重力驱动作用——滦平盆地下白垩统西瓜园组沉积时期主要的搬运机制

通过对冀北滦平盆地下白垩统西瓜园组沉积地层的实地考察,发现盆地内发育丰富的重力驱动作用沉积物。文中描述西瓜园组发育的滑动和滑塌现象,指出露头剖面中存在的挤压变形现象并非构造成因,而是由于滑动块体和滑塌块体前端的挤压应力环境造成的。在介绍西瓜园组重力流沉积发育环境的基础上,对露头中存在的若干重力流沉积进行了描述,并使用砂质碎屑流这一概念对这些现象进行了较为合理的成因解释。通过对滑动和滑塌(重力块体运动)和砂质碎屑流—浊流(重力流)沉积物研究,结合前人对该地区冲积扇—扇三角洲的研究成果,认为重力驱动作用是滦平盆地下白垩统西瓜园组沉积时期主要的搬运机制。     

Anatomy of ancient passive margin slope systems: Aptian gravity-driven deposition on the Vocontian palaeomargin, western Alps, south-east France

The Aptian succession on the Vocontian palaeomargin (south-east France) consists of marl and marly calcareous pelagic slope facies together with a range of gravity-driven deposits (slumps, debris-flow deposits, turbidite packages and massive sandstones). The massive sandstones were emplaced by high-density turbidity currents and are associated with extensive clastic sills and dykes. The sedimentology is constrained by a high-resolution bio- and lithostratigraphic framework and permits a detailed analysis of the slope succession including: (1) a sequence stratigraphical analysis of the slope deposits; and (2) lateral tracing of individual sedimentary packages downslope. The resulting model for the Vocontian slope represents an alternative to the ‘classic’ Exxon delta-fed, mud-rich model. Key elements of the Vocontian model are: (1) an emphasis on lowstand slope erosion and complex slope morphology controlled by contemporary tectonism and salt diapirism; (2) slope deposition in confined erosional and structurally controlled conduits rather than the buildout of slope fans/channel-levee complexes; (3) a dominance of large-volume muddy slump and transitional debris-flow deposits, with subordinate sandy turbidites, including significant massive sandstone facies; (4) common sand injections (sills and dykes) associated with the massive sandstone facies; and (5) minimal downslope evolution of the flows, with the nature of the source sediment being the over-riding factor determining flow behaviour and deposit character. The Vocontian system is a rare instance in which large sections of a ‘fossil’ passive margin slope are preserved in the geological record. The slope deposits differ from the classic models of turbidite systems that have mainly been built from peripheral foreland basins, and the new insight makes it possible to compare ancient and present-day passive margin slope systems.     

深水库区细颗粒淤积物重力驱动流动数值模拟——以三峡水库为例

针对三峡水库近坝区细颗粒泥沙淤积特征,从过程机理出发,提出了深水库区细颗粒泥沙淤积过程的物理图形。采用临界坡度作为细颗粒淤积物失稳流动的判别标准,借鉴浅水流动模式,描述失稳后细颗粒淤积物重力驱动流动过程,通过耦合三维水沙数学模型,建立了细颗粒淤积物重力驱动流动的数值模拟方法,在此基础上对三峡水库近坝区细颗粒泥沙淤积形态进行了模拟研究。研究结果表明:水库蓄水运行初期近坝区细颗粒泥沙主要淤积在断面深槽内,且呈水平状,考虑重力驱动流动后的模拟结果与实测结果吻合较好,从而为进一步深入研究深水库区细颗粒泥沙运动特征提供了技术支撑。     

Base-salt relief controls salt-tectonic structural style,São Paulo Plateau,Santos Basin,Brazil

Base-salt relief influences salt flow, producing three-dimensionally complex strains and multiphase deformation within the salt and its overburden. Understanding how base-salt relief influences salt-related deformation is important to correctly interpret salt basin kinematics and distribution of structural domains, which have important implications to understand the development of key petroleum system elements. The São Paulo Plateau, Santos Basin, Brazil is characterized by a >2 km thick, mechanically layered Aptian salt layer deposited above prominent base-salt relief. We use 3D seismic reflection data, and physical and conceptual kinematic models to investigate how gravity-driven translation above thick salt, underlain by complex base-salt relief, generated a complex framework of salt structures and minibasins. We show that ramp-syncline basins developed above and downdip of the main pre-salt highs record c. 30 km of Late Cretaceous-Paleocene basinward translation. As salt and overburden translated downdip, salt flux variations caused by the base-salt relief resulted in non-uniform motion of the cover, and the simultaneous development of extensional and contractional structures. Contraction preferentially occurred where salt flow locally decelerated, above landward-dipping base-salt and downdip of basinward-dipping ramps. Extension occurred at the top of basinward-dipping ramps and base-salt plateaus, where salt flow locally accelerated. Where the base of the salt layer was broadly flat, structures evolved primarily by load-driven passive diapirism. At the edge of or around smaller base-salt highs, salt structures were affected by plan-view rotation, shearing and divergent flow. The magnitude of translation (c. 30 km) and the style of salt-related deformation observed on the São Paulo Plateau afford an improved kinematic model for the enigmatic Albian Gap, suggesting this structure formed by a combination of basinward salt expulsion and regional extension. These observations contribute to the long-lived debate regarding the mechanisms of salt tectonics on the São Paulo Plateau, ultimately improving our general understanding of the effects of base-salt relief on salt tectonics in other basins.     

Deep-seated gravitational slope deformation (DSGSD) and slow-moving landslides in the southern Tien Shan Mountains: new insights from InSAR,tectonic and geomorphic analysis

We investigated deep-seated gravitational slope deformation (DSGSD) and slow mass movements in the southern Tien Shan Mountains front using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) time-series data obtained by the ALOS/PALSAR satellite. DSGSD evolves with a variety of geomorphological changes (e.g. valley erosion, incision of slope drainage networks) over time that affect earth surfaces and, therefore, often remain unexplored. We analysed 118 interferograms generated from 20 SAR images that covered about 900 km². To understand the spatial pattern of the slope movements and to identify triggering parameters, we correlated surface dynamics with the tectono-geomorphic processes and lithologic conditions of the active front of the Alai Range. We observed spatially continuous, constant hillslope movements with a downslope speed of approximately 71 mm year⁻¹ velocity. Our findings suggest that the lithological and structural framework defined by protracted deformation was the main controlling factor for sustained relief and, consequently, downslope mass movements. The analysed structures revealed integration of a geological/structural setting with the superposition of Cretaceous–Paleogene alternating carbonatic and clastic sedimentary structures as the substratum for younger, less consolidated sediments. This type of structural setting causes the development of large-scale, gravity-driven DSGSD and slow mass movement. Surface deformations with clear scarps and multiple crest lines triggered planes for large-scale deep mass creeps, and these were related directly to active faults and folds in the geologic structures. Our study offers a new combination of InSAR techniques and structural field observations, along with morphometric and seismologic correlations, to identify and quantify slope instability phenomena along a tectonically active mountain front. These results contribute to an improved natural risk assessment in these structures. © 2019 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd