Role of vegetation in shaping Early Pennsylvanian braided rivers: Architecture of the Boss Point Formation,Atlantic Canada

Vegetation is a major driver of fluvial dynamics in modern rivers, but few facies models incorporate its influence. This article partially fills that gap by documenting the stratigraphy, architecture and palaeobotany of the Lower Pennsylvanian Boss Point Formation of Atlantic Canada, which contains some of the Earth's earliest accumulations of large woody debris. Braided‐fluvial systems occupied channel belts of varied scale within valleys several tens of metres deep and more than 12 km wide, and their deposits predominantly consist of sandy and gravelly bedforms with subordinate accretionary macroforms, high flow‐strength sand sheets and rippled abandonment facies. Discrete accumulations of clastic detritus and woody debris are up to 6 m thick and constitute at least 18% of the in‐channel deposits; they represent lags at the base of large and small channels, fills of minor channels and sandy macroforms that developed in central positions in the upper parts of channel fills. Sandstones with roots and other remnants of in situ vegetation demonstrate that vegetated islands were present, and the abundance of discrete channel fills suggests that the formation represents an anabranching, island‐braided sandbed river, the earliest example documented to date. Although some sphenopsid and lycopsid remains are present, most woody fragments are derived from cordaitalean trees, and the evolution of this group late in the Mississippian is inferred to have exerted a significant influence on fluvial morphodynamic patterns. The formation records a landscape in which active channel belts alternated with well‐drained floodplains colonized by dense, mature forests and local patches of pioneering, disturbance‐tolerant vegetation. Lakes and poorly drained floodplains dominated by carbonate and organic deposition, respectively, were also present. A large supply of woody debris triggered channel blockage and avulsion, and active channel margins and islands within the channel belts were initially colonized by pioneer vegetation and subsequently stabilized by large trees. A similar alternation of stable and unstable conditions is observed in modern braided rivers actively influenced by vegetation.     

Brines in the Carboniferous Sydney Coalfield,Atlantic Canada

Formation waters within Upper Carboniferous sandstones in the sub-sea Prince and Phalen coal mines, Nova Scotia, originated as residual evaporative fluids, probably during the precipitation of Windsor Group (Lower Carboniferous) salts which underlie the coal measures. Salinity varies from 7800 to 176,000 mg/l, and the waters are Na–Ca–Cl brines enriched in Ca, Sr and Br and depleted in Na, K, Mg and SO₄ relative to the seawater evaporation curve. Br:Cl and Na:Cl ratios suggest that the brine composition corresponds to an evaporation ratio of as much as 30. The brines lie close to the meteoric line on H/O isotopic plots but with a compositional range of δ¹⁸O from −4.18 to −6.99 and of δD from −42.4 to −23.5, distant from modern meteoric or ocean water. Mine water composition contrasts with that of nearby salt-spring brines, which are inferred to have originated through dissolution of Windsor Group evaporites by modern meteoric waters. However, a contribution to the mine waters from halite dissolution and from Br in organic matter cannot be ruled out. Present concentrations of several elements in the brines can be explained by water–rock interaction. The original Windsor brines probably moved up into the overlying coal-measure sandstones along faults, prior to the Late Triassic. The high salinity and irregular salinity distribution in the Phalen sandstones suggests that the brines have undergone only modest dilution and are virtually immobile. In contrast, Prince waters show a progressive increase in salinity with depth and are inferred to have mixed with surface waters. Basinal brines from which these modern formation fluids were derived may have been important agents in base-metal and Ba mineralisation from the mid-Carboniferous onwards, as saline fluid inclusions are common in Zn–Pb sulphide deposits in the region.     

Palynological evidence for Pennsylvanian (Late Carboniferous) vegetation change in the Sydney Coalfield,eastern Canada

The palynology of clastic samples from seven stratigraphical levels in the late Moscovian Sydney Mines Formation, exposed along the shore at Bras d'Or, Nova Scotia, has been investigated. Most of the samples were from roof shales of major coals; the one sample that was not yielded a much higher proportion of pollen derived from extra‐basinal vegetation. The four stratigraphically lower roof shale samples yielded essentially similar palynological spectra, with 39 ± 4% lycophytes, 9 ± 4% sphenophylls, 23 ± 4% tree‐ferns, 12 ± 4% other ferns and 5 ± 3% cordaites. The palynology of the upper part of the investigated succession suggests a shift in vegetation towards one favouring more marattialean tree‐ferns, cordaites and conifers, and fewer lycophytes. This correlates with changes in drainage patterns as the alluvial plain migrated seawards and thus changed water tables. No evidence was found to suggest significant climate change at this time. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Early diagenetic spherulitic siderites from Pennsylvanian palaeosols in the Boss Point Formation, Maritime Canada

