碳酸盐台地边缘或斜坡的类型及沉积模式

横切碳酸盐台地可以出现不同的沉积环境和相,其中台地边缘、斜坡或盆地边缘的沉积环境复杂,相的类型多,变化大,而且它们是重要的油气储集岩层和层控矿床的重要控矿相位。另外,盆地边缘或斜坡的沉积相序类型及演化,是沉积盆地分析的重要方面。碳酸盐台地边缘、斜坡或盆地边缘早已引起沉积学者及构造学者的注视,并有不少的论述(Wilson,1975;Mountjoy和James,1982;Read,1982,1985;Cook,1984;曾允孚等,1984)。现将碳酸盐台地边缘或斜坡的类型及沉积模式作一简要论述。     

Facies Analysis and Sequence Stratigraphy of the Qal’eh Dokhtar Formation (Middle–Upper Jurassic) in the West of Boshrouyeh, East Central Iran

The study area is located in the east Tabas Block in Central Iran. Facies analysis of the Qal’eh Dokhtar Formation (middle Callovian to late Oxfordian) was carried out on two stratigraphic sections and applied to depositional environment and sequence stratigraphy interpretation. This formation conformably overlies and underlies the marly-silty Baghamshah and the calcareous Esfandiar formations, respectively. Lateral and vertical facies changes documents low- to high energy environments, including tidal-flat, beach to intertidal, lagoon, barrier, and open-marine. According to these facies associations and absence of resedimentation deposits a depositional model of a mixed carbonate–siliciclastic ramp was proposed for the Qal’eh Dokhtar Formation. Seven third-order depositional sequences were identified in each two measured stratigraphic sections. Transgressive systems tracts (TSTs) show deepening upward trends, i.e. shallow water beach to intertidal and lagoonal facies, while highstand systems tracts (HST) show shallowing upward trends in which deep water facies are overlain by shallow water facies. All sequence boundaries (except at the base of the stratigraphic column) are of the no erosional (SB2) types. We conclude eustatic rather than tectonic factors played a dominant role in controlling carbonate depositional environments in the study area.     

Deep-water clastic evaporites deposition in the Messinian Adriatic foredeep (northern Apennines,Italy): did the Mediterranean ever dry out?

A new genetic facies model for deep-water clastic evaporites is presented, based on work carried out on the Messinian Gessoso-solfifera Formation of the northern Apennines during the last 15 years. This model is derived from the most recent siliciclastic turbidite models and describes the downcurrent transformations of a parent flow mainly composed of gypsum clasts. The model allows clearer comprehension of processes controlling the production and deposition of clastic evaporites, representing the most common evaporite facies of the northern Apennines, and the definition of the genetic and stratigraphic relationship with primary shallow-water evaporites formed and preserved in marginal settings. Due to the severe recrystallization processes usually affecting these deposits, petrographic and geochemical analyses are needed for a more accurate interpretation of the large spectrum of recognized gravity-driven deposits ranging from debrisflow to low-density turbidites. Almost all the laminar ‘balatino’ gypsum, previously considered a deep-water primary deposit, is here reinterpreted as the fine-grained product of high to low-density gravity flows. Facies associations permit the framing of the distribution of clastic evaporites into the complex tectonically controlled depositional settings of the Apennine foredeep basin. The Messinian Salinity Crisis occurred during an intense phase of geodynamic reorganization of the Mediterranean area that also produced the fragmentation of the former Miocene Apennine foredeep basin. In this area, primary shallow-water evaporites equivalent to the Mediterranean Lower Evaporites, apparently only formed in semi-closed thrust-top basins like the Vena del Gesso Basin. The subsequent uplift and subaerial exposure of such basins ended the evaporite precipitation and promoted a widespread phase of collapse leading to the resedimentation of the evaporites into deeper basins. Vertical facies sequences of clastic evaporites can be interpreted in terms of the complex interplay between the Messinian tectonic evolution of the Apennine thrust belt and related exhumation–erosional processes. The facies model here proposed could be helpful also for better comprehension of other different depositional and geodynamic contexts; the importance of clastic evaporites deposits has been overlooked in the study of other Mediterranean areas. Based on the Apennine basins experience, it is suggested here that evaporites diffused into the deeper portions of the Mediterranean basin may consist mainly of deep-water resedimented deposits rather than shallow-water to supratidal primary evaporites indicative of a complete basin desiccation.     

