Apogean–perigean signals encoded in tidal flats at the fluvio–estuarine transition of Glacier Creek,Turnagain Arm,Alaska; implications for ancient tidal rhythmites

Turnagain Arm is a macrotidal fjord‐style estuary. Glacier Creek is a small, glacially fed stream which enters the estuary tangentially near Girdwood, Alaska. Trenches and daily sedimentation measurements were made in a mudflat along the fluvio–estuarine transition of Glacier Creek during several summers since 2003. Each year, the flats appear to erode during the winter and then accrete vertically in the spring and summer. In each of the years studied, tidal laminae in vertically thickening and thinning laminae bundles were deposited by twice daily tides in neap–spring tidal cycles. In 2004, bundles of thickening and thinning laminae couplets were noted in trenches cut into the flats. Five laminae bundles alternated between thicker and thinner bundles, corresponding to the perigean (high spring) and apogean (low spring) tides. Well‐preserved apogean–perigean cycles have rarely been documented in modern tidal flat sediments. At this location, vertical accretion of tidal rhythmites with well‐developed neap–spring cyclicity is possible because of the near‐complete removal of the flat from the previous year, which creates accommodation space for vertical accretion without significant reworking. Macrotidal conditions, no reworking by infaunal invertebrates, protection from the main tidal channel by a gravel bar and protection from storm waves and fluvial erosion by a recess in the sedge marsh that surrounds the flats all aid in preservation of rhythmites during aggradation. The position of the flats relative to tidal range allows for accumulation of complete spring cycles and incomplete neap cycles. In the summer of 2004, apogee and perigee were closely aligned with the new and full moons, resulting in successive strong perigee and apogee tides which probably aided in the accumulation of successive thick–thin spring cycles encoding the apogean and perigean tidal cycle. The apogean–perigean signal was not observed in subsequent years.     

Cambrian wave‐dominated tidal‐flat deposits,central Wisconsin,USA

In central Wisconsin, Cambrian strata of the Elk Mound Group record deposition on open‐coast, wave‐dominated tidal flats. Mature, medium‐grained quartz arenite is dominated by parallel‐bedding with upper‐flow regime parallel‐lamination, deposited during high‐energy storms that also produced three‐dimensional bedforms on the flats. Abundant wave ripples were produced as storms waned or during fair weather, in water depths ≤2 m. Indicators of variably shallow water (washout structures and stranded cnidarian medusae) and subaerial exposure (adhesion marks, rain‐drop impressions and desiccation cracks, including cracked medusae) are abundant. Parallel‐bedded facies preserve a Cruziana ichnofacies, similar to other Cambrian tidal‐flat deposits. Flats were dissected by small, mainly straight channels, the floors of which were grazed intensely by molluscs. Most channels were ephemeral but some developed low levées, point bars and cut‐banks, probably reflecting stabilization by abundant microbial mats and biofilms. Channels were filled with trough cross‐bedding that is interpreted to have been produced mainly during storm runoff. The strata resemble deposits of open‐coast, wave‐dominated tidal flats on the east coast of India and west coast of Korea. Ancient wave‐dominated and open‐coast tidal flats documented to date appear to have been limited to mud‐rich strata with ‘classic’ tidal indicators such as flaser bedding and tidal bundles. The Cambrian (Miaolingian to early Furongian) Elk Mound Group demonstrates that sandy, wave‐dominated tidal flats also can be recognized in the stratigraphic record.     

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.     

Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the coastal Monte Léon and Santa Cruz formations (Early Miocene) at Rincón del Buque,Southern Patagonia: A revisited locality

