准噶尔盆地车排子凸起东缘下切谷特征及其形成机制

下切谷是层序地层学研究的重要内容之一,同时也是寻找地层、岩性等圈闭的有利地区。综合利用钻测井、三维地震资料以及地震平面属性信息,在车排子凸起至红—车断裂带区域识别出下切谷沉积体系,对下切谷的发育特征以及形成机制进行分析,结果表明:地震振幅绝对值之和属性体显示研究区发育4条近东西流向的下切谷,主要表现为分支型和单一型的平面形态特征。在地震剖面上,几何形态以V形和U形为主,谷内沉积物充填样式有双向上超充填型和侧向加积充填型,同时具有加积、前积和上超等地震反射特征,属于“顺源堆积”与“溯源堆积”的交互沉积。结合准噶尔盆地车排子凸起中生代构造及气候演化特征分析认为,凸起东缘下切谷形成于晚侏罗世。该时期车排子凸起强烈隆升,相对湖平面急剧下降,河流侵蚀下伏地层导致下切谷形成。下切谷内沉积充填阶段发生在白垩纪。该时期车排子凸起剧烈下沉,相对湖平面上升,下切谷持续性的接受沉积充填。     

Controls on late Quaternary incised‐valley dimension along passive margins evaluated using empirical data

Incised valleys are canyon‐like features that initially form near the highstand shoreline and evolve over geological time as rivers erode into coastal plains and continental shelves to maintain equilibrium‐gradient profiles in response to sea‐level fall. Most of these valleys flood during sea‐level rise to form estuaries. Incised‐valley morphology strongly controls the rate of creation of sediment accommodation, valley‐fill facies architecture and the preservation potential of coastal lithosomes on continental shelves, and affects coastal physical processes. Nonetheless, little is known about what dictates incised‐valley size and shape and whether these metrics can be used to explain principal formation processes. The main control on alluvial channel morphology over human time scales is discharge; this is based on numerous empirical studies and is well‐constrained because all variables are easily measured at this short time scale. Knowledge of long‐term river evolution over a complete glacio‐eustatic cycle, on the contrary, remains largely conceptual, experimental and based on individual systems because variables that are thought to drive morphological change are not easily quantified. In spite of this difficulty, existing models of incised‐valley formation at the coast suggest that valley evolution is driven largely by downstream forcing mechanisms, highlighting sea‐level and shelf gradient/morphology as the dominant controls on valley incision. Although valleys are cut by rivers, whose channels are a direct reflection of discharge, little empirical data exist in coastal areas to address the degree to which valley evolution is governed by upstream controls. The late Quaternary is the best time period to examine because it provides the most complete sedimentary record and many variables, including sea‐level, tectonics, substrate lithology and drainage network characteristics, are accurately constrained. Here, 38 late Quaternary valleys along the coast of two different passive continental margins are compared, which suggests that valley shape and size are governed primarily by upstream, intrinsic controls such as discharge. Valley width, depth and cross‐sectional area are found to be predictable at the highstand shoreline and are scaled with the size of their drainage basin, which has important implications for estimating sediment discharge to continental shelves and deep water environments during periods of low sea‐level.     

库车坳陷古近系库姆格列木组高精度层序地层分析及其油气勘探意义

库车坳陷古近系库姆格列木组是盆地内重要的含油气层段。本文应用高精度层序地层学的理论和方法，在库车坳陷古近系库姆格列木组地层中划分出3个三级层序、14个四级层序和数十个五级层序(准层序)。四级层序中发育有冲积扇、辫状河、曲流河、辫状河三角洲和滨浅湖等沉积体系，局部地区发育下切水道、干旱盐湖、泻湖—海湾、半深湖、浊流—重力流等沉积。该组下部四级层序：Psk1、Psk5和中上部四级层序Psk7、Psk12等的砂质沉积形成区内的主力储层，主要分布在盆地北—西北缘和东—东南缘，与其上覆的泥岩、膏泥岩形成有利的储盖组合。     