The Upper Paleozoic preflysch and overthrusting in the Türkstan-Alay ranges,southern Fergana

The Upper Paleozoic preflysch sedimentary rocks in the Türkstan-Alay ranges are combined in a common section with limestone of autochthon and synsedimentation carbonate nappes, thus forming the upper-most layers of the stratigraphic section of the latter. By their lithology, relatively small thickness, facies variability, and position at the boundary between carbonate and flysch-olistostrome sequences (in the autochthon), these rocks correspond to a certain extent to preflysch of the Urals and the Mediterranean Alpine Belt. This association of clayey, carbonate, and terrigenous rocks is strictly constrained in stratigraphy (the upper portion of the lower Moscovian substage and the lower portion of the upper Moscovian substage) and localization (the southern slopes of carbonate platforms). The formation of this rock association immediately predated the Late Paleozoic overthrusting and deposition of terrigenous flysch. In paleotectonic terms, preflysch is an indicator of the initial stage of tectonic and magmatic activation that led to the replacement of carbonate sedimentation with deposition of terrigenous and clayey sediments, coeval volcanism, and stratiform ore formation. The following sequence of events has been outlined in the Early and Middle Carboniferous: (1) thrusting of volcanic-sedimentary rocks filling troughs over the northern margins of carbonate platforms, (2) lateritic weathering and deposition of marine bauxite in the Bashkirian and early Moscovian, (3) repeated overthrusting and deposition of preflysch on southern slopes of platforms, (4) invasion of the frontal flysch trough from the south, (5) scouring of preflysch and the underlying limestone, and (6) formation of flysch-olistostrome sequences and tectonic and gravity nappes in the late Moscovian time. This interpretation takes into account the southward vergence of thrust sheets and nappes, the structure and localization of allochthonous fragments of marginal zones of carbonate platforms, and the pre-Bashkirian thrusting of volcanic and sedimentary rocks over the condensed pelagic deposits of the Shalan Group. It is suggested that bauxite and preflysch materials had the same source and were deposited in the Middle Carboniferous on the offshore carbonate shoals.     

Sand waves, Echinocardium traces and their bathyal depositional setting (Monte Torre Palaeostrait, Plio-Pleistocene, southern Italy).

ABSTRACT
Stacked cross-sets, up to 2.5 m thick, produced by sand wave migration and meniscate trace fossils produced by Echinocardium cordatum , both considered in the literature as typical of shallow-water marine depositional settings, commonly occur in the bathyal Plio-Pleistocene deposits of Monte Torre (Calabria, southern Italy).
The Plio-Pleistocene sediments form two coarsening-upward depositional sequences, separated by an unconformity and by a palaeobathymetric gap of at least 300 m. The lower sequence passes upwards from hemipelagic marls and thin-bedded turbidites to thick-bedded sandy turbidites, then to sand wave deposits alternated with sandy turbidites, and finally to base-of-slope megabreccias. Facies characteristics and relationships, and the occurrence of deep-sea faunal associations, indicate deposition in the bathyal zone. The facies of the upper sequence reflect a fan-delta environment, no deeper than a few tens of metres.
The depositional setting of the lower sequence, where the sand wave deposits and meniscate trace fossils occur, appears to have been a tectonically controlled seaway, connecting the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas. This seaway became progressively narrower with time, evolving into a strait. The overall coarsening-upward trend reflects the upward transition from a low to a high-energy environment, possibly caused by the tectonic narrowing of the seaway. Deposition and erosion from high-concentration turbidity currents and from tidal bottom currents were important processes. Periods of tectonic activity, producing first the uplift of the seaway margins and culminating with the uplift of the strait sequence itself, are marked by-scattered rockfall deposits.
The strait setting, causing the development of powerful, oxygenated bottom currents, produced optimal conditions in the bathyal zone for the colonization of sandy bottoms by a single infaunal r -selected species, Echinocardium sp.     

