Formation of Hengchun Accretionary Prism Turbidites and Implications for Deep‐water Transport Processes in the Northern South China Sea

Located at the end of the northern Manila Trench,the Hengchun Peninsula is the latest exposed part of Taiwan Island,and preserves a complete sequence of accretionary deep-sea turbidite sandstones.Combined with extensive field observations,a’source-to-sink’approach was employed to systematically analyze the formation and evolutionary process of the accretionary prism turbidites on the Hengchun Peninsula.Lying at the base of the Hengchun turbidites are abundant mafic normal oceanic crust gravels with a certain degree of roundness.The gravels with U-Pb ages ranging from 25.4 to23.6 Ma are underlain by hundreds-of-meters thickness of younger deep-sea sandstone turbidites with interbedded gravels.This indicates that large amounts of terrigenous materials from both the’Kontum-Ying-Qiong’River of Indochina and the Pearl River of South China were transported into the deep-water areas of the northern South China Sea during the late Miocene and further eastward in the form of turbidity currents.The turbidity flow drastically eroded and snatched mafic materials from the normal South China Sea oceanic crust along the way,and subsequently unloaded large bodies of basic gravel-bearing sandstones to form turbidites near the northern Manila Trench.With the Philippine Sea Plate drifting clockwise to the northwest,these turbidite successions eventually migrated and,since the Middle Pleistocene,were exposed as an accretionary prism on the Hengchun Peninsula.     

尼日尔三角洲深水区层序地层及地震相研究

中新世至上新世,研究区发育深海平原和陆坡坡脚沉积。缺少反映海平面变化的上超特征和削截现象,很难利用地震反射终止类型（上超、顶超、削截）进行层序界面识别。文中利用深水区沉积旋回的地震相特征差异进行层序界面识别,并建立了研究区层序演化模式:低位体系域发育重力流沉积（块状搬运复合体、浊积扇）———海侵高位体系域深海泥质发育。以层序为格架进行地震相和沉积相在时间和空间分布特征分析。研究区识别出两类叠加地 震相样式:杂乱反射块状搬运复合体———丘形水道—堤岸复合体（浊积扇）———平行反射深海泥质沉积;丘形水道—堤岸复合体（浊积扇）———平行反射深海泥质沉积。     

Controls on forearc basin architecture from seismic and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Cretaceous Great Valley Group,central Sacramento Basin,California

Seismic and sequence stratigraphic analysis of deep-marine forearc basin fill (Great Valley Group) in the central Sacramento Basin, California, reveals eight third-order sequence boundaries within the Cenomanian to mid-Campanian second-order sequences. The third-order sequence boundaries are of two types: Bevelling Type, a relationship between underlying strata and onlapping high-density turbidites; and Entrenching Type, a significantly incised surface marked by deep channels and canyons carved during sediment bypass down-slope. Condensed sections of hemipelagic strata draping bathymetric highs and onlapped by turbidites form a third important type of sequence-bounding element, Onlapped Drapes. Five tectonic and sedimentary processes explain this stratigraphic architecture: (1) subduction-related tectonic tilting and deformation of the basin; (2) avulsion of principal loci of submarine fan sedimentation in response to basin tilting; (3) deep incision and sediment bypass; (4) erosive grading and bevelling of tectonically modified topography by sand-rich, high-density turbidite systems; and (5) background hemipelagic sedimentation. The basin-fill architecture supports a model of subduction-related flexure as the principal driver of forearc subsidence and uplift during the Late Cretaceous. Subduction-related tilting of the forearc and growth of the accretionary wedge largely controlled whether and where the Great Valley turbiditic sediments accumulated in the basin. Deeply incised surfaces of erosion, including submarine canyons and channels, indicate periods of turbidity current bypass to deeper parts of the forearc basin or the trench. Fluctuations in sediment supply likely also played an important role in evolution of basin fill, but effects of eustatic fluctuations were overwhelmed by the impact of basin tectonics and sediment supply and capture. Eventual filling and shoaling of the Great Valley forearc during early Campanian time, coupled with dramatically reduced subsidence, correlate with a change in plate convergence, presumed flat-slab subduction, cessation of Sierran arc volcanism, and onset of Laramide orogeny in the retroarc.     

