Topographic Controls On the Development of Contemporaneous but Contrasting Basin-Floor Depositional Architectures

Abstract

Research Article| October 16, 2018 Topographic Controls On the Development of Contemporaneous but Contrasting Basin-Floor Depositional Architectures Daniel Bell; Daniel Bell 1SedRESQ, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, U.K. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Christopher J. Stevenson; Christopher J. Stevenson 2School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GP, U.K. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Ian A. Kane; Ian A. Kane 1SedRESQ, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, U.K. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar David M. Hodgson; David M. Hodgson 3The Stratigraphy Group, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, U.K. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Miquel Poyatos-Moré Miquel Poyatos-Moré 4Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, 0371 Oslo, Norway Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Journal of Sedimentary Research (2018) 88 (10): 1166–1189. https://doi.org/10.2110/jsr.2018.58 Article history first online: 16 Oct 2018 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Daniel Bell, Christopher J. Stevenson, Ian A. Kane, David M. Hodgson, Miquel Poyatos-Moré; Topographic Controls On the Development of Contemporaneous but Contrasting Basin-Floor Depositional Architectures. Journal of Sedimentary Research 2018;; 88 (10): 1166–1189. doi: https://doi.org/10.2110/jsr.2018.58 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentBy SocietyJournal of Sedimentary Research Search Advanced Search Abstract Sediment-laden gravity-driven-flow deposits on the basin floor are typically considered to form either discrete lobes that stack compensationally, or packages of laterally extensive beds, commonly termed “sheets.” These end-member stacking patterns are documented in several basinfills. However, whether they can coexist in a single basin, or there are intermediate or transitional stacking patterns, is poorly understood. An analysis of depositional architecture and stacking patterns along a 70 km dip-oriented transect in the Upper Broto Turbidite System (Jaca Basin, south-central Pyrenees, Spain), which displays disparate stacking patterns in contemporaneous strata, is presented. Proximal and medial deposits are characterized by discrete packages of clean sandstones with sharp bed tops which exhibit predictable lateral and longitudinal facies changes, and are interpreted as lobes. Distal deposits comprise both relatively clean sandstones and hybrid beds that do not stack to form lobes. Instead, localized relatively thick hybrid beds are inferred to have inhibited the development of lobes. Hybrid beds developed under flows which were deflected and entrained carbonate mud substrate off a carbonate slope that bounded the basin to the south; evidence for this interpretation includes: 1) divergent paleoflow indicators and hummock-like features in individual beds; 2) a decrease in hybrid-bed thickness and abundance away from the lateral confining slope; 3) a carbonate-rich upper division, not seen in more proximal turbidites. The study demonstrates the co-occurrence of different styles of basin-floor stacking patterns in the same stratigraphic interval, and suggests that characterization of deep-water systems as either lobes or sheets is a false dichotomy. You do not currently have access to this article.