Ravinement Surface Research Articles

Tracking the isostatic and eustatic signals in an end Ordovician–early Silurian deglacial sedimentary record (Algeria – Libya border)

AbstractTo elucidate the signature of isostatic and eustatic signals during a deglaciation period in pre‐Pleistocene times is made difficult because very little dating can be done, and also because glacial erosion surfaces, subaerial unconformities and subsequent regressive or transgressive marine ravinement surfaces tend to amalgamate or erode the deglacial deposits. How and in what way can the rebound be interpreted from the stratigraphic record? This study proposes to examine deglacial deposits from Late‐Ordovician to Silurian outcrops at the Algeria–Libya border, in order to define the glacio–isostatic rebound and relative sea‐level changes during a deglaciation period. The studied succession developed at the edge and over a positive palaeo‐relief inherited from a prograding proglacial delta that forms a depocentre of glaciogenic deposits. The succession is divided into five subzones, which depend on the topography of this depocentre. Six facies associations were determined: restricted marine (Facies Association 1); tidal channels (Facies Association 2); tidal sand dunes (Facies Association 3); foreshore to upper shoreface (Facies Association 4); lower shoreface (Facies Association 5); and offshore shales (Facies Association 6). Stratigraphic correlations over the subzones support the understanding of the depositional chronology and associated sea‐level changes. Deepest marine domains record a forced regression of 40 m of sea‐level fall resulting from an uplift caused by a glacio‐isostatic rebound that outpaces the early transgression. The rebound is interpreted to result in a multi‐type surface, which is interpreted as a regressive surface of marine erosion in initially marine domains and as a subaerial unconformity surface in an initially subaerial domain. The transgressive deposits have developed above this surface, during the progressive flooding of the palaeo‐relief. Sedimentology and high‐resolution sequence stratigraphy allowed the delineation of a deglacial sequence and associated sea‐level changes curve for the studied succession. Estimates suggest a relatively short (<10 kyr) duration for the glacio‐isostatic uplift and a subsequent longer duration transgression (4 to 5 Myr).

Stratigraphic architecture of incised valleys and unincised channel systems in the Carbonera Formation (C6-C1 members: Upper Oligocene – Lower Miocene), Llanos basin, Colombia

This work presents a sequence stratigraphic framework for the Upper Oligocene – Lower Miocene C6-C1 members of the Carbonera Formation in the Llanos basin, Colombia. In the interval corresponding to the C5 member, facies associations that comprise middle shoreface, tidal channels and bars, tidal flat deposits, brackish bay, tidal-fluvial channels and central estuary have been identified through the integration of core descriptions and wireline logs. The vertical assemblage of the recognized facies associations permits the definition of several cycles of transgression and regression, as well as episodes of relative sea-level fall and their consequent fluvial incision. Basinward shifts of facies, lateral changes in well-log motifs and seismic amplitude anomalies allow the interpretation of incised-valley systems overlying deposits associated with marginal and shallow marine environments, which also present channelized sand bodies. Consequently, the sedimentary and stratigraphic architecture is composed of an interspersed set of channels with different genetic origins and contrasting potentials in terms of petroleum production. Maximum flooding surfaces, subaerial unconformities and transgressive ravinement surfaces are the significant stratigraphic surfaces identified, which separate progradational and retrogradational stages and define sequence boundaries.In addition to the C5 member, a sequence stratigraphic model for the interval corresponding to the C6-C1 members of the Carbonera formation is presented based on cuttings, well-log stacking patterns and interpretation of 3D seismic horizon and time slices. In total, nine regressive-transgressive cycles (i.e., genetic stratigraphic sequences) are interpreted for the interval studied. The proposed stratigraphic framework relates oil occurrences and currently producing intervals with stratigraphic surfaces and permits a consistent classification of the petrophysical properties, establishing several families that are genetically related.The sedimentological descriptions of the Carbonera C5 member and the proposed sequence stratigraphic model highlight the marine influence in the deposition of the Carbonera Formation. Furthermore, this work emphasizes the role of relative sea-level fluctuations in deposition and erosion in coastal areas during tectonically active periods in the foreland Llanos basin.

