Late Eocene–early Miocene provenance evolution of the Crocker Fan in the southern South China Sea

There are many large-scale Cenozoic sedimentary basins with plentiful river deltas, deep-water fans and carbonate platforms in the southern South China Sea. The Crocker Fan was deposited as a typical submarine fan during the late Eocene–early Miocene, and stretches extensively across the entire Sarawak–Sabah of the northern Borneo area. However, systematic analyses are still lacking regarding its sediment composition and potential source suppliers. No consensus has been reached yet on the provenance evolution and sedimentary infilling processes, which seriously impeded the oil-and-gas exploration undertakings. By combining with sedimentary-facies identification, heavy mineral assemblages, elemental geochemistry and detrital zircon U-Pb dating, this paper aims to generalize an integrated analysis on the potential provenance terranes and restore source-to-sink pathways of the Crocker Fan. In general, the Crocker Fan was initially formed over the Cretaceous–lower/middle Eocene Rajang Group by an angular Rajang unconformity. The continual southward subduction of the proto-South China Sea resulted in magmatic activities and subsequent regional deformation and thrusting along the Lupar Line in the northern Borneo. The lowermost Crocker sequence is featured by a thick conglomerate layer sourced from in-situ or adjacent paleo-uplifts. From the late Eocene to the early Miocene, the Crocker Fan was constantly delivered with voluminous detritus from the Malay Peninsula of the western Sundaland. The Zengmu Basin was widely deposited with delta plain and neritic facies sediments, while the Brunei-Sabah Basin, to the farther east, was ubiquitously characterized by turbiditic sequences. The Crocker Fan successions are overall thick layers of modest-grained sandstones, which formed high-quality reservoirs in the southern South China Sea region.     

Submarine slope–fan sedimentation in an ancient forearc related to contemporaneous magmatism: The Upper Cretaceous Izumi Group,southwestern Japan

The Izumi Group in southwestern Japan is considered to represent deposits in a forearc basin along an active volcanic arc during the late Late Cretaceous. The group consists mainly of felsic volcanic and plutonic detritus, and overlies a Lower to Upper Cretaceous plutono‐metamorphic complex (the Ryoke complex). In order to reconstruct the depositional environments and constrain the age of deposition, sedimentary facies and U–Pb dating of zircon grains in tuff were studied for a drilled core obtained from the basal part of the Izumi Group. On the basis of the lithofacies associations, the core was subdivided into six units from base to top, as follows: mudstone‐dominated unit nonconformably deposited on the Ryoke granodiorite; tuffaceous mudstone‐dominated unit; tuff unit; tuffaceous sandstone–mudstone unit; sandstone–mudstone unit; and sandstone‐dominated unit. This succession suggests that the depositional system changed from non‐volcanic muddy slope or basin floor, to volcaniclastic sandy submarine fan. Based on a review of published radiometric age data of the surrounding region of the Ryoke complex and the Sanyo Belt which was an active volcanic front during deposition of the Izumi Group, the U–Pb age (82.7 ±0.5 Ma) of zircon grains in the tuff unit corresponds to those of felsic volcanic and pyroclastic rocks in the Sanyo Belt.     

伊通盆地莫里青断陷双阳组湖泊水下扇沉积特征

本文详细研究了伊通盆地莫里青断陷双阳组沉积类型,并将该区湖泊水下扇的岩相组成划分为5种类型：经典浊积岩相、块状砂岩相、砾质砂岩相、颗粒支撑砾岩相、基质支撑砾岩相;将湖泊水下扇划分为内扇、中扇、外扇三个亚相,对各亚相进一步划分了若干微相。湖泊水下扇沉积为该区地层的主要沉积特征,在垂向上具有进积型和退积型两种类型。     

