Estuarine sedimentation in the Eocene of southern England

A temporary section in the Cuisian Bagshot Beds, which has been mapped in detail, displayed estuarine sediments with interlayered sands and muds, fine sands, channel-fill sands and intraformational (mainly mud clast) conglomerates. The facies show rapid lateral and vertical changes in grain size and bed form and a restricted suite of trace fossils including Ophiomorpha nodosa and Arenicolites sp. The sequence is shown to have been deposited in a subtidal channel where tidal, wave and fluvial processes were dominant at different times. The following points are considered to be characteristic of sedimentation in this environment: (i) correlation is difficult and facies predictability is low; (ii) there are frequent lateral facies changes from the channel to the subtidal bank environment; (iii) pene-contemporaneous erosion removes considerable amounts of sediment; (iv) load structures may be exposed, eroded, buried and reactivated; and (v) muddy layers and bioturbated horizons offer similar resistance to penecontemporaneous erosion.     

Rapid erosion of the coast of Sagar island, West Bengal - India

The coastal zone of the Sagar island has been studied. The island has been subjected to erosion by natural processes and to a little extent by anthropogenic activities over a long period. Major landforms identified in the coastal area of the Sagar island are the mud flats/salt marshes, sandy beaches/dunes and mangroves. The foreshore sediments are characterized by silty, slightly sandy mud, slightly silty sand and silty sand. Samples 500 m inland from high waterline are silty slightly sandy mud, and by clayey slightly sandy mud. The extent of coastline changes are made by comparing the topographic maps of 1967 and satellite imageries of 1996, 1998 and 1999. Between 1967 and 1999 about 29.8 km² of the island has been eroded and the accreted area is only 6.03 km². Between 1996 and 1998 the area underwent erosion of 13.64 km² while accretion was 0.48 km². From 1998 to 1999, 3.26 km² additional area was eroded with meager accretion. Erosion from 1997 to 1999 was estimated at 0.74 km² /year; however, from 1996 to 1999, the erosion rate was calculated as 5.47 km²/year. The areas severely affected by erosion are the northeastern, southwestern and southeastern faces of the island. As a consequence of coastal erosion, the mud flats/salt marshes, sandy beaches/dunes and mangroves have been eroded considerably. Deposition is experienced mainly on the western and southern part of the island. The island is built primarily by silt and clay, which can more easily be eroded by the waves, tides and cyclonic activities than a sandy coast. Historic sea level rises accompanied by land subsidence lead to differing rates of erosion at several pockets, thus periodically establishing new erosion planes.     

Estimates of large magnitude Late Cambrian earthquakes from seismogenic soft‐sediment deformation structures: Central Rocky Mountains

A variety of unusual early post‐depositional deformation structures exist in grainstone and flat‐pebble conglomerate beds of Upper Cambrian strata, western Colorado, including slide scarps, thrusted beds, irregular blocks and internally deformed beds. Thrusted beds up to tens of centimetres thick record thrust movement of a part of a bed onto itself along a moderate to steeply inclined (15° to 40°) ramp, locally producing hanging wall lenses with fault‐bend geometries. Thrust plane orientations are widely distributed, and in some cases nearly oppositely oriented in close proximity, indicating that they did not form as failures acted upon by gravity forces. Irregular bedded to internally deformed blocks are isolated on generally flat upper bedding surfaces. These features represent parts of beds that detached, moved up onto and some distances across, the laterally adjacent undisturbed bed surfaces. Deformation of thin intervals of mud on the ocean floor by moving blocks rules out the possibility of storm‐induced deformation, because the mud was not eroded by high shear stresses that would accompany the extremely large forces required to produce and move the blocks. Finally, internally deformed beds are characterized by large blocks, fitted fabrics of highly irregular fragments and contorted lamination, which represent heterogeneous deformation, such as brecciation and liquefaction. The deformation structures were produced by earthquakes linked to the reactivation of Mesoproterozoic, crustal‐scale shear zones in the central Rockies during the Late Cambrian. Analysis of the deformation structures indicates very large body forces and calculated earthquake‐generated ground motion velocities of ca 1·6 m sec^?1. These correspond to moment magnitudes of ca 7·0 or more and a Mercalli Intensity of X+. These are the only known magnitude estimates of Phanerozoic (other than Quaternary) large‐intensity earthquakes for the Rocky Mountain region, and they are as large as, or larger than, previous estimates of Proterozoic earthquakes along these major shear zones of the central Rockies.     

