大同-阳原盆地古泥河湾湖的岸线变化

本文通过大同-阳原盆地古湖岸线遗迹的分析,阐述第四纪古泥河湾湖的出现、发展和消亡,指出湖泊变迁是构造运动和气候变化等因素共同作用的结果,构造运动是主要因素。     

Magnetic susceptibility in sediment records of Lake Ådran,eastern Sweden: correlation among cores and interpretation

Magnetic susceptibility was used to test the representativity of the lithostratigraphy of a master sediment sequence from Lake Ådran, eastern Sweden. Five further sediment cores from the same lake were correlated and compared with the master sequence using magnetic susceptibility records. Mineral magnetic correlations are generally based on matching prominent susceptibility features but may be significantly improved by using slot sequence analyses. The result of these analyses show that the sediment in the Lake Ådran master sequence can be considered representative for the basin. The variations in the magnetic susceptibility in relation to pollen and diatom analyses also seem to reflect water level changes and shore displacement in the Baltic between 9900 ¹⁴C years B.P. and the isolation at 5900 ¹⁴C years B.P. The first emergence of scattered non-vegetated islands is characterised by high susceptibility values. Along with a continuous water lowering and the development of the vegetation during the Ancylus fresh water stage, susceptibility values gradually decrease. A rapid phase of the Ancylus regression between 9200 and 9000 ¹⁴C years B.P. is seen as an increase in magnetic susceptibility. During the following Baltic brackish water stage, the Litorina stage, susceptibility values are at their lowest, followed by higher values at the isolation from the Baltic with a maximum around 5000 ¹⁴C years B.P.Shore displacement between 9900 and 5900 ¹⁴C years B.P. is discussed based on the magnetic susceptibility measurements and their relationship to the pollen and diatom analyses.     

Shorelines of the Uppsala Esker East-Central Sweden: Their Use as Indicators of Regional Differences in Shore Displacement

About 750 different shoremarks, mainly shore terraces, have been levelled along the Uppsala esker. Using various methods it has been possible to arrange the shoremarks to shorelines or rather shoremark zones containing more shoremarks than intervening parts. The material was divided into two major parts, i.e. shoremarks below c . 15 m above sea level and shoremarks above c . 15 m. It was found that shorelines on the whole were sloping towards the north. This was expected because of the faster shore displacement in the northern part of the area. However, the shorelines below c . 15 m a.s.l. indicated a slower increase in shore displacement than those of higher altitudes. A conclusion drawn from this might be that the increase towards the north is retarded in the area around Lake Mälar. This result is in reasonable agreement with recent isobase systems constructed from the evidence of mareograph records and repeated precise levellings. On the other hand, the shoreline studies give evidence of more pronounced regional differences in shore displacement in earlier Litorina times than those found today.     

Diatoms in sediments of perennially ice-covered Lake Hoare, and implications for interpreting lake history in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica

Diatom assemblages in surficial sediments, sediment cores, sediment traps, and inflowing streams of perennially ice-covered Lake Hoare, South Victorialand, Antarctica were examined to determine the distribution of diatom taxa, and to ascertain if diatom species composition has changed over time. Lake Hoare is a closed-basin lake with an area of 1.8 km², maximum depth of 34 m, and mean depth of 14 m, although lake level has been rising at a rate of 0.09 m yr^-1 in recent decades. The lake has an unusual regime of sediment deposition: coarse grained sediments accumulate on the ice surface and are deposited episodically on the lake bottom. Benthic microbial mats are covered in situ by the coarse episodic deposits, and the new surfaces are recolonized. Ice cover prevents wind-induced mixing, creating the unique depositional environment in which sediment cores record the history of a particular site, rather than a lake-wide integration. Shallow-water (<1 m) diatom assemblages (Stauroneis anceps, Navicula molesta, Diadesmis contenta var. parallela, Navicula peraustralis) were distinct from mid-depth (4–16 m) assemblages (Diadesmis contenta, Luticola muticopsis fo. reducta, Stauroneis anceps, Diadesmis contenta var. parallela, Luticola murrayi) and deep-water (26–31 m) assemblages (Luticola murrayi, Luticola muticopsis fo. reducta, Navicula molesta). Analysis of a sediment core (30 cm long, from 11 m water depth) from Lake Hoare revealed two abrupt changes in diatom assemblages. The upper section of the sediment core contained the greatest biomass of benthic microbial mat, as well as the greatest total abundance and diversity of diatoms. Relative abundances of diatoms in this section are similar to the surficial samples from mid-depths. An intermediate zone contained less organic material and lower densities of diatoms. The bottom section of core contained the least amount of microbial mat and organic material, and the lowest density of diatoms. The dominant process influencing species composition and abundance of diatom assemblages in the benthic microbial mats is episodic deposition of coarse sediment from the ice surface.     