Sedimentological, ichnological and paleontological analyses of the Early Miocene uppermost Monte León Formation and the lower part of the Santa Cruz Formation were carried out in Rincón del Buque (RDB), a fossiliferous locality north of Río Coyle in Santa Cruz Province, Patagonia, Argentina. This locality is of special importance because it contains the basal contact between the Monte Léon (MLF) and the Santa Cruz (SCF) formations and because it preserves a rich fossil assemblage of marine invertebrates and marine trace fossils, and terrestrial vertebrates and plants, which has not been extensively studied. A ∼90 m-thick section of the MLF and the SCF that crops out at RDB was selected for this study. Eleven facies associations (FA) are described, which are, from base to top: subtidal–intertidal deposits with Crassotrea orbignyi and bioturbation of the Skolithos-Cruziana ichnofacies (FA1); tidal creek deposits with terrestrial fossil mammals and Ophiomorpha isp. burrows (FA2); tidal flat deposits with Glossifungites ichnofacies (FA3); deposits of tidal channels (FA4) and tidal sand flats (FA5) both with and impoverish Skolithos ichnofacies associated; marsh deposits (FA6); tidal point bar deposits recording a depauperate mixture of both the Skolithos and Cruziana ichnofacies (FA7); fluvial channel deposits (FA8); fluvial point bar deposits (FA9); floodplain deposits (FA10); and pyroclastic and volcaniclastic deposits of the floodplain where terrestrial fossil mammal remains occur (FA11).The transition of the MLF–SCF at RDB reflects a changing depositional environment from the outer part of an estuary (FA1) through the central (FA2–6) to inner part of a tide-dominated estuary (FA7). Finally a fluvial system occurs with single channels of relatively low energy and low sinuosity enclosed by a broad, low-energy floodplain dominated by partially edaphized ash-fall, sheet-flood, and overbank deposits (FA8–11). Pyroclastic and volcaniclastic materials throughout the succession must have been deposited as ash-fall distal facies in a fluvial setting and also were carried by fluvial streams and redeposited in both estuarine and fluvial settings. These materials preserve most of the analyzed terrestrial fossil mammals that characterize the Santacrucian age of the RDB's succession. Episodic sedimentation under volcanic influence, high sedimentation rates and a relatively warm and seasonal climate are inferred for the MLF and SCF section.Lateral continuity of the marker horizons at RDB serve for correlation with other coastal localities such as the lower part of the coastal SCF south of Río Coyle (∼17.6–17.4 Ma) belonging to the Estancia La Costa Member of the SCF.     

长江三角洲南汇潮滩沉积速率及其影响因素

近100余年来,南汇潮滩尤其是中、高潮滩,以淤涨为主,使岸线迅速向海推进。但潮滩沉积并 非连续,而是以冲、淤相间,长期净淤积的方式进行。潮滩沉积剖面主要由风暴成因的小型层序组成,粗、细 粒交替分别代表风暴与平静天气的产物。潮滩沉积环境的不稳定性使其难以满足两种常用来计算210Pb沉积速率 的方法---CIC （稳定的初始比度） 模型和CRS（稳定的沉降通量） 模型的前提条件。在实验时,如果只选择 代表平静天气沉积的细颗粒层进行210Pb活度分析,则可能得到一组相对符合CIC模型的数据,利用此方法计算 出南汇潮间带环境的平均沉积速率为6.11~6.23 cm/yr。对历史海图数字化建立的数字高程模型（DEM） 分析 表明,中、高潮滩近50余年的平均沉积速率为1.91~2.05cm/yr,不及210Pb沉积速率的一半。造成这种差异的 原因有：（１） DEM法在高程推算过程中使用简单的潮滩纵剖面模型,导致计算的沉积速率偏低;（２）210Pb法受 到沉积过程中强烈的物理混合作用和沉积后的生物扰动、化学迁移作用等影响,使计算的沉积速率偏高。推断 近50余年来,南汇中、高潮滩的沉积速率为4～5cm/yr。     

长江口现代潮滩沉积物粒度特征及其在沉积相识别中的应用

本研究通过对长江口现代潮滩6个柱状样沉积物的粒度精细分析,试图提取研究区潮滩沉积相识别的粒度敏感指标,并通过对长江三角洲南部平原一个全新世钻孔(SL67孔)潮滩沉积物的粒度研究,检验现代沉积粒度敏感指标在全新世钻孔潮滩沉积相识别中的应用。研究显示,长江口现代高潮滩和中潮滩的黏性颗粒(8μm)和粗粉砂(32~63μm)含量差异显著,可以成为区分高潮滩和中潮滩的敏感组分;在开敞型的中、低潮滩之间,砂(63μm)和细粉砂含量(8~32μm)也差异明显。长江口现代潮滩沉积物的粒度频率曲线及众数值也可以有效协助区分高潮滩、中潮滩和低潮滩沉积物。利用上述粒度敏感组分和众数指标检验SL67孔全新世早中期在海平面波动控制下的潮滩演替过程,并揭示了7.5 cal ka BP前后的一次海平面加速上升事件。     