珠江口盆地东部珠江组层序岩相古地理特征

在层序地层学和沉积学理论指导下,以油气勘探为目标,根据岩芯观察、岩石薄片鉴定分析、测井资料、地震资料,确定珠江口盆地（东部）珠江组主要发育：（1）碎屑岩沉积体系一三角洲、滨岸和浅海相;（2）碳酸盐岩沉积体系一开阔台地、台地边缘及台地前缘斜坡相。通过暴露标志、岩性岩相组合、生物组合及测井为主的层序界面识别,将珠江组划分为4个三级层序。在此基础上,对珠江口盆地（东部）珠江组取三级层序体系域或三级层序为成图单元,进行层序岩相古地理编图,详细探讨了珠江口盆地（东部）珠江组古地理特征及演化。结合各相带储集物性特征,认为珠江组SQ1-HST、SQ2-HST及SQ3晚期形成的台缘、台内礁滩沉积是寻找有利储集层的重要储集相带。     

Sedimentation during carbonate ramp-to-slope evolution in a tectonically active area: Bowland Basin (Dinantian), northern England

The Bowland Basin (northern England) contains a series of carbonates and terrigenous mudstones deposited during the Ivorian to early Brigantian. Two regional depositional environments are indicated by facies and facies associations. Wackestone/packstone and calcarenite facies indicate deposition in a carbonate ramp environment, while lime mudstone/wackestone, calcarenite and limestone breccia/conglomerate facies, often extensively slumped, represent a carbonate slope environment. Stratigraphic relations suggest that the depositional environment evolved from a ramp into a slope through the Dinantian. Two main sediment sources are indicated by the sequence; an extra-basinal terrigenous mud source and a supply of carbonate from the margins of the basin. Deposition from suspension and from sediment gravity flows, in situ production and remobilization of sediment during sedimentary sliding were important processes operating within the basin. Periods of enhanced tectonic activity in the late Chadian to early Arundian and late Asbian to early Brigantian are indicated by basin-wide horizons of sedimentary slide and mass flow deposits. Both intervals were marked by a decline in carbonate production resulting from inundation and uplift/emergence. The first of these intervals separates deposition on a seafloor with gentle topography (carbonate ramp) from a situation where major lateral thickness and facies variations were present and deposition took place in a carbonate slope environment. The second interval marks the end of major carbonate deposition within the Bowland Basin and the onset of regional terrigenous sedimentation.     

会理-会东及邻区中元古代东川群层序地层分析

广泛出露于四川会理－会东及云南东川等地的中元古代东川群地层,由于其中赋存有丰富的矿产资源,包括铜 矿、铁矿等而倍受重视。前人对其地层划分、岩石学及其含矿性等进行了系统的研究,取得了一系列的成果和认识,但尚未对其进行系统的层序地层研究。本文在野外地质考察的基础上,通过室内的详细分析,建立了东川群的沉积层序,即１个Ｉ级层序（时限约２．３亿年）,１２个Ⅱ级层序。     

Stacked fluvial and tide-dominated estuarine deposits in high-frequency (fourth-order) sequences of the Eocene Central Basin, Spitsbergen

Eighteen coastal-plain depositional sequences that can be correlated to shallow- to deep-water clinoforms in the Eocene Central Basin of Spitsbergen were studied in 1 × 15 km scale mountainside exposures. The overall mud-prone (>300 m thick) coastal-plain succession is divided by prominent fluvial erosion surfaces into vertically stacked depositional sequences, 7–44 m thick. The erosion surfaces are overlain by fluvial conglomerates and coarse-grained sandstones. The fluvial deposits show tidal influence at their seaward ends. The fluvial deposits pass upwards into macrotidal tide-dominated estuarine deposits, with coarse-grained river-dominated facies followed further seawards by high- and low-sinuosity tidal channels, upper-flow-regime tidal flats, and tidal sand bar facies associations. Laterally, marginal sandy to muddy tidal flat and marsh deposits occur. The fluvial/estuarine sequences are interpreted as having accumulated as a series of incised valley fills because: (i) the basal fluvial erosion surfaces, with at least 16 m of local erosional relief, are regional incisions; (ii) the basal fluvial deposits exhibit a significant basinward facies shift; (iii) the regional erosion surfaces can be correlated with rooted horizons in the interfluve areas; and (iv) the estuarine deposits onlap the valley walls in a landward direction. The coastal-plain deposits represent the topset to clinoforms that formed during progradational infilling of the Eocene Central Basin. Despite large-scale progradation, the sequences are volumetrically dominated by lowstand fluvial deposits and especially by transgressive estuarine deposits. The transgressive deposits are overlain by highstand units in only about 30% of the sequences. The depositional system remained an estuary even during highstand conditions, as evidenced by the continued bedload convergence in the inner-estuarine tidal channels.     

