鄂尔多斯盆地西南缘上三叠统延长组层序地层学与砂体成因研究

以鄂尔多斯盆地西南缘延长组为例,运用高分辨率层序地层学原理,对延河等露头沉积特征进行深入研究。研究认为不整合面、冲刷侵蚀面、岩性岩相转换面和湖泛面为重要的层序界面,并划分出1个超长期基准面旋回,5个长期基准面旋回及17个中期基准面旋回。延长期东、西两岸发育河流—三角洲沉积体系,东北部主要为曲流河、曲流河三角洲体系;西南主要发育辫状河及辫状河三角洲沉积体系。有利储集砂体主要为水下分流河道成因、水下分流河道—河口坝复合成因、河口坝成因和滑塌浊积扇成因等4种类型。研究认为,随湖平面变化,在基准面升降过程中,可容纳空间(A)与沉积物补给量(S)的比值(A/S)影响不同物源方向沉积体系的分布,并建立了沉积演化分布模式。     

A historical perspective of the morphological evolution in the lower Ebro river

 The morphological evolution, hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics of the lower Ebro are studied from historical and current data in order to determine the main changes that have governed the evolution of the Ebro channel near the river mouth during the last few centuries. The evolution of the mouth of this river during the last 2000-years, from an estuary to a delta, is interpreted as a process that has been accelerated by human land management. However, an inverse trend has been observed during recent decades: (1) the river mouth has been affected by erosion due to a drastic decrease in the river sediment discharge, and (2) the lower Ebro tends to evolve towards a quasi-permanent salt-wedge estuary as a consequence of the decrease in the river water discharge. Freshwater and sediment discharge decreases are mainly related to intense river water management during this century. The salt wedge favours erosion in the river banks, widening the river channel and causing an aggradational trend in the lower Ebro. Accretion-erosion rates and the sediment budget in the river mouth are estimated for different conditions. Received: 13 November 1995 · Accepted: 17 June 1996     

Sediment distribution and depositional processes along the fluvial to marine transition zone of the Mekong River delta,Vietnam

The area of coastal rivers with a combination of fluvial, tidal and wave processes is defined as the fluvial to marine transition zone and can extend up to several hundreds of kilometres upstream of the river mouth. The aim of this study is to improve the understanding of sediment distribution and depositional processes along the fluvial to marine transition zone using a comprehensive dataset of channel bed sediment samples collected from the Mekong River delta. Six sediment types were identified and were interpreted to reflect the combined action of fluvial and marine processes. Based on sediment‐type associations, the Mekong fluvial to marine transition zone could be subdivided into an upstream tract and a downstream tract; the boundary between these two tracts is identified 80 to 100 km upstream of the river mouth. The upstream tract is characterized by gravelly sand and sand and occasional heterolithic rhythmites, suggesting bed‐load supply and deposition mainly controlled by fluvial processes with subordinate tidal influence. The downstream tract is characterized by heterolithic rhythmites with subordinate sand and mud, suggesting suspended‐load supply and deposition mainly controlled by tidal processes with subordinate fluvial influence. Sediment distributions during wet and dry seasons suggest significant seasonal changes in sediment dynamic and depositional processes along the fluvial to marine transition zone. The upstream tract shows strong fluvial depositional processes with subordinate tidal influence during the wet season and no deposition with weak fluvial and tidal processes during the dry season. The downstream tract shows strong coexisting fluvial and tidal depositional processes during the wet season and strong tidal depositional processes with negligible fluvial influence during the dry season. Turbidity maxima are present along the downstream tract of the fluvial to marine transition zone during both wet and dry seasons and are driven by a combination of fluvial, tidal and wave processes.     