碳酸盐岩旋回沉积的形成机制

为了更好地理解碳酸盐岩旋回沉积的形成机制,计算机模拟可谓是一种既直观又定量的好方法。我们重点选择了与沉积相有关的五个重要参数：（１）与水深相关的沉积速率;（２）时滞（Ｌａｇｔｉｍｅ）;（３）盆地线性沉降速率;（４）潮差;（５）海平面振荡幅度与周期等。由于碳酸盐岩沉积物对海平面变化非常敏感,因此研究中特别注意了海平面振荡幅度与周期的变化对碳酸盐岩旋回沉积的控制和影响。一个几米厚的潮坪旋回层序通常是由海平面的低幅振荡形成的,振荡幅度也就是几米,时滞亦较短。当海平面振荡幅度较大时,在海平面下降期间,滨线向海迁移的速率会超过潮坪的侧向加积速率,因此在内陆棚上缺乏潮坪沉积物。海平面振荡幅度的增加也能造成海平面下降快于潮坪的沉降,滨线向海迁移速率比潮坪进积的速率要快得多,从而在旋回层序内发育较厚的渗流带以及不整合界面。某些高幅振荡（１００ｍ或更大）还可造成碳酸盐岩台地的早期淹没以及沉积旋回内部的深水相与浅水相并置     

Characteristics of an open coast tidal flat: Example from Daman,west coast of India

This study highlights lithofacies and biofacies characteristics of the open coast tidal flat near Daman on the eastern flank of Gulf of Khambhat. Sedimentological and biological observation record six facies within the tidal flat area including older beach, beach face, sand flat, mud flat/mixed flat, sand bar and beach rock. Distinct sedimentary structures, foraminiferal assemblage and bioturbation intensity characterize each facies. A wide variety of wave and current generated sedimentary features characterize the sand flat facies. Semiconsolidated sands of older beach running parallel the coastline at a level higher than the present beach face possibly records the latest sea level highstand. The beach rock reflects early cementation of sands in tropical environments. Foraminifera are widely distributed in sand flats, mixed flats and mud flats and grouped into two biofacies — Ammonia-Elphidium-Quinqueloculina biofacies (sand flat and mixed flat) and Trochammina-Miliammina biofacies (mud flats). The beach face and sand bar facies contain forminifera reworked from sand flat and mud/mixed flat. Seasonal variation in depositional style is marked by deposition of fresh mud deposited over large areas of the intertidal flat during monsoon time, most of which is washed away by waves and current actions well before the onset of the next monsoon.     

Depositional Controls on the Ichnology of Ordovician Wave-dominated Marine Facies: New Evidence from the Shirgesht Formation, Central Iran

The Lower Ordovician Shirgesht Formation in central Iran is composed of siliciclastic and carbonate rocks deposited in diverse coastal and marine shelfal environments (tidal flat, lagoon, shoreface, offshore-shelf and carbonate ramp). Five facies associations contain diverse ichnofossil assemblages that show distinct proximal to distal trends formed in a wide range of physical-chemical conditions. The ethological groups of trace fossils in the Shirgesht Formation reflect a gradient of depositional stress conditions across a wave-influenced shoreline and shelf. Deposits of wave-influenced environments make up a significant component of the geological record of shallow marine settings, and the ability to determine paleoenvironments in detail in such successions is critical for reconstruction of depositional histories and sequence-stratigraphic interpretation.The Cruziana ichnofacies of the study shows highly diverse suites that record the establishment of a benthic community under stable conditions and a long-term colonization window. The Skolithos ichnofacies recognized is a low diversity opportunistic ichnocommunity suite that resulted from colonization after tempestite deposition in a stressed environment. The strata record an onshore to offshore replacement of the Cruziana ichnofacies (with abundant feeding traces of deposit-feeders) by the Skolithos ichnofacies (dominated by suspension-feeders and predators). A transitional zone between the two ichnofacies coincides with the offshore-transition/distal lower-surface deposits. The distribution of ichnofacies, the diversity and range of ethological characteristics reflected by the ichnogenera, and the wide range of wave-dominated coastal facies demonstrate the potential to use individual trace fossils and ichnofacies for significantly refined palaeoenvironmental analysis of wave-dominated coastal settings, particularly in Ordovician successions.     