莺歌海盆地东方A气田莺歌海组二段沉积新认识:海底扇浊积席状砂

莺歌海盆地东方A气田莺歌海组的沉积模式存在争议。综合利用岩心、录井、测井等资料分析沉积相类型,在此基础上结合地震多属性及单井、连井分析,研究各气组的沉积演化,并对东方A气田沉积相形成的控制因素进行了总结。莺歌海组二段沉积时期发育三种沉积微相,分别为浊积席状砂、滨外滩坝及滨外泥。该段Ⅲ、Ⅱ气组主要发育来自西部物源的海底扇外扇浊积席状砂,Ⅰ气组主要为滨外滩坝沉积,滨外泥在各气组均有发育。东方A气田的沉积相受控于盆地的二级坡折带及沉积时期底辟的发生。本次研究关于莺歌海组二段浊积席状砂的认识,改变了以往强调东部海南岛物源的滨外滩坝的模式,为后期的开发调整起到了积极有效的作用。     

西藏札达盆地上新统一早更新统河湖相地层多重地层划分与对比

根据札达盆地河湖相地层实测剖面中的接触关系、沉积旋回、沉积体系、岩相、岩性、古生物特征和ESR、古地磁测年结果,笔者对札达盆地上新统一早更新统河湖相地层进行了重新划分和时代确定。结合该套河湖相沉积的岩石地层、生物地层、年代地层、磁性地层、层序地层和地质构造事件,对札达盆地上新统一早更新统河湖相地层进行了多重地层的划分与对比。将札达盆地河湖相地层划分为3个组、4个沉积相、7个沉积亚相、11个岩性段。由新到老划分为：早更新统香孜组（Qp^1-1X）、上新统古格组（N22g）和上新统托林组（N2^1t）。     

Morphology and Quaternary sedimentation of the Mozambique Fan and environs,southwestern Indian Oceans*

Most of the Quaternary sediments of the Mozambique Fan have been derived from Africa-Madagascar and deposited by turbidity currents in Pleistocene time. Currents caused by movement of the Antarctic Bottom Water also played a significant role in reworking and redepositing sediments along the marginal areas of the fan. The inner or upper Mozambique Fan is characterized by a single, leveed valley. Due to the effects of the Coriolis force, the natural levees to the east of the valley (left, looking downstream) are higher and contain more terrigenous sediments than those to the west of the valley. The sea floor to the west of the valley returns regular hyperbolic echoes as seen on 3·5 kHz echograms, whereas to the east of the valley, the sea floor is relatively smooth. The sediments on the valley floor are coarse-grained (with median grain up to 2 mm) and poorly sorted, and occur often as massive turbidites, interbedded with hemipelagic sediments. Away from the valley, both to the east and the west, the terrigenous sediments are relatively fine-grained and have been deposited as overbank turbidite sequences. We estimate the maximum velocities of the channelized turbidity currents in the upper fan to have been 8–32 ms^?1. The middle fan has several distributary channels with no levees and has a relatively flat sea floor, characterized by lack of acoustic penetration. Thick, sheet-like, turbidite sand beds, deposited primarily by unchannelized turbidity currents, characterize the middle fan. The middle fan grades, towards the margins, into the outer (lower) fan which is relatively free of channels, has good acoustic penetration and contains hemipelagic and pelagic sediments, and thin, fine-sand turbidite and/or contourite beds. A wide zone of sediment waves, formed from the reworking of the turbidity current-fed sediments by the Antarctic Bottom Water, forms part of the outer fan.     

The frequency and periodicity of preserved turbidites in submarine fans as a quantitative record of tectonic uplift in collision zones