Tidal sediment transport versus freshwater flood events in the Konkouré Estuary, Republic of Guinea

In comparison to their temperate counterparts, sediment processes in tropical estuaries are poorly known and especially in African ones. The hydrodynamics of such environments is controlled by a combination of multiple processes including morphology, salinity, mangrove vegetation, tidal processes, river discharge, settling and erosion of mud and by physico-chemical processes as well as sediment dynamics.The aim of this study is to understand the sediment processes in this transitional stage of the estuary when the balance between river discharges and marine processes is reversing. Studying the hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics of the Konkouré Estuary has recently been made possible thanks to new data on bathymetry, sedimentary cover, salinity, water elevations, and current velocities. The Lower Konkouré is a shallow, funnel shaped, mesotidal mangrove-fringed, tide-dominated estuary, well mixed during low river discharge and stratified during high river discharge. The Konkouré Estuary is turbid despite the small amount of terrestrial input and its residual velocity at the mouth during low river discharges, landwards for two of the three branches, suggests a landward migration by tidal pumping of the suspended particulate matter. A Turbidity Maximum Zone (TMZ) is identified for typical states of the estuary with regard to fluvial and tidal components. Suspended sediment transport during a transitional stage between the rainy and dry seasons is known thanks to current velocity and Suspended Sediment Concentration (SSC) measurements taken in November 2003. The Richardson layered number calculation assesses that turbulence is the major mixing process in the water column, at least during the flood and ebb stages, whereas stratification occurs during the slack water periods. Tidal currents generate bottom erosion, and turbulence mixes the suspended sediment throughout the water column. As a result, a net sediment input is calculated from the western Konkouré outlet for two consecutive tidal cycles. Despite the net water export, almost 300 tons per tide reach the estuary through this outlet, for a moderate river flow.     

珠江口东平海域海采工程后泥沙蚀淤趋势预测研究

通过收集和实测到的研究区水位、潮位、潮流验证、沉积物类型和粒度参数、水深地形、风、径流值等边界条件,运用泥沙运动控制方程、泥沙再悬浮及再沉积方程,进行了工区泥沙运移相关参数的计算和模拟分析,并预测了工程实施后,工区内、外动力作用的程度和泥沙的蚀淤趋势发展。结果表明：开采区海采项目结束后,其淤积速度自NE 2～5 cm/...     

Three‐fold nature of coastal progradation during the Holocene eustatic highstand,Po Plain,Italy – close correspondence of stratal character with distribution patterns

Although general trends in transgressive to highstand sedimentary evolution of river‐mouth coastlines are well‐known, the details of the turnaround from retrogradational (typically estuarine) to aggradational–progradational (typically coastal/deltaic) stacking patterns are not fully resolved. This paper examines the middle to late Holocene eustatic highstand succession of the Po Delta: its stratigraphic architecture records a complex pattern of delta outbuilding and coastal progradation that followed eustatic stabilization, since around 7·7 cal kyr bp . Sedimentological, palaeoecological (benthic foraminifera, ostracods and molluscs) and compositional criteria were used to characterize depositional conditions and sediment‐dispersal pathways within a radiocarbon‐dated chronological framework. A three‐stage progradation history was reconstructed. First, as soon as eustasy stabilized (7·7 to 7·0 cal kyr bp ), rapid bay‐head delta progradation (ca 5 m year^?1), fed mostly by the Po River, took place in a mixed, freshwater and brackish estuarine environment. Second, a dominantly aggradational parasequence set of beach‐barrier deposits in the lower highstand systems tract (7·0 to 2·0 cal kyr bp ) records the development of a shallow, wave‐dominated coastal system fed alongshore, with elongated, modestly crescent beaches (ca 2·5 m year^?1). Third, in the last 2000 years, the development of faster accreting and more rapidly prograding (up to ca 15 m year^?1) Po delta lobes occurred into 30 m deep waters (upper highstand systems tract). This study documents the close correspondence of sediment character with stratal distribution patterns within the highstand systems tract. Remarkable changes in sediment characteristics, palaeoenvironments and direction of sediment transport occur across a surface named the ‘A–P surface’. This surface demarcates a major shift from dominantly aggradational (lower highstand systems tract) to fully progradational (upper highstand systems tract) parasequence stacking. In the Po system, this surface also reflects evolution from a wave‐dominated to river‐dominated deltaic system. Identifying the A–P surface through detailed palaeoecological and compositional data can help guide interpretation of highstand systems tracts in the rock record, especially where facies assemblages and their characteristic geometries are difficult to discern from physical sedimentary structures alone.     

