Possible controlling factors in the development of seasonal sand wedges on the Ordos Plateau,North China

Wedge-like structures filled with silty sand penetrate Quaternary fluvial and aeolian sediments and, in places, Tertiary bedrock on the Ordos Plateau, North China. The wedges reflect thermal contraction cracking of either permafrost or seasonal frost during the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene. Wedges of about 1 m in depth form polygonal nets of 2-3 m in diameter(type B). They contrast with wedges of 3-4 m in depth that form polygons of 10-15 m in diameter(type A).This review focuses upon the highly variable size of the inferred polygon nets and discusses the problem of differentiating between seasonally and perennially frozen ground, or between seasonal frost and permafrost.     

MUDBOIL AND ICE‐WEDGE DYNAMICS INVESTIGATED BY ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY TOMOGRAPHY,GROUND TEMPERATURES AND SURFACE MOVEMENTS IN SVALBARD

Arctic tundra surfaces are dominated by a variety of patterned ground forms. Whereas a large number of studies have described morphology, structure and processes of patterned ground, few have monitored detailed patterned ground dynamics and subsurface environments continuously. We applied electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) to understand near‐surface conditions of two types of patterned ground, ice‐wedge polygons and mudboils in Svalbard, where periglacial processes associated with permafrost are intensively monitored. Automated monitoring shows surface movement characterized by annual cycles of frost heave and thaw settlement, the amounts and rates of which are influenced by the intensity of ice segregation. A time series of ERT shows (1) a distinct resistivity boundary delimiting the active‐layer depth, (2) seasonal variation in resistivity controlled by thermo‐hydrological dynamics and (3) spatial variation in resistivity reflecting desiccation in summer and intensive ice segregation in winter. These results demonstrate ERT as a useful complementary technique for monitoring active‐layer depths and near‐surface hydrological conditions at periglacial patterned ground sites, where automated soil thermal and moisture measurements are limited.     

Sediment‐budget modelling of multi‐sourced basin fills: application to recent deposits of the western Adriatic mud wedge (Italy)

We analysed modern mass‐accumulation patterns on the western Adriatic mud wedge (Italy), an elongated belt of shelf mud formed by coalesced prodeltas of the Adige, Po, and Apennine rivers, as part of an integrated strategy aimed at producing a quantitative sediment budget model for muddy continental shelves sourced by multiple compositionally distinct fluvial systems. Sediment provenance and source‐specific accumulation rates of surface sediments were quantified by combining results of grain‐size analysis and geochemical analysis of specific size fractions with bulk mass accumulation rates. Statistical classification algorithms adapted to compositional data were used to partition the total (geochemical) variation of sediment properties into size‐related and provenance‐specific factors. We identified geochemically distinct fluvial end‐member sediment types in two different grain‐size fractions, which were grouped into sediments derived from the Apennine rivers, and sediments derived from the Po and Adige rivers. Compositional fingerprints (end‐member compositions) of each source area were estimated by taking into account relative rates of fluvial sediment supply from rivers as predicted by numerical modelling. The end members allow us to explain geochemical compositional variation of mud‐wedge surface sediments in terms of provenance and size‐selective dispersal, and map mass accumulation rates of sediments from individual source areas (grain size<63 μm), as well as bulk sand accumulation rates (grain size>63 μm) across the western Adriatic mud wedge. The source‐specific rates of fine‐grained sediment supply derived from geostatistical estimates of mass‐accumulation rates were used to calibrate the numerical model of sediment supply to present‐day conditions.     

Influence of the mechanical behaviour of brittle–ductile fold–thrust belts on the development of foreland basins