南海南、北陆缘中生代构造层序及其沉积环境

新生代海底扩张,使南海陆缘分为南、北两部分。南部礼乐地块与南海北缘在扩张之前构成了统一的活动陆缘。通过对南、北陆缘的钻井研究和井旁地震剖面解释,发现二者的中生界均具有4 个地震层序及3 个构造层。南北陆缘构造层序及物源分析表明,早白垩世礼乐地块与南海北缘曾发生碰撞拼贴。早白垩世的南海北缘地区沉积环境由海陆过渡相向陆相演化,相应的礼乐地区是由浅海相向滨海相演化,二者反映出相同的向上变浅旋回,说明在南、北陆缘拼贴之后,两者具有了统一的构造沉积背景。到晚白垩世末,两区均隆升为陆,且遭受剥蚀; 南海北缘地区上白垩统部分被剥蚀,而距俯冲边界更近的礼乐地区上白垩统则被剥蚀殆尽。     

Depositional processes,triggering mechanisms and sediment composition of carbonate gravity flow deposits: examples from the Late Cretaceous of the south-central Pyrenees,Spain

Cenomanian through Coniacian strata near the town of Sopeira in the south-central Pyrenees (northern Spain) are composed of a variety of autochthonous and allochthonous carbonate slope lithologies that are divided into six depositional sequences based on facies distribution patterns and stratal relationships. The sequences record three major phases of platform margin evolution: rifting, burial, and exhumation. During the first phase (sequences UK-1, UK-2, UK-3, UK-4, and lower UK-5), deposition occurred on the edge of a wrench basin, and a normal fault located beneath the platform margin strongly influenced slope evolution. Background hemipelagic sediments on the slope were commonly redeposited by submarine slumps and slides. More intense reworking resulted in matrix-supported, slope-derived megaconglomerates (debrites).During the Cenomanian and Turonian, seismically triggered debris flows originated at the platform margin, bypassed the upper slope, and were deposited on the lower slope as polymictic, clast-supported, matrix-rich megabreccias. The megabreccias form channelized and sheet-like bodies with erosional basal surfaces. Shallow carbonate environments backstepped during the Late Turonian and Coniacian, but displacement along the fault at this time resulted in the development of a steep submarine scarp and the exposure of Cenomanian and Lower Turonian strata to submarine erosion. Matrix-poor, margin-derived megabreccias form a thick talus pile at the base of the scarp. Some of the breccias were transported into the basin as debris falls, forming sheet-like beds.Marl eventually buried the Coniacian scarp in sequence UK-5, resulting in the second major phase of platform slope evolution. The slope profile at this time was relatively gentle, and redeposited material is less common. In the third phase (sequence UK-6), tectonically induced bankward erosion during the Santonian resulted in a high (greater than 800 m) erosional scarp with a regional east–west trend that was subsequently onlapped by siliciclastic turbidites. Rejuvenation of erosion in the same vicinity suggests that long-term tectonism controlled the position of the slope, rates of erosion, and sediment type on the slope.Sediment gravity flow processes are laterally and temporally related. Submarine slide and slump deposits commonly grade laterally downslope into slope-derived megaconglomerates. Debris flows that originated at the platform margin appear to have initiated slumps, slides, and other debris flows on the slope. Debris fall deposits are commonly capped by coarse, graded, lithoclastic packstones that may represent turbidites generated by the debris falls.Sediment fabric exerted a profound impact on depositional processes, distribution of facies, and morphology of the slope. Fine-grained, mud-rich, lower slope deposits were unstable at even moderate slope angles, and have been extensively redeposited. Redeposition of grain-rich, upper slope facies was triggered by syndepositional seismic activity and upslope migration of instability and erosion. In the presence of mud, the transport mechanisms are typically cohesive debris flows, which were able to carry material onto the lower slope and into the basin. When no mud was available, rock falls and debris falls were the dominant sediment gravity flows, and their deposits are restricted to a position on the hanging wall proximal to the fault.     