Seismic‐stratigraphic record of a deglaciation sequence: from the marine Laflamme Gulf to Lake Saint‐Jean (late Quaternary,Québec,Canada)

The stratigraphy of the last deglaciation sequence is investigated in Lake Saint‐Jean (Québec Province, Canada) based on 300 km of echo‐sounder two dimensional seismic profiles. The sedimentary archive of this basin is documented from the Late Pleistocene Laurentidian ice‐front recession to the present‐day situation. Ten seismic units have been identified that reflect spatio‐temporal variations in depositional processes characterizing different periods of the Saint‐Jean basin evolution. During the postglacial marine flooding, a high deposition rate of mud settling, from proglacial glacimarine and then prodeltaic plumes in the Laflamme Gulf, produced an extensive, up to 50 m thick mud sheet draping the isostatically depressed marine basin floor. Subsequently, a closing of the water body due to glacio‐isostatic rebound occurred at 8.5 cal. ka BP, drastically modifying the hydrodynamics. Hyperpycnal flows appeared because fresh lake water replaced dense marine water. River sediments were transferred towards the deeper part of the lake into river‐related sediment drifts and confined lobes. The closing of the water body is also marked by the onset of a wind‐driven internal circulation associating coastal hydrodynamics and bottom currents with sedimentary features including shoreface deposits, sediment drifts and a prograding shelf‐type body. The fingerprints of a forced regression are well expressed by mouth‐bar systems and by the shoreface–shelf system, the latter unexpected in such a lacustrine setting. In both cases, a regressive surface of lacustrine erosion (RSLE) has been identified, separating sandy mouth‐bar from glaciomarine to prodeltaic muds, and sandy shoreface wedges from the heterolithic shelf‐type body, respectively. The Lake Saint‐Jean record is an example of a regressive succession driven by a glacio‐isostatic rebound and showing the transition from late‐glacial to post‐glacial depositional systems.     

Depositional processes and the inferred history of ice-margin retreat associated with the deglaciation of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet: The sedimentary record from Flathead Lake,northwest Montana,USA

A series of piston cores from Flathead Lake, Montana, USA and a new radiocarbon date from the sedimentary record provide the basis for describing sedimentary processes related to deglaciation of the Flathead Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet and for interpreting the retreat history of the lobe. The oldest part of Flathead Lake sediment core records is Late Pleistocene in age and consists of cm-scale rhythmites of silt and clay, interpreted here as annual varves. Each varve contains a light-colored coarser-grained portion, inferred to represent deposition during peak annual runoff, and a darker-colored finer-grained portion interpreted to represent sediment accumulation during seasonal low-flow conditions. The coarser-grained portions, especially in the stratigraphically older sections of each core, contain sedimentary structures that reflect traction transport. Based on these sedimentary structures, their facies characteristics, and their spatial distribution within the lake, we interpret the thicker, light-colored portion of each varve to be deposited by hyperpycnal flows caused by seasonal melt events rather than more classic turbidity currents.Immediately overlying Late Pleistocene rhythmites in all Flathead Lake cores is a unique, significantly coarser-grained dm-scale silt bed with a median grain size up to 50 µm. This silt bed has a sharp, locally erosional base and fines upward but does not contain any other sedimentary structures. In contrast to the rhythmites, we interpret this silt bed to represent a single, short-lived catastrophic sedimentation event generated by a large glacial outburst flood. Overlying this distinct bed are several other cm-scale beds of mainly silt that exhibit a basal upward-coarsening followed by an upward-fining median grain size profile. We interpret these beds and their grain size trends as reflecting the rising and falling hydrograph limbs of outburst floods derived from more distal sources located in the upstream parts of the upper Flathead watershed.The sediment record from Flathead Lake, together with results from geologic and geomorphologic 1:24,000 scale mapping around the lake margins, provide a series of constraints regarding the paleogeographic evolution of the area during deglaciation. Overall upward-thinning and upward-fining of the varved portion of the sediment core records reflects northward retreat of the southern Flathead Lobe ice margin starting at latest 14,475 ± 150 cal yr BP, the depositional age of the oldest varve in any of our cores. The depositional age of silt beds overlying the varved records is constrained as between 14,150 ± 150 cal yr BP and 13,180 ± 120 cal yr BP. Within the available chronostratigraphic constraints, the outburst floods interpreted to have delivered this silt to the Flathead Lake basin also downcut a bedrock nick point below the Flathead Lake outlet, oriented a series of large boulders downstream, and deposited a series of large flood bars on the lower Flathead River floodplain.     

