Quantitative analysis of variations in depositional sequence thickness from submarine channel levees

Abstract Thickness variations across‐levee and downchannel in acoustically defined depositional sequences from six submarine channel‐levee systems show consistent and quantifiable patterns. The thickness of depositional sequences perpendicular to the channel trend, i.e. across the levee, decreases exponentially, as characterized by a spatial decay constant, k. Similarly, the thickness of sediment at the levee crest decreases exponentially down the upper reaches of submarine channels and can be characterized by a second spatial decay constant, λ. The inverse of these decay constants has units of length and defines depositional length scales such that k^?1 is a measure of levee width and λ^?1 is a measure of levee length. Quantification of levee architecture in this way allowed investigation of relationships between levee architecture and channel dimensions. It was found that these measures of levee e‐folding width and levee e‐folding length are directly related to channel width and relief. The dimensions of channels and levees are thus intimately related, thereby limiting the range of potential channel‐levee morphologies, regardless of allocyclic forcing. A simple sediment budget model relates the product of the levee e‐folding width and e‐folding length to through‐channel volume discharge. A classification system based on the quantitative downchannel behaviour of levee architecture allows identification of a ‘mid‐channel’ reach, where sediment is passively transferred from the through‐channel flow to the levees as an overspilling flow. Downstream from this reach, the channel gradually looses its control on guiding turbidity currents, and the resulting flow can be considered as an unconfined or spreading flow.     

An experimental study of grain scale melt segregation mechanisms in two common crustal rock types

Creation of pathways for melt to migrate from its source is the necessary first step for transport of magma to the upper crust. To test the role of different dehydration‐melting reactions in the development of permeability during partial melting and deformation in the crust, we experimentally deformed two common crustal rock types. A muscovite‐biotite metapelite and a biotite gneiss were deformed at conditions below, at and above their fluid‐absent solidus. For the metapelite, temperatures ranged between 650 and 800 °C at P_c=700 MPa to investigate the muscovite‐dehydration melting reaction. For the biotite gneiss, temperatures ranged between 850 and 950 °C at P_c=1000 MPa to explore biotite dehydration‐melting under lower crustal conditions. Deformation for both sets of experiments was performed at the same strain rate (ε.) 1.37×10^?5 s^?1. In the presence of deformation, the positive ΔV and associated high dilational strain of the muscovite dehydration‐melting reaction produces an increase in melt pore pressure with partial melting of the metapelite. In contrast, the biotite dehydration‐melting reaction is not associated with a large dilational strain and during deformation and partial melting of the biotite gneiss melt pore pressure builds more gradually. Due to the different rates in pore pressure increase, melt‐enhanced deformation microstructures reflect the different dehydration melting reactions themselves. Permeability development in the two rocks differs because grain boundaries control melt distribution to a greater extent in the gneiss. Muscovite‐dehydration melting may develop melt pathways at low melt fractions due to a larger volume of melt, in comparison with biotite‐dehydration melting, generated at the solidus. This may be a viable physical mechanism in which rapid melt segregation from a metapelitic source rock can occur. Alternatively, the results from the gneiss experiments suggest continual draining of biotite‐derived magma from the lower crust with melt migration paths controlled by structural anisotropies in the protolith.     

Melt loss and the preservation of granulite facies mineral assemblages

The loss of a metamorphic fluid via the partitioning of H₂O into silicate melt at higher metamorphic grade implies that, in the absence of open system behaviour of melt, the amount of H₂O contained within rocks remains constant at temperatures above the solidus. Thus, granulite facies rocks, composed of predominantly anhydrous minerals and a hydrous silicate melt should undergo considerable retrogression to hydrous upper amphibolite facies assemblages on cooling as the melt crystallizes and releases its H₂O. The common occurrence of weakly retrogressed granulite facies assemblages is consistent with substantial melt loss from the majority of granulite facies rocks. Phase diagram modelling of the effects of melt loss in hypothetical aluminous and subaluminous metapelitic compositions shows that the amount of melt that has to be removed from a rock to preserve a granulite facies assemblage varies markedly with rock composition, the number of partial melt loss events and the P–T conditions at which melt loss occurs. In an aluminous metapelite, the removal of nearly all of the melt at temperatures above the breakdown of biotite is required for the preservation of the peak mineral assemblage. In contrast, the proportion of melt loss required to preserve peak assemblages in a subaluminous metapelite is close to half that required for the aluminous metapelite. Thus, if a given proportion of melt is removed from a sequence of metapelitic granulites of varying composition, the degree of preservation of the peak metamorphic assemblage may vary widely.     