The frequency and periodicity of preserved graded turbidite cycles in submarine fans in the Coral Sea and Sea of Japan are correlated to times of tectonic uplift in response to major collisions in the Owen-Stanley Range of Papua and the Hida Range of Japan, respectively. Large frequencies and shorter-term periodicities of turbidites at DSDP Site 210 were coeval with early Pliocene maximum tectonic-uplift rates which occurred in the Owen-Stanley Range in response to obduction. Similarly, large frequencies and shorter-term periodicities of turbidites at Site 299 (Toyama Submarine Fan) were coeval with the late Pleistocene uplift in the Hida Range; this uplift of 1000 to 1500 m occurred in response to collision tectonics. In both cases, trends of increasing frequencies and towards shorter-term periodicities of preserved turbidite depositional events correlate to trends of increasing rates of tectonic uplift.The role of sea-level fluctuations on changing denudation rates in these two collision zones is secondary. At Site 210, larger frequencies and short-term periodicities of preserved turbidites were coeval with early Pliocene high stands of sea level, whereas at Site 299, Pleistocene sea-level fluctuations are considered minor because at low stands of sea level, both relief and denudation rates were increased by about ten to 14%. At Site 286 (New Hebrides Basin), Eocene turbidite deposition is coeval with high stands of sea level, whereas at Site 297 (Northern Shikoku Basin), turbidite deposition was coeval with both rising and falling sea level.Analysis of both frequency and periodicity of turbidites by fan subenvironment at Site 299 indicates a record of continuous deposition, and maintainance of frequency and periodicity trends controlled by tectonic uplift. Late Pleistocene channel and overbank deposits showed periodicity differences of less than 28% of an order of magnitude, whereas Miocene-Pliocene overbank and distal turbidite periodicities differed by a 19% order of magnitude. Greater differences in magnitude occurred between distal turbidites or early Pleistocene age and Pliocene age than between Miocene-Pliocene overbank and distal turbidite deposition with a magnitude difference of 860%. These findings suggest that shifting depocenters and differences in sedimentation history in subenvironments of submarine fans are secondary to the role of tectonic uplift in this particular case.The minimal rate of tectonic uplift required to generate deep-sea fan turbidities appears to be approximately 400 m/million years. This figure is tentative and is based on very few observation points.Frequency and periodicity of preserved turbidite cycles in submarine fans in active continental margins and ancient counterparts should provide an independent measurement of rates and timing of tectonic uplift, particularly in collision terrains. Because this sediment parameter is a record of a single process from a single source and a record of “event stratigraphy”, its usage is preferable over standard and bulk sediment accumulation rates determined from age depth curves.     

完达山造山带原型盆地及可能的造山机制

完达山造山带是东亚环太平洋构造带的重要组成部分,是中国北方唯一的中生代深水活动类型沉积建造出露区。三叠纪—侏罗纪硅质岩－碎屑岩系构成了这个造山带的主体,其沉积序列总体表现为一向上变浅、碎屑颗粒变粗的沉积旋回,其中的硅质岩、泥岩稀土元素以Ｃｅ的正异常为特征;砂岩构架颗粒成分与典型的弧前盆地相同。这些特征表明,完达山造山带三叠纪—侏罗纪的原型盆地是东亚陆缘区弧前盆地的组成部分。构造解析结果进一步揭示,造山带只发育一期透入性的变形构造,与增生杂岩的变形序列明显不同。基于上述结论并结合区域构造分析结果提出,完达山造山带的隆升主要是中生代东亚陆缘型岩浆弧东移、本区卷入科迪勒拉型造山带所致。     

On how thin submarine flows transported large volumes of sand for hundreds of kilometres across a flat basin plain without eroding the sea floor

Submarine gravity currents, especially long run‐out flows that reach the deep ocean, are exceptionally difficult to monitor in action, hence there is a need to reconstruct how these flows behave from their deposits. This study mapped five individual flow deposits (beds) across the Agadir Basin, offshore north‐west Africa. This is the only data set where bed shape, internal distribution of lithofacies, changes in grain size and sea floor gradient, bed volumes, flow thickness and depth of erosion into underlying hemipelagic mud are known for individual beds. Some flows were 30 to 120 m thick. However, flows with the highest fraction of sand were less than 5 to 14 m thick. Sand was most likely to be carried in the lower 5 to 7 m of these flows. Despite being relatively thin, one flow was capable of transporting very large volumes of sediment (ca 200 km³) for large distances across very flat sea floor. These observations show that these relatively thin flows could travel quickly enough on very low gradients (0·02° to 0·05°) to suspend sand several metres to tens of metres above the sea floor, and maintain those speeds for up to 250 km across the basin. Near uniform hemipelagic mud interval thickness between beds, and coccolith assemblages in the mud caps of beds, suggest that the flows did not erode significantly into the underlying sea floor mud. Simple calculations imply that some flows, especially in the proximal part of the basin, were powerful enough to have eroded hemipelagic mud if it was exposed to the flow. This suggests that the flows were depositional from the moment they arrived at a basin plain location, and that deposition shielded the underlying hemipelagic mud from erosion. Reproducing the field observations outlined in this exceptionally detailed field data set is a challenge for future experimental and numerical models.     