A two‐dimensional mathematical model considering coupling between a deforming elasto‐visco‐plastic fold–thrust belt, flexural subsidence and diffusional surface processes is solved using the Finite Element Method to investigate how the mechanical behaviour of brittle–ductile wedges influences the development of foreland basins. Results show that, depending mainly on the strength of the basal décollement, two end‐member types of foreland basin are possible. When the basal detachment is relatively strong, the foreland basin system is characterised by: (1) Highly asymmetrical orogen formed by thrusts concentrated in the incoming pro‐wedge. (2) Sedimentation on retro‐side takes place in one major foredeep basin which grows throughout orogen evolution. (3) Deposition on the pro‐side occurs initially in the foredeep, and continues in the wedge‐top before isolated basins are advected towards the orogen core where they become uplifted and exhumed. (4) Most pro‐wedge basins show an upward progression from low altitude, foredeep deposits at the base to high altitude, wedge‐top deposits near the surface. In contrast, when the basal detachment behaves weakly due to the presence of low viscosity material such as salt, the foreland basin system is characterised by (1) Broad, low relief orogen showing little preferential vergence and predominance of folding relative to faulting. (2) Deposition mainly in wedge‐top basins showing growth strata. (3) Many basins are initiated contemporaneously but form discontinuously due to the locus of active deformation jumping back and forth between different structures. Model results successfully reproduce first order observations of deforming brittle–ductile wedges and foreland basins. Moreover, the results support and provide a framework for understanding the existence of two main end‐member foreland basin types, simple and complex, associated with fold–thrust belts whose detachments are relatively strong and weak, respectively.     

Cryogenic wedges on the NE Qinghai-Tibet and Ordos Plateaus: Their characteristics,origin and OSL dating

Cryogenic wedges developed due to very cold, rather arid conditions during the maximum of the last cold event when the drying up of the neighboring China Sea resulted in the failure of the East Asian Monsoon. As the climate ameliorated and the Monsoon rains reappeared, ice-wedges developed. Further warming permitted thawing of the ice infillings accompanied by replacement of the ice by sediments partly from the host ground as well as from the surface by wind or sheet wash. In cases of extreme surface water flow on slopes after 10 ka B.P., small baydjarakhs typically c. 50 cm high developed, only to have the resulting hollows infilled by sediments carried by wind and/or sheet wash. These shallow structures form a network on top of many of the cryogenic wedges. This complex history makes dating the ages of the wedges difficult using OSL methodology. Unfortunately, past field work ignored the problem of the angle of the cut face to the direction of the wedge infilling when sampling the contents of the narrow wedges, resulting in potential contamination of the samples with the host sediment. Sampling of the larger deposits should be alright, but the likelihood of contamination makes the interpretation of the resulting OSL dates from the narrow wedges questionable. Primary wedges consisting of primary mineral infillings should still have similar OSL dates with depth for a given wedge, but the distinction between ice-wedge infillings and soil wedges is difficult since both can exhibit older dates of the infillings with depth. The available data suggests that ice-wedges were significantly more common than sediment-filled primary wedges. A protocol to avoid having to obtain large numbers of OSL dates by more careful field sampling and the use of grain size determinations is provided in the Appendix.     

Syn‐sedimentary salt diapirism as a control on fluvial‐system evolution: an example from the proximal Permian Cutler Group,SE Utah,USA

Loading of subsurface salt during accumulation of fluvial strata can result in halokinesis and the growth of salt pillows, walls and diapirs. Such movement may eventually result in the formation of salt‐walled mini‐basins, whose style of architectural infill may be used to infer both the relative rates of salt‐wall growth and sedimentation and the nature of the fluvial‐system response to salt movement. The Salt Anticline Region of the Paradox Basin of SE Utah comprises a series of elongate salt‐walled mini‐basins, arranged in a NW‐trending array. The bulk of salt movement occurred during deposition of the Permian Cutler Group, a wedge of predominantly quartzo‐feldspathic clastic strata comprising sediment derived from the Uncompahgre Uplift to the NE. The sedimentary architecture of selected mini‐basin fills has been determined at high resolution through outcrop study. Mini‐basin centres are characterized by multi‐storey fluvial channel elements arranged into stacked channel complexes, with only limited preservation of overbank elements. At mini‐basin margins, thick successions of fluvial overbank and sheet‐like elements dominate in rim‐syncline depocentres adjacent to salt walls; many such accumulations are unconformably overlain by single‐storey fluvial channel elements that accumulated during episodes of salt‐wall breaching. The absence of gypsum clasts suggests that sediment influx was high, preventing syn‐sedimentary surface exposure of salt. Instead, fluvial breaching of salt‐generated topography reworked previously deposited sediments of the Cutler Group atop growing salt walls. Palaeocurrent data indicate that fluvial palaeoflow to the SW early in the history of basin infill was subsequently diverted to the W and ultimately to the NW as the salt walls grew to form topographic barriers. Late‐stage retreat of the Cutler fluvial system coincided with construction and accumulation of an aeolian system, recording a period of heightened climatic aridity. Aeolian sediments are preserved in the lees of some salt walls, demonstrating that halokinesis played a complex role in the differential trapping of sediment.     

