Anatomy of a laterally migrating tidal bar in front of a delta system: Esdolomada Member,Roda Formation,Tremp‐Graus Basin,Spain

The first sandstone unit of the Esdolomada Member of the Roda Formation (hereafter referred to as ‘Esdolomada 1’) was formed by a laterally‐migrating, shelf tidal bar. This interpretation is based on detailed mapping of the bedding surfaces on the digital terrain model of the outcrop built from light detection and ranging data and outcrop photomosaics combined with vertical measured sections. The Esdolomada 1 sandbody migrated laterally (i.e. transverse to the tidal currents) towards the south‐west along slightly inclined (1.6° to 4.6°) master bedding surfaces. The locally dominant tidal current flowed to the north‐west. This current direction is indicated by the presence of stacked sets of high‐angle (average 21°) cross‐stratification formed by dunes that migrated in this direction, apparently in an approximately coast‐parallel direction. The tidal bar contains sets and cosets of medium‐grained cross‐stratified sandstone that stack to reach a thickness of about 5·5 m. Individual cross‐bed sets average about 50 cm thick (with a range of 10 to 70 cm) and have lengths of ca 130 to 250 m in a direction perpendicular to the palaeocurrent. Set thickness decreases in the direction of migration, towards the south‐west, and the degree of bioturbation increases, so that the cross‐bedded sandstones gradually change into highly bioturbated finer‐grained and thinner‐bedded sandstones lacking any cross‐stratification. The rate of thinning of individual dune sets as they are traced down any obliquely‐accreting master surface is some 40 cm per 100 m (0·004) for the older, thicker sandstones, whereas the younger, thinner beds thin at a rate of 15 cm over 100 m (0·0015). The tidal bar has a sharp base and top and is encased in finer‐grained bioturbated, marine sandstones. The Esdolomada bar crest was oriented north‐west to south‐east, parallel to the tidal palaeocurrents and to the nearby palaeoshoreline, but built by lateral accretion towards the south‐west. Lateral outbuilding generated a flat‐topped bar with a measured width of about 1700 m, and a preserved height of 5·5 m. The bar, disconnected from a genetically related south‐westward prograding delta some 2 km to the north‐east, developed during the transgressive phase of a sedimentary cycle. The tidal bar was most probably initiated as a delta‐attached bar at the toesets of the delta front and during transgression evolved into a detached tidal bar.     

River channel and bar patterns explained and predicted by an empirical and a physics‐based method

Our objective is to understand general causes of different river channel patterns. In this paper we compare an empirical stream power‐based classification and a physics‐based bar pattern predictor. We present a careful selection of data from the literature that contains rivers with discharge and median bed particle size ranging over several orders of magnitude with various channel patterns and bar types, but no obvious eroding or aggrading tendency. Empirically a continuum is found for increasing specific stream power, here calculated with pattern‐independent variables: mean annual flood, valley gradient and channel width predicted with a hydraulic geometry relation. ‘Thresholds’, above which certain patterns emerge, were identified as a function of bed sediment size. Bar theory predicts nature and presence of bars and bar mode, here converted to active braiding index (B_i). The most important variables are actual width–depth ratio and nonlinearity of bed sediment transport. Results agree reasonably well with data. Empirical predictions are somewhat better than bar theory predictions, because the bank strength is indirectly included in the empirical prediction. In combination, empirical and theoretical prediction provide partial explanations for bar and channel patterns. Increasing potential‐specific stream power implies more energy to erode banks and indeed correlates to channels with high width–depth ratio. Bar theory predicts that such rivers develop more bars across the width (higher B_i). At the transition from meandering to braiding, weakly braided rivers and meandering rivers with chutes are found. Rivers with extremely low stream power and width–depth ratios hardly develop bars or dynamic meandering and may be straight or sinuous or, in case of disequilibrium sediment feed, anastomosing. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evolution and sedimentology of a channel fill in the sandy braided South Saskatchewan River and its comparison to the deposits of an adjacent compound bar

The depositional stratigraphy of within‐channel deposits in sandy braided rivers is dominated by a variety of barforms (both singular ‘unit’ bars and complex ‘compound’ bars), as well as the infill of individual channels (herein termed ‘channel fills’). The deposits of bars and channel fills define the key components of facies models for braided rivers and their within‐channel heterogeneity, knowledge of which is important for reservoir characterization. However, few studies have sought to address the question of whether the deposits of bars and channel fills can be readily differentiated from each other. This paper presents the first quantitative study to achieve this aim, using aerial images of an evolving modern sandy braided river and geophysical imaging of its subsurface deposits. Aerial photographs taken between 2000 and 2004 document the abandonment and fill of a 1·3 km long, 80 m wide anabranch channel in the sandy braided South Saskatchewan River, Canada. Upstream river regulation traps the majority of very fine sediment and there is little clay (< 1%) in the bed sediments. Channel abandonment was initiated by a series of unit bars that stalled and progressively blocked the anabranch entrance, together with dune deposition and stacking at the anabranch entrance and exit. Complete channel abandonment and subsequent fill of up to 3 m of sediment took approximately two years. Thirteen kilometres of ground‐penetrating radar surveys, coupled with 18 cores, were obtained over the channel fill and an adjacent 750 m long, 400 m wide, compound bar, enabling a quantitative analysis of the channel and bar deposits. Results show that, in terms of grain‐size trends, facies proportions and scale of deposits, there are only subtle differences between the channel fill and bar deposits which, therefore, renders them indistinguishable. Thus, it may be inappropriate to assign different geometric and sedimentological attributes to channel fill and bar facies in object‐based models of sandy braided river alluvial architecture.     