Late Cretaceous reactivation of major crustal shear zones in northern Namibia: constraints from apatite fission track analysis

Namibia's passive continental margin records a long history of tectonic activity since the Proterozoic. The orogenic belt produced during the collision of the Congo and Kalahari Cratons in the Early Proterozoic led to a zone of crustal weakness, which became the preferred location for tectonism during the Phanerozoic. The Pan-African Damara mobile belt forms this intraplate boundary in Namibia and its tectonostratigraphic zones are defined by ductile shear zones, where the most prominent is described as the Omaruru Lineament–Waterberg Thrust (OML–WT). The prominance of the continental margin escarpment is diminished in the area of the Central and Northern Zone of the Damara belt where the shear zones are located. This area has been targeted with a set of 66 outcrop samples over a 550-km-long, 60-km-broad coast-parallel transect from the top of the escarpment in the south across the Damara sector to the Kamanjab Inlier in the north. Apatite fission track age and length data from all samples reveal a regionally consistent cooling event. Thermal histories derived by forward modelling bracket this phase of accelerated cooling in the Late Cretaceous. Maximum palaeotemperatures immediately prior to the onset of cooling range from ca. 120 to ca. 60 °C with the maximum occurring directly south of the Omaruru Lineament. Because different palaeotemperatures indicate different burial depth at a given time, the amount of denudation can be estimated and used to constrain vertical displacements of the continental crust. We interpret this cooling pattern as the geomorphic response to reactivation of basement structures caused by a change in spreading geometry in the South Atlantic and South West Indian Oceans.     

Denudation and cooling of the Lake Teletskoye Region in the Altai Mountains (South Siberia) as revealed by apatite fission-track thermochronology

Lake Teletskoye occupies a narrow graben located in the northwestern sector of the Altai fold belt in South Siberia. The lake basin is thought to have formed during the Pleistocene as a distant result of the Cenozoic collision of India and Eurasia that caused a tectonic reactivation of the Palaeozoic Gorny–Altai (GA) and West Sayan (WS) blocks.The present work reports of a pilot fission-track study performed on 13 apatite separates collected from rocks that were sampled along two profiles in close proximity of the lake. The age–length data and AFT thermochronological modelling reveal two important phases of cooling in the Altai Mountains, a first one during the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous and a second one that started in the Miocene–Pliocene and that persists until today. The first event is interpreted to result from uplift-induced denudation probably related to the closure of the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean; the second event can be linked to the young Cenozoic movements that lie at the origin of the formation of the Lake Teletskoye basin.     

Neoproterozoic to Early Cambrian history of an active plate margin in the Teplá–Barrandian unit—a correlation of U–Pb isotopic-dilution-TIMS ages (Bohemia, Czech Republic)

The Teplá–Barrandian unit (TBU) of the Bohemian Massif shared a common geological history throughout the Neoproterozoic and Cambrian with the Avalonian–Cadomian terranes. The Neoproterozoic evolution of an active plate margin in the Teplá–Barrandian is similar to Avalonian rocks in Newfoundland, whereas the Cambrian transtension and related calc-alkaline plutons are reminiscent of the Cadomian Ossa–Morena Zone and the Armorican Massif in western Europe. The Neoproterozoic evolution of the Teplá–Barrandian unit fits well with that of the Lausitz area (Saxothuringian unit), but is significantly distinct from the history of the Moravo–Silesian unit.The oldest volcanic activity in the Bohemian Massif is dated at 609+17/−19 Ma (U–Pb upper intercept). Subduction-related volcanic rocks have been dated from 585±7 to 568±3 Ma (lower intercept, rhyolite boulders), which pre-dates the age of sedimentation of the Cadomian flysch ( t chovice Group). Accretion, uplift and erosion of the volcanic arc is documented by the Neoproterozoic Dob í conglomerate of the upper part of the flysch. The intrusion age of 541+7/−8 Ma from the Zgorzelec granodiorite is interpreted as a minimum age of the Neoproterozoic sequence. The Neoproterozoic crust was tilted and subsequently early Cambrian intrusions dated at 522±2 Ma (T ovice granite), 524±3 Ma (V epadly granodiorite), 523±3 Ma (Smr ovice tonalite), 523±1 Ma (Smr ovice gabbro) and 524±0.8 Ma (Orlovice gabbro) were emplaced into transtensive shear zones.     