Evidence of Sub-Till Sediments from a Weichselian Interstadial in the Gudbrandsdalen Valley,Central East Norway

The authors point out several localities with sub-till sediments in the highly ice-eroded Gudbrandsdalen Valley. Two localities are described and discussed. Based upon studies of texture and structure, the sediments are interpreted as proglacial deposits, not removed by a later ice-advance. The assumed permafrost structures (fossil ice wedges) and 6 finds of mammoth remnants, of which one has been C¹⁴ dated to 24,400 ± 900 years B. P. (Heintz 1969), indicate that these sediments are of an interstadial age.Tentatively this is named the Gudbrandsdalen interstadial. Out of the total of 15 mammoth finds in Norway, 13 are from the Gudbrandsdalen area. The sub-till sediments were presumably the depositaries for these fossils during the latest glaciation.     

SEDIMENTS FROM AROUND THE LOWER YOUNGER DRYAS BOUNDARY (SE ARIZONA,USA): IMPLICATIONS FROM LA‐ICP‐MS MULTI‐ELEMENT ANALYSIS

One of the prominent features in sediment sequences formed around the Allerød‐Younger Dryas transition (c. 12.9–12.8 ka bp ) in North America is a dark layer of organic‐rich material, i.e. the black mat. The black mat sequences in southeast Arizona contain a thin sandy basal layer corresponding to the lower Younger Dryas boundary. Trace element concentrations in the lower Younger Dryas boundary sediments, in the black mat, in the host sediments, and in charcoal from Western Europe and southeast Arizona were studied using LA‐ICP‐MS. The black mat samples and samples of the underlying host sediments display compositions similar to the average continental crust, while the sediments from the lower Younger Dryas boundary are enriched in rare earth elements, Ni, and Co whereas Ta, Nb, Zr, and Hf are depleted relative to the rare earth elements. Such a difference in compositions between the lower Younger Dryas boundary sediments and other sediments points to a short enigmatic event, which changed conditions of sedimentation just before the onset of the Younger Dryas cooling. The presence of products of biomass burning of still unknown origin is suggested on the basis of trace element features of sediments from the lower Younger Dryas boundary.     

Sea‐level and ocean‐current control on carbonate‐platform growth,Maldives, Indian Ocean

Multichannel high‐resolution seismic and multibeam data were acquired from the Maldives‐isolated carbonate platform in the Indian Ocean for a detailed characterization of the Neogene bank architecture of this edifice. The goal of the research is to decipher the controlling factors of platform evolution, with a special emphasis on sea‐level changes and changes of the oceanic currents. The stacking pattern of Lower to Middle Miocene depositional sequences, with an evolution of a ramp geometry to a flat‐topped platform, reflects variations of accommodation, which here are proposed to be primarily governed by fluctuations of relative sea level. Easterly currents during this stage of bank growth controlled an asymmetric east‐directed progradation of the bank edge. During the late middle Miocene, this system was replaced by a twofold configuration of bank development. Bank growth continued synchronously with partial bank demise and associated sediment‐drift deposition. This turnover is attributed to the onset and/or intensification of the Indian monsoon and related upwelling and occurrence of currents, locally changing environmental conditions and impinging upon the carbonate system. Mega spill over lobes, shaped by reversing currents, formed as large‐scale prograding complexes, which have previously been interpreted as deposits formed during a forced regression. On a regional scale, a complex carbonate‐platform growth can occur, with a coexistence of bank‐margin progradation and aggradation, as well as partial drowning. It is further shown that a downward shift of clinoforms and offlapping geometries in carbonate platforms are not necessarily indicative for a sea‐level driven forced regression. Findings are expected to be applicable to other examples of Cenozoic platforms in the Indo‐Pacific region.     