Controls on accommodation during the early-middle Campanian in southern Alberta, western Canada foreland system

The Western Canada Sedimentary Basin is a retroarc foreland system produced by thrust sheet loading in the Canadian Cordillera and resultant flexural displacement of the lithosphere east of the orogenic front. Theoretical models of flexural tectonism and dynamic loading have long been used to predict the effects of these controls on the creation/destruction of accommodation in retroarc foreland settings, however, few field studies have attempted to evaluate their relative contributions for a given point in geologic time. As key regional drivers of subsidence/uplift and implicitly, relative sea level rise and fall, flexural tectonism and dynamic loading impart unique signatures (subsidence geometries) which can be discerned via the spatial and temporal analysis of event-significant surfaces preserved in the geologic record. We use magnetostratigraphy to constrain the timing of a major marine incursion (transgressive phase of the second-order Campanian Claggett Cycle, which spanned ∼8 Myr in its entirety) at three locations in the southern Alberta plains where the onset of this transgression is marked by a widespread ravinement surface. A chronostratigraphic framework is presented which includes new empirical ages for stratigraphic units above and below this key surface, informally termed the Milk River ‘shoulder’. The framework provides a basis for determining the earliest extents of the Claggett (Pakowki/Lea Park) sea in southern Alberta, and for characterization of its subsequent expansion during the early-middle Campanian. Although commonly depicted as a simple, westward-expanding seaway, we observe that the initial expansion of the Claggett sea in southern Alberta was more complicated and proceeded in multiple directions through time, prior to maximum transgression and the ensuing second-order regression. We interpret the Claggett sea as restricted to the Alberta foredeep at ∼82.0 Ma, before inundating a paleotopographic high associated with a prominent basement feature in southernmost Alberta (Sweetgrass Arch) at ∼81.0 Ma, likely establishing a connection with the Claggett sea in northern Montana. As relative sea level continued to rise, the sea reached the Rocky Mountain foothills in the west while also advancing more than 100 km eastward into the forebulge region during peak transgression (∼80.0 Ma). With this history established, we ascertain the overriding cause for the Claggett transgression was dynamic subsidence because (1) the magnitude, direction, and timing of relative sea level rise and the associated expansion of the Claggett sea fits published dynamic subsidence models for the Campanian of North America, and (2) several hundred metres of marine sediments are preserved on the early-middle Campanian forebulge, requiring accommodation which cannot be explained by widely accepted flexural models or eustatic estimates.

Variations of fluvial patterns and infilling history of a paleoincised valley system during Late Pleistocene to Holocene, Offshore Pahang River, Peninsular Malaysia

High-resolution 2D acoustic profiles, combined with time slices from a 3D data volume, were used to investigate the paleoincised valleys offshore of the present-day Pahang River, South China Sea. Paleovalleys were formed during the regressive phase of the last glacial cycle. They were submerged and possibly filled during valley formation and postglacial marine transgression. Interpretation of acoustic profiles illustrates that the valleys were incised and infilled during the regression and low stand followed by subsequent deglacial sea-level rise. They were overlain by a transgressive ravinement surface suggesting transitional deposits between fluvial-dominated filling and shallow-marine deposition. This ravinement surface is overlain by Holocene shallow marine deposits. A low-sinuosity low-stand valley system changed to a high-sinuosity meander belt and eventually evolved into a deltaic distributary channel system before the complete submergence of the area. The average Late Pleistocene surface lies between 53 and 64 m below present-day mean sea level in the study area with approximately 16–50 m of valley incision. The Holocene shallow marine cover thickness varies from 5 to 10 m.

Late Quaternary depositional sequences and landforms in relation to sea-level changes in the Osaka intra-arc basin, Japan: A borehole database analysis