Downstream changes of large-scale bedforms in turbidites around the Valencia channel mouth,north-west Mediterranean: implications for palaeoflow reconstruction

Side-scan sonar, seismic and core data are used to identify mega-flutes, transverse and ‘V’ shaped bedforms in turbidites around the Valencia channel mouth, north-west Mediterranean. Long-range side-scan sonar data reveal a broad, curved, asymmetric, channel, that widens and terminates downfan. The western channel bank near the channel mouth has been partly eroded by turbidity currents that spilled out of the channel. Transverse bedforms on the east of the channel floor are interpreted as antidunes and, if this interpretation is correct, they indicate that the flow was probably supercritical at least locally within the channel. Trains of mega-flutes, are incised into coarse-grained sediments of the channel floor near the channel mouth. The association of mega-flutes and antidunes is thought to be diagnostic of channel–lobe transitions on deep-sea fans. The mega-flutes pass downfan into an area of streaks that diverge at up to 45° and indicates flow expansion from the channel mouth. About 75 km downfan from the channel mouth, deep-towed side-scan data record transverse bedforms (interpreted as antidunes) passing downfan into an area covered by ‘V’ shaped bedforms with upflow pointing apices (named chevrons here). The chevrons are commonly c. 200 m from limb to limb and c. 2 m in amplitude with flow-parallel wavelengths of c. 400 m. We propose that chevrons were formed by a strong, probably supercritical (or near critical) turbidity current spreading from the channel mouth and flowing towards the Balearic Abyssal Plain. Thinning of the turbidity current, resulting from flow spreading would allow the Froude number to remain high up to 100 km from the channel mouth and could explain the observed reduction in antidune wavelength.     

Transient, longitudinal, sedimentary furrows in the York River subestuary, Chesapeake Bay: Furrow evolution and effects on seabed mixing and sediment transport

Sedimentary furrows in fine-grained sediments have been observed in a variety of settings ranging from the deep ocean and deep lake bottoms to shallow estuaries and are commonly described as persistent, long-term features of the seabed. A series of 12 sidescan sonar surveys over the course of three years reveal that transient, longitudinal sedimentary furrows regularly form and then occasionally dissipate within the middle portion of the York River. Varying furrow morphologies were observed depending on current conditions, ranging from large regularly space (0.7–7 m) linear furrows during low current conditions to large patches of meandering furrows as the mean current increases or no bed forms during the higher current conditions. Based on²¹⁰Pb and¹³⁷Cs profiles of kasten cores, differences in physical mixing depths of ∼25 cm between cores collected <2 m apart indicate a high degree of small-scale spatial heterogeneity within the seabed. By documenting the position of kasten cores using a digital sidescan sonar system, we showed that a core taken within a furrow had a mixing depth 15 cm shallower than an adjacent core taken between furrows. A time-series of mixing depths over the 35 mo of the study reveals that, along with the ∼25 cm scale differences in mixing depths due to the formation and destruction of furrows, there is a longer temporal signal of mixing producing 100-cm-scale changes in mixing depths on the annual to interannual time frame. Although the formation and destruction of the furrows appear to be a significant process contributing to decimeter-scale seabed mixing, there is a longer-term unknown process which is controlling the meter-scale seabed mixing.     

Shelf‐margin clinothem progradation,degradation and readjustment: Tanqua depocentre,Karoo Basin (South Africa)

Degradation of basin‐margin clinothems around the shelf‐edge rollover zone may lead to the generation of conduits through which gravity flows transport sediment downslope. Many studies from seismic‐reflection data sets show these features, but they lack small‐scale (centimetre to metre) sedimentary and stratigraphic observations on process interactions. Exhumed basin‐margin clinothems in the Tanqua depocentre (Karoo Basin) provide seismic‐reflection‐scale geometries and internal details of architecture with depositional dip and strike control. At the Geelhoek locality, clinothem parasequences comprise siltstone‐rich offshore deposits overlain by heterolithic prodelta facies and sandstone‐dominated deformed mouth bars. Three of these parasequences are truncated by a steep (6 to 22°), 100 m deep and 1·5 km wide asymmetrical composite erosion surface that delineates a shelf‐incised canyon. The fill, from base to top comprises: (i) thick‐bedded sandstone with intrabasinal clasts and multiple erosion surfaces; (ii) scour‐based interbedded sandstone and siltstone with tractional structures; and (iii) inverse‐graded to normal‐graded siltstone beds. An overlying 55 m thick coarsening‐upward parasequence fills the upper section of the canyon and extends across its interfluves. Younger parasequences display progressively shallower gradients during progradation and healing of the local accommodation. The incision surface resulted from initial oversteepening and high sediment supply triggering deformation and collapse at the shelf edge, enhanced by a relative sea‐level fall that did not result in subaerial exposure of the shelf edge. Previous work identified an underlying highly incised, sandstone‐rich shelf‐edge rollover zone across‐margin strike, suggesting that there was migration in the zone of shelf edge to upper‐slope incision over time. This study provides an unusual example of clinothem degradation and readjustment with three‐dimensional control in an exhumed basin‐margin succession. The work demonstrates that large‐scale erosion surfaces can develop and migrate due to a combination of factors at the shelf‐edge rollover zone and proposes additional criteria to predict clinothem incision and differential sediment bypass in consistently progradational systems.     