Supradetachment to rift basin transition recorded in continental to marine deposition; Paleogene Bandar Jissah Basin,NE Oman

A transition from supradetachment to rift basin signature is recorded in the ~1,500 m thick succession of continental to shallow marine conglomerates, mixed carbonate‐siliciclastic shallow marine sediments and carbonate ramp deposits preserved in the Bandar Jissah Basin, located southeast of Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman. During deposition, isostatically‐driven uplift rotated the underlying Banurama Detachment and basin fill ~45° before both were cut by the steep Wadi Kabir Fault as the basin progressed to a rift‐style bathymetry that controlled sedimentary facies belts and growth packages. The upper Paleocene to lower Eocene Jafnayn Formation was deposited in a supradetachment basin controlled by the Banurama Detachment. Alluvial fan conglomerates sourced from the Semail Ophiolite and the Saih Hatat window overlie the ophiolitic substrate and display sedimentary transport directions parallel to tectonic transport in the Banurama Detachment. The continental strata grade into braidplain, mouth bar, shoreface and carbonate ramp deposits. Subsequent detachment‐related folding of the basin during deposition of the Eocene Rusayl and lower Seeb formations marks the early transition towards a rift‐style basin setting. The folding, which caused drainage diversion and is affiliated with sedimentary growth packages, coincided with uplift‐isostasy as the Banurama Detachment was abandoned and the steeper Marina, Yiti Beach and Wadi Kabir faults were activated. The upper Seeb Formation records the late transition to rift‐style basin phase, with fault‐controlled sedimentary growth packages and facies distributions. A predominance of carbonates over siliciclastic sediments resulted from increasing near‐fault accommodation, complemented by reduced sedimentary input from upland catchments. Hence, facies distributions in the Bandar Jissah Basin reflect the progression from detachment to rift‐style tectonics, adding to the understanding of post‐orogenic extensional basin systems.     

New insights in the development of syn‐depositional fractures in rimmed flat‐topped carbonate platforms,Neogene carbonate complexes,Sorbas Basin,SE Spain

The formation of syn‐depositional fractures in carbonate platforms is considered an important feature in the understanding of platform evolution. This study investigates the mechanisms of fracture formation in rimmed flat‐topped carbonate platforms in the very well‐exposed Cariatiz Miocene Fringing Reef Unit, SE Spain. Fracture data were obtained using a combination of LIDAR and field mapping techniques, which proved useful in understanding general fracture trends. The morphological expression of fracture sets, preferred fracture localization, crosscutting relationships and fracture fill are characteristics that provide constraints on the timing of fracture formation and opening. Three dominant fracture populations were identified, amongst which a margin parallel and a margin perpendicular fracture set. Margin parallel fractures localize around the platform margin and form vertically extensive dikes that crosscut facies boundaries. The sedimentary fill of such fractures suggests syn‐depositional fracture formation under marine conditions. Together, fracture characteristics suggest a gravitational driver for the formation of tensile stress and the development of margin parallel fractures along the platform edge. Margin perpendicular structures form sub‐vertical dikes and fracture corridors. Margin perpendicular fractures localize on the platform slope and show two types of fracture fill, indicating marine and continental origins. Based on variations of fracture morphology along the carbonate platform, fracture localization, petrographic analysis of sedimentary fill and stable isotope analysis on sparite cements, we suggest a gravitational control on the formation of these fractures. Two mechanisms for the formation of subvertical margin perpendicular fractures are proposed: (1) principal stress rotation as a result of downslope loading. (2) Differential compaction over buried gulley systems on antecedent clinoform slopes. We suggest that the formation of sub‐vertical margin perpendicular fractures might be a systematic feature in slopes of flat‐topped carbonate platforms.     