Unincised fluvial and tide-dominated estuarine systems from the Mesoproterozoic Lower Tombador Formation,Chapada Diamantina basin,Brazil

The Mesoproterozoic Lower Tombador Formation is formed of shallow braided fluvial, unconfined to poorly-channelized ephemeral sheetfloods, sand-rich floodplain, tide-dominated estuarine, and shallow marine sediments. Lowstand braided fluvial deposits are characterized by a high degree of channel amalgamation interbedded with ephemeral, intermediate sheetflood sandstones. Sand-rich floodplain sediments consist of intervals formed by distal sheetflood deposits interbedded with thin layers of eolian sandstones. Tide-dominated estuarine successions are formed of tide-influenced sand-bed braided fluvial, tidal channel, tidal sand flat and tidal bars. Shallow marine intervals are composed of heterolithic strata and tidal sand bars. Seismic scale cliffs photomosaics calibrated with vertical sections indicate high lateral continuity of sheet-like depositional geometry for fluvial–estuarine successions. These geometric characteristics associated with no evidence of incised-valley features nor significant fluvial scouring suggest that the Lower Tombador Formation registers deposition of unincised fluvial and tide-dominated systems. Such a scenario is a natural response of the interplay between sedimentation and fluctuations of relative sea level on the gentle margins of a sag basin. This case study indicates that fluvial–estuarine successions exhibit the same facies distributions, irrespective of being related to unincised or incised-valley systems. Moreover, this case study can serve as a starting point to better understand the patterns of sedimentation for Precambrian basins formed in similar tectonic settings.     

A depositional model for a wave‐dominated open‐coast tidal flat,based on analyses of the Cambrian–Ordovician Lagarto and Palmares formations,north‐eastern Brazil

Open‐coast tidal flats are hybrid depositional systems resulting from the interaction of waves and tides. Modern examples have been recognized, but few cases have been described in ancient rock successions. An example of an ancient open‐coast tidal flat, the depositional architecture of the Lagarto and Palmares formations (Cambrian–Ordovician of the Sergipano Belt, north‐eastern Brazil) is presented here. Detailed field analyses of outcrops allowed the development of a conceptual architectural model for a coastal depositional environment that is substantially different from classical wave‐dominated or tide‐dominated coastal models. This architectural model is dominated by storm wave, low orbital velocity wave and tidal current beds, which vary in their characteristics and distribution. In a landward direction, the storm deposits decrease in abundance, dimension (thickness and spacing) and grain size, and vary from accretionary through scour and drape to anisotropic hummocky cross‐stratification beds. Low orbital wave deposits are more common in the medium and upper portion of the tidal flat. Tidal deposits, which are characterized by mudstone interbedded with sandstone strata, are dominant in the landward portion of the tidal flat. Hummocky cross‐stratification beds in the rock record are believed, in general, to represent storm deposits in palaeoenvironments below the fair‐weather wave base. However, in this model of an open‐coast tidal flat, hummocky cross‐stratification beds were found in very shallow waters above the fair‐weather wave base. Indeed, this depositional environment was characterized by: (i) fair‐weather waves and tides that lacked sufficient energy to rework the storm deposits; (ii) an absence of biological communities that could disrupt the storm deposits; and (iii) high aggradation rates linked to an active foreland basin, which contributed definitively to the rapid burial and preservation of these hummocky cross‐stratification deposits.     

Sedimentological–ichnological model for tide‐dominated shelf sandbodies: Lower Cambrian Gog Group of western Canada