Facies and architecture of a coarse-grained alluvial-dominated incised valley fill: a case study from the Oligocene Gebel Ahmar Formation,Southern Tethyan-shelf (northern Egypt)

Exposures of multistorey, alluvial deposits from the Oligocene Gebel Ahmar Formation in the Cairo-Suez province (north Eastern Desert, Egypt) show the architecture of an up to 35 m thick continuously prograding fluvial/alluvial filling of an incised valley. The Oligocene base level fall resulted in cannibalization of the Eocene bedrock. Subsequent baselevel rise created accommodation space that was filled by deposition of four stacked storeys: lower storeys (1-2) of low sinuosity sandy braid plains and upper storeys (3-4) of gravelly braid plain. These braid plains were sourced from exposed Upper Cretaceous-Eocene and Paleozoic-Lower Cretaceous siliciclastic successions to the south. These successions dominate the Galala-Araba inverted structures. The sandy braid plain channel belts mainly downstream accretion (DA), downstream oblique accretion(DLA), lateral accretion (LA), sandy bedforms (SB), channel (CH), and Hollow (HO) elements, while the gravelly braid plain consists mainly of gravel bars and sheets (GB), gravel-sandstone foresets (GSF), gravel-sand couplets (GSC), and scour pool filling (SPF) architectures. Incised valley incision is potentially linked to a global drop of sea level caused by glaciation, although hinterland tectonism (i.e. Late Cretaceous-Paleogene tectonic inversion and Late Eocene-Oligocene crustal updoming in the source terrains) as well as Late Oligocene-Miocene rifting play a significant role in the subsequent filling. The hinterland tectonism as well as the climate controls the sediment supply. The understanding of the nature of the Oligocene incised valley fill helps in the constrain potential down depositional dip hydrocarbon reservoirs in Nile Delta, East Mediterranean basins, and similar settings in passive continental margins.     

末次盛冰期以来长江三角洲地区的沉积相和古地理

末次盛冰期低海平面期间,长江三角洲地区可划分为2个古地理单元：古河谷和古河间地。下切河谷底部侵蚀面和古河间地顶面构成了冰后期海侵沉积旋回的底界面,它相当于层序地层学中的层序界面。位于河口湾-浅海相中的最大海侵面将冰后期海侵沉积旋回分为其下的海侵层序和其上的海退层序。随着δ¹⁸O ₃期的海平面下降,长江开始下切,至δ¹⁸O ₂期低海面时形成巨大的下切河谷。冰后期海平面上升引发的海侵造成了长江古河谷系的充填和河床、河漫滩－河口湾和部分河口湾－浅海相的形成,尔后的进积产生了部分河口湾－浅海相及三角洲相等。溯源堆积是产生下部河流沉积单元的主要过程,其中河漫滩沉积中出现的潮汐层理和少量小个体有孔虫说明了海洋因素的影响,河口湾－浅海相泥质沉积主要形成于最大海侵之时,三角洲的进积则产生了具有多期河口坝的三角洲。古河间地表面的硬粘土层经历了沉积和成壤作用交替、持续成壤作用和早期成岩作用,它们大致分别对应于δ¹⁸O ₃期、δ¹⁸O ₂期和δ¹⁸O ₁期,硬粘土层中留下了这3种作用的烙印。长江三角洲古河间地的古土壤母质属河漫滩相。持续成壤阶段河流基面和地下水位均较低,年降雨量约为500～800 mm,相当于现今的温带地区,干湿周期变化明显,地下水升降频繁。所有这些表明,当时并非干旱气候。     

The morphology of a Messinian valley and its hinterland (Ventimiglia,NW Italy): a Miocene to Pliocene reconstruction