Hoanib River flood deposits of Namib Desert interdunes asanalogues for thin permeability barrier mudstone layers inaeolianite reservoirs

ABSTRACT The ephemeral braided Hoanib River of NW Namibia flows for a few days a year, and only high discharges enable the river to pass through interdunal depressions within the northern Namib Desert dune field to the Atlantic. The dune field comprises mainly large transverse dunes resulting from predominant SSW winds. River flood deposits between aeolian dunes are analogous to mudstone layers conformably interbedded with ancient aeolianite dune foresets. Deep floods pond laterally to considerable depths (metres to >10 m) in adjacent interdunes, depositing mud layers (1–50 cm) to considerable heights on avalanche and stoss faces of bounding dunes. Fairly passive flooding only disturbs aeolian stratification minimally. Floodwater clay infiltrates and settles as an impermeable seal, with a flood pond on top, perched, above regional groundwater. Flood ponds evaporate slowly for long periods (>3 years). Early emergence desiccates higher parts of a mud layer. Subsequent floods can refill a predecessor pond, benefiting from the existing impervious seal. Potential preservation of such mud layers is lower on the stoss face, but high on the avalanche face after burial by subsequent dune reactivation and migration. The leeward (right) Hoanib bank, a dune stoss face, is river and wind eroded to exhume fossil interdune pond mud layers of an earlier Hoanib channel. The highly inclined layers are interbedded with dune avalanche foresets and represent the edges of two successive fossil ponds exposed in plan. Ancient flood pond mudstones occur in the Permian–Triassic hydrocarbon reservoir, the Sherwood Sandstone Group of the Cheshire Basin (Kinnerton Formation) and Irish Sea Basin and were previously used erroneously to argue against the aeolian origin of cross‐bed sets. Hoanib studies show that primary river interaction with a dune field might preserve only localized erosional omission surfaces in ancient aeolianites, with little sandy barform preservation, prone to aeolian reworking. Around the main fluvial channel locus, however, flood pond mudstone layers should form a predictable halo, within which fluid permeability will decrease.     

ON PRINCIPAL RULES IN THE OCCURRENCE OF OIL AND GAS ACCUMULATIONS IN THE WORLD

Anomalous coarse-crystalline garnet amphibolites and possible retrograded eclogites in varying stages of replacement by sodic amphibole + epidote assemblages compose exotic boulders (tectonic blocks) resting unconformably on serpentinite and finergrained, lower-greenschist-grade metabasites and metapelites in the Coastal Range of Chile (41° S Lat.). Major-and trace-elemental compositions of the tectonic blocks are similar to metapillow basalts and metavolcaniclastics within the underlying, in situ, metamorphic complex. Phase compatibilities and mineral compositions within the coarse blueschist/amphibolite suggest both a higher maximum pressure (greater burial depth) and higher P-T retrograde path for the tectonic blocks than for the in situ greenschists, suggesting an inversion of their relative structural position after metamorphism.

Coarse amphibolite-grade metabasites forming the lower portion of a primitive arc system may have been detached from the upper plate and subducted to deeper levels within a zone of distributed shear, resulting in the formation of high-P/T blueschist minerals. A K-Ar age of 304 + 9 Ma on white mica from one of the blueschist blocks is similar to previous ages from the regional metamorphic complex, and suggests that ascent of the tectonic blocks marginal to or within serpentinite diapirs occurred during an early stage of late Paleozoic orogenesis along the Gondwanide margin. Post-orogenic static uplift, sedimentation, and differential erosion then resulted in the present surficial distribution of the blueschist boulders.     

Mud dispersal across a Cretaceous prodelta: Storm‐generated,wave‐enhanced sediment gravity flows inferred from mudstone microtexture and microfacies