The Boss Point Formation of Maritime Canada comprises alternating successions of braidplain sandstone, lacustrine mudstone, and lacustrine fluvio-deltaic sandstone and mudstone. These rocks were deposited within an active strike-slip basin during the early Pennsylvanian (Westphalian A), at a palaeolatitude of 8°S. Palaesols comprise a small but distinct proportion of the formation, and typically occur at the tops of fining upward sandstone-siltstone cycles. Spherulitic siderites from the Boss Point Formation occur within sandy and silty palaeosols. They occur as ‘large’ (>200 μm) and ‘small’ (<200 μm) diameter spherulitic nodules within calcrete, and show either a radially arranged ferroan calcite and siderite spar morphology, or contain a core of ferroan calcite, surrounded by a later formed sheath of siderite. Analytical data indicate that with respect to Ca-Mg-Mn, wide compositional variation occurs within the siderites. The Boss Point Formation siderites are similar to, but contain less Ca for a given Mg/Mn ratio, than previously published siderite compositional data. Published data, together with the results from the Boss Point Formation, indicate that a continuum exists in freshwater siderites, between the relatively Mn-depleted and the Mg-enriched analytical fields that were previously reported. The relatively low Ca values determined in the Boss Point Formation samples reflect the general lack of calcium in the sedimentary basin during sedimentation. Both chlorite and smectite clays may have been important sources of iron. It is concluded that the spherulitic siderites are eogenetic, and formed within small anoxic ponds rich in organic matter, under reducing and low dissolved sulphate conditions. With time these pools dried up, ferroan calcite precipitating as calcrete nodules around the earlier formed siderite spherulites.     

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

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

Sedimentology of Proterozoic cratonic sheet sandstones of the eastern Canadian Shield: Sims Formation,Labrador, Canada

The upper lower Proterozoic to middle Proterozoic Sims Formation rests unconformably on lower Proterozoic strata of the Knob Lake Group of the Labrador Trough sequence. The 700 m-thick Sims Formation consists of basal fluvial arkoses and conglomerates (about 100 m) and an upper sheet-like sand body (about 600 m thick) composed of quartz arenites and minor quartz-clast conglomerates. This upper unit is interpreted as beach, shoreface, tidal and shallow-shelf deposits. The lowest 70 m of the quartz arenite unit appear to be of fluvial origin, but probably were formed by reworking of quartzose sands produced in coastal environments during a period of elevated sea level.The lower Sims Formation probably represents molasse shed from either the Hudson or Labrador orogens. Rivers flowed northwest away from these upland areas. The upper part of the Sims Formation records deposition during a period of slow, steady sea-level rise in an ocean that deepened to the west.The Sims Formation outliers are remarkably similar to outliers of the Sakami Formation of northern Quebec, a unit that has a poorly-constrained early to middle Proterozoic age. If these units are correlative, a hypothesis supported mainly by identical facies and facies sequences, then the transgressive quartz arenites would originally have covered an area of at least 200 000 km².     

Formation mechanisms of calcite cements in tight sandstones of the Jurassic Lianggaoshan Formation,northeastern Central Sichuan Basin

The characteristics and formation mechanism of calcite cements in the tight sandstone of the Jurassic Lianggaoshan Formation in the northeastern Central Sichuan Basin were analysed using petrographic and isotopic techniques. In the tight sandstone of the Lianggaoshan Formation, cements are mostly calcite and occur as poikilitic, pore-filling, fracture-filling and replacement of clastic particles. Contents of Al, Si, Fe and Mn in the poikilitic calcites are significantly less than that in the dissolution pore-filling and metasomatic calcites. Three stages (early, middle and late) of authigenic calcites correspond to temperature ranges of <60, 60–100 and ≥100?°C, respectively, with most calcite cements formed under lower temperature (<100?°C) conditions. The δ¹⁸O values of the early–middle authigenic calcites are in equilibrium with connate water, and the δ¹⁸O values of late calcites are depleted in ¹⁸O indicating equilibrium at higher temperatures. The early authigenic calcites precipitated in a relatively open system associated with CO₂ from bacterial fermentation at an immature to low-mature stage, and a Ca²⁺- and alkaline-rich environment owing to hydration–hydrolysis and dissolution of silicate minerals during phase A of eodiagenesis. The middle–late authigenic calcites precipitated in a relatively closed system with CO₂ from decarboxylation of organic acids and Ca²⁺ from dissolution of silicate minerals and transformation of clay minerals during phase B of eodiagenesis to mesodiagenesis. Calcite cements mainly occur in the medium and fine sandstones of sand flats and beach bars. Authigenic calcite dissolution is extremely weak, and calcite cementation is pore-space destructive.     

