The Sis palaeovalley: a record of proximal fluvial sedimentation and drainage basin development in response to Pyrenean mountain building

The Sis conglomerate body represents the Middle Eocene to Oligocene transfer‐zone trunk palaeovalley fill of the Sis fluvial system, a drainage system established within the Pyrenees during Late Palaeocene times. The spatial stability of the fluvial transfer zone (active for at least 38 My), and hence the longevity of its aggradational palaeovalley component (>19·5 My), was controlled by its location between long‐lived pre‐existing structures. Coarse‐grained fluvial facies dominate the palaeovalley fill, with alluvial fan facies shed from its defining marginal structures. The detailed sedimentology of very proximal fluvial facies deposited within the dominantly erosional realm of an active mountain belt has rarely been documented before because of their poor preservation potential. The Sis conglomerate body contains a robust internal stratigraphy with stratigraphic units defined by distinct bounding surfaces, across which there are pronounced changes in facies and provenance. These mark the reorganization of the headward portions of the Sis fluvial system during the evolution of the Pyrenean Axial Zone antiformal stack. Major changes in discharge resulted, demonstrating the highly variable nature of even mountain belt‐scale fluvial systems when viewed on timescales of several to tens of millions of years. Provenance details indicate that initial unroofing of Hercynian granitoids, situated within the Pyrenean Axial Zone, occurred around 54·5 Ma (early Ypresian) immediately before the first significant exhumation event within the drainage basin of the Sis fluvial system. This is earlier than previously constrained by apatite fission track studies. Rock uplift accelerated in the Lutetian and Bartonian with the initial aggradation of the palaeovalley fill (the Cajigar and Cornudella Formations and Sis One and Two Members). This became marked in the Priabonian (Sis Three and Four Members), with significant activity on local structures including the Morreres backthrust. An increase in basement‐derived clasts and a headwater decapitation event also indicate pronounced Axial Zone antiformal stack development at this time. Axial Zone development intensified further in the Oligocene with the deposition of the Collegats Formation and the switch in the main depositional loci of the system from the Tremp‐Graus thrust‐sheet‐top basin to the Ebro Basin to the south.     

Rates of sediment deposition in a hypersaline lake in the northern Great Plains,western Canada

Remarkably high rates of sedimentation (up to nearly 60 kg m⁻² yr⁻¹) are documented for offshore areas of Freefight Lake, a deep, hypersaline, meromictic lake in the northern Great Plains of Canada. Most material in the offshore sediment traps consists of soluble and suparingly soluble endogenic salts. Deposition of allogenic sediment is minor. The observed high sedimentation rates are in response to several mechanism: (i) freeseout precipitation of salts from the mixolimnion; (ii) redistribution of shallow water endogenic precipitates by turbidity flows and interflow processes; and (iii) precipitation of salts from within the monimolimnion Because the bottom water mass of the lake is essentially isothermal and isochemical, large scale temperature induced remobilization of these salts at or near the sediment-water interface is unlikely. Similarly, the morphology of the basin suggests that resuspension of bottom sediment by waves in the offshore areas of the basin is negligible. Although the sedimentation rates observed in Freefight Lake are extraordinarily high and considerably greater than other modern lacustrine sedimentation rates documented in the literature to date, the observed rates are entirely compatible with suggested accumulation rates of ancient evaporite sequences. Palliser Tringle Global Change Contribution Number 6.     

The chronology and stratigraphy of the alluvial terraces of the river Dane Valley,Cheshire, N.W. England

Three groups of alluvial terraces together with the modern floodplain mark the Postglacial development of the middle part of the Dane Valley, Cheshire. These are a High terrace group of late Pleistocene age, a Middle terrace group of late Pleistocene to early Holocene age, a Low terrace of mid–late Holocene age, and a modern (post ca. 1840 AD) floodplain. A chronology of erosion, deposition, and landform development since mid-Holocene times is established in this paper on the basis of terrace morphology, stratigraphy, sedimentology, soil analysis, magnetic mineral analysis, and four radiocarbon dates. After dissection of the Middle terrace during the early to mid-Holocene, a long period of lateral activity by the river was followed by a major aggradation phase, which formed the Low terrace surface. This was followed by dissection during the last ca. 300 years and the development of the modern floodplain since ca. 1840 AD. Various explanations for the changes during the Holocene are considered; the Low terrace aggradation appears to be related to a major phase of mediaeval soil erosion.     