Determining sediment transport direction in ancient mudrocks is difficult. In order to determine both process and direction of mud transport, a portion of a well‐mapped Cretaceous delta system was studied. Oriented samples from outcrop represent prodelta environments from ca 10 to 120 km offshore. Oriented thin sections of mudstone, cut in three planes, allowed bed microstructure and palaeoflow directions to be determined. Clay mineral platelets are packaged in equant, face‐face aggregates 2 to 5 μm in diameter that have a random orientation; these aggregates may have formed through flocculation in fluid mud. Cohesive mud was eroded by storms to make intraclastic aggregates 5 to 20 μm in diameter. Mudstone beds are millimetre‐scale, and four microfacies are recognized: Well‐sorted siltstone forms millimetre‐scale combined‐flow ripples overlying scoured surfaces; deposition was from turbulent combined flow. Silt‐streaked claystone comprises parallel, sub‐millimetre laminae of siliceous silt and clay aggregates sorted by shear in the boundary layer beneath a wave‐supported gravity flow of fluid mud. Silty claystone comprises fine siliceous silt grains floating in a matrix of clay and was deposited by vertical settling as fluid mud gelled under minimal current shear. Homogeneous clay‐rich mudstone has little silt and may represent late‐stage settling of fluid mud, or settling from wave‐dissipated fluid mud. It is difficult or impossible to correlate millimetre‐scale beds between thin sections from the same sample, spaced only ca 20 mm apart, due to lateral facies change and localized scour and fill. Combined‐flow ripples in siltstone show strong preferred migration directly down the regional prodelta slope, estimated at ca 1 : 1000. Ripple migration was effected by drag exerted by an overlying layer of downslope‐flowing, wave‐supported fluid mud. In the upper part of the studied section, centimetre‐scale interbeds of very fine to fine‐grained sandstone show wave ripple crests trending shore normal, whereas combined‐flow ripples migrated obliquely alongshore and offshore. Storm winds blowing from the north‐east drove shore‐oblique geostrophic sand transport whereas simultaneously, wave‐supported flows of fluid mud travelled downslope under the influence of gravity. Effective wave base for sand, estimated at ca 40 m, intersected the prodelta surface ca 80 km offshore whereas wave base for mud was at ca 70 m and lay ca 120 km offshore. Small‐scale bioturbation of mud beds co‐occurs with interbedded sandstone but stratigraphically lower, sand‐free mudstone has few or no signs of benthic fauna. It is likely that a combination of soupground substrate, frequent storm emplacement of fluid mud, low nutrient availability and possibly reduced bottom‐water oxygen content collectively inhibited benthic fauna in the distal prodelta.     

Sheet-flow deposits of graded beds and mudstones on an alluvial sandflat-playa system: Upper Triassic Blomidon redbeds, St Mary's Bay, Nova Scotia

The 400 m of Blomidon redbeds accumulated in a semi-arid rift valley in the subtropics. At St Mary's Bay, these redbeds are 64% sandy mudstone (playa mudflats), 25% graded beds (sandflats at the toes of alluvial fans), 10% fissile claystone (playa lakes), and 1% channel sandstone (stream channels). Flash floods in mountains south of the valley flowed down alluvial fans to spread out to the north-east as sheet flows on sandflats and playa mudflats. Deceleration of the sheet flows deposited graded beds 2–83 cm in thickness on the sandflats and thin layers of mud on the playas. Nine sequences, consisting of arrangements of six lithologies, compose 90% of the graded beds. In order of decreasing abundance, these are: ripple cross-laminated siltstone → horizontally laminated mudstone; fining-upward, ripple cross-laminated siltstone; ripple cross-laminated sandstone → horizontally laminated mudstone; cross-bedded sandstone horizontally laminated mudstone; ripple cross-laminated sandstone → ripple cross-laminated siltstone; rippledrift cross-laminated siltstone horizontally laminated mudstone; fining-upward, ripple-drift cross-laminated siltstone; cross-bedded sandstone → ripple cross-laminated siltstone; and cross-bedded sandstone → ripple cross-laminated siltstone → horizontally laminated mudstone. The sheet flows, perhaps up to 1 m in depth, had a high concentration of suspended load. Deposition was dominantly during lower flow regime conditions and moderate to rapid flow deceleration. There are 32 thinning and fining-up cycles where a sandflat package of graded beds is transitionally followed by a playa package of sandy mudstone. The cycles range in thickness from 1·3 to 13·3 m, averaging 4·6 m. Each cycle is initiated by avulsion to a new active channel network on a fan. Gradual abandonment of the channel network produces the thinning and fining-up cycle. The cycles are grouped in three 60–70 m fining-up megacycles. Upwards within each megacycle, the packages of sandy mudstone compose a progressively larger proportion of the cycles. Each megacycle evidently was initiated by a brief period of tectonic movement on the border faults that produced greater relief of the highlands relative to the valley floor. Subsequent erosion gradually lowered the relief to yield a fining-up megacycle.     

The action of wind and water in a mid‐Cretaceous subtropical erg‐margin system close to the Variscan Iberian Massif,Spain