四川雅安地区古冲积扇主量元素特征及其意义

第四系是与人类生活关系密切的地层,山区地带的第四系主要由河流沉积物组成,这些沉积物的表面风化程度具有重要的环境意义。四川省雅安市地区发育了中更新统砾石层构成的古冲积扇名邛冲积扇和丹思冲积扇,现今废弃于岷江与青衣江之间,遭受了不同程度的侵蚀风化。对两个冲积扇不同位置采集样品,尝试利用主量元素分析冲积扇的风化程度。经过实验发现,主量元素分析可以很好地应用于第四系的测试,砾石间填充的基质砂能够合理反映沉积物经历的风化过程。实验结果表明,沉积物主量元素中长石矿物元素Ca、Na大量流失,而稳定矿物元素Si、Ti等偏高,说明冲积扇经历了长期的风化淋溶作用。A-CN-K图解体现出冲积扇经历了早期的斜长石风化,已经进入以钾长石和伊利石风化为标志的中期阶段。Pettijohn图解表明名邛冲积扇样品含有更多的石英砂岩,沉积物的成熟度较高。这些指标说明名邛冲积扇相比丹思冲积扇经历了更强的风化作用。结合冲积扇的年龄发现,风化速度随年龄的增长呈现减速的特征,体现了风化作用的阶段性.     

Late Holocene floodplain incision and alluvial fan formation in the central Grampian Highlands,Scotland: chronology,environment and implications

A section cut across an alluvial fan and the underlying floodplain terrace in the central Grampian Highlands provides an unusually complete record of late Holocene events. At ca. 2.7–2.4 cal kyr BP floodplain aggradation was replaced by net floodplain incision. Pollen evidence and charcoal counts provide no evidence for contemporaneous anthropogenic landscape change, and the timing of the transition suggests that it reflects an increase in high-magnitude erosive flood events following overall climatic deterioration. The overlying fan was deposited by torrential hyperconcentrated flows during three brief storm-generated depositional events at ca. 2.2–2.1, 1.9–1.8 and 0.9–0.7 cal kyr BP, separated and succeeded by prolonged periods of stability and peat accumulation. During these three events, a cumulative total of ca. 6750 m³ of sediment was deposited, probably in no more than a few hours over a timescale of two millennia. These findings imply that proposed links between human activity and the development of alluvial fans or debris cones require reassessment, and that different elements of the Holocene alluvial landscape have responded in different ways to the same climatic inputs. Aggregation of dating evidence relating to aggradation or incision of alluvial landforms at different scales therefore may produce misleading results. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

东海盆地某油气田A井P层沉积体系研究

东海盆地某油气田A井钻遇古近系平湖组P层为一套灰绿色含砾细砂岩.对此层中的微量元素、古生物资料、粒度特征以及测井资料的分析表明：沉积物中的硼元素含量较低,Sr/Ba比值小于1,Fe/Mn比值远大于5,这些指标反映沉积水体为淡水;同时,Ni/Co比值大多数介于2.5～5之间,而V/Ni比值大于1,指示研究层位沉积于还原环境中.该层沉积物中,蕨类孢子含量极高,花粉组合以阔叶类木本为主,且含较多喜暖湿针叶类花粉,说明当时盆地周边区域气候大致相当于现代亚热带气候,较温暖且偏湿润.A井P层中,砾石具近源快速堆积特征,泥岩属较深水沉积,岩层粒度具浊积岩特征;结合空间岩性展布状况可以判断,P层沉积相属于温暖湿润气候下的淡水近岸水下扇相.     

Topographic predictors of susceptibility to alluvial fan flooding,Southern Apennines

The flooding susceptibility of alluvial fans in the Southern Apennines has long been neglected. To partly address this oversight, we focus on the region of Campania which contains highly urbanized piedmont areas particularly vulnerable to flooding. Our findings are based on stratigraphic analysis of the fans and morphometric analysis of the basin‐fan systems. Using geomorphological analysis we recognized active alluvial fans while stratigraphic analysis together with statistical analysis of the morphometric variables was used to classify the fans in terms of the transport process involved. The results indicate that in the geological context examined, the best discrimination between debris flow (Df) and water flood (Wf) processes is achieved by means of two related variables, one for the basin (feeder channel inclination, Cg) and one for the fan (fan length, Fl). The probability that an unclassified fan belongs to group Wf is computed by applying a logistic function in which a P value exceeding 0.5 indicates that a basin/fan system belongs to group Wf. This important result led to the classification of the entire basin/fan system data. As regards process intensity, debris flow‐dominated fans are susceptible to the occurrence of flows with high viscosity and hence subject to more severe events than water flood‐dominated fans. Bearing this in mind, the data gathered in this study allow us to detect where alluvial fan flooding might occur and give information on the different degrees of susceptibility at a regional scale. Regrettably, urban development in recent decades has failed to take the presence of such alluvial fans into account due to the long recurrence time (50–100 years) between floods. This paper outlines the distribution of such susceptibility scenarios throughout the region, thereby constituting an initial step to implementing alluvial fan flooding control and mitigation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