华北泥河湾盆地郝家台地区的沉积相组合特征：以台儿沟东剖面为例

泥河湾盆地东部郝家台地区的台儿沟东剖面主要出露地层为更新统和上新统,剖面顶部为厚9.4 m的马兰黄土和古土壤,剖面中部由更新统郝家台组和泥河湾组构成,剖面下部为上新统蔚县组。郝家台组和泥河湾组为三角洲平原、三角洲前缘和少量前三角洲亚相沉积组合,其中三角洲平原亚相可分为分支河道、分支间湾、天然堤、沼泽和淡水湖泊5个微相,由发育大型板状斜层理和底冲刷面构造的粗砂夹砾石透镜体,含钙质结核的透镜状黄褐色中 细砂以及富含炭屑的深色粘土等共同构成;三角洲前缘亚相则由水下分支河道、支流间湾、河口砂坝和末端砂坝构成,以发育底冲刷面构造并夹有细砾石透镜体的细中粒砂、小型板状斜层理细砂以及分选好且质纯的细砂等组合为特征;前三角洲亚相相对不发育,主要由浅灰色粘土以及灰绿色、灰黑色粘土夹钙质结核构成。蔚县组主要由滨湖亚相和浅湖亚相构成,其中前者为多种颜色的并发育泥裂和滑塌构造的粘土、粉砂组合,局部夹有透镜状砂砾层,底冲刷面发育;后者主要由粉砂、粘土组合构成,局部可见由砂泥交互构成的透镜状层理。古水流分析结果表明,上新统蔚县组沉积物源区位于泥河湾盆地NE侧,更新统泥河湾组和郝家台组碎屑沉积物主要来自于NE和NW方向,而泥河湾组底部约15 m厚沉积物除了来自NE方向外,还有部分沉积物来自SSW方向物源区。表明自上新世以来,泥河湾盆地周边具有北高南低古地理格局,从而为盆地提供丰富的碎屑沉积物。     

Heterozoan carbonate deposition on a steep basement escarpment (Late Miocene,Almería,south‐east Spain)

Heterozoan temperate‐water carbonates mixed with varying amounts of terrigenous grains and muddy matrix (Azagador limestone) accumulated on and at the toe of an inherited escarpment during the late Tortonian–early Messinian (late Miocene) at the western margin of the Almería–Níjar Basin in south‐east Spain. The escarpment was the eastern end of an uplifting antiform created by compressive folding of Triassic rocks of the Betic basement. Channelized coralline‐algal/bryozoan rudstone to coarse‐grained packstone, together with matrix‐supported conglomerate, are the dominant lithofacies in the higher outcrops, comprising the deposits on the slope. These sediments mainly fill small canyon‐shaped, half‐graben depressions formed by normal faults active before, during and after carbonate sedimentation. Roughly bedded and roughly laminated coralline‐algal/bryozoan rudstone to coarse‐grained packstone are the main lithofacies forming an apron of four small (kilometre‐scale) lobes at the toe of the south‐eastern side of the escarpment (Almería area). Channelized and roughly bedded coralline‐algal/bryozoan rudstone to coarse‐grained packstone, conglomerates, packstone and sandy silt accumulated in a small channel‐lobe system at the toe of the north‐eastern side of the escarpment (Las Balsas area). Carbonate particles and terrigenous grains were sourced from shallow‐water settings and displaced downslope by sediment density flows that preferentially followed the canyon‐shaped depressions. Roughly laminated rudstone to packstone formed by grain flows on the initially very steep slope, whereas the rest of the carbonate lithofacies were deposited by high‐density turbidite currents. The steep escarpment and related break‐in‐slope at the toe favoured hydraulic jumps and the subsequent deposition of coarse‐grained, low‐transport efficiency skeletal‐dominated sediment in the apron lobes. Accelerated uplift of the basement caused a relative sea‐level fall resulting in the formation of outer‐ramp carbonates on the apron lobes, which were in turn overlain by lower Messinian coral reefs. The Almería example is the first known ‘base of slope’ apron within temperate‐water carbonate systems.     