Grain‐Size Characteristics of Dune Networks in China's Tengger Desert

Grain‐size characteristics of dune networks in the Tengger Desert of northwestern China were investigated. Grain‐size parameters (mean, standard deviation, skew, and kurtosis) were determined on dune surfaces at windward toe, stoss, crest and leeward toe locations. Multiple discriminant analyses were applied to distinguish deposition environments. Results indicated that the aeolian sediment is mainly composed of very fine and fine sand in the dune networks of the Tengger Desert. Sorting improves as grain size becomes finer. However, the relationships between mean grain size, skew, and kurtosis vary in space. There is a negative relationship between skew and sorting; similarly, the relationships between sorting and skew, and skew and kurtosis change in space. The sediment deposition environment includes aeolian sediment and lacustrine sediment. The lacustrine sediment provides the source material for dune windward toe and stoss formation and development, but the aeolian sediment provides the source material for dune crest and leeward toe formation and development. According to the log‐probability of grain size distributions, aeolian sediments in dune networks are composed of two distinct saltation populations.     

Frozen Ground Phenomena in the Vicinity of Terra Nova Bay, Northern Victoria land, Antarctica: A Preliminary Report

Frozen ground phenomena in the Northern Foothills, Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica, include large–scale polygons, 15–20 m in diameter, and small frost mounds, 1–5 m high. The polygons are most widespread on terrain formed upon Younger Drift and are usually surrounded by interpolygon furrows or troughs, 10–30 cm deep and 10–100 cm wide. The troughs contain shallow wedges of sandy gravel (sand wedges) near the surface but excavations into underlying permafrost indicate that small ice wedges or ice veins are locally present. Field and anecdotal evidence suggest that thermal contraction cracking is active under today's climate. Frost mounds occur in association with a number of perennially frozen lakes in the region. In most cases they appear related to frost and icing blister activity caused by the episodic injection of free water from below. The debris–covered nature of the centre of Enigma Lake is best explained in terms of basal ice accretion beneath the lake–ice cover.     

A flexural model for the Paradox Basin: implications for the tectonics of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains

The Paradox Basin is a large (190 km × 265 km) asymmetric basin that developed along the southwestern flank of the basement‐involved Uncompahgre uplift in Utah and Colorado, USA during the Pennsylvanian–Permian Ancestral Rocky Mountain (ARM) orogenic event. Previously interpreted as a pull‐apart basin, the Paradox Basin more closely resembles intraforeland flexural basins such as those that developed between the basement‐cored uplifts of the Late Cretaceous–Eocene Laramide orogeny in the western interior USA. The shape, subsidence history, facies architecture, and structural relationships of the Uncompahgre–Paradox system are exemplary of typical ‘immobile’ foreland basin systems. Along the southwest‐vergent Uncompahgre thrust, ～5 km of coarse‐grained syntectonic Desmoinesian–Wolfcampian (mid‐Pennsylvanian to early Permian; ～310–260 Ma) sediments were shed from the Uncompahgre uplift by alluvial fans and reworked by aeolian‐modified fluvial megafan deposystems in the proximal Paradox Basin. The coeval rise of an uplift‐parallel barrier ～200 km southwest of the Uncompahgre front restricted reflux from the open ocean south and west of the basin, and promoted deposition of thick evaporite‐shale and biohermal carbonate facies in the medial and distal submarine parts of the basin, respectively. Nearshore carbonate shoal and terrestrial siliciclastic deposystems overtopped the basin during the late stages of subsidence during the Missourian through Wolfcampian (～300–260 Ma) as sediment flux outpaced the rate of generation of accommodation space. Reconstruction of an end‐Permian two‐dimensional basin profile from seismic, borehole, and outcrop data depicts the relationship of these deposystems to the differential accommodation space generated by Pennsylvanian–Permian subsidence, highlighting the similarities between the Paradox basin‐fill and that of other ancient and modern foreland basins. Flexural modeling of the restored basin profile indicates that the Paradox Basin can be described by flexural loading of a fully broken continental crust by a model Uncompahgre uplift and accompanying synorogenic sediments. Other thrust‐bounded basins of the ARM have similar basin profiles and facies architectures to those of the Paradox Basin, suggesting that many ARM basins may share a flexural geodynamic mechanism. Therefore, plate tectonic models that attempt to explain the development of ARM uplifts need to incorporate a mechanism for the widespread generation of flexural basins.     