Tectonic controls on Cenozoic foreland basin development in the north‐eastern Andes,Colombia

In order to evaluate the relationship between thrust loading and sedimentary facies evolution, we analyse the progradation of fluvial coarse‐grained deposits in the retroarc foreland basin system of the northern Andes of Colombia. We compare the observed sedimentary facies distribution with the calculated one‐dimensional (1D) Eocene to Quaternary sediment‐accumulation rates in the Medina wedge‐top basin and with a three‐dimensional (3D) sedimentary budget based on the interpretation of ～1800 km of industry‐style seismic reflection profiles and borehole data. Age constraints are derived from a new chronostratigraphic framework based on extensive fossil palynological assemblages. The sedimentological data from the Medina Basin reveal rapid accumulation of fluvial and lacustrine sediments at rates of up to ～500 m my^?1 during the Miocene. Provenance data based on gravel petrography and paleocurrents reveal that these Miocene fluvial systems were sourced from Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene sedimentary units exposed to the west in the Eastern Cordillera. Peak sediment‐accumulation rates in the upper Carbonera Formation and the Guayabo Group occur during episodes of coarse‐grained facies progradation in the early and late Miocene proximal foredeep. We interpret this positive correlation between sediment accumulation and gravel deposition as the direct consequence of thrust activity along the Servitá–Lengupá faults. This contrasts with one class of models relating gravel progradation in more distal portions of foreland basin systems to episodes of tectonic quiescence.     

青海湖第四纪晚期沉积地震地层特征分析

青海湖是我国最大的内陆湖泊,目前的水域面积约4400 km2,流域面积约29660 km2。通过在湖内进行高分辨率浅层剖面探测(GeoPulse),发现不同发育阶段的沉积特征在地震剖面上得到很好的反映。Geopulse高分辨率浅层剖面穿透深度约60 m(分辨率为0.5 m),沉积层序在湖盆中央近水平展布,揭示沉积环境相对稳定,但也有局部的扰动或错断。尤其在南部近岸部位,上表层沉积出现弯曲,说明第四纪的晚近期,青海湖有过新的构造运动。     

Early Holocene shore displacement and evidence of irregular isostatic uplift northwest of Lake Vänern, western Sweden

In the 1920's the Swedish geologist Lennart von Post found evidence of irregular early Holocene isostatic uplift in the region northwest of Lake Vänern in western Sweden. von Post based his conclusions on levellings of ancient shore lines. These were indirectly dated by pollen stratigraphical investigations in basins situated at approximately the same altitudes as the shore lines. To test von Post's hypothesis, we have adopted a different methodological approach. The sediments in twelve small lake basins, within five minor areas in this region, have been investigated with respect to when they became isolated from ancient Lake Vänern. Initially all the lake thresholds were levelled. Altitudes range between 165 and 96 m above sea level. By combining the results of mineral magnetic and diatom stratigraphical analyses it has been possible to determine the level in the sediment when the basin became isolated. The ¹⁴C age of this isolation level has been inferred from AMS dates based on the NaOH-soluble fraction of bulk sediment, partly with very low organic content. Altogether, 36 radiocarbon datings have been carried out, ranging from 10080 to 8800 ¹⁴C years BP. Pollen analyses, and subsequent correspondence analysis (CA) of all pollen spectra, were carried out around the isolation level in each basin as a complement to the AMS datings.If the region had been subject to irregular isostatic uplift, lakes at the same altitude in the five areas should have been isolated at different times. The AMS determined isolation ages, corrected according to CA of the pollen stratigraphy and compensated for the relatively higher rebound of the northerly situated sites support von Post's conclusion, from the beginning of this century, that the region northwest of Lake Vänern has been subjected to irregular isostatic uplift.     