Dunes and bars are common elements in tide‐dominated shelf settings. However, there is no consensus on a unifying terminology or a systematic classification for thick sets of cross‐stratified sandstones. In addition, their ichnological attributes have hardly been explored. To address these issues, the properties, architecture and ichnology of compound cross‐stratified sandstone bodies contained in the Lower Cambrian Gog Group of the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains are described here. In these transgressive sandstones, five types of compound cross‐stratified sandstone are distinguished based on foreset geometry, sedimentary structures and internal heterogeneity. These represent four broad categories of subtidal sandbodies: (i) compound‐dune fields; (ii) sand sheets; (iii) sand ridges; and (iv) isolated dune patches; tidal bars comprise a fifth category but are not present in the Gog Group. Compound‐dune fields are characterized by sigmoidal and planar cross‐stratified sandstone in coarsening‐upward and thickening‐upward packages (Type 1); these are mostly unburrowed, or locally contain representatives of the Skolithos ichnofacies, but are intercalated with intensely bioturbated sandstone containing the archetypal Cruziana ichnofacies. Sand‐sheet complexes, also composed of compound dunes, cover more extensive subtidal areas, and comprise three adjacent subenvironments: core, front and margin. The core is characterized by thick‐bedded sets of cross‐stratified sandstone (Type 2). A decrease of bedform size at the front is recorded by wedges of thinner‐bedded, low‐angle and planar cross‐stratified sandstone (Type 3) exhibiting dense Skolithos pipe‐rock ichnofabric. The margin is characterized by interbedded sandstone and mudstone, and hummocky cross‐stratified sandstone. Sand‐sheet deposits exhibit clear trends in trace‐fossil distribution along the sediment transport path, from non‐bioturbated beds in the core to Skolithos ichnofacies at the front, and a depauperate Cruziana ichnofacies at the margin. Tidal sand ridges are large elongate sandbodies characterized by large sigmoid‐shaped reactivation surfaces (Type 4). Sand ridges display clear ichnological trends perpendicular to the axis of the ridge, with no bioturbation or a poorly developed Skolithos ichnofacies in the core, a depauperate Cruziana ichnofacies in lee‐side deposits, and Cruziana ichnofacies at the margin. While both tidal ridges and tidal bars migrate by means of lateral accretion, the latter occur in association with channels while the former do not. Because tidal bars tend to occur in brackish‐water marginal‐marine settings, their ichnofauna are typically of low diversity, representing a depauperate Cruziana ichnofacies. Isolated dune patches developed on sand‐starved areas of the shelf, and are represented by lenticular sandbodies with sigmoidal reactivation surfaces (Type 5); they typically lack trace fossils, but the interfingering muddy deposits are intensely bioturbated by a high‐diversity fauna recording the Cruziana ichnofacies. The variety of sandbody types in the Gog Group reflects varying sediment supply and location on the inner continental shelf. These, in turn, governed substrate mobility, grain size, turbidity, water‐column productivity and sediment organic matter which controlled trace fossil distribution.     

陕甘宁盆地中部马五1潮缘碳酸盐岩沉积旋回及其成因探讨

陕甘宁盆地中部马五₁段由多个向上变浅的潮缘碳酸盐岩沉积序列重复叠置组成,并可分为十三种沉积 -成岩微相和六个沉积相带。这种沉积序列的韵律性重复叠置的形成方式为潮缘进积楔的简单退覆和阶段式退覆,其形成机制为自旋回。     

江浙一带现代海滩的生物扰动构造及其指相意义

底栖生物在沉积物表面及其内部留下的各种活动痕迹——生物扰动构造(Bioturbation)具有指示环境的重要意义,这是由于底栖生物的生存和发展与沉积物的性质和沉积作用过程休戚相关,对沉积环境有极大的依赖性。同时,生物又通过其自身的觅食和摄食活动,反过来影响沉积作用过程,并可破坏和改造沉积物的原生构造。因此,这种原地生成的生物扰动构造如能保存在地层中,它们就可以为沉积环境的判别提供可靠的信息。     

华南红树林海岸生物地貌过程研究

红树林生物地貌过程是全球变化海岸带陆海相互作用研究重点内容之一。本文以海南东寨港林市村,广东廉江高桥镇凤地村和车板镇那腮村以及广东深圳福田和锦绣中华3个半定位试验区有关红树林群落结构、潮汐动力、沉积特征和地貌特征的调查资料为基础,探讨红树林生物地貌过程的生物学基础,沉积地貌表现,红树林生态系对人类活动和海平面上升的响应。     

Controls on microbial activity and tidal flat evolution in Shark Bay,Western Australia