Aeolian processes and ephemeral water influx from the Variscan Iberian Massif to the mid‐Cretaceous outer back‐erg margin system in eastern Iberia led to deposition and erosion of aeolian dunes and the formation of desert pavements. Remains of aeolian dunes encased in ephemeral fluvial deposits (aeolian pods) demonstrate intense erosion of windblown deposits by sudden water fluxes. The alternating activity of wind and water led to a variety of facies associations such as deflation lags, desert pavements, aeolian dunes, pebbles scattered throughout dune strata, aeolian sandsheets, aeolian deposits with bimodal grain‐size distributions, mud playa, ephemeral floodplain, pebble‐sand and cobble‐sand bedload stream, pebble–cobble‐sand sheet flood, sand bedload stream, debris flow and hyperconcentrated flow deposits. Sediment in this desert system underwent transport by wind and water and reworking in a variety of sub‐environments. The nearby Variscan Iberian Massif supplied quartzite pebbles as part of mass flows. Pebbles and cobbles were concentrated in deflation lags, eroded and polished by wind‐driven sands (facets and ventifacts) and incorporated by rolling into the toesets of aeolian dunes. The back‐erg depositional system comprises an outer back‐erg close to the Variscan highlands, and an inner back‐erg close to the central‐erg area. The inner back‐erg developed on a structural high and is characterized by mud playa deposits interbedded with aeolian and ephemeral channel deposits. In the inner back‐erg area ephemeral wadis, desiccated after occasional floods, were mud cracked and overrun episodically by aeolian dunes. Subsequent floods eroded the aeolian dunes and mud‐cracked surfaces, resulting in largely structureless sandstones with boulder‐size mudstone intraclasts. Floods spread over the margins of ephemeral channels and eroded surrounding aeolian dunes. The remaining dunes were colonized occasionally by plants and their roots penetrated into the flooded aeolian sands. Upon desiccation, deflation resulted in lags of coarser‐grained sediments. A renewed windblown supply led to aeolian sandsheet accumulation in topographic wadi depressions. Synsedimentary tectonics caused the outer back‐erg system to experience enhanced generation of accommodation space allowing the accumulation of aeolian dune sands. Ephemeral water flow to the outer back‐erg area supplied pebbles, eroded aeolian dunes, and produced hyperconcentrated flow deposits. Fluidization and liquefaction generated gravel pockets and recumbent folds. Dune damming after sporadic rains (the case of the Namib Desert), monsoonal water discharge (Thar Desert) and meltwater fluxes from glaciated mountains (Taklamakan Desert) are three potential, non‐exclusive analogues for the ephemeral water influx and the generation of hyperconcentrated flows in the Cretaceous desert margin system. An increase in relief driven by the Aptian anti‐clockwise rotation of Iberia, led to an altitude sufficient for the development of orographic rains and snowfall which fed (melt)water fluxes to the desert margin system. Quartzite conglomerates and sands, dominantly consisting of quartz and well‐preserved feldspar grains which are also observed in older Cretaceous strata, indicate an arid climate and the mechanical weathering of Precambrian and Palaeozoic metamorphic sediments and felsic igneous rocks. Unroofing of much of the cover of sedimentary rocks in the Variscan Iberian Massif must therefore have taken place in pre‐Cretaceous times.     

Deep‐water foreland basin deposits of the Cerro Toro Formation,Magallanes basin,Chile: architectural elements of a sinuous basin axial channel belt

Coarse‐grained deep‐water strata of the Cerro Toro Formation in the Cordillera Manuel Señoret, southern Chile, represent the deposits of a major channel belt (4 to 8 km wide by >100 km long) that occupied the foredeep of the Magallanes basin during the Late Cretaceous. Channel belt deposits comprise a ca 400 m thick conglomeratic interval (informally named the ‘Lago Sofia Member’) encased in bathyal fine‐grained units. Facies of the Lago Sofia Member include sandy matrix conglomerate (that show evidence of traction‐dominated deposition and sedimentation from turbulent gravity flows), muddy matrix conglomerate (graded units interpreted as coarse‐grained slurry‐flow deposits) and massive sandstone beds (high‐density turbidity current deposits). Interbedded sandstone and mudstone intervals are present locally, interpreted as inner levée deposits. The channel belt was characterized by a low sinuousity planform architecture, as inferred from outcrop mapping and extensive palaeocurrent measurements. Laterally adjacent to the Lago Sofia Member are interbedded mudstone and sandstone facies derived from gravity flows that spilled over the channel belt margin. A levée interpretation for these fine‐grained units is based on several observations, which include: (i) palaeocurrent measurements that indicate flows diverged (50° to 100°) once they spilled over the confining channel margin; (ii) sandstone beds progressively thin, away from the channel belt margin; (iii) evidence that the eroded channel base was not very well indurated, including a stepped margin and injection of coarse‐grained channel material into surrounding fine‐grained units; and (iv) the presence of sedimentary features common to levées, including slumped units inferring depositional slopes dipping away from the channel margin, lenticular sandstone beds thinning distally from the channel margin, soft sediment deformation and climbing ripples. The tectonic setting and foredeep architecture influenced deposition in the axial channel belt. A significant downstream constriction of the channel belt is reflected by a transition from more tabular units to an internal architecture dominated by lenticular beds associated with a substantially increased degree of scour. Differential propagation of the fold‐thrust belt from the west is speculated to have had a major control on basin, and subsequently channel, width. The confining influence of the basin slopes that paralleled the channel belt, as well as the likelihood that numerous conduits fed into the basin along the length of the active fold‐thrust belt to the west, suggest that proximal–distal relationships observed from large channels in passive margin settings are not necessarily applicable to axial channels in elongate basins.     