Along the Ligurian coast (NW Italy), Alpine‐folded and slightly metamorphosed rocks experienced fluvial to marine erosion prior to and during the base level fall associated with the Messinian salinity crisis. Following the subsequent sea‐level rise at the onset of the Pliocene, valleys incised along the coastal margins during the Messinian salinity crisis were partly filled with Pliocene marine and continental deposits. One such valley‐infill system is exposed near Ventimiglia (NW Italy). Using geological cross‐sections and geomorphological analysis we have constrained its shape and dimensions, as well as the morphology of its hinterland. The Messinian valley was very open, ∼10 km wide and probably 500 m deep. The basal unconformity between the Pliocene sediments and the underlying substratum is characterized by a smooth surface that has on either side of the palaeo‐valley a dip between 2 and 10°. The basal unconformity in the southernmost part of the palaeo‐valley roughly coincides with present‐day sea level. The hinterland of the middle Pliocene sea was characterized by kilometres‐wide valleys surrounded by mountains with a relief gentler than at present. The shapes and dimensions of the Messinian Ventimiglia valley and the relief during Pliocene times are different from those derived from comparable structures in SE France and NW Italy. We interpret this as being due to the exhumation history that the Ventimiglia region, different from the surrounding areas, experienced over the last few million years. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Differentiating the effect of episodic tectonism and eustatic sea-level fluctuations in foreland basins filled by alluvial fans and axial deltaic systems: insights from a three-dimensional stratigraphic forward model

Many studies of foreland basins have recognized a hierarchical organization in the stacking of sequences deposited by axial‐deltaic and alluvial fan systems. The hierarchy is often explained in terms of the competing control of eustasy and pulsed tectonic subsidence and the different frequencies at which these processes operate. Unravelling the relative contributions of tectonic and eustatic controls on the sequence stacking pattern is a fundamental question in foreland basin analysis, yet this is difficult because of the lack of independent stratigraphic evidence. In this study, a three‐dimensional numerical model is presented, which aids in the interpretation of alluvial successions in foreland basins filled by transverse and axial depositional systems, under conditions of variable tectonism and eustatic sea‐level change. The tectono‐sedimentary model is capable of simulating the hierarchical stratigraphic response to both eustatic and tectonic forcing, and is of higher resolution than previous models of foreland basin filling. Numerical results indicate that the onset of tectonic activity is reflected by rapid retrogradation of both depositional systems and by widespread flooding and onlap of carbonate sediments. Syntectonic fluvial patterns on the axial‐deltaic plain are dominated by bifurcating channels, swiftly relocating in response to the general rise in relative sea level induced by flexural subsidence. The resulting surface morphology of the axial delta is convex upwards. Syntectonic eustatic sea‐level fluctuations result in parasequence‐scale packages of retrograding and prograding fan and delta sediments bounded by minor flooding surfaces and type 2 sequence boundaries. Incised channels are rare within the syntectonic parasequences and are formed only during phases of tectonic quiescence when eustatic falls are no longer compensated by the subsidence component in the rise in relative sea level. Suites of amalgamating, axial channels corresponding to multiple eustatic falls delineate the resulting type 1 unconformities. Coarse‐grained, incised‐channel fills are found in the zone between the alluvial fan fringes and the convex‐upward body of the axial delta, as the axial streams tend to migrate towards this zone of maximum accommodation.     

Late‐glacial to Holocene depositional architecture of the Ombrone palaeovalley system (Southern Tuscany,Italy): Sea‐level,climate and local control in valley‐fill variability