Development of Late Quaternary depositional sequences in the Osaka intra-arc basin was reconstructed, based on the analysis of sequence stratigraphy and new “Shazam stratigraphy”, using numerous and high-density borehole data. The latest Pleistocene to Holocene sequence (I) and the lower late Pleistocene sequence (II) underwent several significant phases: 1) formation of alluvial fans and terraces during regression from marine isotope stage (MIS) 5 to MIS 2; 2) formation of a boundary between the two sequences during rapid sea-level fall of ca. 30–20 ka; 3) development of ravinement surfaces by wave and tidal erosion during the transgression from MIS 2 to MIS 1; 4) development of barrier systems and coastal cliffs during the transgression to the maximum high-stand of 6–5 ka; and 5) progradation of alluvial fans, deltas and strand plains during the high-stand since 5 ka. Depositional facies and systems of the two sequences are different among the western study area around Kobe, the central area with the Nishinomiya-Amagasaki lowland, and the eastern area with the Osaka plain, due to differences in sediment flux, wave, tide, shore current, basement and landforms distribution such as plateau and hills. Development of the sequence II could be also affected by tectonic differences, which fault, fold structure, and flexure. Three regions with different landforms and depositional systems were identified within the Osaka basin. The systems of the three regions correspond to the three major types of the latest Pleistocene to Holocene transgressive/regressive depositional sequences and alluvial plains recognized in Japan.

Change in morphology and modern sediment thickness on the inner continental shelf offshore of Fire Island, New York between 2011 and 2014: Analysis of hurricane impact

Seafloor mapping investigations conducted on the lower shoreface and inner continental shelf offshore of Fire Island, New York in 2011 and 2014, the period encompassing the impacts of Hurricanes Irene and Sandy, provide an unprecedented perspective regarding regional inner continental shelf sediment dynamics during large storm events. Analyses of these studies demonstrate that storm-induced erosion and sediment transport occurred throughout the study area in water depths up to 30m. Acoustic backscatter patterns were observed to move from ~1m to 450m with a mean of 20m and movement tended to decrease with increasing water depth. These patterns indicate that both of the primary inner continental shelf sedimentary features in the study area, linear sorted bedforms offshore of eastern Fire Island and shoreface-attached sand ridges offshore of central and western Fire island, migrated alongshore to the southwest. The migration of the sorted bedforms represents the modification of an active ravinement surface and is thought to have liberated a significant volume of sediment. Comparison of isopach maps of sediment thickness show that the volume of modern sediment composing the lower shoreface and shoreface-attached sand ridges decreased by ~2.8×106m3 across the ~73km2 of common seafloor mapped in both surveys. However, a similar analysis for the relatively calmer 15-yr period prior to 2011 revealed significant accretion. This allows speculation that the shoreface-attached sand ridges are maintained over decadal timescales via sediment supplied through erosion of Pleistocene outwash and lower Holocene transgressive channel-fill deposits exposed on the inner continental shelf, but that the sand ridges also periodically erode and move to the southwest during large storm events. Analyses show that significant storm-induced erosion and sediment transport occurs far seaward of the 5 to 9m depth of closure assumed for Fire Island, where it is thought that an onshore-directed sediment flux from the inner continental shelf to the littoral system is required to balance the coastal sediment budget. It is also thought that the morphology of the shoreface-attached sand ridges controls the persistent shape of the adjacent shoreline through modification of incident waves. Thus, we suggest that the sediment dynamics of the inner continental shelf and both storm-induced and anthropogenic modification of the field of shoreface-attached sand ridges be considered in future coastal resiliency planning.

The evolution of the Dogger Bank, North Sea: A complex history of terrestrial, glacial and marine environmental change

This paper presents a summary of the results of a detailed multidisciplinary study of the near surface geology of the Dogger Bank in the southern central North Sea, forming part of a site investigation for a major windfarm development undertaken by the Forewind consortium. It has revealed that the Dogger Bank is internally complex rather than comprising a simple “layer cake” of the Quaternary sediments as previously thought. Regional and high-resolution seismic surveys have enabled a revised stratigraphic framework to be established for the upper part of this sequence which comprises the Eem (oldest), Dogger Bank, Bolders Bank formations and Botney Cut Formation (youngest), overlain by a typically thin Holocene sequence. Detailed mapping of key horizons identified on the high-resolution seismic profiles has led to the recognition of a series of buried palaeo-landsystems which are characterised by a range of features including; glacial, glacifluvial and fluvial channels, a large-scale glacitectonic thrust-moraine complex with intervening ice-marginal basins, a lacustrine basin and marine ravinement surfaces. Interpretation of these buried landscapes has enabled the development of an environmental change model to explain the evolution of the Dogger Bank. This evolution was driven by the complex interplay between climate change, ice sheet dynamics and sea level change associated with the growth and subsequent demise of the British and Irish and Fennoscandian ice sheets during the Weichselian glaciation. Following the decay of these ice sheets the Dogger Bank entered a period of significant climatic and environmental flux which saw a terrestrial landscape being progressively inundated as sea levels rose during the Holocene.