Palaeoenvironments, palaeogeography, and physiography of a large, shallow, muddy ramp: Late Cenomanian-Turonian Kaskapau Formation, Western Canada foreland basin

The Kaskapau Formation spans Late Cenomanian to Middle Turonian time and was deposited on a low‐gradient, shallow, storm‐dominated muddy ramp. Dense well log control, coupled with exposure on both proximal and distal margins of the basin allows mapping of sedimentary facies over about 35 000 km². The studied portion of the Kaskapau Formation is a mudstone‐dominated wedge that thins from 700 m in the proximal foredeep to 50 m near the forebulge about 300 km distant. Regional flooding surfaces permit mapping of 28 allomembers, each of which represent an average of ca 125 kyr. More than 200 km from shore, calcareous silty claystone predominates, whereas 100 to 200 km offshore, mudstone and siltstone predominate. From about 30 to 100 km offshore, centimetre‐bedded very fine sandstone and mudstone record along‐shelf (SSE)‐directed storm‐generated geostrophic flows. Five to thirty kilometres from shore, decimetre‐bedded hummocky cross‐stratified fine sandstone and mudstone record strongly oscillatory, wave‐dominated flows whereas some gutter casts indicate shore‐oblique, apparently mostly unidirectional geostrophic flows. Nearshore facies are dominated by swaley cross‐stratified or intensely bioturbated clean fine sandstone, interpreted as recording, respectively, areas strongly and weakly affected by discharge from distributary mouths. Shoreface sandstones grade locally into river‐mouth conglomerates and sandstones, including conglomerate channel‐fills up to 15 m thick. Locally, brackish lagoonal shelly mudstones are present on the extreme western margin of the basin. There is no evidence for clinoform stratification, which indicates that the Kaskapau sea floor had extremely low relief, lacked a shelf‐slope break, and was probably nowhere more than a few tens of metres deep. The absence of clinoforms probably indicates a long‐term balance between rates of accommodation and sediment supply. Mud is interpreted to have been transported >250 km offshore in a sea‐bed nepheloid layer, repeatedly re‐suspended by storms. Fine‐grained sediment accumulated up to a ‘mud accommodation envelope’, perhaps only 20 to 40 m deep. Continuous re‐working of the sea floor by storms ensured that excess sediment was redistributed away from areas that had filled to the ‘accommodation envelope’, being deposited in areas of higher accommodation further down the transport path. The facies distributions and stratal geometry of the Kaskapau shelf strongly suggest that sedimentary facies, especially grain‐size, were related to distance from shore, not to water depth. As a result, the ‘100 to >300 m’ depth interpreted from calcareous claystone facies for the more central parts of the Interior Seaway, might be a significant overestimate.     

An ornamented mudstone cavity, Boss Point Formation, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada: evidence for mud intrusion and rheoplasis

An ornamented, dome-shaped cavity, partially filled with mudstone, 4 m in diameter at its circular base and 1 m in height occurs in fluvial sandstone of the Carboniferous Boss Point Formation near Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. The cavity formed by differential weathering and erosion of the mudstone. Its origin is enigmatic though its size, shape and relationship to the underlying mudstone bed on which it rests suggest a diapiric origin for the mudstone that filled it. On the other hand, the ornamentation on the cavity surface includes flute moulds, suggesting an erosional origin for the domal structure. Of the four principal hypotheses for its origin the one preferred by the authors involves formation by diapiric intrusion of semi-fluid mud into liquefied sand, soon after deposition. The ornamentation on the cavity surface would have formed as part of the intrusion process. Structures akin to flute moulds have been produced experimentally in support of this interpretation by differential flow across a cement-mix-mud interface in a flow box and also by diapiric intrusion of mud in a soft cement mix. By analogy the flute moulds on the cavity surface could have been formed in the same way. By this interpretation, primary sedimentary processes need not be invoked to explain their occurrence on either this cavity surface or on the numerous other mudstone cavity surfaces that are ubiquitous in the Permo-Carboniferous of eastern Canada. Results of this study have important implications with respect to the potential diversity of origins of flute moulds in general.     

Erosional marks on consolidated banks and slump blocks in the Rupen River, north-west India

Erosional marks, including grooves, current crescents and flutes, are present on banks and slump blocks of the Rupen River on the semi-arid plains of north-west India. The channel has a width:depth ratio of 6, and is incised up to 8 m through well consolidated, fine-grained aeolian sediment dated at ～ 20–60 ka. Pedogenic carbonate nodules embedded in the channel walls have localized scour, and reworked carbonate particles probably promoted corrasion during strong seasonal flow. Similar erosional marks are apparently scarce on modern river banks, and a distinctive combination of conditions, including a consolidated substrate and strong flow in a confined channel, is probably required for their generation and preservation on channel walls and on slump blocks.     