The effects of pre-existing normal faults on thrust ramp development: An example from the northern Apennines,Italy

The Umbria-Marche foreland fold-and-thrust belt in the northern Apennines of Italy provides excellent evidence to test the hypothesis of synsedimentary-structural control on thrust ramp development. This orogenic belt consists of platform and pelagic carbonates, Late Triassic to Miocene in age, whose deposition was controlled by significant synsedimentary extension. Normal faulting, mainly active from Jurassic through Late Cretaceous-Paleogene time, resulted in significant lateral thickness variability within the related stratigraphic sequences. By Late Miocene time the sedimentary cover was detached from the underlying basement and was deformed by east-verging folds and west-dipping thrusts. Two restored balanced cross sections through the southernmost part of the belt show a coincidence between the early synsedimentary normal faults and the late thrust fault ramps. These evidences suggest that synsedimentary tectonic structures, such as faults and the related lithological lateral changes, can be regarded as mechanically important controlling factors in the process of thrust ramp development during positive tectonic inversion processes.     

Isolated stationary carbonate platforms: the Middle Triassic (Ladinian) of the Marmolada area, Dolomites, Italy

As a result of a phase of extensional tectonics in the western Tethyan region, a horst and graben topography formed during the Middle Triassic (Ladinian) in northern Italy. Horsts were sites of shallow water carbonate sedimentation, while pelagic and volcaniclastic sediments were deposited in the grabens. Two carbonate platforms approximately 500 m thick can be distinguished in the Marmolada area of the Dolomites: the Marmolada platform proper, which covered an area of 6 km², and the Costabella platform, which extended for about 12 km in a NW-SE direction and was about 3 km across. The facies of these isolated platforms reflect the influence of storms from the SW. Windward platform margins were characterized by a marine sand belt of skeletal and aggregate grainstones with a dominant platform directed cross-stratification. The central portions of the platforms were occupied by supratidal sand cays which are made up of storm washovers. Leeward parts of the platforms are composed of shallow subtidal sand flat deposits. Laterally discontinuous reefs chiefly composed of various calcareous algae are developed at the outer margins of the platforms. Along windward margins, reefs may form a belt several hundred metres wide; along leeward margins their width is commonly reduced to some tens of metres. Foreslope talus breccias surround the platforms. Clinoform bedding showing basinward dips of 30°-40° is typical of this facies belt, which is approximately 2 km wide. Basinal sediments, only some tens of metres thick, are radiolarian micrites. Abundant sediment-gravity-flow deposits expand the basinal sequence at the toes of windward margins and were probably triggered by storm return flows. Synsedimentary faults striking both NNE-SSW and NW-SE separate the bedded platform limestones from flank deposits and reefs. They account for the stationary nature of the platforms. Neptunian dykes show preferred NNE-SSW and E-W trends. Sinistral displacements are associated with NW-SE trending faults. Depressions in the basins, filled with red, turbiditic pelagic sediments, show N-S trends and are probably compressional in origin. The structural pattern may have resulted from oblique, NW-SE oriented extension of the E-W trending Middle Triassic graben zone of the Dolomites. In the Ladinian of the Dolomites, the stationary platform type can be distinguished from a retrograding type, whereas continuously prograding platforms apparently did not develop.     

