Thérèse Mound: a case study of coral bank development in the Belgica Mound Province,Porcupine Seabight

High-resolution seismic profiles, swath bathymetry, side-scan sonar data and video imageries are analysed in this detailed study of five carbonate mounds from the Belgica mound province with special emphasis on the well-surveyed Thérèse Mound. The selected mounds are located in the deepest part of the Belgica mound province at water depths of 950 m. Seismic data illustrate that the underlying geology is characterised by drift sedimentation in a general northerly flowing current regime. Sigmoidal sediment bodies create local slope breaks on the most recent local erosional surface, which act as the mound base. No preferential mound substratum is observed, neither is there any indication for deep geological controls on coral bank development. Seismic evidence suggests that the start-up of the coral bank development was shortly after a major erosional event of Late Pliocene–Quaternary age. The coral bank geometry has been clearly affected by the local topography of this erosional base and the prevailing current regime. The summits of the coral banks are relatively flat and the flanks are steepest on their upper slopes. Deposition of the encased drift sequence has been influenced by the coral bank topography. Sediment waves are formed besides the coral banks and are the most pronounced bedforms. These seabed structures are probably induced by bottom current up to 1 m/s. Large sediment waves are colonised by living corals and might represent the initial phase of coral bank development. The biological facies distribution of the coral banks illustrate a living coral cap on the summit and upper slope and a decline of living coral populations toward the lower flanks. The data suggest that the development of the coral banks in this area is clearly an interaction between biological growth processes and drift deposition both influenced by the local topography and current regime.     

Quaternary sequences and their relations to the pre-Quaternary in the vicinity of Anholt, Kattegat, Scandinavia

The stratigraphic record from a boring penetrating the 104 m thick Quaternary sequence on the island of Anholt is summarized. The spatial distribution of the pre-Quaternary formations and the surface topography of these are described on the basis of reflection seismic profiles. It is concluded that Anholt is located in the crestal zone of a southeast–northwest trending anticline in the pre-Quaternary. The anticline was formed during the Late Cretaceous–Early Tertiary inversion episodes and was later deeply truncated by erosion. A southeast–northwest trending erosional channel, c. 2 km wide and with a maximum depth c. 250 m below sea level, is located southeast of Anholt along the crest of the anticline. This channel is not present at the bore locality. Although no direct correlation from the boring to the seismic profiles could be achieved it is argued that a strong reflection near the base of the Quaternary outside the channel may be correlated with the Saalian–Eemian complex found in the boring. Three younger sequences of probable Early and Middle Weichselian, Late Glacial and Holocene age respectively have been recognized. The Late Glacial and Holocene sediments appear to have been deposited in erosional troughs and channels cut into a sequence of Lower and Middle Weichselian sediments. Post-Eemian till deposits or other evidence unambiguously indicating the presence of Weichselian glaciers have not been found, either in the boring or in the seismic profiles. It is therefore assumed that the erosion of the Lower-Middle Weichselian sequence was of fluvial origin and can be ascribed to the lowstand period of the Weichselian glacial period. The western part of Anholt can possibly be regarded as an erosional remnant of the Lower-Middle Weichselian sequence.     

The role of wave reworking on the architecture of storm sandstone facies, Bell Island Group (Lower Ordovician), eastern Newfoundland

Stacked shallow marine cycles in the Lower Ordovician, Bell Island Group, of Bell Island, Newfoundland, show upward thickening and upward coarsening sequences which were deposited on a storm-affected shelf. In the Beach Formation each cycle has a facies sequence comprised, from base to top, of dark grey mudstones, light grey mudstones, tabular sandstones and mudstones, lenticular sandstones and mudstones, and thick bedded lenticular sandstones, reflecting a progressive increase of wave orbital velocities at the sediment surface. The mudstones and tabular sandstones reflect an environment in which the sea floor lay in the lower part of the wave orbital velocity field and in which tempestites were deposited as widespread sheets from weak combined flow currents. The lenticular sandstones in the succeeding facies are wave reworked sands, commonly lying in erosional hollows and having erosional tops and internal hummocky cross-stratification. Planar lamination is relatively uncommon and sole marks are mainly absent. In this facies oscillatory currents were dominant and accumulated sand in patches generally 10–30 m in diameter. The facies formed on the inner shelf where the oscillatory currents generated by storm waves had powerful erosional effects and also determined the depositional bedforms. Mud partings and second-order set boundaries within sandstone beds are believed to separate the products of individual storms so that many lenticular sandstone beds represent the amalgamation of several event beds. This interpretation has important implications for attempts to estimate event frequency by counting sandstone beds within a sequence and for estimates of sand budgets during storm events. The thick bedded lenticular facies appears to have been formed by erosion of the mud beds between the lenticular sands, leading to nearly complete amalgamation of several lenticular sand bodies except for residual mud partings. In the overlying Redmans Formation the process of amalgamation progressed even further so that nearly all the mud partings were removed, resulting in the formation of thick bedded tabular sandstones. Sequence stratigraphic analysis of the cyclical sequence suggests that the cycles were eustatically controlled. The rising limb of the sea level curve produced only the dark grey mudstone part of the cycle while the remainder of the cycle was deposited on the falling limb. There is a gradational but rapid facies transition from the tabular to the lenticular sandstone facies which is interpreted as occurring at the inflexion point on the falling limb. The thick bedded facies of the Beach Formation and the thick bedded tabular facies of the Redmans Formation represent periods of maximum sea level fall. The stacked cycles in the Beach Formation are interpreted as an aggradational, high frequency sequence or parasequence set bounded at the top by a sequence boundary and succeeded by the three aggradational parasequences of the Redmans Formation. The recognition of storm facies with sandstone beds of very different bed length has important implications for the reservoir modelling of such facies.     