The Ombrone palaeovalley was incised during the last glacial sea‐level fall and was infilled during the subsequent Late‐glacial to Holocene transgression. A detailed sedimentological and stratigraphic study of two cores along the palaeovalley axis led to reconstruction of the post‐Last Glacial Maximum valley‐fill history. Stratigraphic correlations show remarkable similarity in the Late‐glacial to early‐Holocene succession, but discrepancy in the Holocene portion of the valley fill. Above the palaeovalley floor, about 60 m below sea‐level, Late‐glacial sedimentation is recorded by an unusually thick alluvial succession dated back to ca 18 cal kyr bp . The Holocene onset was followed by the retrogradational shift from alluvial to coastal facies. In seaward core OM1, the transition from inner to outer estuarine environments marks the maximum deepening of the system. By comparison, in landward core OM2, the emplacement of estuarine conditions was interrupted by renewed continental sedimentation. Swamp to lacustrine facies, stratigraphically equivalent to the fully estuarine facies of core OM1, represent the proximal expression of the maximum flooding zone. This succession reflects location in a confined segment of the valley, just landward of the confluence with a tributary valley. It is likely that sudden sediment input from the tributary produced a topographic threshold, damming the main valley course and isolating its landward segment from the sea. The seaward portion of the Ombrone palaeovalley presents the typical estuarine backfilling succession of allogenically controlled incised valleys. In contrast, in the landward portion of the system, local dynamics completely overwhelmed the sea‐level signal, following marine ingression. This study highlights the complexity of palaeovalley systems, where local morphologies, changes in catchment areas, drainage systems and tributary valleys may produce facies patterns significantly different from the general stratigraphic organization depicted by traditional sequence‐stratigraphic models.     

Numerical modelling of depositional sequences in half-graben rift basins

ABSTRACT A three‐dimensional numerical model of sediment transport and deposition in coarse‐grained deltas is used to investigate the controls on depositional sequence variability in marine half‐graben extensional basins subject to eustatic sea‐level change. Using rates of sea‐level change, sediment supply and fault slip reported from active rift basins, the evolution of deltas located in three contrasting structural settings is documented: (1) footwall‐sourced deltas in high‐subsidence locations near the centre of a fault segment; (2) deltas fed by large drainage catchments at fault tips; and (3) deltas sourced from drainage catchments on the hangingwall dip slope. Differences in the three‐dimensional form and internal stratigraphy of the deltas result from variations in tilting of the hangingwall and the impact of border fault slip rates on accommodation development. Because subsidence rates near the centre of fault segments are greater than all but the fastest eustatic falls, footwall‐sourced deltas lack sequence boundaries and are characterized by stacked highstand systems tracts. High subsidence and steep bathymetry adjacent to the fault result in limited progradation. In contrast, the lower subsidence rate settings of the fault‐tip and hangingwall dip‐slope deltas mean that they are subject to relative sea‐level fall and associated fluvial incision and forced regression. Low gradients and tectonic tilting of the hangingwall influence the geometry of these deltas, with fault‐tip deltas preferentially prograding axially along the fault, creating elongate delta lobes. In contrast, broad, sheet‐like delta lobes characterize the hangingwall dip‐slope deltas. The model results suggest that different systems tracts may be coeval over length scales of several kilometres and that key stratal surfaces defining and subdividing depositional sequences may only be of local extent. Furthermore, the results highlight pitfalls in sequence‐stratigraphic interpretation and problems in interpreting controlling processes from the preserved stratigraphic product.     

Architecture of vertically stacked fluvial deposits,Atane Formation,Cretaceous, Nuussuaq,central West Greenland

Excellent exposures of thick, multistorey, fluvial deposits from the deltaic Atane Formation on south‐east Nuussuaq, central West Greenland, show the architecture of up to 100 m thick continuously aggrading fluvial depositional complexes. The succession comprises vertically stacked channel belt sandstones separated by thin floodplain deposits, with little to no incision between storeys. Architectural elements and palaeocurrent patterns of channel deposits indicate deposition in large, relatively stable, low‐sinuosity rivers, probably located within an incised valley. Gradual transitions from channel to floodplain deposits accompanied by a gradual change from floodplain to spillover sand suggest avulsion on the floodplain as a possible mechanism for the vertically alternating channel and floodplain deposits. Despite its relative proximity to contemporaneous sea‐level (ca 35 km upstream from the palaeo‐shoreline) the depositional complex is entirely non‐marine. The aggrading nature of the deposits suggests a continuously rising base level coupled with a high and steady sediment supply. Vertical alternations between floodplain and channel deposits may be forced by subtle interruptions in this balance or autocyclic mechanisms on the floodplain. This study provides an example of aggrading lowstand/non‐marine transgressive systems tract deposits.     

