High-resolution sequence stratigraphy of an alluvial fan–fan delta environment: stratigraphic and geodynamic implications – An example from the Keuper Chaunoy Sandstones, Paris Basin

Abstract

Facies analysis of the Chaunoy Formation, conducted as the first stage of this study, reveals that the corresponding fluvial system essentially involved bedload deposition, 2-D and 3-D megaripple migration, and debris-flow deposition. Such processes are characteristic of alluvial fan depositional environments. These alluvial fan deposits pass laterally eastward into a shallow lacustrine environment. In stage 2 of the study, electrofacies are defined by well-log analysis and then matched with sedimentary facies defined by core analysis. Electrofacies associations and depositional environments are then inferred directly from well-logs on this basis. Six electrofacies characterizing the main sedimentary facies associations and depositional environments within the Chaunoy Formation are defined (channel, lag deposits, channel infilling, lake or flood-plain, overflow deposits and paleosols). Stage 3 involves establishing correlations based on high-resolution sequence stratigraphy. Within these continental deposits, the procedure consists in analysing high-frequency fluctuations in baselevel defined from sedimentological studies and calibrated on well-log signatures. The correlations show that the top of the Chaunoy Formation is diachronous. The formation is subdivided here into three stratigraphic units from base to top: Chaunoy I, II and III. This study shows that the degree of preservation of continental deposits varies with stratigraphic cycle: genetic sequences and genetic sequence sets are asymmetrical, with the baselevel rise being better preserved than the baselevel fall, while, for minor cycle, deposits may be similarly preserved during baselevel rise and fall. The sequence stratigraphy pattern of the genetic sequences and the genetic sequence sets can result from climatic and/or tectonic factors but their effects are difficult to distinguish. At the scale of the minor Chaunoy I cycle or the Chaunoy II cycle, preservation is similar during the baselevel rise and fall, that implies that the Chaunoy minor cycles were influenced by load discharge resulting in greater accommodation space which could result from climatic or tectonic fluctuations. The Chaunoy Formation was deposited as part of a major baselevel rise during the Carnian–Liassic cycle. During this cycle, the Paris basin was generally tilted to the northwest producing the intra-`Marnes irisées supérieures' truncation which seems to have been induced by large-scale wavelength tectonic deformation. Detailed isopach maps of minor baselevel cycles in Chaunoy I with inferred depositional environments are used to define the extent of depositional environments and fault activity during baselevel rise and fall. During emplacement of the braided alluvial fan and lacustrine deposits of the Chaunoy Formation, fault activity, which was confined to the western part of the basin, controlled the preservation potential, i.e. the thickness of the deposits, and depositional environment profiles. Within the Chaunoy I and II cycles, the increased thickness of the sandstone deposits to the northeast and the onlap at the top of Chaunoy I can be explained by local fault activity and by the general tilting of the basin. The Chaunoy III sandstones are confined to the western part of the basin and seem to have been controlled by local factors only.