The Quaternary fills of the buried valleys of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan have provided a wealth of information for the reconstruction of the glacial-interglacial record of the western plains of Canada, and this paper reports on the previously unstudied stratigraphy of the buried Calgary Valley and its former tributaries in the lower Red Deer River area. We attempt to differentiate Empress Group sediments, which potentially relate to pre-glacial, interglacial/ interstadial and post-glacial lake and river deposition, using sedimentology, stratigraphy and palaeoecology. Twenty-nine stratigraphical logs indicate that Empress Group sediments have infilled a considerably large area of badlands and tributary coulees that once drained into the Calgary Valley, located 15 km to the north of Dinosaur Provincial Park. Radiocarbon dates of 52.4 ka, 27.4 ka and > 42.4 ka and glacially modified quartz grains suggest that at least some of the valley fills date to interglacial or interstadial periods and may be mid-Wisconsinan in age. However, outcrops of an older till overlying other valley fills suggest that the buried valleys were only partially excavated during interglacials/interstadials and that older (even pre-glacial) sediments could have survived. Subglacial channels, recognisable on air photographs, largely coincide with buried valley positions due to the preferential excavation of the Quaternary sediment by meltwater and are filled with post-glacial lake sediment from which a radiocarbon date of 16 ka BP was obtained. Pre-glacial and glacial/post-glacial Empress Group sediments are lithologically indistinct but cover a large time span in southern Alberta. 相似文献
Many cities around the world are developed at alluvial fans. With economic and industrial development and increase in population,
quality and quantity of groundwater are often damaged by over-exploitation in these areas. In order to realistically assess
these groundwater resources and their sustainability, it is vital to understand the recharge sources and hydrogeochemical
evolution of groundwater in alluvial fans. In March 2006, groundwater and surface water were sampled for major element analysis
and stable isotope (oxygen-18 and deuterium) compositions in Xinxiang, which is located at a complex alluvial fan system composed
of a mountainous area, Taihang Mt. alluvial fan and Yellow River alluvial fan. In the Taihang mountainous area, the groundwater
was recharged by precipitation and was characterized by Ca–HCO3 type water with depleted δ18O and δD (mean value of −8.8‰ δ18O). Along the flow path from the mountainous area to Taihang Mt. alluvial fan, the groundwater became geochemically complex
(Ca–Na–Mg–HCO3–Cl–SO4 type), and heavier δ18O and δD were observed (around −8‰ δ18O). Before the surface water with mean δ18O of −8.7‰ recharged to groundwater, it underwent isotopic enrichment in Taihang Mt. alluvial fan. Chemical mixture and ion
exchange are expected to be responsible for the chemical evolution of groundwater in Yellow River alluvial fan. Transferred
water from the Yellow River is the main source of the groundwater in the Yellow River alluvial fan in the south of the study
area, and stable isotopic compositions of the groundwater (mean value of −8.8‰ δ18O) were similar to those of transferred water (−8.9‰), increasing from the southern boundary of the study area to the distal
end of the fan. The groundwater underwent chemical evolution from Ca–HCO3, Na–HCO3, to Na–SO4. A conceptual model, integrating stiff diagrams, is used to describe the spatial variation of recharge sources, chemical
evolution, and groundwater flow paths in the complex alluvial fan aquifer system. 相似文献
The formation of incised valleys on continental shelves is generally attributed to fluvial erosion under low sea level conditions. However, there are exceptions. A multibeam sonar survey at the northern end of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, adjacent to the southern edge of the Gulf of Papua, mapped a shelf valley system up to 220 m deep that extends for more than 90 km across the continental shelf. This is the deepest shelf valley yet found in the Great Barrier Reef and is well below the maximum depth of fluvial incision that could have occurred under a − 120 m, eustatic sea level low-stand, as what occurred on this margin during the last ice age. These valleys appear to have formed by a combination of reef growth and tidal current scour, probably in relation to a sea level at around 30–50 m below its present position.
Tidally incised depressions in the valley floor exhibit closed bathymetric contours at both ends. Valley floor sediments are mainly calcareous muddy, gravelly sand on the middle shelf, giving way to well-sorted, gravely sand containing a large relict fraction on the outer shelf. The valley extends between broad platform reefs and framework coral growth, which accumulated through the late Quaternary, coincides with tidal current scour to produce steep-sided (locally vertical) valley walls. The deepest segments of the valley were probably the sites of lakes during the last ice age, when Torres Strait formed an emergent land-bridge between Australia and Papua New Guinea. Numerical modeling predicts that the strongest tidal currents occur over the deepest, outer-shelf segment of the valley when sea level is about 40–50 m below its present position. These results are consistent with a Pleistocene age and relict origin of the valley.
Based on these observations, we propose a new conceptual model for the formation of tidally incised shelf valleys. Tidal erosion on meso- to macro-tidal, rimmed carbonate shelves is enhanced during sea level rise and fall when a tidal, hydraulic pressure gradient is established between the shelf-lagoon and the adjacent ocean basin. Tidal flows attain a maximum, and channel incision is greatest, when a large hydraulic pressure gradient coincides with small channel cross sections. Our tidal-incision model may explain the observation of other workers, that sediment is exported from the Great Barrier Reef shelf to the adjacent ocean basins during intermediate (rather than last glacial maximum) low-stand, sea level positions. The model may apply to other rimmed shelves, both modern and ancient. 相似文献