Rounded cobbles that have not travelled far: incorporation of corestones from saprolites in the South Mountain area of southern Nova Scotia, Canada

Saprolitic palaeosurfaces occur at several localities on the granitoid rocks of the South Mountain Batholith of Nova Scotia. There are three ages of saprolites within the study area: pre-Pleistocene, pre-Triassic and pre-Carboniferous. Within these ‘in-place’ weathered horizons, there are remnant ellipsoidal blocks of unweathered granitoid referred to as corestones. These corestones are isolated rounded pods of relatively unweathered material surrounded by rotted granitoid saprolitic material. The weathered material which surrounds these corestones is poorly consolidated and easily eroded. The erosion of these horizons produces a lag deposit that contains many rounded corestones which can be incorporated into subsequent sedimentary units. The rounded boulders, cobbles and pebbles of granite within many of the Pleistocene glacial deposits in southern Nova Scotia are probably related to the incorporation of these saprolite related structures, given the locally derived (within 400 m of the source) nature of the tills. The presence of saprolites at unconformities of various ages on the South Mountain granitoid rocks suggests that incorporation of saprolitic material probably occurred along a number of palaeosurfaces in the past. The recognition of this process has implications for the interpretation of rounded granite-clast conglomerates and quartz-rich sandstones of various ages within the stratigraphic record of eastern Canada. Similar palaeosurfaces elsewhere in the world also have related saprolite derived sedimentary rocks associated with them. In summary, well-rounded spherical pebbles, cobbles and boulders of granitoid material incorporated in sedimentary strata need not have travelled far from source nor are they necessarily recycled from older conglomerates.     

Tillites at the base of the Vendian Taseeva Group in the stratotype section (Siberian craton)

Isolated lenses of diamictites laying discordantly over the Late Riphean (Cryogenian) Kirgitei Formation were found in the immediate vicinity of the Vendian Taseeva Group stratotype in the Taseeva River valley and assigned to the Shishina Member a few meters in visible thickness. The Shishina diamictites are, likely, of glacial origin as they (i) lie at the base of the Vendian section, (ii) consist of unsorted dolomitic clasts from fine gravel to more than 0.5 m boulders suspended in a mud matrix, and (iii) show glacial striation on clasts. The glacial origin is further supported by the morphology of stones, which resemble a smoothing iron or a bullet, with a swelly top, a flat bottom, and a steeply cut rear and form clusters produced by disintegration of larger boulders. The stones bear signatures of cleavage, cracks, grooves, and striation on the faces, while the matrix looks undeformed. The Shishina Member has no genetic relation with the underlying Kirgitei Formation but rather correlates sedimentologically with the Ulyakha Member tillites at the base of the Vendian Marnya Formation (Oselok Group) in the Sayan foothills. The Shishina Member stones may derive from the Late Riphean (Cryogenian) Dzhura Formation exposed 4 km downstream of the site along the Taseeva. They occur near the base of the Aleshinsky Formation (lowermost unit of the Taseeva Group) of cross-bedded glaciofluvial sandstone, gravelstone, conglomerate, and sandy gravel mixtite transported from east to west (from the Siberian Craton interior to its margins) and deposited in channel bars or as gravel lags. The lower member of the Aleshinsky Formation comprises two associations of clasts: (i) coarse quartzose sand and gravel and (ii) fine and medium quartz and lithoclastic sand. Rocks in the former are well rounded, with traces of wind erosion, while the latter association is composed of mechanically eroded angular material transported to short distances from a metamorphic and metasedimentary source on the Craton margin. The Aleshinsky clastics have their composition and grain size patterns similar to those of the glaciofluvial Plity, Nersya, and Kedrovy members of the Marnya Formation in the Sayan area. According to sedimentological evidence, the Shishina diamictites are tillites identical to the Ulyakha moraine at the base of the Sayan Oselok Group and may be a missing link in the Taseeva Group stratigraphy.     