Architecture and evolution of syn-rift clastic depositional systems towards the tip of a major fault segment, Suez Rift, Egypt

ABSTRACT This paper investigates syn‐rift stratigraphic architecture and facies relationships along a 7 km long strike section towards the tip of a major, basin‐bounding normal fault segment (Thal Fault) in the Suez Rift, Egypt. In this location, the fault is composed of two precursor fault strands, Gushea and Abu Ideimat, linked by a jog or transfer fault. We document a Miocene syn‐rift succession, deposited more than c. 5.5 Myr after rift initiation, that is composed of a range of carbonate‐clastic facies associated with coarse‐grained deltaic, shoreface and offshore depositional systems. Key regionally correlatable stratal surfaces within this succession define time equivalent stratal units that exhibit variability in thickness and architecture, related to the interplay of both regional and local controls, in particular, the evolution of two, small‐scale (<6 km long) precursor fault strands (Gushea and Abu Ideimat). Integration of structural and stratigraphic data indicates that the boundary (relay ramp) between these two fault strands was a relative high during much of the rift event, with hard‐linkage and considerable displacement accumulation not occurring until at least c. 7.5 Myr after rift initiation. This is because: (i) the preserved stratigraphy is thinner in the hanging wall of the strand boundary; (ii) a eustatic sea‐level fall with an amplitude of 100 m generated more than 25 m of incision at the strand boundary, a region that has a final fault displacement of c. 600 m; and (iii) the fault strand boundary persisted as a footwall low and transport pathway for coarse‐grained deltas entering the basin. This study indicates that variability in stratal thickness and stratigraphic architecture towards the tip of the Thal Fault was related to the linkage history of two small‐scale (c. 6 km long) precursor fault segments. We suggest that similar, small‐scale stratal variability may occur repeatedly along the entire length of major basin‐bounding fault segments due to the process of fault growth by the linkage of smaller scale precursor strands.     

巴丹吉林沙漠典型湖冰冻结-消融的空间模式差异

利用多源遥感数据解译、野外考察、原位观测等方法,分析了巴丹吉林沙漠腹地湖泊群湖冰冻结-消融空间模式及其差异的主要影响因素。结果表明：该沙漠存在4种冻结-消融空间模式,湖冰自湖岸蔓延至湖心、冻结早的区域融化晚;湖冰自湖岸蔓延至湖心、冻结早的区域融化早;湖冰自湖泊一岸扩展至另一岸、冻结早的区域融化晚;湖冰自湖泊一岸扩展至另一岸、冻结早的区域融化早。大部分面积较小湖泊的冻结-消融空间模式为从湖岸冻结至湖心,冻结早的区域消融晚。不同冻结-消融空间模式之间的差异反映了泉水与地下水对湖泊的补给作用,同一盆地内部或同一沙山两侧孪生湖泊湖冰物候特征的差异主要受湖泊形态特征、湖泊溶解性固体总量（TDS）、局地气候条件的影响,有泉水或地下水出露、TDS越低、水位越浅、风力越小的区域冻结越早。泉水、地下水与湖水混合后使湖水TDS降低,更易于冻结,这是巴丹吉林沙漠大部分湖泊冰的最初生成形式,表明巴丹吉林沙漠湖冰物候在一定意义上是湖泊群接受区域深层地下水补给的直接反映。     

Environmental Characteristics of Lake Tecocomulco, northern basin of Mexico, for the last 50,000 years