杭洲湾地区晚第四纪下切河谷内部相结构与生物气勘探

本文根据杭州湾沿海平原大量的钻井、静力触探井和分析化验等资料，研究了下切河谷（钱塘江和太湖下切河谷）充填物的沉积建造和沉积相，以及浅层生物气藏分布特征。研究表明，末次冰期以来，随着海平面变化，杭州湾地区下切河谷演化经历了深切、快速充填和埋藏三个阶段。末次冰盛期，海平面下降的幅度大，增加了河流梯度、加强了下切作用，本区形成了钱塘江和太湖下切河谷，随后在冰后期被充填和埋藏，下切河谷的两侧为暴露地表的古河间地。根据岩石学、沉积结构和沉积构造特征，本区下切河谷充填沉积物表现为向上变细的沉积层序，可以划分为4个沉积相类型，有河床滞留沉积物到部分曲流河沉积体系的边滩沉积、河漫滩-河口湾沉积、河口湾-浅海沉积和河口湾沙坝沉积。在河漫滩-河口湾相沉积期间，由于海平面上升、潮流体系、沉积物供给和可容空间条件适合一个潮流沙脊体系的发育，该相中砂质透镜体可能代表下切河谷内发育的潮流沙脊。对于河口湾-浅海沉积和河口湾沙坝沉积而言，由于沉积条件不再有利，没有形成沙脊沉积。所有的商业性生物气都存储在下切河谷内河漫滩-河口湾砂质透镜体中。     

River tributaries as sediment sinks: Processes operating where the Tapajós and Xingu rivers meet the Amazon tidal river

The Amazon River is the largest fluvial source of fresh water and sediment to the global ocean and has the longest tidally influenced reach in the world. Two major rivers, the Tapajós and Xingu, enter the Amazon along its tidal reach. However, unlike most fluvial confluences, these are not one‐way conduits through which water and sediment flow downstream towards the sea. The drowned‐river valleys (rias) at the confluences of the Tapajós and Xingu with the Amazon River experience water‐level fluctuations associated not only with the seasonal rise and fall of the river network, but also with semidiurnal tides that propagate as far as 800 km up the Amazon River. Superimposed seasonal and tidal forcing, distinct sediment and temperature signatures of Amazon and tributary waters, and antecedent geomorphology combine to create mainstem–tributary confluences that act as sediment traps rather than sources of sediment. Hydrodynamic measurements are combined with data from sediment cores to determine the distribution of tributary‐derived and Amazon‐derived sediment within the ria basins, characterize the sediment‐transport mechanisms within the confluence areas and estimate rates of sediment accumulation within both rias. The Tapajós and Xingu ria basins trap the majority of the sediment carried by the tributaries themselves in addition to ca 20 Mt year^?1 of sediment sourced from the Amazon River. These findings have implications for the interpretation of stratigraphy associated with incised‐valley systems, such as those that dominated the transfer of sediment to the oceans during lowstands in sea level.     

From a river valley to a ria: Evolution of an incised valley (Ría de Ferrol,north‐west Spain) since the Last Glacial Maximum

