their mouth and fine landward through heterolithic sandstones of Facies Association 3 to channelized mudstones of Facies Association 5. Therefore, the complex distribution of relatively mud‐rich and sand‐rich deposits in the tide‐dominated part of the lower Sego Sandstone is attributed to the avulsion history of active fluvial distributaries, in response to a subtly expressed allogenic change in sediment supply and relative sea‐level controls and autocyclic delta lobe abandonment.     

The anatomy of exhumed river-channel belts: Bedform to belt-scale river kinematics of the Ruby Ranch Member,Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation,Utah, USA

Many published interpretations of ancient fluvial systems have relied on observations of extensive outcrops of thick successions. This paper, in contrast, demonstrates that a regional understanding of palaeoriver kinematics, depositional setting and sedimentation rates can be interpreted from local sedimentological measurements of bedform and barform strata. Dune and bar strata, channel planform geometry and bed topography are measured within exhumed fluvial strata exposed as ridges in the Ruby Ranch Member of the Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah, USA. The ridges are composed of lithified stacked channel belts, representing at least five or six re-occupations of a single-strand channel. Lateral sections reveal well-preserved barforms constructed of subaqueous dune cross-sets. The topography of palaeobarforms is preserved along the top surface of the outcrops. Comparisons of the channel-belt centreline to local palaeotransport directions indicate that channel planform geometry was preserved through the re-occupations, rather than being obscured by lateral migration. Rapid avulsions preserved the state of the active channel bed and its individual bars at the time of abandonment. Inferred minimum sedimentation durations for the preserved elements, inferred from cross-set thickness distributions and assumed bedform migration rates, vary within a belt from one to ten days. Using only these local sedimentological measurements, the depositional setting is interpreted as a fluvial megafan, given the similarity in river kinematics. This paper provides a systematic methodology for the future synthesis of vertical and planview data, including the drone-equipped 2020 Mars Rover mission, to exhumed fluvial and deltaic strata.     

Anatomy of falling‐stage deltas in the Turonian Ferron Sandstone of the western Henry Mountains Syncline,Utah: Growth faults,slope failures and mass transport complexes

Falling‐stage deltas are predicted by sequence stratigraphic models, yet few reliable criteria are available to diagnose falling‐stage deltaic systems in surface exposures. Recent work on the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) Ferron Sandstone in the western Henry Mountains Syncline of south‐central Utah has established its environment of deposition as a series of modest‐sized (5 to 20 km wide), probably asymmetrical, mixed‐influence deltas (‘Ferron Notom Delta’) that dispersed sediment eastwards from the rising Sevier orogenic hinterland into the Western Cordilleran Foreland Basin. Analysis of sandstone body stacking patterns in a 67 km long, depositional strike‐parallel (north–south) transect indicates that the growth of successive deltas was strongly forced by synsedimentary growth of a long wavelength (ca 100 km), 50 m amplitude fold structure. Herein, two discrete areas within this transect, superbly exposed in three dimensions, are documented in order to determine the details of stratal stacking patterns in the depositional dip direction, and thereby to assess the stratigraphic context of the Ferron Notom Delta. In the two study areas, dip transects expose facies representing river mouth bar to distal delta front environments over distances of 2 to 4 km. Key stratal packages are clinothems that offlap, downlap, and describe descending regressive trajectories with respective to basal and top datums; they are interpreted as the product of relative sea‐level fall. The vertical extent of clinoforms suggests that deltas prograded into <30 m of water. Furthermore, these deltaic successions preserve abundant evidence of delta front slope failure, growth faulting, and incision and filling of deep (<15 m) slope gullies. Gully fills are composed of chaotic intraformational breccia and/or massive sandstone, and constitute linear, ‘shoestring’ sandbodies in the distal portions of individual palaeodelta systems. They are interpreted to have been cut and filled during the late falling‐stage and lowstand of relative sea‐level cycles. The north–south distribution of the stratal style described above seems to be focused on the flanks of the growth anticline, and so the numerous falling‐stage systems tracts preserved within the Ferron Notom Delta probably owe their origin to synsedimentary structural growth, and the unstable fluid pressure regime that this growth imposed on the sea floor and shallow subsurface.     

