Key controls on the characteristics of turbidite systems

Abstract

Abstract Four main controls (tectonics, climate, sedimentary characteristics and processes, and sea-level fluctuations) commonly interact with each other and do so at varying intensities. This results in a wide variety of basin types and shapes, timing of transport within the sequence stratigraphy framework, transport and depositional processes, grain size ranges, and distribution of sediment within a basin. Two major end members of turbidite systems can be recognized: coarse-grained/sand-rich and fine-grained/mud-rich. Coarse-grained fans typically belong to active margin settings. They prograde gradually into a basin and show a decrease in thickness and grain size in the downflow direction. The sediment source is near the coastline, and the turbidite basins are commonly small to medium in size. The fine-grained fans occur on passive and active margins, prograde rapidly into a basin, and deposit most of the input sand in the distal fan as oblong sheet sands. Tectonically confined basins normally have their sediment source nearby, and therefore will be filled with coarse-grained fans. Most of the open (unconfined) basins are medium to large in size, have their sediment source far from the coast, and therefore lose the coarser fractions during continental transport. Diapirically controlled basins are small- to medium-sized confined basins that have a fine-grained turbidite fill, but may not reveal the bypassing of the majority of the sand to the outer fan because of the abundance of sediment transport to the basin.