The evolution of incised valleys is an important area of research due to the invaluable data it provides on sea‐level variations and depositional environments. In this article the sedimentary evolution of the Ría de Ferrol (north‐west Spain) from the Last Glacial Maximum to the present is reconstructed using a multidisciplinary approach, combining seismic and sedimentary facies, and supported by radiocarbon data and geochemical proxies to distinguish the elements of sedimentary architecture within the ria infill. The main objectives are: (i) to analyse the ria environment as a type of incised valley to evaluate the response of the system to the different drivers; (ii) to investigate the major controlling factors; and (iii) to explore the differentiation between rias and estuaries. As a consequence of the sea‐level rise subsequent to the Last Glacial Maximum (ca 20 kyr bp ), an extensive basin, drained by a braided palaeoriver, evolved into a tide‐dominated estuary and finally into a ria environment. Late Pleistocene and Holocene high‐frequency sea‐level variations were major factors that modulated the type of depositional environments and their evolution. Another major modulating factor was the antecedent morphology of the ria, with a rock‐incised narrow channel in the middle of the basin (the Ferrol Strait), which influenced the evolution of the ria as it became flooded during Holocene transgression. The strait acted as a rock‐bounded ‘tidal inlet’ enhancing the tidal erosion and deposition at both ends, i.e. with an ebb‐tidal delta in the outer sector and tidal sandbanks in the inner sector. The final step in the evolution of the incised valley into the modern‐defined ria system was driven by the last relative sea‐level rise (after 4 kyr bp ) when the river mouths retreated landward and a single palaeoriver was converted into minor rivers and streams with scattered mouths in an extensive coastal area.     

鄂尔多斯东北部太原组上部灰岩段高分辨层序地层分析

根据对露头、测井和岩心资料的垂向分析和横向对比,结合古生物化石资料,在识别关键性界面的基础上,对鄂尔多斯东北部下二叠统太原组上部灰岩段建立了高分辨层序地层格架,划分出5个三级层序。研究层段为有陆源碎屑混入的碳酸盐缓坡沉积,形成于华北晚古生代最大海侵阶段。各层序分别由低位体系域的下切谷充填沉积的砂岩、砂砾岩,海侵体系的灰岩、泥灰岩、泥岩、煤和高位体系域的碎屑岩和煤组成。区内厚达数十米的桥头砂岩主要由几个层序低位域下切河谷充填沉积叠置而成。通过编制的各层序海侵域灰岩的厚度和分布图,证实层序3、4沉积期海侵范围最大。早二叠世早期海侵来自东南和西南两个方向      

库车坳陷古近系层序和沉积体系发育特征

以露头和测井资料为基础,建立了库车坳陷古近系层序地层格架,划分出5个三级层序和2 4个四级层序。四级层序内识别出冲积扇/扇三角洲、辫状河、曲流河、辫状河三角洲、下切水道、滨浅湖、干盐湖、泻湖-海湾、半深湖浊流-重力流等多种沉积体系。通过层序-体系域对比,将区内的三级层序划分为6种沉积构成类型,总结了每种类型在前陆盆地中的发育和分布特征。      

Signatures of climate vs. sea-level change within incised valley-fill successions: Quaternary examples from the Texas GULF Coast

The passive margin Texas Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain consists of coalescing late Pleistocene to Holocene alluvial–deltaic plains constructed by a series of medium to large fluvial systems. Alluvial–deltaic plains consist of the Pleistocene Beaumont Formation, and post-Beaumont coastal plain incised valleys. A variety of mapping, outcrop, core, and geochronological data from the extrabasinal Colorado River and the basin-fringe Trinity River show that Beaumont and post-Beaumont strata consist of a series of coastal plain incised valley fills that represent 100 kyr climatic and glacio-eustatic cycles.

Valley fills contain a complex alluvial architecture. Falling stage to lowstand systems tracts consist of multiple laterally amalgamated sandy channelbelts that reflect deposition within a valley that was incised below highstand alluvial plains, and extended across a subaerially-exposed shelf. The lower boundary to falling stage and lowstand units comprises a composite valley fill unconformity that is time-transgressive in both cross- and down-valley directions. Coastal plain incised valleys began to fill with transgression and highstand, and landward translation of the shoreline: paleosols that define the top of falling stage and lowstand channelbelts were progressively onlapped and buried by heterolithic sandy channelbelt, sandy and silty crevasse channel and splay, and muddy floodbasin strata. Transgressive to highstand facies-scale architecture reflects changes through time in dominant styles of avulsion, and follows a predictable succession through different stages of valley filling. Complete valley filling promoted avulsion and the large-scale relocation of valley axes before the next sea-level fall, such that successive 100 kyr valley fills show a distributary pattern.

