Gradients in coral reef communities exposed to muddy river discharge in Pohnpei,Micronesia

This study analyzed how coral communities change along a gradient of increasing exposure to a mud-discharging river in the Enipein Catchment, Pohnpei, Micronesia. Using video transects, we quantified benthic communities at five sites along a gradient moving away from the river mouth towards the barrier reef. The most river-impacted site was characterized by a high accumulation of mud, low coral cover and low coral diversity. Although coral cover leveled off at ∼400 m from the river mouth to values found at the outer-most sites, coral diversity continued to increase with increasing distance, suggesting that the most distant site was still impacted by the river discharges. Fungiidae, Pavona, Acropora, Pachyseris and Porites rus all significantly increased in cover with distance from the river, while Turbinaria decreased. The combined presence and abundance of these six species groups, together with coral species richness, may help to indicate the effects of terrestrial runoff in similar runoff-exposed settings around Micronesia, whereas coral cover is not a sensitive indicator for river impact. Coral reefs are important resources for the people of Pohnpei. To prevent further degradation of this important resource, an integrated watershed approach is needed to control terrestrial activities.     

Basin filling evolution of the central basins of Mallorca since the Pliocene

A new compilation of data from 436 drill cores using decompaction and backstripping techniques was used to reconstruct the basin filling history from the Pliocene until the present day in the Palma, Inca and Sa Pobla Basins on the island of Mallorca (Spain). Calcareous rocks dominate the source area and provide a limited amount of clastic input to the basins that has resulted in an average accumulation rate of between 5 and 20 m/Ma during the last 5.3 Ma. Carbonate sediment production dominated the basin filling history during early‐mid Pliocene, but during the Quaternary, the sedimentation processes in the Palma Basin were probably enhanced by an evolution in the drainage network that increased the sediment supply and the accumulated thickness caused by stream capture. However, the maximum sedimentation rate filling the depocentres of the three basins has been decreasing since the Pliocene, showing that not only the catchment transport efficiency but also the relative sea level have been controlling the sediment accumulation in these carbonate basins. The isopach cross‐sections support the idea that a palaeorelief was generated during the Messinian sea level drop and that heterogeneities were filled in from the Pliocene to the Quaternary. We conclude that the central basins of Mallorca were filled heterogeneously due to tectonic and geomorphic processes that controlled sediment transport and production, resulting in different average sedimentation thicknesses that decreased since the Pliocene as the accommodation space became filled and the relative sea level dropped.     

Extensional fault and fold growth: Impact on accommodation evolution and sedimentary infill

Extensional faults and folds exert a fundamental control on the location, thickness and partitioning of sedimentary deposits on rift basins. The connection between the mode of extensional fault reactivation, resulting fault shape and extensional fold growth is well‐established. The impact of folding on accommodation evolution and growth package architecture, however, has received little attention; particularly the role‐played by fault‐perpendicular (transverse) folding. We study a multiphase rift basin with km‐scale fault displacements using a large high‐quality 3D seismic data set from the Fingerdjupet Subbasin in the southwestern Barents Sea. We link growth package architecture to timing and mode of fault reactivation. Dip linkage of deep and shallow fault segments resulted in ramp‐flat‐ramp fault geometry, above which fault‐parallel fault‐bend folds developed. The folds limited the accommodation near their causal faults, leading to deposition within a fault‐bend synclinal growth basin further into the hangingwall. Continued fold growth led to truncation of strata near the crest of the fault‐bend anticline before shortcut faulting bypassed the ramp‐flat‐ramp structure and ended folding. Accommodation along the fault‐parallel axis is controlled by the transverse folds, the location and size of which depends on the degree of linkage in the fault network and the accumulated displacement on causal faults. We construct transverse fold trajectories by tracing transverse fold hinges through space and time to highlight the positions of maximum and minimum accommodation and potential sediment entry points to hangingwall growth basins. The length and shape of the constructed trajectories relate to the displacement on their parent faults, duration of fault activity, timing of transverse basin infill, fault linkage and strain localization. We emphasize that the considerable wavelength, amplitudes and potential periclinal geometry of extensional folds make them viable targets for CO₂ storage or hydrocarbon exploration in rift basins.     

LEADAT: a MATLAB-based program for lead-210 data analysis of sediment cores

1Introduction Tracking the history of man s impact on the en-vironment, it is clear that in many places the periodof greatest impact and most dramatic transformationlies within the last 150 a (Oldfield and Appleby,1984). Many aspects of this impact can be…     

Sedimentary facies and paleoenvironmental interpretation of a Holocene marsh in the Gironde Estuary in France

1Introduction Since the last glacial maximum, the Holocenehas been marked by a rapid rise in sea level. After6 000 a BP, the present-day level was reached andthe rate of sea-level rise (SLR) decreased rapidly(Morzadec -Kerfourn, 1974; Kidson, 1986 ).These…     

Sediment routing in the Zagros foreland basin: Drainage reorganization and a shift from axial to transverse sediment dispersal in the Kurdistan region of Iraq