Controls on large‐scale patterns of fluvial sandbody distribution in alluvial to coastal plain strata: Upper Cretaceous Blackhawk Formation,Wasatch Plateau,Central Utah,USA

Current models of alluvial to coastal plain stratigraphy are concept‐driven and focus on relative sea‐level as an allogenic control. These models are tested herein using data from a large (ca 100 km long and 300 m thick), continuous outcrop belt (Upper Cretaceous Blackhawk Formation, central Utah, USA). Many channelized fluvial sandbodies in the Blackhawk Formation have a multilateral and multistorey internal character, and they generally increase in size and abundance (from ca 10% to ca 30% of the strata) from base to top of the formation. These regional, low‐resolution trends exhibit much local variation, but are interpreted to reflect progressively decreasing tectonic subsidence in the upper Blackhawk Formation and overlying Castlegate Sandstone. The trend may also incorporate progressively more frequent channel avulsion during deposition of the lower Blackhawk Formation. Laterally extensive coal zones formed on the coastal plain during shallow‐marine transgressions, and define the high‐resolution stratigraphic framework of the lower Blackhawk Formation. Large (up to 25 m thick and 1 to 6 km wide), multistorey, multilateral, fluvial channel‐complex sandbodies that overlie composite erosion surfaces occur at distinct stratigraphic levels, and are interpreted as fluvial incised valley fills. Low amplitude (<30 m) relative sea‐level variations are interpreted as the dominant control on stratigraphic architecture in the lower Blackhawk Formation, which was deposited up to 50 km inland from the coeval shoreline. In contrast, the high‐resolution stratigraphy of the upper Blackhawk Formation is poorly defined, and channelized fluvial sandbodies are poorly organized. Vertical and laterally offset stacking of a small proportion (<10%) of sandbodies produced ‘clusters’ that are not confined by ‘master’ erosion surfaces. Avulsion is interpreted to dominate the stratigraphic architecture of the upper Blackhawk Formation. This data‐driven analysis indicates that alluvial to coastal plain stratigraphic architecture reflects a combination of various allogenic controls and autogenic behaviours. The relative sea‐level control emphasized in sequence stratigraphic models is only rarely dominant.     

Stratigraphic base level and fluvial architecture: Ericson Sandstone (Campanian), Rock Springs Uplift, SW Wyoming, USA

The concept of stratigraphic base level, or the ratio between accommodation and sediment supply (A/S ratio), has been used to analyse the Rusty and Canyon Creek Members of the Campanian Ericson Sandstone in the Rock Springs Uplift, SW Wyoming, USA. The Ericson Sandstone was deposited under fluvial to estuarine conditions in a foreland basin setting influenced both by Sevier-style (thrust belt) tectonism and by more local, Laramide-style, foreland uplifts. The depositional setting was situated several tens to a few hundred kilometres from the nearest shoreline. Therefore, sea level change at the contemporaneous shoreline probably had little, if any, influence on the development of the sedimentary architecture. The Rusty Member shows an alternation between incised valleys filled by multi-storey estuarine channel sandstones showing palaeoflow to the south and delta plain sediments with single-storey channels with no evidence of tidal influence, which show palaeoflow to the east. This cyclicity is interpreted as recording repeated uplift of the Wind River Range to the north, causing valley incision and reduction of the A/S ratio. During quiescent periods, the A/S ratio increased allowing the valleys to fill and delta plain conditions to be subsequently re-established because of increased sediment supply from the thrust belt in the west. A regional unconformity at the base of the Canyon Creek Member truncates the Rusty Member, and represents a significant reduction of the A/S ratio caused by Laramide tectonic uplift. The Canyon Creek Member is a multi-storey, multi-lateral fluvial channel sandstone, where channel preservation and thickness increase upwards, suggesting an increase of the A/S ratio. The Canyon Creek Member channels are interpreted to have been sinuous, meandering channels from the observed sedimentary structures and fill patterns, despite their sand-rich nature. It is argued that grain size is a poor indicator of channel planform, and that there was very low preservation potential for fine material because of a relatively low A/S ratio. The top of the Canyon Creek Member is a regionally correlative surface marking an abrupt increase of the A/S ratio. This surface is termed an expansion surface, denoting an abrupt increase in accommodation. The overlying Almond Formation shows a single-storey alluvial architecture with a very high preservation of fine-grained material. An assumed correspondence in time of the Late Absaroka thrust phase in the Sevier belt to the west and the formation of the sharp top of the Canyon Creek Member suggests that the thrust phase caused a basin-wide abrupt increase of subsidence that changed the alluvial architecture. As an alternative to sequence stratigraphic nomenclature defined for strata controlled by shoreline movements, a scheme relating systems tracts and surfaces to changes in stratigraphic base level is proposed. Such a scheme is useful where correlations to shoreline strata are ambiguous or cannot be made, or where tectonics and climate are important controls.     