河西走廊西端灌丛沙丘发育过程及其对沙漠化的指示意义

在风沙活动强烈的荒漠地区开展环境变化研究常缺乏符合要求的地质测年材料。灌丛沙丘是干旱区发育的一种特殊生物地貌类型,具有计年和储存环境信息的功能,可以用来重建沙丘的发育过程和过去的环境变化。以河西走廊西端花海盆地发育的灌丛沙丘沉积剖面为研究对象,基于AMS¹⁴C年代学及沉积物粒度、碳酸盐含量、地球化学元素等代用指标的分析,与文献记载、沙漠化监测数据和近几十年的器测气象资料对比分析,试图揭示区域灌丛沙丘的发育过程及其环境指示意义。结果表明：花海盆地灌丛沙丘的发育时间已超过800 年;20世纪60年代中后期至70年代早期人类活动的干扰曾使灌丛沙丘的堆积过程中断,但丰富的物源随后又促使灌丛沙丘再次快速发育。沙丘物源曾发生过剧烈的变化,使得灌丛沙丘沉积物中的粗颗粒组分和中值粒径并不适于作为环境代用指标重建区域的风沙环境变化,而细颗粒组分（<63 μm和<10 μm）和碳酸盐含量的变化,则揭示了研究区在20世纪70-80年代（沙丘高度300~420 cm）时获得了丰富的物质来源。灌丛沙丘沉积物中的Zr/Rb比值,能够作为良好的环境代用指标指示1970-1988年（沙丘高度300~420 cm）区域处在风沙活动较强烈的环境;近几十年花海盆地土地沙漠化明显,尤其是20世纪70年代和80年代。灌丛沙丘可以作为有较高可信度的地质记录载体,在河西走廊西端重建较长时间尺度的、高分辨率的区域气候环境演变历史。     

塔克拉玛干沙漠河湖相沉积平原风蚀地貌发育的外营力作用机制

 河湖相沉积是一种非固结沉积物,是风蚀地貌发育的一种重要地质基础。在塔克拉玛干沙漠中发育在这种沉积物上的风蚀地貌分布非常普遍,但相关研究较少,尚缺乏风蚀地貌发育过程方面的研究。基于野外调查信息和理论分析,结合相关文献,分析了塔克拉玛干沙漠河湖相平原风蚀地貌发育的外营力作用机制。研究结果表明：（1）风蚀地貌发育的外营力作用主要有：风化作用、流水作用、风蚀作用以及重力作用;（2）风蚀作用是风蚀地貌发育的主要外营力,但是风化作用、流水作用和重力作用也发挥着重要的作用,它们的关键作用是形成风蚀突破口,而重力作用和风化作用是促进风蚀地貌后期快速发展的重要作用;（3）各种外营力协同作用和互为条件,它们在风蚀地貌发育的各阶段的重要性不同;（4）沉积层特殊沉积构造和外营力作用共同造成了风蚀地貌形态特征。     

Unroofing the core of the central Andean fold‐thrust belt during focused late Miocene exhumation: evidence from the Tipuani‐Mapiri wedge‐top basin,Bolivia

As the highest part of the central Andean fold‐thrust belt, the Eastern Cordillera defines an orographic barrier dividing the Altiplano hinterland from the South American foreland. Although the Eastern Cordillera influences the climatic and geomorphic evolution of the central Andes, the interplay among tectonics, climate and erosion remains unclear. We investigate these relationships through analyses of the depositional systems, sediment provenance and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology of the upper Miocene Cangalli Formation exposed in the Tipuani‐Mapiri basin (15–16°S) along the boundary of the Eastern Cordillera and Interandean Zone in Bolivia. Results indicate that coarse‐grained nonmarine sediments accumulated in a wedge‐top basin upon a palaeotopographic surface deeply incised into deformed Palaeozoic rocks. Seven lithofacies and three lithofacies associations reflect deposition by high‐energy braided river systems, with stratigraphic relationships revealing significant (～500 m) palaeorelief. Palaeocurrents and compositional provenance data link sediment accumulation to pronounced late Miocene erosion of the deepest levels of the Eastern Cordillera. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of interbedded tuffs suggest that sedimentation along the Eastern Cordillera–Interandean Zone boundary was ongoing by 9.2 Ma and continued until at least ～7.4 Ma. Limited deformation of subhorizontal basin fill, in comparison with folded and faulted rocks of the unconformably underlying Palaeozoic section, implies that the thrust front had advanced into the Subandean Zone by the 11–9 Ma onset of basin filling. Documented rapid exhumation of the Eastern Cordillera from ～11 Ma onward was decoupled from upper‐crustal shortening and coeval with sedimentation in the Tipuani‐Mapiri basin, suggesting climate change (enhanced precipitation) or lower crustal and mantle processes (stacking of basement thrust sheets or removal of mantle lithosphere) as possible controls on late Cenozoic erosion and wedge‐top accumulation. Regardless of the precise trigger, we propose that an abruptly increased supply of wedge‐top sediment produced an additional sedimentary load that helped promote late Miocene advance of the central Andean thrust front in the Subandean Zone.     