Microbial deposits at Shark Bay constitute a diverse living microbial carbonate system, developed in a semi‐arid, highly evaporative marine setting. Three tidal flats located in different embayments within the World Heritage area were investigated in order to compare microbial deposits and their Holocene evolution. The stressing conditions in the intertidal–subtidal environment have produced a microbial ecosystem that is trapping, binding and biologically inducing CaCO₃ precipitation, producing laminated stromatolites (tufted, smooth and colloform), non‐laminated thrombolitic forms (pustular) and cryptomicrobial non‐laminated forms (microbial pavement). A general shallowing‐upwards sedimentary cycle was recognized and correlated with Holocene sea‐level variations, where microbial deposits constitute the younger (2360 years bp ) and shallower sedimentary veneer. In addition, sediments have been documented with evidence of exposure during the Holocene, from 1040 to 940 ¹⁴C years bp , when sea‐level was apparently lower than present. Filamentous bacteria constitute the dominant group in the blister, tufted and smooth mat types, and coccus bacteria dominate the pustular, colloform and microbial pavement deposit types. In the subtidal environment within colloform and pavement structures, microbial communities coexist with organisms such as bivalves, serpulids, diatoms, green algae (Acetabularia), crustaceans, foraminifera and micro‐gastropods, which are responsible for exoskeleton supply and extensive bioturbation. The internal fabric of the microbial deposits is laminated, sub‐laminar, scalloped, irregular or clotted, depending on the amount of fine‐grained carbonate and the natural ability of microbial communities to trap and bind particles or induce carbonate precipitation. Nilemah tidal flat contains the thickest (1·3 m) and best‐developed microbial sedimentary system; its deposition pre‐dated the Rocky Point and Garden Point tidal flats, with the most positive isotope values for δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O, reflecting strong microbial activity in a highly evaporative environment. There is an evolutionary series preserved within the tidal flats reflecting relative ages and degree of salinity elevation.     

Ichnology and sedimentology of the Triassic carbonates of North‐west Sardinia,Italy

The classical Middle to Upper Triassic carbonate sections at Monte Santa Giusta and Punta del Lavatoio, North‐west Sardinia (Italy), referred to the Muschelkalk and Keuper lithofacies group, are revisited and their trace fossil content is investigated for the first time. A combined ichnological and sedimentological study reveals insights into the depositional environments, regional context, palaeogeography and sequence stratigraphy. The results indicate deposition on a homoclinal carbonate ramp with broad facies belts. All recognized trace fossils are also known from time‐equivalent deposits of Germany and thus indicate a close affinity between the North‐west Sardinian Triassic and the Germanic Basin. Only a few trace fossils are particularly abundant and these indicate opportunistic colonization by their producers, which is probably related to restricted endobenthic conditions due to reduced oxygen and/or increased salinity. The trace fossil association can be grouped into a softground suite belonging to the Cruziana ichnofacies, and a firmground suite of the Glossifungites ichnofacies. This discrimination enables an interpretation of the northern Monte Santa Giusta section as a carbonate ramp with extensive tidal flats and abundant carbonate accumulation in a relatively proximal position, whereas the southern Punta del Lavatoio section exhibits broad lagoonal environments with reduced sedimentation in a deeper and more Tethys‐influenced area. The Sardinian sections are ichnologically similar to the Anisian–Ladinian succession known from the Tatra Mountains, but differ from it by having a slightly higher ichnodiversity, which again can be attributed to a less restricted lagoonal environment. This study demonstrates the importance of integrating trace fossil analysis in sedimentological and palaeontological investigations of carbonate systems.     

广西北海现代海岸沉积作用

本文讨论了广西北海现代海岸各种环境的自然地理分带、地质营力、沉积物以及生物生态等特征，指出环境能量直接决定了环境类型、沉积物类型以及生物组合类型。海岸环境据其能量划分为高能海滩、低能海湾、中能岩质潮坪和砂质潮坪、低能泥质红树林潮坪以及高能潮上沙丘等6种沉积类型；混合沉积作用主要发育于高能海滩和中能潮坪沉积环境内。涠洲岛现代地壳的上升活动控制着该区海蚀地貌的形成。     

潮滩剖面形态与泥沙分选研究进展

潮滩剖面形态与多组分泥沙分选是海岸动力学与河口、海岸地貌学的重要研究内容,对保持生物多样性、研究沉积历史和沿海工程评估等具有重要的实际意义。从现场观测、理论解析和数值模拟等方面,归纳了在潮滩剖面形态特征与多组分泥沙分选方面研究的主要进展。回顾了潮滩剖面形态分别在潮流和波浪主导下的经典理论解析解,剖析了包括潮流、波浪泥沙来源及特性等主要影响因子以及植被、海平面上升、围垦工程等其他影响因子对潮滩剖面形态水平向、垂向泥沙分选过程的作用机理,同时提出了考虑水动力、生物作用、人类活动等多因子耦合作用下潮滩演变研究以及定量化预测方向的若干亟待解决的科学问题。