Paleoenvironmental studies have documented the late Pleistocene to Holocene evolution of the lakes in the central and southern parts of the basin of Mexico (Texcoco and Chalco). No information was available, however, for the lakes in the north-eastern part of this basin. The north-eastern and the central and southern areas represent, at present, different environmental conditions: an important gradient exists between the dry north and the moister south. To investigate the late Pleistocene to Holocene characteristics of the north-eastern lakes in the basin of Mexico two parallel cores (TA and TB) were drilled at the SE shore of Lake Tecocomulco. Stratigraphy, magnetic properties, granulometry, diatom and pollen analyses performed on these sediments indicate that the lake experienced a series of changes between ca. > 42,000 yr BP and present. Chronological control is given by five radiocarbon determinations. The base of the record is represented by a thick, rhyolitic air-fall tephra that could be older than ca. 50,000 yr BP. After this Plininan event, and until ca. 42,000 yr BP, Lake Tecocomulco was a moderately deep, freshwater lake surrounded by extended pine forests that suggest the presence of cooler and moister conditions than present. Between ca. 42,000 and 37,000 yr BP, the lake became shallower but with important fluctuations and pollen suggests slightly warmer conditions. Between ca. 37,000 and 30,000 yr BP the lake experienced two relatively deep phases separated by a dry interval. A second Plinian eruption, represented in the sequence by a dacitic an air-fall tephra layer dated at 31,000 yr BP, occurred in the area by the end of this dry episode. Between ca. 30,000 and 25,7000 yr BP Tecocomulco was a fresh to slightly alkaline lake with a trend towards lower level. After ca. 25,700 yr BP very low lake levels are inferred, and after ca. 16,000 yr BP the data indicate the presence of a very dry environment that was persistent until the middle Holocene. After 3,500 yr BP lacustrine conditions were re-established and the vegetation cover shows a change towards higher percentages of herbaceous taxa.     

Former glacial lakes of the Bunger Hills,Antarctica

The Bunger Hills in East Antarctica occupy a land area of approximately 400 km². They have been exposed by Holocene retreat of the Antarctic ice sheet and its outlet glaciers. The accompanying sea level rise flooded the marine inlets that now separate the northern islands and peninsulas from the major part of the hills. During deglaciation the continental ice sheet margin retreated south‐eastwards with several temporary halts, during which ice‐dammed lakes were formed in some valleys. These lakes were maintained long enough to permit formation of beaches of sand and gravel, and for the erosion of shore platforms and low cliffs in bedrock. Around the western end of Fish Tail Bay impressive shoreline features 20 m above sea level define a former ice‐dammed lake that was 5.5 km long. A similar 7 km long former ice‐dammed lake was formed at Lake Dolgoe. The more extensive and deeper glacial lake is revealed by well‐developed and preserved shoreline features cut at 29 m which is 16 m above present lake level. In addition, several small ice‐dammed lakes existed temporarily near Lake Shchel and in the valley to the west. Lake Fish Tail existed more than 6,900 ¹⁴C years ago and Lake Shchel probably more than 6,680 ¹⁴C years ago. It is inferred that the shore platforms and beaches were formed by lake ice and wave action over considerable periods when the lakes were impounded by steep cold ice margins. There appears to have been a balance between meltwater input and evaporative loss from the lakes in the cold dry continental climate. There is no evidence for rapid lake level fluctuations, and there was very little input of clastic sediment. This resulted in poor development of deltaic and rhythmically laminated lake floor deposits. It is suggested that such deposits are more characteristic of ice‐dammed lakes formed in association with wet‐based temperate ice than those associated with dry‐based polar ice.     

博斯腾湖的水环境保护与可持续利用对策

本文通过实地调查和对1999～2001年的监测资料的分析,从水环境污染物特性、水环境质量变化、排污源分布及排污量计算等方面探讨了博斯腾湖水环境问题及其成因。提出建立博斯腾湖保护区,加大管理检查和执法力度,加强对农田排污水的控制,强化重点排污口和重点城镇生活污水的排污管理,并通过湖滨湿地生态恢复工程、增源节水工程、加速湖水循环工程等措施,保护和改善博斯腾湖水环境     