Hydraulic Effects of Shales in Fluvial-Deltaic Deposits: Ground-Penetrating Radar, Outcrop Observations, Geostatistics, and Three-Dimensional Flow Modeling for the Ferron Sandstone, Utah

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys, outcrop measurements, and cores provide a high-resolution 3D geologic model to investigate the hydraulic effects of shales in marine-influenced lower delta-plain distributary channel deposits within the Cretaceous-age Ferron Sandstone at Corbula Gulch in central Utah, USA. Shale statistics are computed from outcrop observations. Although slight anisotropy was observed in mean length and variogram ranges parallel and perpendicular to pale of low , the anisotropy is not statistically significant and the estimated mean length is 5.4 m. Truncated Gaussian simulation was used to create maps of shales that are placed on variably dipping stratigraphic surfaces interpreted from high-resolution 3D GPR surveys, outcrop interpretations, and boreholes. Sandstone permeability is estimated from radar responses calibrated to permeability measurements from core samples. Experimentally designed flow simulations examine the effects of variogram range, shale coverage fraction, and trends in shale coverage on predicted upscaled permeability, breakthrough time, and sweep efficiency. Approximately 1500 flow simulations examine three different geologic models, flow in the 3 coordinate directions, 16 geostatistical parameter combinations, and 10 realizations for each model. ANOVA and response models computed from the flow simulations demonstrate that shales decrease sweep, recovery, and permeability, especially in the vertical direction. The effect on horizontal flow is smaller. Flow predictions for ideal tracer displacements at Corbula Gulch are sensitive to shale-coverage fraction, but are relatively insensitive to twofold variations in variogram range or to vertical trends in shale coverage. Although the hydraulic effects of shale are statistically significant, the changes in flow responses rarely exceed 20%. As a result, it may be reasonable to use simple models when incorporating analogous shales into models of reservoirs or aquifers.     

A quantitative approach to fluvial facies models: Methods and example results

Traditional facies models lack quantitative information concerning sedimentological features: this significantly limits their value as references for comparison and guides to interpretation and subsurface prediction. This paper aims to demonstrate how a database methodology can be used to generate quantitative facies models for fluvial depositional systems. This approach is employed to generate a range of models, comprising sets of quantitative information on proportions, geometries, spatial relations and grain sizes of genetic units belonging to three different scales of observation (depositional elements, architectural elements and facies units). The method involves a sequential application of filters to the knowledge base that allows only database case studies that developed under appropriate boundary conditions to contribute to any particular model. Specific example facies models are presented for fluvial environmental types categorized on channel pattern, basin climatic regime and water‐discharge regime; the common adoption of these environmental types allows a straightforward comparison with existing qualitative models. The models presented here relate to: (i) the large‐scale architecture of single‐thread and braided river systems; (ii) meandering sub‐humid perennial systems; (iii) the intermediate‐scale and small‐scale architecture of dryland, braided ephemeral systems; (iv) the small‐scale architecture of sandy meandering systems; and (v) individual architectural features of a specific sedimentary environment (a terminal fluvial system) and its sub‐environments (architectural elements). Although the quantification of architectural properties represents the main advantage over qualitative facies models, other improvements include the capacity: (i) to model on different scales of interest; (ii) to categorize the model on a variety of environmental classes; (iii) to perform an objective synthesis of many real‐world case studies; (iv) to include variability‐related and knowledge‐related uncertainty in the model; and (v) to assess the role of preservation potential by comparing ancient‐system and modern‐system data input to the model.     