Carbonate pond deposits related to semi-arid alluvial systems: examples from the Tertiary Madrid Basin, Spain

Carbonate pond deposits occur associated with alluvial sediments in Miocene sequences of the Madrid Basin, central Spain. The ponds developed near the basin margins, either in floodplain environments (north) or mud-flat settings (south). Three main facies assemblages are recognized: (1) floodplain/mud-flat, (2) palaeosols and (3) pond deposits. In the northern part of the basin, ponds developed on the floodplain of terminal fluvial systems. The floodplain facies are typically red mudstones with interbedded sandstones and siltstones. Palaeosols associated with the ponds show a pedofacies relationship, the maturity of soils increasing with distance from the main channel. Carbonate pond deposits consist mainly of limestones, which display typical ‘palustrine’features. The formation and further accumulation of carbonate in the ponds took place in periods of reduced clastic sediment input and it is suggested that recharge into the pond areas was mainly from groundwater. In the south, ponds developed on mud-flats located between sheet-flood-dominated alluvial fans and evaporite lakes. Mud-flat facies consist of red mudstone that exhibits evidence of progressive soil development near both edges and beneath the carbonate pond lenses. Carbonate in the ponds is mainly dolomite and comprises two subfacies, mottled and laminated dolomicrites. This mineralogy, together with the presence of gypsum crusts below and in the lower part of the carbonate body, suggests higher evaporation rates and/or more saline waters filling the ponds in this part of the basin. In spite of differences in depositional setting and, to some extent, climatic conditions between the two areas of the basin, both facies associations and the sequential arrangement of the ponds show strong similarities that allow the proposal of a facies model for carbonate pond deposits related to semi-arid alluvial systems. The sequences recognized from the pond deposits record a set of facies clearly different to those forming in swampy lakes associated with many permanent fluvial systems developed in more humid climates.     

Facies architecture of individual basin‐plain turbidites: Comparison with existing models and implications for flow processes

Current understanding of submarine sediment density flows is based heavily on their deposits, because such flows are notoriously difficult to monitor directly. However, it is rarely possible to trace the facies architecture of individual deposits over significant distances. Instead, bed‐scale facies models that infer the architecture of ‘typical’ deposits encapsulate current understanding of depositional processes and flow evolution. In this study, the distribution of facies in 12 individual beds has been documented along downstream transects over distances in excess of 100 km. These deposits were emplaced in relatively flat basin‐plain settings in the Miocene Marnoso Arenacea Formation, north‐east Italy and the late Quaternary Agadir Basin, offshore Morocco. Statistical analysis shows that the most common series of vertical facies transitions broadly resembles established facies models. However, mapping of individual beds shows that they commonly deviate from generalized models in several important ways that include: (i) the abundance of parallel laminated sand, suggesting deposition of this facies from both high‐density and low‐density turbidity current; (ii) three distinctly different types of grain‐size break, suggesting waxing flow, erosional hiatuses and bypass of silty sediment; (iii) the presence of mud‐rich debrites demonstrating hybrid flow deposition; and (iv) dune‐scale cross‐lamination in fine‐medium grained sandstones. Submarine sediment density flows in basin‐plain settings flow over relatively simple topography. Yet, their deposits record complex flow events, involving transformation between different flow types, rather than the simple waning surges often associated with the distal parts of turbidite systems.     

湖相重力流水道沉积特征与沉积模式:以鄂尔多斯盆地瑶曲铁路桥剖面三叠系延长组为例*

陆相深水重力流水道的类型细分及其沉积模式是制约其油气勘探开发的重要因素,但研究程度低。通过对鄂尔多斯盆地南缘瑶曲铁路桥剖面三叠系延长组实测、水道形态参数统计及岩相、粒度等分析,开展了湖相重力流水道的沉积特征、沉积过程及沉积模式研究。结果表明:(1)研究区内可识别出4期复合水道,主要为洪水重力流成因。根据其内部单一水道及单砂体形态特征、岩相组成,将其细分为沉积型和过渡型两类。(2)剖面下部2期复合水道为沉积型,以悬浮载荷成因岩相为主,常见块状净细砂岩、薄层泥岩岩相组合和鲍马序列岩相组合;上部2期复合水道为过渡型,岩相以底床载荷与悬浮载荷共存为特征,自下而上以交错层理细砂岩或叠瓦状泥砾细砂岩与含泥砾/泥岩撕裂屑块状细砂岩、平行层理粗粉砂岩及薄层泥岩的岩相组合为特征。(3)结合单一水道规模及其相互关系,建立了区内过渡、沉积型重力流水道的半定量沉积模式。过渡型水道内部侵蚀与沉积作用共存,单一水道宽度小、宽厚比低,呈透镜状,水道间切割性强,砂体横向稳定性较低,表现出不定向叠加、侧向拼接样式;沉积型水道内部由沉积作用主导,单一水道宽度较大、宽厚比较高,呈似板状—透镜状,砂体横向稳定性较高,表现出稳定的垂向加积样式。     