A 6000 year water level history of Europe Lake, Wisconsin, USA

Europe Lake occupies a small, closed, basin that would have been an embayment in Lake Michigan during the high water level events in the larger lake. Cores recovered from the lake reveal late Holocene water level fluctuations in the basin that are inferred from changes in taxa and abundance of molluscs, ostracodes, magnetic susceptibility, organic carbon, and oxygen isotopes.Non-glacial, Holocene lacustrine/paludal sedimentation in this portion of the Europe Lake basin started after 6600 RCYBP and was probably initiated by a rise in the water table of the deep bedrock aquifer, during the Nipissing transgression in Lake Michigan. Isotopically light ground water from this source was probably a major contributor during this phase to the negative ¹⁸O spikes in Valvata tricarinata and Amnicola limosa.The start of stable lacustrine conditions is marked by maximum diversity of ostracode and mollusc taxa and a shift toward much more positive ¹⁸O values. The Europe Lake basin at this time became an embayment of Lake Michigan. This event was probably coeval with the peak of the Nipissing transgression, when the water plane reached an altitude of about 183 m.The isolation of Europe Lake from Lake Michigan started at about 2390 RCYBP and is probably due to a drop in water level in Lake Michigan and/or to isostatic uplift of the Door Peninsula. Since isolation from Lake Michigan, water levels in Europe lake have been controlled primarily by fluctuations in local precipitation, evaporation and ground water discharge.     

The glacilacustrine sedimentary environment of Bowser Lake in the northern Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada

Bowser Lake, a fiord lake in the northern Coast Mountains of British Columbia, contains a thick Holocene fill consisting mainly of silt and clay varves. These sediments were carried into the lake by proglacial Bowser River which drains a high-energy, heavily glacierized basin. Sedimentation in the lake is controlled by seasonal snow and ice melt, by autumn rainstorms, and by rare, but very large jökulhlaups from glacier-dammed lakes in the upper Bowser River basin which complicate environmental inferences from the sedimentary record. Sediment is dispersed through the deep western part of the lake by energetic turbidity currents. The turbidity currents apparently do not overtop a sill that separates the western basin from much shallower areas to the east. Large amounts of silt and clay are deposited from suspension in the eastern part of the lake, but sediment accumulation rates there are much lower than to the west. Several strong acoustic reflectors punctuate the varved fill in the western basin; these may be thick or relatively coarse beds deposited during jökulhlaups or exceptionally large storms. The contemporary sediment yield to Bowser Lake, estimated from sediments in the lake, is about 360 t km^-2a^-1. This is a relatively high value, but it is less than yields insome other, similar montane basins with extensive snow and ice cover.The most likely explanation for the difference is that large amounts of sediment have been, and continue to be, stored on the Bowser delta andin small proglacial lakes.     

Potential water sources for Late Quaternary Megalake Jilantai-Hetao,China, inferred from mollusk shell <Superscript>87</Superscript>Sr/<Superscript>86</Superscript>Sr ratios

Lake Jilantai-Hetao, a megalake, was formed some time before 60–50 ka, along the Great North Bend of the Yellow River. The basin is now dry, with most of the area covered by aeolian sand. We are investigating this profound hydrologic change using a number of research approaches. Paleoshorelines of this megalake are best preserved in the Jilantai area in the southwestern portion of the megalake basin. We collected aquatic mollusk shells from littoral sediments at different altitudes around Jilantai and measured their strontium isotope compositions. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios in shell carbonates are different between the high lake phase (~1,080–1,050 m altitude) and the low lake phase (~1,044–1,030 m altitude), with a small shift in average strontium ratios to more radiogenic values during the low lake phase. Based on regional hydrology and physical geography, we conclude that water from the Yellow River was the dominant water source supplying this megalake. ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios of modern water samples suggest the Yellow River was the dominant water source during the high lake phase, but that the relative contribution of Yellow River water to the megalake was reduced, and that the relative contributions of local precipitation and groundwater increased, during the low lake phase.     