Sedimentary facies of a glacially influenced continental succession in the Pennsylvanian Jericho Formation, Galilee Basin, Australia

Recent work on the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age in eastern Australia has shown the Joe Joe Group in the eastern Galilee Basin, Queensland, to be of critical importance as it is one of few records of Pennsylvanian glacial activity outside South America. This paper presents detailed sedimentological data, from which the Late Palaeozoic environment of the region is reconstructed and which, consequently, allows for robust comment on the broader Gondwanan glaciation. The Jericho Formation, in the lower Joe Joe Group, was deposited in an active extensional basin in lacustrine to fluvial environments, during the mid‐Namurian to early Stephanian. The region experienced a cool climate during this time, and polythermal mountain or valley‐type glaciers periodically advanced into the area from highlands to the north‐east. The Jericho Formation preserves a suite of proglacial to terminal glacial facies that is characterized by massive and stratified diamictites deposited from debris flows, massive and horizontally laminated conglomerates and sandstones deposited from hyperconcentrated density flows, laminated siltstones with outsized clasts and interlaminated siltstone/conglomerate deposited through ice‐rafting into lakes, and sedimentary dykes and breccias deposited through overpressurization of groundwater beneath permafrost. Non‐glacial facies are dominated by fluvial sandstones and lacustrine/overbank siltstones. The glacigenic rocks of the Jericho Formation are confined to discrete packages, recording three separate glacial advances during the latest Namurian to late Westphalian. This arrangement is consistent with the temporal distribution of glacigenic rocks from around the remainder of Australia and Gondwana, which supports the theory that glacial deposits occurred in discrete intervals. The Joe Joe Group is a key succession in the world in this context as, at this time, eastern Australia provides the only unequivocal evidence of a Namurian/Westphalian glaciation outside South America. The continuous record of sedimentation through the Pennsylvanian and Early Permian is indicative of significant warming between glacial intervals, which is difficult to reconcile with the development of long‐lived, cold‐based ice sheets across the supercontinent.     

鄂尔多斯盆地镇泾区块延长组长81储层成岩作用特征及其对储集物性的影响

鄂尔多斯盆地镇泾区块上三叠统延长组长81储层具有成分成熟度低,结构成熟度中等到好的特点,岩性以岩屑长石砂岩和长石岩屑砂岩为主.长81砂岩属于特低孔特低渗储层,以次生溶蚀粒间孔为主要储集空间.目前储层正处于中成岩阶段A期,主要发育压实、胶结、溶解和交代4种成岩作用类型.机械压实作用是造成长81储层埋深小于2000 m砂岩...     

Opal and chalcedony speleothems on quartz sandstones in the Sydney region,southeastern Australia

Speleothems of silica are far rarer than those of calcite but occur in a range of types including stalactites, stalagmites and flowstones. This study has found a wider range and far greater number of silica speleothems on the quartz sandstones of the Sydney region than the small number of previous accounts had suggested. Speleothems on the Sydney region sandstones are composed of multiple layers of amorphous opal‐A and cryptocrystalline chalcedony. Silica slowly dissolved from detrital and diagenetic quartz and kaolinite clays of the host arenites is redeposited as opal‐A at the sandstone surface when groundwater evaporates. This amorphous silica converts over time by Ostwald‐type paragenesis to the cryptocrystalline form, but the expected intermediate opal‐CT phase has not been detected. The crystallisation of chalcedony at earth‐surface temperatures is generally believed to take an extremely long time and its presence makes these speleothems very significant, especially as it is reported in only a small number of silica speleothems elsewhere. Furthermore, a similar paragenetic silica‐‘ripening’ mechanism may also be involved in the low‐temperature earth‐surface formation of other crystalline silica deposits such as silcrete duricrusts and pedogenic quartz. Additional closely coupled laboratory and field investigations into the processes that control silica paragenesis under earth‐surface conditions are sorely needed.     