华北临汾盆地中部柴庄上新世-更新世剖面沉积学特征及其构造意义

临汾盆地位于华北克拉通汾渭地堑系中南部,是典型的受控于北东-南西向和近东西向正断层的晚新生代断陷盆地。沉积相、古水流和重矿物综合分析表明,盆地中部的柴庄新生界剖面除顶部的风成黄土之外,可以划分为3个岩性段,分别具有不同的物源,反映了不同时期的构造背景。第一岩性段为上新统（5.0~2.6 Ma）,冲积扇和风成红黏土沉积,冲积扇碎屑物源为盆地周缘的灰岩等沉积岩类;第二岩性段为更新统下部（2.6~1.0 Ma）,三角洲相沉积,沉积物来自盆地南缘中条山北部和东缘太行山西部的太古宇-下元古界的花岗片麻岩和片麻岩、上元古界-古生界的碳酸盐岩、中生界的陆源碎屑岩及少量不同时代的花岗岩;第三段为更新统中上部（ < 1.0 Ma）,河流相沉积,主要物源为盆地北东缘太行山的花岗岩类、少量沉积岩和变质岩。结合区域应力演化过程认为,距今5.0~2.6 Ma期间,受北西-南东向伸展作用影响,北东-南西向正断层为盆地的主控断层;距今2.6~1.0 Ma时期,主要受到北东-南西伸展应力的影响,近东西向断层开始活动;距今1.0 Ma以来,沉积环境由三角洲和湖泊相转为河流相沉积,指示盆地发育的减弱,可能与后一期伸展应力的减弱有关。上述结果表明,受青藏高原向北东扩展的影响,汾渭地堑系至少经历了中新世晚期-上新世早期（>5 Ma）、2.6 Ma和1.0 Ma等主要构造转换时代。      

Provenance analysis of the Upper Miocene turbidite sand-bodies in deep-sea basin of northern South China Sea

The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 367/368 reported massive Upper Miocene deep-sea turbidite in the northern South China Sea basin. The Upper Miocene turbidite sand-bodies at Site U1500 were examined with detrital zircon U-Pb dating to conduct the source-to-sink analysis. This study shows that the U-Pb age spectrums of Site U1500 sample are similar to those detrital zircons from the Miocene Qiongdongnan Basin and the Pearl River Mouth Basin. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) plot also shows that the turbidite sand-bodies at Site U1500 are closely related to the sediments in the Pearl River Mouth Basin and Qiongdongnan Basin. It is likely that the thick deep-sea turbidite succession in the deep-water basin of northern South China Sea was formed by a mixed provenance pattern during the late Miocene. On the one hand, terrigenous sediments from the west of the South China Sea were transported along the Central Canyon to the eastern South China Sea deep-sea basin in the form of turbidity current. On the other hand, terrigenous sediments were also transported from the Pearl River through the slope canyon system to the northern South China Sea in the form of gravity flow . Those mixed sediments from two different source areas have collectively deposited at the deep-sea basin and thus, give rise to turbidite sequence of hundred meters. Provenance analysis of the thick turbidites sand-bodies in the deep-sea basin is of great significance to the profound understanding of the tectonic evolution, filling processes, provenance evolution, and the palaeogeographic characteristics of the Cenozoic basins of the South China Sea.     

南海北部深海盆地上中新统浊积砂体物源分析*

IODP367/368航次在南海北部深海盆地多个站位发现上中新统厚达数百米的大规模深海浊积岩。采用碎屑锆石U-Pb年龄谱系分析方法对U1500站上中新统浊积砂体进行源汇对比分析。研究结果表明U1500站上中新统浊积岩碎屑锆石年龄谱系与其西侧琼东南盆地和北侧珠江口盆地中新世沉积物特征类似。多维排列分析(MDS)结果也显示,该站位样品与珠江口盆地、琼东南盆地沉积物关系密切,表明南海北部深海盆地内厚达数百米的上中新统浊积砂体为南海北部物源和南海西部物源混合堆积形成。南海西部陆源输入物质以浊流搬运的方式,沿中央峡谷从西到东搬运至南海东部深海盆地;南海北部珠江物源以重力流的形式,经南海北部陆坡峡谷搬运至深海盆地中,两种来源的沉积物在深海盆地发生混合沉积,形成U1500站厚达数百米的浊积砂体。南海北部深海盆地厚层浊积砂体物质来源的准确识别,对深刻理解南海新生代盆地的构造演化、沉积物充填过程、物源演变以及古地理特征均具有重要意义。     