Geological Reservoir Characterization and Modelling of a CO2 Storage Aquifer: A Case Study of the Nagaoka Site, Japan

Site characterization is critical for safe and effective geological storage of CO2 because geological heterogeneity affects reservoir quality, plume migration, and trapping. This study shows geological characterization and modeling of a CO2 storage aquifer near Nagaoka, Japan. Core and well-logging analysis show that the target aquifer consists of deltaic deposits, which are characterized by a fining-upward to coarsening-upward succession that has developed on a ravinement surface. The target aquifer is attributed to prodelta and deltafront deposits. A geostatistical method known as sequential Gaussian simulation with collocated cokriging was applied to generate a spatial distribution of petrological and physical properties including shale volume, porosity, and permeability. The simulation was performed using well-log data as a primary variable and seismic-derived porosity data as a secondary variable under the constraints of correlation coefficient between variables. Simulated models showed that impermeable fine-grained deposits are distributed toward the east. This trend can explain the fact that breakthrough has not been observed at an observation well located farthest to the west from the injection well, IW-1. This result is consistent with previously proposed paleogeographic interpretations that show that detrital particles are transported from east to west at the Nagaoka site.

Stepped Holocene sea-level rise and its influence on sedimentation in a large marine embayment: Maputo Bay, Mozambique

The sedimentary record in large marine embayments holds important information on Holocene environmental and sea-level changes. This paper investigates the evolution of a large subtropical marine embayment, Maputo Bay, in southern Mozambique. Using a combination of sediment cores, stable isotope data, seismic reflection profiling and 14C dating, we show complex back-barrier changes during the Holocene and link these to stepped rises in sea level. Our data reveal a sea-level “slowstand” followed by an abrupt rise that we correlate with the 8.2 ka global rise in sea level. Sedimentological, isotope and seismic evidence point to a subsequent slowstand interspersed by two punctuated rises in sea level that formed clear tidal ravinement surfaces. Sedimentary changes in the embayment are primarily forced by sea-level change, whereby tidal ravinement surfaces sandwich normal regressive packages formed via marginal progradation and shallowing of the system during “slow-” or still-stands. Large marine embayment systems hold great potential in unravelling relative sea-level change. Axiomatically, this reduces their utility as archives of climate-change.

Incised channel morphology and depositional fill of the paleo-Seomjin River in the continental shelf of the South Sea, Korea

This study is the first attempt at describing and interpreting incised-channels on the continental shelf of the South Sea, Korea. The distribution, pattern, shape, and infilling of submerged channels incised across the continental shelf of the South Sea have been investigated based on approximately 1940 line-km of chirp and sparker data. The incised-channel system of the paleo-Seomjin River on the continental shelf is approximately 109 km long, 800–5000 m wide, and is more than 890 km2 in area. Meandering and straight types of channel are dominant on the inner shelf, with a change to straight and braided planforms on the mid to outer shelf. Sparker seismic data suggest the paleo-channels formed under fluvial systems when the shelf was exposed during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Channel fills are divided into five types, based on erosional surfaces and internal seismic reflectors: (I) transparent to semi-transparent incised channel fill; (II) parallel to sub-parallel incised channel fill; (III) complex incised channel fill; (IV) divergent incised channel fill; and (V) chaotic incised channel fill. The acoustically transparent facies of the channel fill type (Type I) suggest the presence of basin muddy deposits in a low energy environment, which were dominant in the inner shelf. These muddy sediments were likely during a period of higher sea level during the Holocene transgression. Types II, III, and IV are characterized by onlap, downlap, and wave or tidal ravinement surfaces, respectively, indicating that they were deposited during a transgressive stage, which type V represent basal incision surface. The evolution of paleo Seomjin River has been strongly controlled by sea level change and sediment transport processes since the LGM.