Intra- and extra-caldera volcaniclastic facies and geomorphic characteristics of a frequently active mafic island–arc volcano, Ambrym Island, Vanuatu

Ambrym is one of the most voluminous active volcanoes in the Melanesian arc. It consists of a 35 by 50 km island elongated east–west, parallel with an active fissure zone. The central part of Ambrym, about 800 m above sea level, contains a 12 kilometre-wide caldera, with two active intra-caldera cone-complexes, Marum and Benbow. These frequently erupting complexes provide large volumes of tephra (lapilli and ash) to fill the surrounding caldera and create an exceptionally large devegetated plateau “ash plain”, as well as sediment-choked fluvial systems leading outward from the summit caldera. Deposits from fall, subordinate base surge and small-volume pyroclastic (scoria) flows dominate the volcaniclastic sequences in near vent regions. Frequent and high-intensity rainfall results in rapid erosion of freshly deposited tephra, forming small-scale debris flow- and modified grain flow-dominated deposits. Box-shaped channel systems are initially deep and narrow on the upper flanks of the composite cones and are filled bank-to-bank with lapilli-dominated debris flow deposits. These units spill out into larger channel systems forming debris aprons of thousands of overlapping and anastomosing long, narrow lobes of poorly sorted lapilli-dominated deposits. These deposits are typically remobilised by hyperconcentrated flows, debris-rich stream flows and rare debris flows that pass down increasingly shallower and broader box-shaped valleys. Lenses and lags of fines and primary fall deposits occur interbedded between the dominantly tabular hyperconcentrated flow deposits of these reaches. Aeolian sedimentation forms elongated sand dunes flanking the western rim of the ash-plain. Outside the caldera, initially steep-sided immature box-canyons are formed again, conveying dominantly hyperconcentrated flow deposits. These gradually pass into broad channels on lesser gradients in coastal areas and terminate at the coast in the form of prograding fans of ash-dominated deposits. The extra-caldera deposits are typically better sorted and contain other bedding features characteristic of more dilute fluvial flows and transitional hyperconcentrated flows. These outer flank volcaniclastics fill valleys to modify restricted portions of the dominantly constructional landscape (lava flows, and satellite cones) of Ambrym. Apparent maturity of the volcanic system has resulted in the subsidence of the present summit caldera at a similar rate to its infill by volcaniclastic deposits.     

环境沉积学的兴起

面对生态、环境、灾害、全球变化等重大问题和环境科学、沉积学的发展,环境沉积学应运而生。环境沉积学的发展经历了萌芽和兴起2个阶段,直至20世纪90年代中后期,其研究始得以广泛关注。在前人研究的基础上,初步厘定了环境沉积学的概念和研究目的,指出其研究内容既包括沉积学中的环境问题,又包括环境科学中的沉积问题,4个研究方向分别为原生环境沉积学、污染物环境沉积学、生态环境沉积学和全球变化环境沉积学。环境沉积学以环境和灾害研究为己任,将在解决人类面临的环境污染、生态破坏、地质灾害、全球气候变化等重大问题的研究中发挥越来越重要的作用,是未来沉积学发展的重要方向之一。     

泌阳凹陷核三段地震沉积学研究

泌阳凹陷深凹区核三段发育辫状河三角洲、滑塌浊积扇及近岸水下扇砂体,受到技术方法和研究手段的限制,沉积相分布范围不明确,尤其是对滑塌浊积扇砂体不能进行详细的刻画。在地震沉积学理论指导下,首先采用提高分辨率、相位调整等技术将叠后三维资料调整到适合地震沉积学研究的最佳状态,然后利用地层切片技术,制作了展现沉积微相分布和沉积演化过程的切片数据体,最后综合分析岩心、录井、测井等资料,对典型地层切片进行沉积砂体的精细解释,预测了沉积相在时空上的展布和演变,为该凹陷寻找滑塌浊积扇等隐蔽油气藏提供了较为可靠的依据。     

EOF分析在海岸地貌与沉积学研究中的应用进展

海岸地貌形成演化的过程和机制是当今海岸地貌与沉积学研究的核心任务.但是,对于海岸带这样高维数非线性系统行为的认识与研究还很有限,因而预测海岸地区地貌演变与沉积物输运就变得比较困难,尤其是动力数值模型在较大时空尺度上的模拟并不理想.数据驱动模型可以一定程度上解决这一问题,并且在数据驱动模型构建之前,经验正交函数(EOF)分析技术能够有效提取、定量表达数据中的主要型式与它们的时空演变,以及不同型式之间是如何相互联系的.这不但有助于构建数据驱动模型进行模拟,更有益于理解这些主控因素是如何影响海岸地貌演化的.进而不断丰富对于海岸地貌演化的过程与机制的认识.故本文在系统整理大量国内外文献的基础上.首先简要介绍了EOF分析的基本原理.然后从砂质和淤泥质海岸剖面的时空变化特征、河口近岸海底冲淤变化的时空演变特征和预测、海岸海洋地区沉积物粒度分布特征和输运等几个方面综述EOF分析在这些研究中的应用进展,同时比较分析研究实例中的问题,进而分析当前研究中的不足,提出应该主要从提高海岸地貌与沉积数据的野外获取手段与时空分辨率,拓宽可供EOF分析的时间或非时间序列的数据类型:深人挖掘EOF分析结果所显示出的海岸地貌与沉积现象中的物理过程与机制.以期为特定时空尺度的海岸地貌与沉积数值模拟提供有价值的参考信息:多与其他线性或非线性分析技术联合使用以作深入分析解释或模拟这三方面来做进一步改进,为实现EOF分析在海岸地貌与沉积学研究中的深入应用与发展提供借鉴.     