长江口区晚新生代沉积物粒度特征和沉积地貌环境演变

对长江河口区的三个晚新生代钻孔作了地层对比和粒度分析,据此探讨晚新生代长江河口的沉积地貌环境演变过程。结果表明,SG6和J18A孔上新世厚层含砾砂质沉积物粒度特征,反映了洪积扇和冲积扇相沉积环境,沉积物搬运距离短;而SG13孔缺失上新世沉积,反映古地势较高,以剥蚀为主。因此上新世长江三角洲地区古地势高差较大,侵蚀区和沉积区共存。早更新世,本区继承了上新世的冲、洪积扇沉积环境,但SG6孔泥质沉积明显变厚,J18A孔此时则以厚层含砾砂沉积为主,SG13孔也开始接受泥质沉积,反映在构造沉降作用下,冲、洪积扇体向西、南部迁移,沉积盆地范围扩大。中更新世,沉积物普遍变细且以悬浮沉积为主,显示了曲流河或曲流河冲积平原的沉积环境。晚更新世初,本区又发育含砾砂层,特别是SG13孔出现厚层含砾砂,但是粒径显著小于上新世和早更新世沉积物,反映本区再次发生显著构造沉积,河流地貌广泛发育。晚更新世中晚期和全新世沉积物以粘土和粉砂质粘土为主,悬浮沉积占优,说明本区已演变为滨、浅海沉积环境。因此在构造沉降、剥蚀和沉积的共同作用下,本区的地貌演变经历了自上新世至中更新世和自晚更新世至全新世的两次准平原化过程。     

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-influenced depositional and diagenetic patterns in Upper Permian carbonates and evaporites, Karstryggen area, central East Greenland

The Karstryggen area of eastern Greenland represents the western edge of sedimentation in the Jameson Land Basin, an arm of the northern Zechstein seaway. Upper Permian strata of this area were deposited as two major sequences. The first marine incursion transgressed largely peneplaned Lower Permian strata and deposited thin, paralic conglomerates, sandstones and shales (the Huledal Formation) followed by a thick package of carbonates and evaporites (the Karstryggen Formation). Although the Karstryggen Formation represents the transgressive maximum of this sequence, it contains only marginal or restricted marine strata, including micritic, stromatolitic and peloidal carbonates and thick, but localized, bedded gypsum deposits. These lithofacies indicate that relatively arid climates prevailed in this basin, as in most of the Zechstein region. A major regression, associated with a change to a more humid climate, terminated Karstryggen sedimentation. Pre-existing evaporites and carbonates underwent diagenetic alteration, including widespread calcitization and dissolution of gypsum. More importantly, topographic relief in excess of 120 m was generated by fluvial drainage systems and karstic sinkholes. A second marine incursion, accompanied by a return to a semi-arid climate, drowned this high relief topography, producing a complex sequence of strata (the Wegener Halvø Formation) in which sedimentation was greatly influenced by the rugged underlying terrain. Marine cemented algal-molluscan grainstones draped pre-existing palaeotopography during the initial stages of flooding. Continued drowning led to differential sedimentation on ‘highs’ and in ‘lows’. Oolitic and bryozoan-brachiopod grainstones formed as shoals on the crests of most prominences, whereas shales, conglomeratic debris flows, evaporites, or oolitic turbidites were deposited in the lows. More restricted sedimentation took place in the westernmost areas which lay closest to the mainland shoreline and were situated to the west of a palaeotopographic ridge. There, oolitic, stromatolitic and evaporitic strata were deposited under hypersaline conditions indicative of a return to more arid climatic conditions. Three subcycles mark smaller scale relative changes of sea level that occurred during deposition of the Wegener Halvø Formation; they are delimited by regional surfaces with moderate relief (5–20 m) developed during subaerial exposure. Widespread diagenetic changes, including leaching of aragonitic grains, dissolution/collapse brecciation of evaporites and meteoric calcite cementation, occurred in association with these smaller scale sequence boundaries, again reflecting climatic oscillations. Relative sea level fluctuations, coupled with regional climate changes, played a dominant role in determining both depositional and diagenetic relations in these strata. These features undoubtedly extend into subsurface parts of this basin as well as into yet unexplored areas of the northern Zechstein Basin and Barents Shelf, and may have economic significance for the localization of hydrocarbons.     