Timing of surficial process changes down a Mojave Desert piedmont

We measured ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al in 29 sediment samples to infer the history and millennial-scale rates of change down a low-gradient piedmont, a common but enigmatic landform that dominates the Mojave Desert. Nuclide data suggest that a large volume of sediment was deposited on the proximal East Range Road piedmont in Fort Irwin, California, ∼ 75,500 yr ago. Since then, this material has been stable or eroding slowly. In contrast, on the distal piedmont (3.5 km from the upland source basins) soil stratigraphy suggests that there have been alternating periods of surface stability, erosion, and deposition over the last 70,000 yr. Nuclide data from samples amalgamated along cross-piedmont transects suggest that long-term average down-gradient sediment speeds range from 9 cm yr^− 1 near the uplands to 22 cm yr^− 1 6 km down-piedmont. These speeds are similar to ¹⁰Be-estimated sediment speeds down three other piedmonts in the Mojave Desert, suggesting that piedmont surface morphologies dominated by shallow migrating channels have similar sediment transport rates. The timing of surface process change down the East Range Road piedmont is determined by a combination of sediment available in the source basins, sediment transport rates, and the size of the piedmont.     

Evidence for millennial-scale climatic events in the sedimentary infilling of a macrotidal estuarine system,the Seine estuary (NW France)

High-resolution sedimentological and rock magnetic analyses from sediment cores collected in the Seine estuary record changes in coastal sedimentary dynamics linked to climatic variations during the late Holocene. Using AMS ¹⁴C and paleomagnetic data we present a first attempt in developing a reliable age model on macrotidal estuarine archives, with a decadal resolution. Correlations between sedimentary successions from the outer Seine estuary document the main sedimentary infilling phases of the system during the last 3000 years. Between 3000 and 1150 cal. BP sedimentary patterns reveal that sequence deposition and preservation are predominantly controlled by marine and tidal hydrodynamics while severe storm events are recorded at ca. 2700 and 1250 cal. BP in the outermost estuary. Conversely, the Medieval Warm Period (MWP; 900–1200 AD) is characterized by a drastic waning of the influence of marine hydrodynamics on sediment preservation. Pronounced episodes of Seine river floods indicate a much stronger impact of continental inputs on sedimentary patterns during this period. The onset of the Little Ice Age marks a diminishing influence of continental inputs while tidal and open marine hydrodynamics again exerted a primary control on the sedimentary evolution of the system during 1200–2003 AD. Coastal sedimentary dynamics as preserved within sedimentary successions appear to have been largely influenced by changes in storminess during the last 3000 years. We have matched the preservation of MWP Seine river floods, as revealed by sedimentological and rock magnetic proxy data, to a prolonged interval of weakened storminess in Normandy permitting the preservation of estuarine flood deposits within a context of reduced coastal erosion in northern Europe. The preservation of sedimentary successions in the Seine estuary is therefore maximal when climate conditions resembled those of the preferred low phase of the NAO on multidecadal timescales such as during 800–1200 AD (MWP). In contrast, increased removal and transport of estuarine sediments occur when winter storm activity greatly intensified over northwestern France. We report four prominent centennial-scale periods of stronger storminess, occurring with a pacing of ～1500 years, which are likely to be related to the last four Bond's Holocene cold events. Our results documenting a close link between coastal sedimentary dynamics, millennial-scale variations in Holocene climate and North Atlantic atmospheric circulation are fairly consistent with other records from Scandinavia, central Greenland and southern Europe.     