Carbonate platform depositional sequences, Upper Cretaceous, south-central Pyrenees (Spain)

The Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Maastrichtian) of the south-central Pyrenees shows five carbonate platform sequences where the major parameters are tectonism, relative sea-level fluctuations and inherited depositional profile. Depositional geometries and basin analysis permit an understanding of the depositional history.Five depositional sequences have been recognized: (1) The Santa Fe sequence (Middle-Upper Cenomanian), a ramp to a skeletal rimmed shelf with an escarpment bypass margin. The lower boundary is an angular unconformity and the upper one records a sea-level drop. The platform location of the margin was determined by a listric normal fault. (2) An abrupt sea-level rise drowned the former platform. The Congost sequence (Turonian-Lower Coniacian), a distally steepened ramp with erosional distal deep slope. The depositional model was largely controlled by pre-existing basin morphology. Cessation of platform development was due to a relative sea-level drop. (3) The Sant Corneli sequence (Upper Coniacian-Lower Santonian), a mixed terrigenous-skeletal homoclinal ramp with upright margin, deep slope and dysaerobic basin. The slope results from the backstepping by 24 km of the previous margin and gentle basin tilting. The platform margin remained more or less at the same position, and relief between platform and slope increased indicating continuous relative sea-level rise. The upper boundary is an angular unconformity at the platform margin produced by an abrupt sea-level rise and platform drowning, and by listric normal faulting. (4) The Vallcarga sequence (Upper Santonian-Campanian), a distal-steepened skeletal homoclinal ramp, erosional escarpment and turbidite basin, which corresponds to the Mesozoic maximum marine expansion. A listric normal fault created two depositional areas: a more or less flat footwall block with a north-northwest prograding carbonate ramp.     

Evolution of a Callovian-Oxfordian carbonate margin in the Neuquén Basin of west-central Argentina: facies, architecture, depositional sequences and global sea-level changes

This paper reviews a detailed stratigraphic and sedimentologic study of a carbonate complex developed on the foreland side of the Neuquén Embayment, a protected shallow-water epicratonic site behind the active edge of the South American plate. Superb outcrops at the core of basement-involved Andean structures expose the shelf-to-basin transition and reveal with clarity the external and the internal architecture of the depositional sequences and component system tracts. Platform carbonates are largely represented by ooid and mainly rhodoid grainstones, with associated patches of coral framestone. The deeper platform and slope facies are composed of oncoidal and skeletal micritic limestones with scattered coral-sponge-algal build-ups. The overall composition and facies pattern bears resemblance to other Late Jurassic carbonate complexes form Europe and with the Smackover Formation from the Gulf Coast Basin of North America.

Analysis based on mapping of the stratal patterns and facies associations in outcrops allowed the recognition of four depositional sequences. Timing provided by ammonite biochronology suggests that eustatic fluctuations were a major factor influencing the carbonate-margin architecture, and regulated episodes of condensed sedimentation, shifts of the depositional belts, and development of stratigraphic discontinuities. The onset and the end of carbonate sedimentation were associated with episodes of marine retreat and accumulation of evaporites and eolian-fluvial deposits at basin-centre locations. However, most of the marine fluctuations recorded within the carbonate complex were insufficient to expose the shelf break (Type 2), and accordingly lowstand system tracts are poorly represented. On the shelf the transgressive system tracts are represented by thin grain-supported carbonate blankets. These taper out downslope into omission surfaces or are replaced by patches of small sponge buildups. Highstand system-tract organization changes through time, reflecting changes in productivity and accomodation, presumably tied to second-order sea-level changes. Callovian highstand accumulation featured a catch-up carbonate system and produced a thin-aggradational ramp configuration, whereas conditions during middle-late Oxfordian allowed a keep-up system and produced outbuilding depositional geometries with steeper slopes.     