滇西保山地区何元寨组上部四射珊瑚动物群的古生态和古地理意义

摘 要　 详细的古生态研究表明滇西保山地区何元寨组上部（泥盆系）四射珊瑚生活于温带气 候条件下的与深海盆地毗邻的碳酸盐台地边缘高能浅水环境中‚死后经过短距离搬运‚迅速 埋藏于大陆斜坡中部的静水环境中。保山地区与扬子地区中、晚泥盆世的动物群‚包括四射 珊瑚、腕足类和脊椎动物‚差别很大‚而与西藏日土、印度西北部 Chitral 及尼泊尔 Dolpo 中、 晚泥盆世的四射珊瑚动物群具有一定程度的相似性。因此‚保山地区与日土、Chitral 和 Dolpo 同属于冈瓦纳构造域‚与包括扬子地区在内的南亚构造域为宽阔的大洋———古特提斯洋所分 隔‚两边的底栖生物不能自由交流。     

四川广元清风峡剖面上泥盆统风暴沉积特征及其古环境意义*

泥盆纪吉维特期—弗拉期(G-F)之交的环境突变拉开了晚泥盆世生物大灭绝的序幕。然而,不同学者对于该时期环境变化的认识仍存在争议。为了解泥盆纪G-F之交的环境变化特征,通过对四川广元清风峡剖面泥盆系观雾山组中6套风暴岩的详细沉积学研究,识别出了典型的风暴沉积标志,如底面侵蚀构造、粗粒滞留沉积、粒序层理、丘状交错层理等。根据风暴沉积构造的组合特征,建立了3种近源风暴沉积序列: 序列Ⅰ,底部为具侵蚀构造的砾屑灰岩,顶部为块状泥晶灰岩;序列Ⅱ,底部为具侵蚀构造的砾屑灰岩,顶部为具粒序层理的砂屑灰岩;序列Ⅲ,底部为具侵蚀构造的砾屑灰岩,中部为具粒序层理的介壳灰岩,上部为具丘状交错层理的颗粒泥晶灰岩,顶部为具波状层理和水平层理的泥晶灰岩。牙形石生物组合分析显示,风暴岩形成于晚泥盆世弗拉期初期。基于现代风暴成因分析,认为弗拉期初期全球低纬度地区广泛分布的风暴岩与气候变暖和快速海侵密切相关。研究区风暴岩的发现对认识上扬子地区晚泥盆世沉积环境、古地理、古气候均具有重要意义。     

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

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

Facies Characteristics of the Cenomanian–Maastrichtian Sequence of the Beydaglari Carbonate Platform,Korkuteli Area,Western Taurides,Turkey

In the Korkuteli area of the western Taurides, Upper Cretaceous sequences consist of the neritic and hemipelagic Beydaglari Formation and the pelagic Akdag Formation. These formations show important facies variations and stratigraphic gaps. The Beydaglari Formation, ranging in age from Cenomanian to Santonian, is approximately 600 m thick, and is composed mainly of platform-type neritic carbonates. Five microfacies indicating tidal-flat, subtidal (lagoonal), reef, and forereef subenvironments are distinguished in the neritic carbonates of the formation. Benthic foraminifera and rudists are the main biological components that provide information about the environment and age of the unit. In addition, cryptalgal lamination also is recognized as an important tool in determining environment. The uppermost part of the Beydaglari Formation is composed of hemipelagic carbonates (a sixth microfacies), which were deposited under basinal conditions. The Akdag Formation consists of planktonic foraminifera-bearing pelagic carbonates, suggesting a Campanian-Maastrichtian age and deposition as a basinal facies. The formation disconformably overlies the Beydaglari Formation along an erosional surface.

Eocene transgressive pelagic clayey carbonates of the Ulucak Formation unconformably overlie the Upper Cretaceous carbonate sequences. Detailed investigations have shown that, at least in the studied part of the autochthonous unit, the platform began to drown during the Santonian and that a true basinal environment persisted from the Campanian to the Maastrichtian. Two erosional phases are recorded; one occurred after the Santonian and is characterized by a prominent erosional surface, and the other is responsible for the post-Cretaceous regression.     