Mapping Benthic Habitats in Delaware Bay and the Coastal Atlantic: Acoustic Techniques Provide Greater Coverage and High Resolution in Complex, Shallow-Water Environments

Accurate benthic habitat maps are critical for resource management in coastal waters with competing uses. We used a 500 kHz phase-measuring bathymetric sonar (PMBS) and 900 kHz side-scan sonar to acquire seafloor data in estuarine and shelf environments. Grab samples and remotely operated vehicle video created geological and biological classifications for segmented maps produced by a backscatter clustering program. PMBS improves regional map resolution (<1 m), reduces the need for direct sampling, extends information on sediment–biological relationships to larger areas, and allows measurements of bedforms. Auto-segmentation was successful in environments with highly contrasting acoustic signatures and meters-scale homogeneity. Patchier communities are identifiable in PMBS data. Species preferences for sediment (i.e., tubeworm preference for sediment without shell hash) allowed us to determine potential habitat without identifying individual organisms in acoustic data. PMBS with sufficient ground-truthing offers an efficient way to map seafloor characteristics, which is critical in marine spatial planning efforts.     

Hyperpycnal-fed turbidite lobe architecture and recent sedimentary processes: A case study from the Al Batha turbidite system, Oman margin

The main sediment depocenter along the Oman margin is the Al Batha turbidite system that develops in the Gulf of Oman basin. It is directly connected to the wadi Al Batha, and forms a typical sand and mud rich point source system that acts as regional sediment conduit and feeds a ~ 1000 km² sandy lobe.The Al Batha lobe depositional architecture has been investigated in detail using very high-resolution seismic, multibeam echosounder data and sediment cores. Several scales of depositional architecture can be observed. The Al Batha lobe is composed of several depositional units, made of stacked elementary sediment bodies (thinner than 5 m) that are each related to a single flow event. The lobe is connected to the feeder system through a channel-lobe transition zone (CLTZ) that extends on more than 25 km. The lobe can be divided into proximal, middle and distal lobe areas. The proximal lobe is an area of erosion and by-pass with small axial feeder channels that rapidly splay into several small distributaries. They disappear in the mid-lobe area where deposits consist of vertically stacked tabular to lens-shaped sediment bodies, with a lateral continuity that can exceed 10 km. The distal lobe fringe shows a classical facies transition towards thin-bedded basin plain deposits.Sub-surface deposits consist of sandy turbidites and hyperpycnites, interbedded with fine-grained deposits (thin turbidites, hyperpycnites, or hemipelagites). Although these distal deposits are mainly related to flow transformations and concentration evolution, they highlight the importance of flooding of the wadi Al Batha on the sediment transfer to the deep basin. The thick sandy hyperpycnites recovered in such a distal area are also possibly related to the initial properties of gravity flows, in relation to the flooding characteristics of mountainous desert streams.Finally, the Al Batha lobe depositional architecture is typical of sand-rich lobes found within “small”, sand and mud rich turbidite systems fed by mountainous “dirty” rivers. Turbidite sedimentation in the Al Batha system appears to be primarily controlled by the strong climatic and geomorphic forcing parameters (i.e. semi-arid environment with ephemeral, mountainous rivers subjected to flash-flooding).     

Seismic architecture and sedimentology of a major grounding zone system deposited by the Bjørnøyrenna Ice Stream during Late Weichselian deglaciation

A 280 km wide sediment wedge in outer Bjørnøyrenna (Bear Island Trough), south-western Barents Sea, has been investigated using 2D and 3D seismic data, sediment gravity cores, as well as regional swath and large scale bathymetry data. The bathymetry data indicate a division into an up to 35 m high frontal wedge with large depressions, and an upstream part characterized by mega scale glacial lineations (MSGL). From seismic sections increasing erosion is demonstrated for the upstream part, coinciding with the location of MSGL. Whether the latter are depositional features postdating an extensive erosional event or formed by erosion remains inconclusive. Based on the distinct morphology and internal structures, we infer that the system was deposited during a rapid readvance whereby the ice front pushed and bulldozed predominantly soft, diluted proglacial sediments. Analyses in the eastern part of the sediment system reveal the existence of imbricated thrust sheets in the frontal part of the wedge. This is suggested to imply upstream erosion of sedimentary rock and incorporation of thrusted blocks into the moraine, forming a composite ridge locally. We argue that observed large scale depressions are dead-ice features in the marine environment. It is envisioned that intense englacial thrusting may have developed into a decollement as the cold glacier snout got overrun by ice masses from the interior, thereby enabling the inclusion of slabs of ice in the push moraine mass. Radiocarbon dates indicate that the sediment wedge was deposited around 17,090 cal yrs BP (14,530 ¹⁴C yrs BP) and that the ice front probably remained stable until 16,580 cal yrs BP (13,835 ¹⁴C yrs BP).     