Carbonate platform evolution: from a bioconstructed platform margin to a sand-shoal system (Devonian, Guilin, South China)

ABSTRACT The depositional organization and architecture of the middle–late Devonian Yangdi rimmed carbonate platform margin in the Guilin area of South China were related to oblique, extensional faulting in a strike‐slip setting. The platform margin shows two main stages of construction in the late Givetian to Frasnian, with a bioconstructed margin evolving into a sand‐shoal system. In the late Givetian, the platform margin was rimmed with microbial buildups composed mainly of cyanobacterial colonies (mostly Renalcis and Epiphyton). These grew upwards and produced an aggradational (locally slightly retrogradational) architecture with steep foreslope clinoforms. Three depositional sequences (S3–S5) are recognized in the upper Givetian strata, which are dominated by extensive microbialites. Metre‐scale depositional cyclicity occurs in most facies associations, except in the platform‐margin buildups and upper foreslope facies. In the latest Givetian (at the top of sequence S5), relative platform uplift (± subaerial exposure) and associated rapid basin subsidence (probably a block‐tilting effect) caused large‐scale platform collapse and slope erosion to give local scalloped embayments along the platform margin and the synchronous demise of microbial buildups. Subsequently, sand shoals and banks composed of ooids and peloids and, a little later, stromatoporoid buildups on the palaeohighs, developed along the platform margin, from which abundant loose sediment was transported downslope to form gravity‐flow deposits. Another strong tectonic episode caused further platform collapse in the early Frasnian (at the top of sequence S6), leading to large‐scale breccia release and the death of the stromatoporoid buildups. Siliceous facies (banded cherts and siliceous shales) were then deposited extensively in the basin centre as a result of the influx of hydrothermal fluids. The platform‐margin sand‐shoal/bank system, possibly with gullies on the slope, persisted into the latest Frasnian until the restoration of microbial buildups. Four sequences (S6–S9), characterized by abundant sand‐shoal deposits on the margin and gravity‐flow and hemipelagic deposits on the slope, are distinguished in the Frasnian strata. Smaller‐scale depositional cyclicity is evident in all facies associations across the platform–slope–basin transect. The distinctive depositional architecture and evolution of this Yangdi Platform are interpreted as having been controlled mainly by regional tectonics with contributions from eustasy, environmental factors, oceanographic setting, biotic and sedimentary fabrics.     

Detection of detached forced-regressive nearshore wedges: a case study from the central-southern Siena Basin (Northern Apennines, Italy)

The detection of detached nearshore wedges formed in response to relative sea-level drops is considered one of the hottest topics in sequence stratigraphic analysis due to their importance as reservoir analogues. In fact, they usually constitute sandy and porous bodies generally encased in impermeable clay, thus presenting a good potential as traps for fluids. This paper focuses on the sequence stratigraphic analysis of the Pliocene deposits cropping out in the central-southern sector of the Siena Basin (Tuscany, Italy), a post-collisional basin of the Northern Apennines. The exposed sedimentary succession was investigated through a detailed sedimentological and stratigraphic approach, integrated by biostratigraphic analyses, aimed at a better characterization of the infilling history of this sector of the basin. Specifically, this study revealed the occurrence of repeated facies shifts that allowed the identification of two depositional sequences. In detail, a thick sand-rich body far from the basin margins, and previously considered as a turbiditic lobe, has been reinterpreted as formed in a nearshore setting during a fall in relative sea level. This body is totally encased in offshore clay, and due to the lack of physical connection with the related HST deposits, it has to be considered as a detached forced-regressive wedge. The present work led to the recognition of some sedimentological and stratigraphic features typical of falling stage systems tract deposits (e.g. presence of intrabasinal recycled materials, sedimentological evidence of a pre-existing fluvial network subsequently eroded) that can provide useful clues for the identification of detached forced-regressive nearshore wedges in core studies and poorly exposed settings.