Basic elements within coastal plain valleys can be correlated with the record offshore, where cross-shelf valleys have been described from seismic data. Falling stage to lowstand channelbelts within coastal plain valleys were feeder systems for shelf-phase and shelf-margin deltas, respectively, and demonstrate that falling stage fluvial deposits are important valley fill components. Signatures of both upstream climate change vs. downstream sea-level controls are therefore interpreted to be present within incised valley fills. Signatures of climate change consist of the downstream continuity of major stratigraphic units and component facies, which extends from the mixed bedrock–alluvial valley of the eroding continental interior to the distal reaches, wherever that may be at the time. This continuity suggests the development of stratigraphic units and facies is strongly coupled to upstream controls on sediment supply and climate conditions within hinterland source regions. Signatures of sea-level change are critical as well: sea-level fall below the elevation of highstand depositional shoreline breaks results in channel incision and extension across the newly emergent shelf, which in turn results in partitioning of the 100 kyr coastal plain valleys. Moreover, deposits and key surfaces can be traced from continental interiors to the coastal plain, but there are downstream changes in geometric relations that correspond to the transition between the mixed bedrock–alluvial valley and the coastal plain incised valley. Channel incision and extension during sea-level fall and lowstand, with channel shortening and delta backstepping during transgression, controls the architecture of coastal plain and cross-shelf incised valley fills.     

Fluvial response to rapid high‐amplitude lake‐level changes during the Late Weichselian and early Holocene,Ain River valley,Jura, France

In the present paper the effects of rapid, high‐amplitude base‐level changes during the last glacial‐interglacial transition were studied for the Ain River in eastern France. During the Würm glacial maximum (MIS 2) rapid aggradation by deep‐water Gilbert‐type deltas and shallow‐water fan deltas occurred at the margins of a 20 to 50 m deep proglacial lake. A temporal high‐amplitude lake‐level fall of 60 m resulted in gravel deposition by forced‐regressive deltas, followed by rapid lake‐level rise and fine‐grained glaciolacustrine deposition. During the final deglaciation, a rapid base‐level fall of 40 m resulted in a complex fluvial response. Knickpoint formation and headward incision of the highstand deltas and concomitant deposition of gravel sheets by forced‐regressive deltas and braided systems occurred in several depocentres on the former glacial lake floor. Preservation of highstand and falling‐stage deposits and terrace formation in the incised valley depended on vertical incision and lateral channel migration. Terraces are well developed in the former lake‐floor depressions, whereas vertical incision was dominant in the higher lake‐floor areas. The Ain terrace staircase was likely formed by autogenic processes during a single allogenic base‐level fall. This case study possibly offers an analogue for the preservation of interglacial highstand coastal deltas during sea‐level fall at warm‐to‐cold climate transitions, although the rates of base‐level fall are different.     