In the northwestern sector of the Zagros foreland basin, axial fluvial systems initially delivered fine-grained sediments from northwestern source regions into a contiguous basin, and later transverse fluvial systems delivered coarse-grained sediments from northeastern sources into a structurally partitioned basin by fold-thrust deformation. Here we integrate sedimentologic, stratigraphic, palaeomagnetic and geochronologic data from the northwestern Zagros foreland basin to define the Neogene history of deposition and sediment routing in response to progressive advance of the Zagros fold-thrust belt. This study constrains the depositional environments, timing of deposition and provenance of nonmarine clastic deposits of the Injana (Upper Fars), Mukdadiya (Lower Bakhtiari) and Bai-Hasan (Upper Bakhtiari) Formations in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Sediments of the Injana Formation (~12.4–7.75 Ma) were transported axially (orogen-parallel) from northwest to southeast by meandering and low-sinuosity channel belt system. In contrast, during deposition of the Mukdadiya Formation (~7.75–5 Ma), sediments were delivered transversely (orogen-perpendicular) from northeast to southwest by braided and low-sinuosity channel belt system in distributive fluvial megafans. By ~5 Ma, the northwestern Zagros foreland basin became partitioned by growth of the Mountain Front Flexure and considerable gravel was introduced in localized alluvial fans derived from growing topographic highs. Foredeep accumulation rates during deposition of the Injana, Mukdadiya and Bai-Hasan Formations averaged 350, 400 and 600 m/Myr respectively, suggesting accelerated accommodation generation in a rapidly subsiding basin governed by flexural subsidence. Detrital zircon U-Pb age spectra show that in addition to sources of Mesozoic-Cenozoic cover strata, the Injana Formation was derived chiefly from Palaeozoic-Precambrian (including Carboniferous and latest Neoproterozoic) strata in an axial position to the northwest, likely from the Bitlis-Puturge Massif and broader Eastern Anatolia. In contrast, the Mukdadiya and Bai-Hasan Formations yield distinctive Palaeogene U-Pb age peaks, particularly in the southeastern sector of the study region, consistent with transverse delivery from the arc-related terranes of the Walash and Naopurdan volcano-sedimentary groups (Gaveh-Rud domain?) and Urumieh-Dokhtar magmatic arc to the northeast. These temporal and spatial variations in stratigraphic framework, depositional environments, sediment routing and compositional provenance reveal a major drainage reorganization during Neogene shortening in the Zagros fold-thrust belt. Whereas axial fluvial systems initially dominated the foreland basin during early orogenesis in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, transverse fluvial systems were subsequently established and delivered major sediment volumes to the foreland as a consequence of the abrupt deformation advance and associated topographic growth in the Zagros.     

On the use of geochronology of detrital grains in determining the time of deposition of clastic sedimentary strata

Placing geologic events in a temporal framework is essential to telling the story of Earth history. However, clastic sedimentary rocks can be difficult to date in an absolute reference because they are made up of grains that are older than the rock in which they are now found, and some clastic rocks do not contain fossils that allow precise reference to the Geologic Timescale. For such rocks, the isotopic dating of detrital minerals can be used to estimate the time of deposition; the clastic rock must be younger than the youngest grain analysed. However, many researchers eschew this simple and straightforward approach in favour of schemes that estimate the maximum allowable depositional age as the weighted mean of the age of several grains, chosen by a variety of selection criteria. This is a mistake; in the absence of a geochemical resemblance apart from the similarity of their age, detrital grains should not be assumed to have originated in the same system and therefore any averaging or other manipulation of such data is statistically invalid and produces results without geologic significance. In the absence of interbedded volcanic rocks or index fossils, dating of detrital minerals can be an important aid in understanding the time of deposition of clastic rocks, but the best estimate will come from taking note of the youngest single grain and not by inappropriately averaging data.     

渤海的环流、潮余流及其对沉积物分布的影响

阐明渤海环流和潮余流的分布特征及其与沉积物输运之间的关系。本文根据80年代以来的实测海流资料得到：辽东湾的环流是顺时针向的；黄河三角洲外海存在着一支流向东北偏北向流，与辽东湾西部的东北向海流相接；渤海湾内的环流北部为反时针向，南部为顺时针向回转的双环结构。上述环流趋势与渤海沉积物分布相一致。渤海沿岸主要入海河流的特征矿物分布正是上述环流存在的最好佐证。文中进一步讨论了潮余流分布特征及其对渤海环流的贡献。     

渤海的环流、潮余流及其对沉积物分布的影响

阐明渤海环流和潮余流的分布特征及其与沉积物输运之间的关系。本文根据８０年代以来的实测海流资料得到：辽东湾的环流是顺时针向的；黄河三角洲外海存在着一支流向东北偏北向流，与辽东湾西部的东北向海流相接；渤海湾内的环流北部为反时针向，南部为顺时针向回转的双环结构。上述环流趋势与渤海沉积物分布相一致。渤海沿岸主要入海河流的特征矿物分布正在上述环流存在的最好佐证。文中进一步讨论了潮余流分布特征及其对渤海环流的     

渤海现代沉积作用与模式的研究

１９８７－１９９２年，中国科学院海洋研究所与渤海石油公司合作，开展了“渤海石油开发区区域性工程地质调查与评价”的研究。研究区域为水深大于１０ｍ的浅海海域。本文以调查资料为基础，对渤海现代沉积作用与模式进行了全面、深入地探讨，并予以综述。