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

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

Facies architecture of the Early Devonian Ural Volcanics,New South Wales

The Ural Volcanics are a early Devonian, submarine, felsic lava-sill complex, exposed in the western central Lachlan Orogen, New South Wales. The Ural Volcanics and underlying Upper Silurian, deepwater, basin-fill sedimentary rocks make up the Rast Group. The Ural Range study area, centrally located in the Cargelligo 1:100 000 map sheet area, was mapped at 1:10 000 scale. Seventeen principal volcanic facies were identified in the study area, dominated by felsic coherent facies (rhyolite and dacite) and associated monomictic breccia and siltstone-matrix monomictic breccia facies. Subordinate volcaniclastic facies include the pumice-rich breccia facies association, rhyolite – dacite – siltstone breccia facies and fiamme – siltstone breccia facies. The sedimentary facies association includes mixed-provenance and non-volcanic sandstone to conglomerate, black mudstone, micaceous quartz sandstone and foliated mudstone. The succession was derived from at least two intrabasinal volcanic centres. One, in the north, was largely effusive and intrusive, building a lava – sill complex. Another, in the south, was effusive, intrusive and explosive, generating lavas and moderate-volume (～3 km³) pyroclastic facies. The presence of turbidites, marine fossils, very thick massive to graded volcaniclastic units and black mudstone, and the lack of large-scale cross-beds and erosional scours, provide evidence for deposition in a submarine environment below storm wave-base. The Ural Volcanics have potential for seafloor or sub-seafloor replacement massive sulfide deposits, although no massive sulfide prospects or related altered zones have yet been defined. Sparse, disseminated sulfides occur in sericite-altered, steeply dipping shear zones.     

The influence of lateral topographic confinement on fluvial channel‐belt clustering,compensation and connectivity – lower Wasatch Formation and Dakota Sandstone,Utah, USA

Fluvial channel‐belt clustering has recently been documented using quantitative metrics for systems dominated by autogenic controls. It has long been recognized that allogenic forcing (tectonic and eustatic controls) can lead to confinement of fluvial systems, resulting in clustering of channel belts. To date, no study has quantitatively documented the differences in channel‐belt clustering, compensational stacking of channel belts and interchannel‐belt connectivity in unconfined and confined systems. This study quantitatively compares world‐class outcrops of an unconfined fluvial system (Palaeocene lower Wasatch Formation) with outcrops of a confined fluvial system (Cretaceous Dakota Sandstone). Two new methods have been developed to quantitatively document channel‐belt clustering and intrachannel‐belt connectivity. These new methods, and other previously developed methods, are used to document an increase in channel‐belt clustering and intrachannel‐belt connectivity downdip in both systems. Additionally, it was found that channel belts within the unconfined system stack more compensationally than those in the confined system. These new methods and empirical relationships can be used for predicting intrachannel‐belt connectivity, and accurately modelling unconfined and confined fluvial systems in the subsurface.     