Submerged beachrock preservation in the context of wave ravinement

This study examines a Holocene-aged submerged shoreline, Limestone Reef, located in the shallow subtidal zone of South Africa’s east coast. It comprises an elongate, coast-oblique, slab-like outcrop of beachrock situated above the contemporary fair-weather wave base. It is currently undergoing mechanical disintegration. Its unique and rare preservation in a high-energy setting affords an opportunity to examine the mechanical processes occurring during wave ravinement associated with rising sea level. The submerged shoreline and the adjacent shoreface were examined using high-resolution seismic reflection, side-scan sonar and shallow-water multibeam echosounding techniques. Limestone Reef rests on top of unconsolidated Holocene deposits. The structure’s surface is characterised by reef-perpendicular gullies with rubble derived from the slab fringing its seaward edge. Limestone Reef slopes gently seawards and has a steep landward-facing edge where gullies are most prominently developed. Teardrop-shaped rippled scour depressions, marked by high backscatter, are located seawards of the submerged shoreline. These elongate in a seaward direction and are filled with bioclastic gravels and residual rubble from Limestone Reef. The gullies in the upstanding structure are indicative of wave plucking and abrasion of the shoreline. The material exposed by the rippled scour depressions is identical to that comprising the postglacial ravinement surface identified in the offshore stratigraphy. These deposits are considered to represent the contemporary, actively forming wave ravinement surface. The results suggest that wave ravinement of submerged shorelines is a discontinuous process dominated by the seaward entrainment of material from its landward edge controlled by high-energy drawback during storm surges. The ravinement process appears to operate at the seasonal scale and averages out over the long-term millennial scale for the continuous surface.

Acquisition, processing and interpretation of high-resolution seismic data using a small-scale multi-channel system: an example from the Korea Strait inner shelf, south-east Korea

A high-resolution seismic survey was designed to improve the quality of seismic data and study the evolution of inner shelf deposits off the southern coast of Korea. A 0.5 L air gun and 6- or 8-channel streamer cable with a 5 m group interval were used as a seismic source and receiver system, respectively. Data recording was digitally performed at a shot interval of 2 s and a sample interval of 0.1 ms using a personal computer (PC)-based recording system with an analogue to digital (A/D) converter. In the data processing, deconvolution and static corrections were very effective for improving the data resolution. The data resolution and signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio were improved by using multi-channel digital seismic systems as opposed to a single-channel analogue streamer. The results show that a small-scale multi-channel seismic system is an effective way to investigate late Quaternary deposits. Seismic stratigraphic analysis of the high-resolution seismic profiles revealed that inner shelf deposits, up to 30 m thick, consist of three sedimentary units, which comprise transgressive and highstand systems tracts deposited after the last glacial period. The transgressive systems tract includes two units (I and II) separated by a ravinement surface (RS). The lower Unit I, lying below the RS, consists of estuarine sediments left behind by shoreface erosion during transgression, and represents a paralic component. The upper Unit II, including two sub-units (IIa and IIb), lies above the RS and consists of sand produced by shoreface erosion during landward transgression, which corresponds to a marine component. The uppermost Unit III lies above the maximum flooding surface and consists of thick mud clinoforms of the modern Nakdong and Seomjin subaqueous deltas. This unit likely formed during the recent sea level highstand and represents the highstand systems tract.

Preserved Stratigraphic Architecture and Evolution of A Net-Transgressive Mixed Wave- and Tide-Influenced Coastal System: The Cliff House Sandstone, Northwestern New Mexico, U.S.A.