Geochemistry and sequence stratigraphy of regional Upper Cretaceous limestone units, offshore eastern Canada

Hydrocarbons occur in two regional, Upper Cretaceous limestone units—the Turonian-Coniacian Petrel Member, and the Santonian-Maastrichtian Wyandot Formation. The units form important seismic markers beneath the Scotian Shelf and the Grand Banks of Eastern Canada. They mainly consist of bioturbated chalk and minor amounts of calcareous mudstone. A search for source rock using the Δ log R technique showed intervals with source potential, but testing of core and cuttings by Rock-Eval analysis showed no source potential. Three issues are the main cause for the inconsistency: (1) unconsolidated shales that likely included organic material were lost during sample washing; (2) severe contamination by mud additives; and (3) presence of gas. The organic matter found on the shelf has been strongly oxidised, but the distal facies of these limestone units and condensed shale units above and below may yet have potential to form source rock, beyond the studied areas.     

Cosmogenic-nuclide ages for New England coastal moraines, Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA

Cosmogenic-nuclide exposure ages for 13 glacially transported boulders atop the Martha's Vineyard moraine, MA, USA, indicate that the southeastern margin of the Laurentide ice sheet reached its maximum extent during the last glaciation 23,200±500 yr ago. Another 10 age determinations from the younger Buzzards Bay moraine near Woods Hole, MA, indicate that this moraine complex was formed 18,800±400 yr ago. These ages correlate approximately with the terminations of cooling cycles recorded in Greenland ice cores and coeval ice-rafting events, suggesting that the marginal position of this sector of the ice sheet was tightly coupled to North Atlantic climate during the last glacial maximum.     

Al hematites prepared by homogeneous precipitation of oxinates: material characterization and determination of the Morin transition

A novel method for synthesis of aluminium hematites, based upon the homogeneous precipitation of Fe and Al oxinates in various proportions, is presented. The precursor precipitates are heated in air at 700?°C. X-ray diffraction, thermal analyses, BET, FTIR, optical reflection analysis, TEM and Mössbauer spectroscopy at room temperature and 80?K of the resulting products indicate that single-phase hematites are formed with structural Al substitution of up to 10 at%. Interestingly, the particle size (>100?nm) is not substantially reduced by the Al content. Although it remains difficult to obtain a homogeneously distributed Al substitution in the final hematite, this processing line offers a unique opportunity to separate the effects of grain size and Al substitution on the Morin transition temperature (T _M) of Al hematite. From the comparison between the present hematites and a series of Al-substituted hematites with lepidocrocite as precursor, it could be shown that the effect on T _M, associated with a change of a factor 10 in grain size, is about 1/3 of the effect caused by a change of 10 in the degree of substitution. Finally, it is suggested that proper thermal treatments under different conditions of the same precursors are likely to produce spinel phases.     

A three-dimensional parametric study of the use of soil nails for stabilising tunnel faces

Applying an effective nailing system at a tunnel heading, not only improves the stability of the tunnel heading and limits deformation at the tunnel face, but it also reduces volume loss during excavation and hence reduces ground surface settlement. The effectiveness of a soil nail system is affected by many factors such as the diameter and stiffness of the nails. In this paper, a systematic parametric study was conducted to study the axial rigidity of a nail, E_nA_n, for improving the stability of tunnel headings and reducing ground movements in stiff clay. The parametric study involved a series of three-dimensional elasto-plastic coupled-consolidation finite element analyses. The stability of the tunnel face is improved with increasing E_nA_n. For a given nail density applied at the tunnel face, an optimum axial rigidity of the nail (E_nA_n)_opt can be identified. The efficiency of the nailing system diminishes when (E_nA_n)_opt is reached. The use of a soil nailing system reduces the magnitude of stress relief at the tunnel heading during excavation. Thus, this reduction of stress relief minimises the amount of soil yielding and excess pore water pressure generated in the soil around the tunnel heading.