Diagenesis in the Middle Jurassic Khatatba Formation sandstones in the Shoushan Basin,northern Western Desert,Egypt

The Middle Jurassic Khatatba Formation acts as a hydrocarbon reservoir in the subsurface in the Western Desert, Egypt. This study, which is based on core samples from two exploration boreholes, describes the lithological and diagenetic characteristics of the Khatatba Formation sandstones. The sandstones are fine‐ to coarse‐grained, moderately to well‐sorted quartz arenites, deposited in fluvial channels and in a shallow‐marine setting. Diagenetic components include mechanical and chemical compaction, cementation (calcite, clay minerals, quartz overgrowths, and a minor amount of pyrite), and dissolution of calcite cements and feldspar grains. The widespread occurrence of an early calcite cement suggests that the Khatatba sandstones lost a significant amount of primary porosity at an early stage of its diagenetic history. In addition to calcite, several different cements including kaolinite and syntaxial quartz overgrowth occur as pore‐filling and pore‐lining cements. Kaolinite (largely vermicular) fills pore spaces and causes reduction in the permeability of the reservoir. Based on framework grain–cement relationships, precipitation of the early calcite cement was either accompanied by or followed the development of part of the pore‐lining and pore‐filling cements. Secondary porosity development occurred due to partial to complete dissolution of early calcite cements and feldspar. Late kaolinite clay cement occurs due to dissolved feldspar and has an impact on the reservoir quality of the Khatatba sandstones. Open hydraulic fractures also generated significant secondary porosity in sandstone reservoirs, where both fractures and dissolution took place in multiple phases during late diagenetic stages. The diagenesis and sedimentary facies help control the reservoir quality of the Khatatba sandstones. Fluvial channel sandstones have the highest porosities and permeabilities, in part because of calcite cementation, which inhibited authigenic clays or was later dissolved, creating intergranular secondary porosity. Fluvial crevasse‐splay and marine sandstones have the lowest reservoir quality because of an abundance of depositional kaolinite matrix and pervasive, shallow‐burial calcite and quartz overgrowth cements, respectively. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Formation of phyllosilicates in a fault zone affecting deeply buried arkosic sandstones: their influence on petrophysic properties (Annot sandstones, French external Alps)

The Restefond fault, located in the Late Eocene-Early Oligocene Alpine foreland basin, affects the well lithified and low porosity Grès d??Annot. The fault core zone is characterized by the occurrence of highly deformed sandstone lenses. Deformation inside the lenses corresponds to mm to sub-mm-spaced cleavage planes rich in phyllosilicates and up to cm-thick and dm-long quartz-calcite pure extensional veins. The cleavages are mostly composed of newly-formed synkinematic white mica and chlorite. By using thermodynamic thermometers based on the chemical composition of chlorite, a temperature of 200?±?20?°C of fault activity was computed. This temperature shows that the Restefond fault was active at burial conditions comprised between 6.5 and 8?km, assuming a mean geothermal gradient between 25 and 30?°Ckm^?1. The petrophysic properties of sandstones from the core zone and in the hanging and foot wall of the fault were determined on drilled plugs following three spacial directions. The permeability of the highly deformed sandstone from the core zone is about one order of magnitude higher than in the host rock. This increase in permeability occurs in the direction parallel to the S?CC structures and is explained by the occurrence of well-connected micropores localized between platy phyllosilicates. This study shows that the fault petrophysic properties are mostly controlled by the precipitation of synkinematic phyllosilicates under deep burial conditions.     

济源盆地中侏罗统马凹组砂岩粒度特征分析

济源盆地中侏罗统马凹组下段发育厚约80m的中细粒砂岩,前人在许多文献中称其为长石石英砂岩.通过对所取砂岩样品薄片镜下观察,将其命名为岩屑石英砂岩.该段砂岩自下而上粒度具有以下特征:平均粒径(Mz)总体由大变小,标准偏差(σ)反映砂岩分选由中等逐渐变好,标准偏差(σ)和偏度(SK1)都具有典型河流沉积物特征.频率曲线表现为不对称三峰或双峰,概率累积曲线由“低斜四段”式渐变为“高斜跳悬两段”式.该套砂岩沉积时期水流不稳,有多期洪流出现,表现为平均粒径和标准偏差的局部来回振荡.其C-M图显示主要发育牵引流PQ、QR、RS段,符合经典曲流河沉积模式.     