苏北盆地溱潼凹陷殷庄—台兴区块阜宁组三段沉积特征及砂体展布

苏北盆地溱潼凹陷殷庄—台兴区块阜宁组三段自上而下分为Ⅰ、Ⅱ、Ⅲ、Ⅳ4个砂组,沉积相组合为三角洲前缘相——包括前缘近端坝、远端坝、分流间湾相砂体夹浅湖—半深湖相泥岩互层。各砂组在分布上具有不同的形态。广山、殷庄、台兴、戴南地区发育的三角洲前缘近端坝和远端坝为有利储集相带。     

Flow resistance adjustments of channel and bars in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in response to the operation of the Three Gorges Dam

Journal of Geographical Sciences - Since the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) was put into operation, the flood water level at an identical discharge rate has not displayed a decreasing trend along the...     

Form and growth of bars in a wandering gravel‐bed river

The changing form of developing alluvial river bars has rarely been studied in the field, especially in the context of the fixed, compound, mainly alternate gravel bars that are the major morphological feature of the wandering style. Century scale patterns of three‐dimensional growth and development, and the consequent scaling relations of such bars, are examined along the gravel‐bed reach of lower Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada. A retrospective view based on maps and aerial photographs obtained through the twentieth century shows that individual bars have a life history of about 100 years, except in certain, protected positions. A newly formed gravel bar quickly assumes its ultimate thickness and relatively quickly approaches its equilibrium length. Growth continues mainly by lateral accretion of unit bars, consistent with the lateral style of instability of the river. Bar growth is therefore allometric. Mature bars approach equilibrium dimensions and volume that scale with the overall size of the channel. Accordingly, the bars conform with several published criteria for the ultimate dimensions of alternate barforms. Sand bars, observed farther downstream, have notably different morphology. Fraser River presents a typical wandering channel planform, exhibiting elements of both meandered and low‐order braided channels. Hydraulic criteria to which the Fraser bars conform illustrate why this planform develops and persists. The modest rate of bed material transfer along the channel – typical of the wandering type – determines a century‐length time scale for bar development. This time scale is consistent with estimates that have been made for change of the macroform elements that determine the overall geometry of alluvial channels. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

多孔砖、粉煤灰砌块、火山渣砌块配筋墙体抗震性能试验研究

本文根据普通粘土砖墙体配置水平钢筋的研究成果,在空心多孔砖、粉煤灰砌块、火山渣混凝土砌块墙体中配置少量水平钢筋,研究它们在水平往复荷载及竖向荷载共同作用下的宏观破坏模式、抗剪强度、变形能力、钢筋效应等,为砌块承重房屋的抗震设计提供科学依据。     

黄河三角洲河道沉积规律研究Ⅰ.建林边滩的形成与演化

通过对建林边滩形态、沉积物的实地调查 ,查明了建林边滩的形态及沉积物分布特征 ,从河流沉积动力学角度探讨了边滩的形成与演化。建林边滩发育呈“二元结构”,沉积物下粗上细 ,侧向地质作用与垂向地质作用是塑造边滩的根本动力。     

临南洼陷带滩坝砂岩储层分布

临南洼陷带沙四段滨浅湖滩坝相成因的砂体广泛发育,近年来已成为该区十分重要的勘探后备阵地。但该区火成岩发育,地震资料品质较差,滩坝砂的分布发育不清,不利于勘探部署。在深化研究沙四上亚段古地貌、沉积特征的基础上,运用频谱分解等技术提高地震资料分辩率,综合利用了正演及属性分析等技术,对滩坝砂岩的发育范围进行了预测,取得了良好的效果,为该层系油藏的勘探提供了可靠的依据。     

Sources and variability of CO2 in a prealpine stream gravel bar

Gravel bars (GBs) contribute to carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from stream corridors, with CO₂ concentrations and emissions dependent on prevailing hydraulic, biochemical, and physicochemical conditions. We investigated CO₂ concentrations and fluxes across a GB in a prealpine stream over three different discharge‐temperature conditions. By combining field data with a reactive transport groundwater model, we were able to differentiate the most relevant hydrological and biogeochemical processes contributing to CO₂ dynamics. GB CO₂ concentrations showed significant spatial and temporal variability and were highest under the lowest flow and highest temperature conditions. Further, observed GB surface CO₂ evasion fluxes, measured CO₂ concentrations, and modelled aerobic respiration were highest at the tail of the GB over all conditions. Modelled CO₂ transport via streamwater downwelling contributed the largest fraction of the measured GB CO₂ concentrations (31% to 48%). This contribution increased its relative share at higher discharges as a result of a decrease in other sources. Also, it decreased from the GB head to tail across all discharge‐temperature conditions. Aerobic respiration accounted for 17% to 36% of measured surface CO₂ concentrations. Zoobenthic respiration was estimated to contribute between 4% and 8%, and direct groundwater CO₂ inputs 1% to 23%. Unexplained residuals accounted for 6% to 37% of the observed CO₂ concentrations at the GB surface. Overall, we highlight the dynamic role of subsurface aerobic respiration as a driver of spatial and temporal variability of CO₂ concentrations and evasion fluxes from a GB. As hydrological regimes in prealpine streams are predicted to change following climatic change, we propose that warming temperatures combined with extended periods of low flow will lead to increased CO₂ release via enhanced aerobic respiration in newly exposed GBs in prealpine stream corridors.