哥伦比亚Ombu区Kc组裂缝描述和地质建模

裂缝对改善低渗透碎屑岩储层物性有非常重要的作用,裂缝发育规律和控制因素的研究直接影响着开发方案部署和油藏开发效果。在盆地分析和储层研究基础上,利用层序地层和地质统计学方法,分析了Kc组裂缝与区域构造应力、沉积相和岩性的关系。受区域压扭作用影响,区域上发育北东和北西方向两组影响裂缝的地应力,形成了以北东方向为主的高角度裂缝。不同沉积相带和不同岩性储层裂缝发育也有差异,扇中和扇缘亚相裂缝较扇根亚相发育、砂岩较砾岩裂缝发育。在这种地质认识基础上,建立了裂缝三维地质模型。     

Response of unconfined turbidity current to normal‐fault topography

Turbidity currents descending the slopes of deep‐water extensional basins or passive continental margins commonly encounter normal‐fault escarpments, but such large‐magnitude phenomena are hydraulically difficult to replicate at small scale in the laboratory. This study uses advanced computational fluid dynamics numerical simulations to monitor the response of large, natural‐scale unconfined turbidity currents (100 m thick and 2000 m wide at the inlet gate) to normal‐fault topography with a maximum relief of nearly 300 m. For comparative purposes, the turbidity current is first released on a non‐faulted pristine slope of 1·5° (simulation model 1). The expanding and waxing flow bypasses the slope without recognizable deposition within the visibility limit of 8 vol.% sand grain packing. Similar flow is then released towards the tip (model 2) and towards the centre (model 3) of a normal‐fault escarpment. In both of these latter models, the sand carried by flow tends to be entrapped in four distinct depozones: an upslope near‐gate zone of flow abrupt expansion and self‐regulation; a flow‐transverse zone at the fault footwall edge; a flow‐transverse zone at the immediate hangingwall; and a similar transverse zone near the crest of the hangingwall counter‐slope, where some of the deposited sand also tends to be reshuffled to the previous zone by a secondary reverse underflow. The near‐bottom reverse flow appears to be generated on a counter‐slope of 1·1°, increased to 2·0° by deposition. The Kelvin–Helmholtz interface instability plays an important role by causing three‐dimensional fluctuations in the flow velocity magnitude and sediment concentration. The thick deposits of large single‐surge flows may thus show hydraulic fluctuations resembling those widely ascribed to hyperpycnal flows. The study indicates further that the turbiditic slope fans formed on such fault topographies are likely to be patchy and hence may differ considerably from the existing slope‐fan conceptual models when it comes to the spatial prediction of main sand depozones.     

冲积扇沉积向滨岸沉积的转变--以华北克拉通南缘中元古界兵马沟组为例

中国华北克拉通南缘的前寒武纪沉积地层发育齐全、出露较好,具有较高的研究价值。但前寒武纪的沉积地层年代久远,缺少佐证的生物依据,对沉积环境的判断更多依赖于构造背景、地理环境、岩石类型和沉积构造等,导致前人研究有较多的争议。以华北克拉通南缘汝阳群兵马沟组为例,通过精细分析岩石特征、古水流和沉积相,结合相关地层的区域对比及古地貌的重建,解释了兵马沟组的沉积成因和环境转换。汝阳群沉积地层不整合覆盖在华北克拉通南缘太古宙变质结晶基底或古元古代熊耳群火山-沉积岩系之上,兵马沟组作为汝阳群底部的地层单元,受地形和断裂的明显控制,接受丰富的物源供给,发育了一套极具特色的“双层叠加”沉积地层,代表了从冲积扇沉积到砂砾质滨岸沉积的环境转变,作为华北克拉通南缘以海相为主控的沉积开端,具有重要的科学价值。