河流相储层构型研究新理论、新方法——海上油田河流相复合砂体构型概念、内容及表征方法

基于陆上油田密井网的河流相储层构型研究,经过数十年积累,理论基础及表征方法已比较成熟,然而,将其应用于海上油田稀疏井网条件时,依然面临较大的挑战。笔者团队经过多年探索,基于海上油田开发地质研究方法,形成了井震结合、以"复合砂体"为核心的海上河流相复合砂体构型理论与表征方法,其特点在于运用三维原型建模、地震构型相预测及地震驱动确定性建模等技术,重点表征影响海上油田开发的五、六、七级构型单元(复合河道带、单一河道带、复合点坝),针对开发阶段的小层细分对比及不连续渗流屏障刻画等方面具有明显的优势。目前,应用这套理论及方法开展精细地质建模和数值模拟依然存在挑战,需要进一步发挥地震资料作用并探索人工智能的地震解释新途径。     

Depositional facies and the sequence stratigraphic control of a mixed-process influenced clastic wedge in the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway: The Gallup System,New Mexico,USA

Depositional facies have been hypothesized to be linked to sequence stratigraphic positions. Also, shoreline systems are built by mixed processes, including rivers, storms, fair-weather waves and tides. Resolving the complexity of shoreline deposition requires detailed quantitative facies analysis with particular attention to heterolithic successions. In this study, 71 sections in a 130 km long outcrop belt of the Cretaceous Gallup Formation in the north-west of the San Juan Basin were measured. Five major facies associations were identified using sedimentological and iconological interpretations, including offshore shelf, non-deltaic shoreline sandstones, deltas, coastal bayline and fluvial. Each facies association also comprises subordinate facies. Depositional facies interpretations are placed in a high-resolution sequence stratigraphic framework that allows for reconstructions of the palaeogeography of individual parasequence sets that demonstrate temporal and spatial evolution of facies associations and depositional processes. The results show that the Gallup is a mixed-process-controlled depositional system with fair-weather and storm-wave dominance, river influence and tide-effect, contrasting with previous interpretations of a solely fair-weather wave-dominated environment. Depositional processes and the resultant facies change with sequence stratigraphic positions in response to relative sea-level changes – particular facies are only deposited in certain systems tracts. Distinction and transition between non-deltaic shorefaces and wave-dominated deltas have also been documented in this study. Non-deltaic shorefaces are characterized by homogeneous sandstones with a wide-range bioturbation index and the absence of mudstones. Wave-dominated deltas are subject to river influence and contain prodelta facies. This study shows the importance of detailed facies analysis with high-resolution sequence stratigraphic control using outcrops for documenting sedimentary processes of shallow marine shoreline systems.     

Basin‐scale predictive models of alluvial architecture: Constraints from the Palaeocene–Eocene,Bighorn Basin,Wyoming, USA

Basin‐scale models are required to interpret ancient continental sedimentary successions, and reduce uncertainty in assessing geological resources in basins. Recently, modern studies show distributive fluvial systems to comprise a substantial proportion of modern sedimentary basins, but their role in ancient basin fills has yet to be quantitatively documented at the basin scale. This study analysed key fluvial characteristics to construct a detailed basin‐wide model of the Palaeogene Fort Union and Willwood formations (Bighorn Basin, Wyoming), using observations from modern studies, and ancient system scale studies of distributive fluvial systems, to guide interpretations. Mapping showed these formations to be highly heterogeneous with channel‐body proportion (from 12 to 81%) and geometry types (large amalgamated bodies to isolated channels), grain size (silt to conglomerate), average channel‐body thickness (4 to 20 m) and average storey thickness (3 to 10 m) varying significantly across the basin. Distributive fluvial systems in the form of alluvial and fluvial fans in transverse configurations were recognized as well as a wide axial system, with heterogeneity in the formations being closely aligned to these interpretations. Furthermore, numerous individual depositional systems were identified within the formations (Beartooth Absaroka, Washakie, Owl Creek and axial). Predicted downstream distributive fluvial system trends (i.e. downstream decrease in channel proportion, size and grain size) were identified in the Beartooth, Absaroka and Owl Creek systems. However, predicted trends were not identified in the Washakie system where intrabasinal thrusting disturbed the sequence. Importantly, a wide axial fluvial system was identified, where reverse downstream distributive fluvial system trends were present, interpreted to be the result of the input of transverse systems of variable size. This study provides a new level of detail in the application of basin‐scale models, demonstrating their usefulness in trying to understand and predict alluvial architecture distribution and heterogeneity, with important implications for economic resources and palaeogeographic reconstructions.     