The incised valley of Baffin Bay,Texas: a tale of two climates

Baffin Bay, Texas is the flooded Last Glacial Maximum incised valley of the Los Olmos, San Fernando and Petronila Creeks along the north‐western Gulf of Mexico. Cores up to 17 m in length and high‐resolution seismic profiles were used to study the history of Baffin Bay over the last 10 kyr and to document the unusual depositional environments within the valley fill. The deposits of the Baffin Bay incised valley record two major and two minor events. Around 8·0 ka, the estuarine environments backstepped more than 15 km in response to an increase in the rate of sea‐level rise. Around 5·5 ka, these estuarine environments changed from environments similar to other estuaries of the northern Gulf of Mexico to the unusual suite of environments found today. Another minor flooding event occurred around 4·8 ka in which several internal spits were flooded. Some time after 4·0 ka, the upper‐bay mud‐flats experienced a progradational event. Because of its semi‐arid climate and isolation from the Gulf of Mexico, five depositional environments not found in the other incised‐valley fills of the northern Gulf of Mexico are found today within Baffin Bay. These deposits include well‐laminated carbonate and siliciclastic open‐bay muds, ooid beaches, shelly internal spits and barrier islands, serpulid worm‐tube reefs and prograding upper‐bay mud‐flats. Based on these unusual deposits, and other characteristics of Baffin Bay, five criteria are suggested to help identify incised valleys that filled in arid and semi‐arid climates. These criteria include the presence of: (i) hypersaline‐tolerant fauna; (ii) aeolian deposits; and (iii) carbonate and/or evaporite deposits; and the absence of: (iv) peat or other organic‐rich deposits in the upper bay and bay‐margin areas; and (v) well‐developed fluvially dominated bayhead deltas.     

Geological controls on the geometry of incised‐valley fills: Insights from a global dataset of late‐Quaternary examples

Incised valleys that develop due to relative sea‐level change are common features of continental shelves and coastal plains. Assessment of the factors that control the geometry of incised‐valley fills has hitherto largely relied on conceptual, experimental or numerical models, else has been grounded on case studies of individual depositional systems. Here, a database‐driven statistical analysis of 151 late‐Quaternary incised‐valley fills has been performed, the aim being to investigate the geological controls on their geometry. Results of this analysis have been interpreted with consideration of the role of different processes in determining the geometry of incised‐valley fills through their effect on the degree and rate of river incision, and on river size and mobility. The studied incised‐valley fills developed along active margins are thicker and wider, on average, than those along passive margins, suggesting that tectonic setting exerts a control on the geometry of incised‐valley fills, probably through effects on relative sea‐level change and river behaviour, and in relation to distinct characteristics of basin physiography, water discharge and modes of sediment delivery. Valley‐fill geometry is positively correlated with the associated drainage‐basin size, confirming the dominant role of water discharge. Climate is also inferred to exert a potential control on valley‐fill dimensions, possibly through modulations of temperature, peak precipitation, vegetation and permafrost, which would in turn affect water discharge, rates of sediment supply and valley‐margin stability. Shelves with slope breaks that are currently deeper than 120 m contain incised‐valley fills that are thicker and wider, on average, than those hosted on shelves with breaks shallower than 120 m. No correlation exists between valley‐fill thickness and present‐day coastal‐prism convexity, which is measured as the difference in gradient between lower coastal plains and inner shelves. These findings challenge some concepts embedded in sequence stratigraphic thinking, and have significant implications for analysis and improved understanding of ‘source to sink’ sediment route‐ways, and for attempting predictions of the occurrence and characteristics of hydrocarbon reservoirs.     

Palaeosols and sequence stratigraphy of the Lower Permian Abo Member,south‐central New Mexico,USA

The relationship between palaeosols and sequence stratigraphy is tested in the Lower Permian Abo Member, south‐central New Mexico, by comparing interfluve and fluvial‐terrace palaeosols with palaeosols that developed within lowstand‐fluvial deposits. Interfluve and fluvial‐terrace palaeosols consist of primary pedogenic features, including vertical root traces, vertic structures, Stage II and III pedogenic calcite and translocated clay (argillans), which are cross‐cut or replaced by low‐aluminium goethite, gley colour mottling, sparry calcite veins and ankerite. The polygenetic character of the palaeosols is consistent with initial development for several thousand to tens of thousands of years on well‐drained interfluves or fluvial terraces, followed by waterlogging due to invasion by a rising water table that locally may have been brackish. In contrast, lowstand‐fluvial sediment that filled incised valleys contains only rooted and vertic palaeosols, whose immaturity resulted from high aggradation rates. Palaeosols similar to those in the Abo Member have been recognized in other ancient strata and, when combined with high‐resolution correlation, provide evidence for interpretation of sequence‐stratigraphic surfaces and systems tracts.