Abstract
Summary Profiles of prograding fan deltas are largely controlled by the water depth in the receiving basin. The initial slope of the fan-delta front with respect to that of the fan-delta plain, which is sometimes detectable in stratigraphic packages, decreases with the increase in water depth at the toe of fan-delta front deposits. The resultant relationship provides important evidence and information for restoring the depositional architecture of ancient fan deltas that may reflect the marginal geometry of sedimentary basins. Relatively steep gradients in fan-delta accretion surfaces may lead to an overestimation of the vertical stratigraphic thickness, particularly if it is calculated using a simple cumulative bed thickness. Furthermore, fan-delta successions which appear to be anomalously thick may not be due to progressive or incremental basin subsidence, but rather to overestimated stratigraphic thickness because the fan-delta clinoform dips were ignored. A part of the thick fan-delta deposits, therefore, can best be interpreted in terms of lateral accretion of fan-delta front deposits on the dipping clinoform surfaces, responding to the shallowing in the receiving basin.
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