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.     

The correlation and sequence architecture of the Ormskirk Sandstone Formation in the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone Group of the East Irish Sea Basin,NW England

The existing stratigraphic nomenclature applied to the Early and Middle Triassic Sherwood Sandstone Group in NW England has resulted from more than 150 years of geological investigation, but is characterized by a lithostratigraphic system that is insufficiently flexible to allow for variations in lithology and sedimentary facies within a continental depositional system. A revised well correlation based on the detrital mineralogical and chemical composition of the Ormskirk Sandstone Formation in four offshore wells, that is then extended to provide near‐basin‐wide well correlations using a regional shale marker, confirms previously suggested but unproven diachroneity at the top of the Sherwood Sandstone Group. It also reveals the presence of incised valleys filled by stacked amalgamated fluvial channel sandstones and cut into previously deposited aeolian and sandflat sequences as well as older fluvial channel sandstones. The combination of well correlations indicates that the valleys were incised by a fluvial system flowing NW from the Cheshire Basin into the East Irish Sea Basin and then west towards the Peel and Kish Bank basins. The stratal geometry of the upper part of the Sherwood Sandstone Group is suggested to conform to models of climatically mediated alternations of fluvial degradation and aggradation in response to changes in the relationship between sediment flux and stream discharge. This model is supported in the Sherwood Sandstone Group by climatically driven variations in the non‐channelized facies which record upward wetting and drying cycles that can be locally tied to fluvial incision surfaces, and suggest a hierarchy of at least three levels of climatic cyclicity recorded within the sedimentary succession. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

渤海海域W油田新近系明化镇组河流相砂体结构特征

利用野外露头、现代沉积和大量岩心以及钻测井资料,以高分辨率层序地层学原理为指导,结合地震和探地雷达,分析了W油田新近系明化镇组明下段河流相层序格架和砂体结构的沉积特征,总结了砂体的发育规模特征,建立了河流相砂体的沉积模式,为海上油田开发及后期调整提供依据和指导。研究表明,渤海海域明化镇组河流相砂体结构划分为堆叠型、侧叠型和孤立型3种类型共7种样式,其中侧叠型又分为紧密型、疏散型和离散型;孤立型又分为下切侵蚀型、孤立河道和决口扇;河道砂体厚度为2.1~15m,平均6.75m;宽度为200~1 225m,平均宽度519m。决口扇砂体厚约2~3m,宽度为150~450m,平均宽度300m。河流相砂体结构受控于湖平面的变化。不同的湖平面变化下发生堆叠型、侧叠型和孤立型规律性的砂体结构变化。     

松辽盆地东缘下白垩统营城组二段火山碎屑沉积的过程、相和结构

松辽盆地东缘六台地区营城组露头地质调查和实验室分析显示,貌似正常碎屑岩的营二段是一套复杂的火山熔岩和沉积岩之间的过渡岩性。这套岩性包括了碎屑熔岩、凝灰岩、沉凝灰岩、凝灰质碎屑岩和正常碎屑岩,显示了它们形成于火山—沉积盆地的过渡环境,即火山斜坡过渡到冲积平原和湖泊环境。与火山作用有关岩相有4种端元的火山碎屑岩相:弹射坠落爆发空落相、喷射降落爆发空落相、热碎屑流相和热基浪相。火山物质堆积在火山斜坡以及前方的冲积平原上,往往以火山碎屑岩相或者冲积扇相、辫状河相保存;它们堆积在湖泊中则为三角洲相、扇三角洲相、较深水相和沼泽相。这些相的空间组合反映了火山喷发—碎屑堆积的过程。根据旋回发育营二段可以区分出3种类型的充填序列:沉积—火山充填序列、沉积充填序列和火山充填序列。较为完整的序列为粗碎屑岩—火山岩和火山碎屑岩—细碎屑岩,对应着裂谷类盆地断裂作用—火山作用—沉积充填的过程,记录在特定的地层结构中。