Comparing the depositional architecture of basin floor fans and slope fans in the Pab Sandstone, Maastrichtian, Pakistan

Abstract

Abstract Basin-floor fans and slope fans present major differences in their internal architecture related to changes in: (1) margin morphology, (2) relative sea-level change, and (3) sediment supply. These variations are illustrated in the outcrops of the Pab Sandstone in Pakistan. The Pab Sandstone third-order sequence was deposited on the Indo-Pakistani margin during the Upper Maastrichtian. Uplift of the margin induced erosion on the shelf, incision of submarine canyons on the slope and the development of a sand-rich, high-efficiency basin-floor fan extending over hundreds of kilometres on the basin floor. During transgression, sediment accumulated in backstepping shoreface deposits on the shelf, and a minor mud-rich slope fan was deposited in the basin. Finally, a sand-rich braided delta prograded across the shelf, feeding a sand-rich slope fan where it reached the shelf margin. This slope fan was of more limited lateral extent. The Lower Pab basin-floor fan shows the effects of flow funnelling and confinement due to a canyon incised into the slope. It consists mainly of channel complexes deposited by superconcentrated density flows to low-density turbidity currents. In contrast, the Upper Pab slope fan shows little confinement and low transport efficiency. It consists of tabular lobes, aggrading mid-fan channels and conglomeratic channels in the upper fan. The low transport efficiency of the gravity flows probably explains the low degree of organization of the slope fan.