Early burial mud diapirism and its impact on stratigraphic architecture in the Carboniferous of the Shannon Basin,County Clare,Ireland

Delta fronts are often characterized by high rates of sediment supply that result in unstable slopes and a wide variety of soft‐sediment deformation, including the formation of overpressured and mobile muds that may flow plastically during early burial, potentially forming mud diapirs. The coastal cliffs of County Clare, western Ireland, expose Pennsylvanian (Namurian) delta‐front deposits of the Shannon Basin at large scale and in three dimensions. These deposits include decametre‐scale, internally chaotic mudstone masses that clearly impact the surrounding sedimentary strata. Evidence indicates that these were true mud (unlithified sediment) diapirs that pierced overlying strata. This study documents a well‐exposed ca 20 m tall mud diapir and its impact on the surrounding mouth‐bar deposits of the Tullig Cyclothem. A synsedimentary fault and associated rollover dome, evident from stratal thicknesses and the dip of the beds, define one edge of the diapir. These features are interpreted as recording the reactive rise of the mud diapir in response to extensional faulting along its margin. Above the diapir, heterolithic sandstones and siltstones contain evidence for the creation of localized accommodation, suggesting synsedimentary filling, tilting and erosion of a shallow sag basin accommodated by the progressive collapse of the diapir. Two other diapirs are investigated using three‐dimensional models built from ‘structure from motion’ drone imagery. Both diapirs are interpreted to have grown predominantly through passive rise (downbuilding). Stratal relationships for all three diapirs indicate that they were uncompacted and fluid‐rich mud beds that became mobilized through soft‐sediment deformation during early burial (i.e. <50 m, likely <10 m depth). Each diapir locally controlled the stratigraphic architecture in the shallow subsurface and potentially influenced local palaeocurrents on the delta. The mud diapirs studied herein are distinct from deeper ‘shale diapirs’ that have been inferred from seismic sections worldwide, now largely disputed.     

Beds comprising debrite sandwiched within co-genetic turbidite: origin and widespread occurrence in distal depositional environments

Co‐genetic debrite–turbidite beds occur in a variety of modern and ancient turbidite systems. Their basic character is distinctive. An ungraded muddy sandstone interval is encased within mud‐poor graded sandstone, siltstone and mudstone. The muddy sandstone interval preserves evidence of en masse deposition and is thus termed a debrite. The mud‐poor sandstone, siltstone and mudstone show features indicating progressive layer‐by‐layer deposition and are thus called a turbidite. Palaeocurrent indicators, ubiquitous stratigraphic association and the position of hemipelagic intervals demonstrate that debrite and enclosing turbidite originate in the same event. Detailed field observations are presented for co‐genetic debrite–turbidite beds in three widespread sequences of variable age: the Miocene Marnoso Arenacea Formation in the Italian Apennines; the Silurian Aberystwyth Grits in Wales; and Quaternary deposits of the Agadir Basin, offshore Morocco. Deposition of these sequences occurred in similar unchannellized basin‐plain settings. Co‐genetic debrite–turbidite beds were deposited from longitudinally segregated flow events, comprising both debris flow and forerunning turbidity current. It is most likely that the debris flow was generated by relatively shallow (few tens of centimetres) erosion of mud‐rich sea‐floor sediment. Changes in the settling behaviour of sand grains from a muddy fluid as flows decelerated may also have contributed to debrite deposition. The association with distal settings results from the ubiquitous presence of muddy deposits in such locations, which may be eroded and disaggregated to form a cohesive debris flow. Debrite intervals may be extensive (> 26 × 10 km in the Marnoso Arenacea Formation) and are not restricted to basin margins. Such long debris flow run‐out on low‐gradient sea floor (< 0·1°) may simply be due to low yield strength (? 50 Pa) of the debris–water mixture. This study emphasizes that multiple flow types, and transformations between flow types, can occur within the distal parts of submarine flow events.     

Palaeokarst, tidal erosion surfaces and stromatolites in the Silurian Eke Formation of Gotland, Sweden

Irregular, scalloped erosion surfaces in the shelf carbonate sequences of the lower Eke Formation (Ludlow Series, upper Silurian) in the east of Gotland, Sweden, comprise series of shallow hollows separated by sharp-crested ridges, and cavities with sculptured, undercut walls, cut into lithified sediment. These represent analogues of the solution basins formed in modern coastal and subaerial karst terrains. Discrete erosional cavities merge on enlargement by breaching of the intervening walls to leave remnant, tapering ridges. Sets of the ridges and basins seen in surface view show an average width of basins of 1–2 m, with relief of 40–50 cm and pronounced N-S axes for the ridges; this alignment may reflect the local drainage direction. The lowermost erosion surface passes laterally into a planar, mineralized horizon at the top of the underlying Hemse Group that was resistant to and forms the base level of erosion. Because of restricted exposure of higher Eke Formation sediments the upper limit of erosion remains unknown. There is no evidence of caliche or subaerial diagenetic textures, but solution vugs are common in the eroded limestones. Marine hard-bottom biota attached to some surfaces, and transition from scalloped to planar surfaces indicate erosion in tidal zones, but subaerial karstic erosion is also inferred. The resubmerged karst-eroded topography is overlain by shallow marine carbonates, including small organic buildups. Finely-layered stromatolitic mats developed over the initial infill, in subtidal environments, and grew to form domed mounds within the erosional cavities. They abut sharply against bounding side walls and overhangs. Some emergence is evident from desiccation features in the upper parts of mounds. Biostratigraphical evidence dating the events from initial uplift and karstic erosion to covering of the drowned relief topography places the whole sequence within upper Ludlow times.     