Sedimentation at the margins of a late Pleistocene ice-lobe terminating in shallow marine environments, Dundalk Bay, eastern Ireland

Late Pleistocene morainic sequences around Dundalk Bay, eastern Ireland, were deposited in a variety of shallow, glaciomarine environments at the margins of a grounded ice lobe. The deposits are essentially ice-proximal delta-fan and -apron sequences and are divided into two lithofacies associations. Lithofacies association 1 occurs as a series of morainal banks formed at the southern margin of the ice lobe in a body of water open to influences from the Irish Sea. The morainal banks consist mainly of diamictic muds deposited from turbid plumes and by ice-rafting with minor occurrences of turbidites, cross-bedded gravels (subaqueous outwash) and massive boulder gravels (high-density debris flows). Lithofacies association 2 was deposited in a narrow arm of the sea at the north-eastern margin of the ice lobe. The deposits consist mainly of a series of coalescing, ice-proximal Gilbert-type fan deltas which are interbedded distally with tabular and lens-shaped subaqueous deposits. The latter are mainly ice-rafted diamictons, debris-flow deposits and subaqueous sands and gravels. Both lithofacies associations are draped by diamictons formed by a combination of rain-out, debris flow and traction-current activity. At a few localities the upper parts of the sequence have been sheared by minor oscillations of the ice sheet margin. These sequences form part of an extensive belt of glaciomarine deposits which border the drumlin swarms of east-central Ireland. Lithostratigraphic variability is partially related to the arrival of large volumes of debris at the ice lobe margin when the main lowland ice sheet surged during drumlin formation. Complex depositional continua of this type lack any major erosional breaks and should not be used either as climatic proxies or for stratigraphic correlations.     

Sharp-based, tide-dominated deltas of the Sego Sandstone, Book Cliffs, Utah, USA

The lower part of the Cretaceous Sego Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale in east‐central Utah contains three 10‐ to 20‐m thick layers of tide‐deposited sandstone arranged in a forward‐ and then backward‐stepping stacking pattern. Each layer of tidal sandstone formed during an episode of shoreline regression and transgression, and offshore wave‐influenced marine deposits separating these layers formed after subsequent shoreline transgression and marine ravinement. Detailed facies architecture studies of these deposits suggest sandstone layers formed on broad tide‐influenced river deltas during a time of fluctuating relative sea‐level. Shale‐dominated offshore marine deposits gradually shoal and become more sandstone‐rich upward to the base of a tidal sandstone layer. The tidal sandstones have sharp erosional bases that formed as falling relative sea‐level allowed tides to scour offshore marine deposits. The tidal sandstones were deposited as ebb migrating tidal bars aggraded on delta fronts. Most delta top deposits were stripped during transgression. Where the distal edge of a deltaic sandstone is exposed, a sharp‐based stack of tidal bar deposits successively fines upward recording a landward shift in deposition after maximum lowstand. Where more proximal parts of a deltaic‐sandstone are exposed, a sharp‐based upward‐coarsening succession of late highstand tidal bar deposits is locally cut by fluvial valleys, or tide‐eroded estuaries, formed during relative sea‐level lowstand or early stages of a subsequent transgression. Estuary fills are highly variable, reflecting local depositional processes and variable rates of sediment supply along the coastline. Lateral juxtaposition of regressive deltaic deposits and incised transgressive estuarine fills produced marked facies changes in sandstone layers along strike. Estuarine fills cut into the forward‐stepped deltaic sandstone tend to be more deeply incised and richer in sandstone than those cut into the backward‐stepped deltaic sandstone. Tidal currents strongly influenced deposition during both forced regression and subsequent transgression of shorelines. This contrasts with sandstones in similar basinal settings elsewhere, which have been interpreted as tidally influenced only in transgressive parts of depositional successions.     

The Enya mounds: a lost mound-drift competition

The genesis and evolution of cold-water coral banks along the Northeastern Atlantic margin is known to be influenced by several factors, among which the palaeotopography and nature of the coral settling surface, the presence of bottom currents and sediment supply. In this paper, a case study is presented of the Enya mound cluster, located in the southernmost tip of the Belgica mound province, west of Ireland. Below this mound cluster, seismic stratigraphy revealed a yet unmapped local unconformity RD1b, being part of a composite erosion event (RD1). As such, from the Late Miocene to Late Pliocene, at least two erosional events have incised the margin, ending with the final RD1a “moundbase” unconformity, acting as a base for the Enya mounds. During the Quaternary the mounds became outgrown and were covered by a mounded contourite drift. In addition, they are closely associated with a cluster of seabed pockmarks. The bottom current regime which became active since the Middle Pleistocene has certainly influenced the fate of this mound cluster. The occurrence of the pockmarks seems to be related to relatively recent fluid migration processes, however leaving an open question if any previous seepage phases were involved in the growth or initiation of the coral banks.