Sediment source identification and residence times in the Maroochy River estuary,southeast Queensland,Australia

Identification of sediment sources and associated nutrients and contaminants is crucial to the ecological management of aquatic systems. A combination of geochemical and radionuclide tracing techniques and geostatistical modelling have been used to determine the primary source areas of fine sediment delivered to the Maroochy River estuary. The application of radionuclide (¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pb) techniques indicate that approximately 70% of the sediment in the Maroochy River estuary originates from subsoil erosion. An average of 60% of sediment in the lower estuary originates from soils developed on the Landsborough Sandstone, with 35% coming from soils developed on granitoids. In the mid-Maroochy River estuary major contributions of fine sediment come from soils developed on Landsborough Sandstone (38%) and granitoids (36%). Estimated sediment residence times in the Maroochy River estuary are generally less than 30 years, however, one sample site near the estuary mouth had an estimated residence time of at least 30 years. This indicates that sediment accumulation rates in mangroves along the estuary margins are relatively low. Results from this study will be used by catchment managers to better target remedial action to reduce fine sediment delivery to the Maroochy River estuary.     

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

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

Scales and causes of heterogeneity in bars in a large multi‐channel river: Río Paraná, Argentina

To date, published studies of alluvial bar architecture in large rivers have been restricted mostly to case studies of individual bars and single locations. Relatively little is known about how the depositional processes and sedimentary architecture of kilometre‐scale bars vary within a multi‐kilometre reach or over several hundreds of kilometres downstream. This study presents Ground Penetrating Radar and core data from 11, kilometre‐scale bars from the Río Paraná, Argentina. The investigated bars are located between 30 km upstream and 540 km downstream of the Río Paraná – Río Paraguay confluence, where a significant volume of fine‐grained suspended sediment is introduced into the network. Bar‐scale cross‐stratified sets, with lengths and widths up to 600 m and thicknesses up to 12 m, enable the distinction of large river deposits from stacked deposits of smaller rivers, but are only present in half the surface area of the bars. Up to 90% of bar‐scale sets are found on top of finer‐grained ripple‐laminated bar‐trough deposits. Bar‐scale sets make up as much as 58% of the volume of the deposits in small, incipient mid‐channel bars, but this proportion decreases significantly with increasing age and size of the bars. Contrary to what might be expected, a significant proportion of the sedimentary structures found in the Río Paraná is similar in scale to those found in much smaller rivers. In other words, large river deposits are not always characterized by big structures that allow a simple interpretation of river scale. However, the large scale of the depositional units in big rivers causes small‐scale structures, such as ripple sets, to be grouped into thicker cosets, which indicate river scale even when no obvious large‐scale sets are present. The results also show that the composition of bars differs between the studied reaches upstream and downstream of the confluence with the Río Paraguay. Relative to other controls on downstream fining, the tributary input of fine‐grained suspended material from the Río Paraguay causes a marked change in the composition of the bar deposits. Compared to the upstream reaches, the sedimentary architecture of the downstream reaches in the top ca 5 m of mid‐channel bars shows: (i) an increase in the abundance and thickness (up to metre‐scale) of laterally extensive (hundreds of metres) fine‐grained layers; (ii) an increase in the percentage of deposits comprised of ripple sets (to >40% in the upper bar deposits); and (iii) an increase in bar‐trough deposits and a corresponding decrease in bar‐scale cross‐strata (<10%). The thalweg deposits of the Río Paraná are composed of dune sets, even directly downstream from the Río Paraguay where the upper channel deposits are dominantly fine‐grained. Thus, the change in sedimentary facies due to a tributary point‐source of fine‐grained sediment is primarily expressed in the composition of the upper bar deposits.