宁夏六盘山地区早白垩世恐龙足迹研究

本文记述了发现于宁夏六盘山地区的恐龙足迹化石。共计5个化石点,分别位于宁夏六盘山地区固原市隆德县和泾源县,赋存地层为下白垩统六盘山群和尚铺组、李洼峡组和马东山组,包括蜥脚类和鸟脚类恐龙足迹化石,其中以蜥脚类为主。足迹可识别的有4条行迹,其中,隆德县香水镇行迹所代表的恐龙个体较小,臀高仅1.44m,其余3组行迹代表的恐龙较大,臀高在2.79～3.27m之间;鸟脚类恐龙臀高约为0.48 m,为小型鸟脚类恐龙。采用Alexander的速度计算方法对造迹恐龙的速度进行研究,表明六盘山地区蜥脚类造迹恐龙速度为0.34～1.41m/s之间,复步长与臀高的比值小于2,均为正常行走状态。足迹保存层面岩性主要为粉砂质泥岩、细砂岩,具水平层理、波痕、泥裂、雨雹痕等沉积构造,含植物碎片化石,并发育有大量的无脊椎动物潜穴化石。根据岩性及沉积构造判断,造迹恐龙活动环境为离湖岸较近的浅水地带。     

Tectonic control on third‐order sequences in a siliciclastic ramp‐style basin: An example from the Roper Superbasin (Mesoproterozoic), northern Australia

TThe Roper Group is a cyclic, predominantly marine, siliciclastic succession of Calymmian (Early Mesoproterozoic) age. It has a distribution of at least 145 000 km² and a maximum known thickness of ～5000 m. In the Roper River district the middle part of the Roper Group (～1300 m thick) is characterised by the cyclical alternation of mudstone and sandstone units, and can be divided into six third‐order depositional sequences. A typical sequence is broadly progradational in aspect, and comprises a lower, mudstone‐rich, storm‐dominated shelf succession (up to 330 m thick), and a sequence‐capping unit dominated by tidal‐platform cross‐bedded sandstone (up to 80 m thick); both are interpreted as highstand systems tracts. Transgressive strata are poorly represented but where present are characterised by paralic to fluvial redbed assemblages that include ooidal ironstone. Roper Group sequences lack a distinct condensed section and sequence boundaries are mostly conformable. Erosional contacts separate mud‐rich shelf facies from sequence‐capping sandstones. We infer that these erosion surfaces were generated by episodic flexural tectonism, which also generated the accommodation and sediment supply for Roper sequences.     

Lower Cambrian shelf and shelf margin buildups,Flinders Ranges,South Australia1

Carbonate buildups in the Flinders Ranges of mid-Early Cambrian age grew during a period of high archaeocyath diversity and are of two types: (1) low-energy, archaeocyath-sponge-spicule mud mounds, and (2) high-energy, archaeocyath-calcimicrobe (calcified microbial microfossil) bioherms. Mud mounds are composed of red carbonate mudstone and sparse to abundant archaeocyath floatstone, have a fenestral fabric, display distinct stromatactis, contain abundant sponge spicules and form structures up to 150m wide and 80 m thick. Bioherms are either red or dark grey limestone and occur as isolated small structures 2–20 m in size surrounded by cross-bedded calcarenites and calcirudites or as complexes of mounds and carbonate sands several hundreds of metres across. Red bioherms comprise masses of white Epiphyton with scattered archaeocyaths and intervening areas of archaeocyath-rich lime mudstone. Grey bioherms are complex intergrowths of archaeocyaths, encrusting dark grey Renalcis and thick rinds of fibrous calcite cement. The bioherms were prone to synsedimentary fracturing and exhibit large irregular cavities, up to 1.5 m across, lined with fibrous calcite. The buildups are isolated or in contiguous vertical succession. Mud mounds occur alone in low-energy, frequently nodular, limestone facies. Individual bioherms and bioherm complexes occur in high-energy on-shelf and shelf-margin facies. The two types also form large-scale, shallowing-upward sequences composed of basal (deep water) mud mounds grading upward into archaeocyath-calcimicrobe bioherm complexes and bioherms in cross-bedded carbonate sands. The uppermost sequence is capped by ooid grainstone and/ or fenestral to stromatolitic mudstone. The calcimicrobe and metazoan associations form the two major biotic elements which were to dominate reefs throughout much of subsequent Phanerozoic time.