塔河油田卡拉沙依组地震沉积学研究与储层预测

针对塔河油田石炭系卡拉沙依组储层含灰质严重造成砂泥岩波阻抗值接近的特点,开展地震沉积学研究,用时频分析的方法在卡拉沙依组CK3和CK4砂组中划分3个最小等时研究单元及其对应的短期等时沉积界面;采用岩石-岩相物理分析确定了最小等时单元对应的地震响应特征,其中厚砂岩为强振幅反射;通过定量地震属性相分析提出用伪熵和扭度属性刻画薄层砂泥岩分布的方法;采用相控属性投影技术进行相控储层预测,并将有利沉积微相平面范围投影到过井的岩性反演剖面中,在三维空间中确定了有利储层展布形态,实现了实践意义上的“相控”理念,证实了地震沉积学在沉积相分析及岩性圈闭预测方面具良好的学科优势。     

Sedimentology and geochemistry of fluvio-lacustrine tufa deposits controlled by evaporite solution subsidence in the central Ebro Depression, NE Spain

The Urrea de Jalón tufa deposits constitute the 20‐ to 50‐m‐thick caprock (0·3 km²) of an isolated mesa. They disconformably overlie horizontal strata of the Tertiary Ebro Basin (NE Spain), which contains a thick succession of lacustrine gypsum and marls, followed by limestones, marls and, locally, fluvial sandstones and mudstones. The tufa deposits show a complex, large‐scale framework of basin‐like structures with centripetal dips that decrease progressively from the base to the top of the tufa succession, and beds that thicken towards the centre of the structure (cumulative wedge‐out systems). These geometries reveal that the tufa deposits were affected by differential synsedimentary subsidence. Distinct onlapping depressions reflect time migration of the subsiding areas. The studied carbonates are composed mostly of low‐Mg calcite, with minor quartz. Some samples have anomalously high contents of Fe, Mn and Ba that may exceed 1% (goethite, haematite and barite are present). Carbonate facies are: (a) macrophyte encrustation deposits; (b) bryophyte build‐ups; (c) oncolite and coated grain rudstones; (d) non‐concentric stromatolite‐like structures; (e) massive or bioturbated biomicrites; and (f) green and grey marls. Facies a and c show a great variety of microbial‐related forms. These facies can be arranged in dm‐ to 2‐m‐thick vertical associations representing: (i) fluvial–paludal sequences with bryophyte growths; (ii) pond‐influenced fluvial sequences; and (iii) lacustrine–palustrine sequences. The Urrea de Jalón tufa deposits formed in a fluvio‐lacustrine environment that received little alluvial sediment supply. Isotope compositions (δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O) reveal meteoric signatures and accord with such a hydrologically open system of fresh waters. The Fe, Mn and Ba contents suggest an additional supply of mineralized waters that could be related to springs. These would have been discharge points in the Ebro Depression of a regional aquifer of the Iberian Ranges. Rising groundwater caused the solution of the underlying evaporites and the synsedimentary subsidence of the tufa deposits.     

浊积岩分序级描述技术及其在东营凹陷油气勘探中的应用

浊积岩分序级描述技术是在前人研究与勘探实践基础上,以层序地层学理论为指导,结合较为前沿的地震沉积学理论,分析层序内部结构,明确了浊积岩发育序级的划分原则、对比和划分方法;以地震资料为基础,充分发挥了井震结合的优势,形成了浊积岩的地震识别模式的建立方法.本次研究建立了东营凹陷沙三段和沙四上不同类型浊积岩的地震响应模式,形成了浊积岩分序级描述技术;该技术可以用来预测新的浊积岩发育区.东营凹陷油气勘探实践证明,在浊积岩分序级描述的基础上进行勘探优化部署,可以有效的提高浊积岩油藏的勘探成功率.