Tectono‐sedimentary Evolution of Early Pennsylvanian Alluvial Systems at the Onset of the Alleghanian Orogeny,Pocahontas Basin,Virginia

Foreland basin strata provide an opportunity to review the depositional response of alluvial systems to unsteady tectonic load variations at convergent plate margins. The lower Breathitt Group of the Pocahontas Basin, a sub‐basin of the Central Appalachian Basin, in Virginia preserves an Early Pennsylvanian record of sedimentation during initial foreland basin subsidence of the Alleghanian orogeny. Utilizing fluvial facies distributions and long‐term stacking patterns within the context of an ancient, marginal‐marine foreland basin provides stratigraphic evidence to disentangle a recurring, low‐frequency residual tectonic signature from high‐frequency glacioeustatic events. Results from basin‐wide facies analysis, corroborated with petrography and detrital zircon geochronology, support a two end‐member depositional system of coexisting transverse and longitudinal alluvial systems infilling the foredeep during eustatic lowstands. Provenance data suggest that sediment was derived from low‐grade metamorphic Grenvillian‐Avalonian terranes and recycling of older Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks uplifted as part of the Alleghanian orogen and Archean‐Superior‐Province. Immature sediments, including lithic sandstone bodies, were deposited within a SE‐NW oriented transverse drainage system. Quartzarenites were deposited within a strike‐parallel NE‐SW oriented axial drainage, forming elongate belts along the western basin margin. These mature quartzarenites were deposited within a braided fluvial system that originated from a northerly cratonic source area. Integrating subsurface and sandstone provenance data indicates significant, repeated palaeogeographical shifts in alluvial facies distribution. Distinct wedges comprising composite sequences are bounded by successive shifts in alluvial facies and define three low‐frequency tectonic accommodation cycles. The proposed tectonic accommodation cycles provide an explanation for the recognized low‐frequency composite sequences, defining short‐term episodes of unsteady westward migration of the flexural Appalachian Basin and constrain the relative timing of deformation events during cratonward progression of the Alleghanian orogenic wedge.     

库布齐沙漠南缘抛物线形沙丘表面风沙流结构变异

对库布齐沙漠南缘抛物线形沙丘表面气流和输沙率的野外观测和分析结果表明,沙丘表面约90%的风沙输移集中在距沙面0.10 m高度范围内,输沙率随高度递减的形式在沙丘各部位因风速、下垫面状况和坡面形态不同而发生变异。沙丘迎风坡坡脚因出露坚硬、含砾石地表,颗粒跃移高度大,风沙流上层相对输沙率大;迎风坡沙粒沿坡向上运动,颗粒跃移高度减小,风沙流中近地表相对输沙率大;沙丘背风坡沙粒沿坡向下运动,加之来自丘顶变型跃移物质的影响,风沙流上层相对输沙率较大;脊线受迎风坡各个断面地形差异的影响,各观测点间风沙流结构差异显著。风沙流结构在迎风坡和丘顶均遵循指数递减规律(Q=aexp(-z/b)),其中,指数函数拟合中系数a与输沙率具有良好的幂函数关系,随风速增加而增加,但二者关系较弱;b与二者无相关性。背风坡风沙流结构具有明显的分段现象,以0.10 m高度为界,下层符合指数函数,上层符合幂函数。