Sea level controls on the textural characteristics and depositional architecture of the Hueneme and associated submarine fan systems, Santa Monica Basin, California

Hueneme and Dume submarine fans in Santa Monica Basin consist of sandy channel and muddy levee facies on the upper fan, lenticular sand sheets on the middle fan, and thinly bedded turbidite and hemipelagic facies elsewhere. Fifteen widely correlatable key seismic reflections in high-resolution airgun and deep-towed boomer profiles subdivide the fan and basin deposits into time-slices that show different thickness and seismic-facies distributions, inferred to result from changes in Quaternary sea level and sediment supply. At times of low sea level, highly efficient turbidity currents generated by hyperpycnal flows or sediment failures at river deltas carry sand well out onto the middle-fan area. Thick, muddy flows formed rapidly prograding high levees mainly on the western (right-hand) side of three valleys that fed Hueneme fan at different times; the most recently active of the lowstand fan valleys, Hueneme fan valley, now heads in Hueneme Canyon. At times of high sea level, fans receive sand from submarine canyons that intercept littoral-drift cells and mixed sediment from earthquake-triggered slumps. Turbidity currents are confined to ‘underfit’ talweg channels in fan valleys and to steep, small, basin-margin fans like Dume fan. Mud is effectively separated from sand at high sea level and moves basinward across the shelf in plumes and in storm-generated lutite flows, contributing to a basin-floor blanket that is locally thicker than contemporary fan deposits and that onlaps older fans at the basin margin. The infilling of Santa Monica Basin has involved both fan and basin-floor aggradation accompanied by landward and basinward facies shifts. Progradation was restricted to the downslope growth of high muddy levees and the periodic basinward advance of the toe of the steeper and sandier Dume fan. Although the region is tectonically active, major sedimentation changes can be related to eustatic sea-level changes. The primary controls on facies shifts and fan growth appear to be an interplay of texture of source sediment, the efficiency with which turbidity currents transport sand, and the effects of delta distributary switching, all of which reflect sea-level changes.     

Late Cenozoic Deformation Sequence of a Thrust System along the Eastern Margin of Pamir, Northwest China

A thrust belt formed in the basin along the eastern margin of Pamir. The thrust belt is about 50 km wide, extends about 200 km, and includes three compressive structures from south to north: the blind Qipan structural wedge and Qimugen structural wedge, and the exposed Yengisar anticline. The thrust belt displays a right-stepping en echelon pattern. The Qipan structural wedge dies out northward to the west of the Qimugen structural wedge, and the Qimugen structural wedge dies out northward to the west of the Yengisar anticline. Detailed analysis of seismic reflection profiles of the western Tarim Basin reveal that fan-shaped growth strata were deposited in the shallow part of the thrust belt, recording the deformation sequence of the thrust belt. The depth of the Cenozoic growth strata decreases from south to north. The growth strata of the Qipan structural wedge is located in the middle-lower section of the Pliocene Artux Formation (N2a), the growth strata of the Qimugen structural wedge is close to the bottom of the Pleistocene Xiyu Formation (Q1x), and the growth strata of the Yengisar anticline is located in the middle section of the Xiyu Formation (Q1x). Combined with magnetostratigraphic studies in the western Tarim basin, it can be preliminarily inferred that the deformation sequence of the thrust belt along the eastern margin of Pamir is progressively younger northward. The geometry and kinematic evolution of the thrust belt in the eastern margin of Pamir can be compared with previous analogue modeling experiments of transpressional deformation, suggesting that the thrust belt was formed in a transpressional tectonic setting.