青海湖北沙柳河镇薄土层含水量与水分平衡

通过对青海湖北刚察县沙流河附近厚度15 cm、20 cm、30 cm、40 cm薄土层的土壤含水量的测定,研究了此区土壤水分含量和水循环等问题.研究结果表明,沙柳河附近40 cm以上土层以粗粉砂为主.薄土层含水量从表层向下呈现出低-高-低的变化趋势,这是表层水分易于蒸发、中部蒸发较少和下部水分易于入渗流失的结果.虽然该区土壤在0.40m以上含水量较高,没有土壤干层发育,但如按1 m厚度土壤和1.5m厚度土壤计算,该区薄土层水分不足,并由中度干层和严重于层发育,±壤水分为负平衡.与厚土层相比,该区薄土层分布区土壤水分存在形式多为薄膜水,含水量较低,蓄水量少,土壤水库调节能力差,易于发生荒漠化,这样的地区应该是青海湖流域生态环境保护的重点地区.     

Late Quaternary evolution of the Madeira Abyssal Plain,Canary Basin,NE Atlantic

The deepest part of the Canary Basin, the Madeira Abyssal Plain, receives allochthonous sediments derived from a large drainage basin which, if its subaerial continuation is included, covers an area of 3.36 times 10⁶ km². An international research effort over the last 10 years has recovered over 160 sediment cores from the plain, and the development of a high-resolution stratigraphy has enabled individual turbidites to be correlated layer by layer. Sedimentation on the Madeira Abyssal Plain during the late Quaternary is dominated by thick turbidite muds separated by thin pelagic intervals. The core density has allowed the mapping of each sedimentary unit throughout the abyssal plain, thus building up a layer by layer picture of sediment accumulation. Over the last 300 kyr, 600 km³ of turbidites compared to 60 km³ of pelagic sediments have been deposited on the plain. Sedimentary structures developed in the coarse basal facies of the larger turbidites are more complex than simple models predict due to surging flows, fluctuating flow velocities and reflection from adjacent high ground. Over the last 300 kyr, there has been a switching of entry points for turbidity currents entering the abyssal plain. From 300 ka to 200 ka, organic-rich turbidites were emplaced predominantly from the south but around 200 ka this source switched off and subsequent organic- and volcanic-rich turbidites, which included units deposited by giant, possibly hyperconcentrated flows, were emplaced from northern or eastern sources. Although restricted to the late Quaternary, the data presented provides a detailed case study of the evolution of an oceanic basin fill.     

Response of a proglacial delta to rapid high‐amplitude lake‐level change: an integration of outcrop data and high‐resolution shear wave seismics

In this paper, we will present the stratigraphic evolution, internal facies architecture and geomorphology of the Middle Pleistocene Emme delta, controlled by rapid high‐amplitude lake‐level change. The Emme delta was deposited on the northern margin of glacial Lake Weser, located in north‐west Germany. Rates of lake‐level rise were probably >50 mm year^?1 and rates of lake‐level fall 30–50 m within a few days or weeks, due to the opening of lake outlets. We use digital elevation models, sedimentology and shear wave seismics to improve earlier reconstructions and investigate the influence of rapid base‐level change on delta development. Shear wave seismic data resolve architectural elements in the range of metres and bridge the common gap between outcrop and conventional compression wave seismic data. The radial delta complex is about 2 km long, 1.8 km wide and up to 70 m thick, overlying a concave, up to 13° steep dipping ramp surface. It consists of vertically and laterally stacked delta lobes, caused by lobe switching during base‐level change. During the lake‐level rise, vertically stacked (Gilbert‐type) delta systems formed. The decrease in thickness and lateral extent indicates a rapid upslope shift of depocentres. A high rate and magnitude of lake‐level fall (50 m) promoted the development of a single incised valley and the deposition of forced regressive coarse‐grained delta lobes in front of the valley. The incised valley was filled during decreasing rates of lake‐level fall and low base‐level, because the alluvial gradient was larger than the emergent lake profile. Attached sand‐rich forced regressive aprons formed during lower magnitudes of lake‐level falls in the range of 30–35 m. Valley incision occurred, but was limited to the uppermost portion of the delta, controlled by the steep slope. The incised valley related to the final lake drainage is associated with long‐wavelength (60–90 m) bedforms at the downslope end, attributed to the formation of standing waves as a result of a hydraulic jump. Estimated palaeoflow depth during standing wave formation was ～9–14 m and flow velocity was 10–12 m s^?1. Because subsidence, waves or tides did not play a major role, the Emme delta can be used as an analogue‐based predictive stratigraphical and sedimentological model for steep glacigenic deltas controlled by rapid base‐level change and can help to understand better the facies distribution and three‐dimensional geometry of these depositional systems.     