Sedimentary environments and trace fossils of the Permian Snapper Point Formation,Southern Sydney Basin

The Lower Permian Snapper Point Formation at its type locality in the southern Sydney Basin is interpreted as a regressive sequence of a linear clastic shoreline. Lithologies, sedimentary structures, and palaeocurrent patterns suggest a prograding barrier‐beach environment. Barrier foot, bar nucleus, bar crest, and back‐bar are distinguished. Abundant trace fossils aid the recognition of minor facies. The thickness of sediments deposited in the protected inshore environment may be explained by progradation into rising relative sealevel, but rates of sealevel rise or land subsidence were ultimately exceeded by the rate of sediment supply. Up‐sequence changes in the character of the sedimentation units and biofacies may therefore reflect an evolution from a barrier profile to an open mainland beach.     

鄂尔多斯盆地延长组长9油层组三角洲砂岩沉积特征

通过钻井、录井、测井及岩心等资料的综合分析,识别出辫状河三角洲和曲流河三角洲是鄂尔多斯盆地上三叠统延长组长9油层组主要的三角洲沉积相类型。辫状河三角洲分布于盆地西部,辫状分流河道和辫状水下分流河道发育砂岩,砂岩中主要发育冲刷面、槽状交错层理、板状交错层理和平行层理等,以向上变细的正粒序为主,砂岩粒度概率曲线主要为两段式或三段式。曲流河三角洲分布于盆地东部,陆上分流河道、水下分流河道和河口坝发育砂岩,砂岩中主要发育冲刷面、槽状交错层理、板状交错层理、平行层理和砂纹层理等,以向上变细的正粒序为主,也可见向上变粗的逆粒序,砂岩粒度概率曲线主要为两段式或三段式,可见四段式。进一步的对比分析表明,盆地内长9油层组辫状分流河道、辫状水下分流河道和陆上分流河道中砂体最发育,水下分流河道和河口坝砂体次之。     

孙吴-嘉荫盆地白垩系淘淇河组-太平林场组砂岩主量元素的地球化学特征

沉积盆地中砂岩的地球化学特征主要受物源区控制,碎屑岩的地球化学成分可揭示沉积物的地质信息.笔者通过对孙吴-嘉荫盆地白垩系淘淇河组-太平林场组砂岩的主量元素地球化学特征分析,结合砂岩薄片碎屑成分统计表明:淘淇河组-太平林场组时期物源区的大地构造背景主要为活动大陆边缘,包括大陆岛弧和大洋岛弧.物源区母岩类型主要为花岗岩,中酸性火山岩及低级变质岩.盆地不同位置物源区的大地构造背景和母岩类型有所不同.结合区域地质资料综合分析认为:在淘淇河组-太平林场组沉积时期,小兴安岭仅在太平林场组时期不是盆地主要物源区,而佳木斯地块一直是盆地东部的一个主要物源区.     

松辽盆地红岗油田白垩系青山口组含片钠铝石砂岩自生矿物共生序列

松辽盆地红岗油田白垩系青山口组发育含片钠铝石砂岩。通过偏光显微镜、扫描电镜、阴极发光 仪、Ｘ射线衍射等多种技术手段,对含片钠铝石砂岩的碎屑成分、胶结物类型及自生矿物共生序列等特征进行 了研究。该区含片钠铝石砂岩为岩屑长石砂岩及长石岩屑砂岩,胶结物有次生加大长石、次生加大石英、自生 石英微晶、黏土矿物、片钠铝石、方解石、铁方解石及铁白云石。方解石的形成分为两期,第１期方解石为原 始生物碎屑颗粒溶蚀溶解的产物,第２期方解石可能与ＣＯ^２ 充注后钙长石及早期碳酸盐矿物的溶蚀溶解有关。 含片钠铝石砂岩的自生矿物共生序列为：次生加大长石、早期次生加大石英-自生石英微晶-早期高岭石、第１ 期方解石、片钠铝石-晚期次生加大石英-晚期高岭石、第２期方解石、铁方解石、铁白云石。其中ＣＯ^２ 注入 后的矿物共生组合为：片钠铝石-晚期次生加大石英-晚期高岭石、第２期方解石、铁方解石、铁白云石。