Crossing natural and data set boundaries: coastal terrain modelling in the South-West Finnish Archipelago

Geographical information systems (GIS) are important tools in coastal research and management. Coastal GIS applications involve special challenges, because the coastal environment is a complex transitional system between the terrestrial and marine realms. Also acquisition methods and responsibilities for spatial data (and thus their properties) change at the shoreline. This article explores the consequences of this land-sea divide for coastal terrain modelling. We study how methods designed for terrestrial environments can be used to create integrated raster coastal terrain models (CTMs) from coarse elevation and depth data. We focus on shore slopes, because many particularities of coastal terrain and the data which describe it as well as the resulting problems are concentrated in the shore zone. Based on shorelines, terrestrial contours, depth contours and depth points, we used the ANUDEM algorithm to interpolate CTMs at different spatial resolutions, with and without drainage enforcement, for two test areas in a highly complex archipelago coast. Slope aspect and gradient rasters were derived from the CTMs using Horn's algorithm. Values were assigned from the slope rasters to thousands of points along the test areas' shorelines in different ways. Shore slope gradients and aspects were also calculated directly from the shorelines and contours. These modelled data were compared to each other and to field-measured shore profiles using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. As far as the coarse source data permitted, the interpolation and slope calculations delivered good results at fine spatial resolutions. Vector-based slope calculations were very sensitive to quality problems of the source data. Fine-resolution raster data were consequently found most suitable for describing shore slopes from coarse coastal terrain data. Terrestrial and marine parts of the CTMs were subject to different errors, and modelling methods and parameters had different consequences there. Thus, methods designed for terrestrial applications can be successfully used for coastal terrain modelling, but the choice of methods and parameters and the interpretation of modelling results require special attention to the differences of terrestrial and marine topography and data.     

Clinoform nucleation and growth in coarse-grained deltas, Loreto basin, Baja California Sur, Mexico: a response to episodic accelerations in fault displacement

We investigate the controls on the architecture of coarse‐grained delta progradational units (PUs) in the Pliocene Loreto basin (Baja California Sur, Mexico), a half‐graben located on the western margin of the Gulf of California. Dorsey et al. (1997b) argued that delta progradation and transgression cycles in the basin were driven by episodic fault‐controlled subsidence along the basin‐bounding Loreto fault. Here we test this hypothesis by a detailed analysis of the sedimentary architecture of 11 exceptionally well‐exposed, vertically arranged fluvio‐deltaic PUs, each of which shows lateral facies transition from proximal alluvial facies palaeo‐seaward into distal pro‐delta facies. Of these 11 PUs, seven exhibit a lateral transition from a shoal water to Gilbert‐delta facies associations as they are traced palaeo‐seaward. This transition is characterised by down‐transport development of foresets, which grow in height up to 35 m. Foreset units thicken in a basinward direction, with initially an oblique topset–foreset geometry that becomes increasingly sigmoidal. Each delta is capped by a shell bed that records drowning of the delta top. This systematic transition in delta architecture records increasing water depth through time during individual episodes of progradation. A mechanism that explains this transition is an accelerating rate of fault‐controlled subsidence during each PU. During episodes of low slip rate, shoal‐water deltas prograde across the submerged topography of the underlying delta unit. As displacement rate accelerates, increasing bathymetry at the delta front leads to steepening of foresets and initiation of Gilbert deltas. Subsequent delta drowning results from sediment starvation at the shoreline at high slip rates because of sediment trapping upstream. The observed delta architecture suggests that the long‐term (>100 kyr) history of slip on the Loreto fault was characterised by repetitive episodes of accelerating displacement accumulation. Such episodic fault behaviour is most likely to be because of variations in temporal and spatial strain partitioning between the Loreto fault and other faults in the Gulf of California. A physical explanation for the acceleration phenomenon involves evolving frictional properties on the episodically active Loreto fault.