Abstract: The Cretaceous Cliff House Sandstone comprises a thick (400 m) net-transgressive succession representing a mixed wave- and tide-influenced shallow-marine system that migrated episodically landwards. This study examines the youngest part (middle Campanian) of the Cliff House Sandstone, exposed in Chaco Cultural Natural Historical Park, northwest New Mexico, U.S.A. Detailed mapping of facies architecture between a three-dimensional network of measured sections has allowed the character, geometry, and distribution of key stratigraphic surfaces and stratal units to be reconstructed. Upward-shallowing facies successions (parasequences) are separated by laterally extensive transgressive erosion (ravinement) surfaces cut by both wave and tide processes. Preservation of facies tracts in each parasequence is controlled by the depth of erosion and migration trajectory of the overlying ravinement surfaces. In most parasequences, there is no preservation of the proximal wave-dominated facies tracts (foreshore, upper-shoreface), resulting in thin (4–7 m) top-truncated packages. Four distinct shallow marine tongues (parasequence sets) have been identified, consisting of ten parasequences with a total stratigraphic thickness of ∼ 100 m. Each tongue records an episode of complex shoreline migration history (multiple regressive–transgressive phases) in an overall net-transgressive system. The ravinement surfaces provide a stratigraphic framework in which to understand partitioning of tide- and wave-dominated deposits in a net-transgressive system, and a model is presented to account for the sediment distribution and stratigraphic architecture observed in each parasequence. Despite a complex internal architecture, parasequences exhibit a predictable pattern which can be related to the regressive and transgressive phases of deposition. Preservation of wave-dominated facies tracts is associated with shoreline regression, while tide-dominated facies tracts are interpreted to record sediment accumulation during shoreline transgression that also resulted in significant erosion of the underlying regressive deposits. The interplay between erosion, sediment bypass, and deposition during regression and transgression is shown to ultimately control the preservation and stratigraphic architecture of the larger-scale net-transgressive coastal system. While the Cliff House Sandstone exhibits a facies composition and quantitative stacking patterns (shoreline trajectory) similar to other studied examples, differences in the dip-extent of the wave-dominated sandstone tongue has resulted in a more disconnected architecture between the high-frequency cycles. Understanding the variety of stratal geometries that ravinement surfaces can generate is therefore crucial to predicting the spatial distribution and facies architecture in transgressive systems.

Sequential development of tidal ravinement surfaces in macro- to hypertidal estuaries with high volcaniclastic input: the Miocene Puerto Madryn Formation (Patagonia, Argentina)

The late Miocene beds of the Puerto Madryn Formation (Provincia del Chubut, Argentina) are formed by shallow marine and estuarine sediments. The latter include several tidal-channel infills well exposed on the cliffy coast of the Peninsula Valdes. The Bahia Punta Fosil and Cerro Olazabal paleochannels are end members of these tidal channels and show a fining-upward infilling starting with intraformational channel lag conglomerates above deeply erosional surfaces interpreted as fluvial ravinement surfaces (the erosion surface formed in the purely fluvial or the fluvially dominated part of the estuary, where erosion is driven by fluvial processes). These are overlain and eventually truncated (and suppressed) by the tidal ravinement surface (TRS), in turn covered with high-energy, bioclastic conglomerates mostly formed in the “tidally dominated/fluvially influenced” part of an estuary. Above, large straight or arcuate point bars with alternatively sandy/muddy seasonal beds and varying trace and body fossil contents were deposited from the freshwater fluvially dominated to saline-water tidally dominated part of the estuary. The upper channel infill is formed by cross-bedded sands with mud drapes and seaward-directed paleocurrents, together with barren, volcaniclastic sandy to muddy heterolithic seasonal rhythmites, both deposited in the fluvially dominated part of the estuary. Volcanic ash driven by the rivers after large explosive volcanic eruptions on land resulted in sedimentation rates as high as 0.9 m per year, preserving (through burial) the morphology of tidal channels and TRSs. The channel deposits were formed in a tide-dominated, macrotidal to hypertidal open estuary with well-developed TRSs resulting from strong tidal currents deeply scouring into the transgressive filling of the channels and eventually cutting the fluvial ravinement surface. The TRSs extended upstream to the inner part of the estuary during long periods of low sedimentation rates, extended channel migration and sediment bypass, interrupted by transient, high volcaniclastic input. The tidal channels of the Puerto Madryn Formation constitute a unique example of estuary sedimentation with pulsed sediment supply in a macrotidal to hypertidal estuary.

Control factors of Holocene sedimentary infilling in a semi-closed tidal estuarine-like system: the bay of Brest (France)

This study details the sedimentary infilling of an original tidal-dominated estuary system during the final stage of the last marine transgression. The Bay of Brest is confined and connects the rivers Elorn and Aulne, to the sea of Iroise by a narrow strait encasing a well preserved paleo-channel. The compilation of high- and very-high-resolution bathymetric and seismic data, constrained by sediments datations, allows us to classify the paleo-morphology of the bay into three stepped domains: the paleo-valley floor surrounded by fluvial terraces, the central plateau, and the shallow embayments. Taking into account the main factors controlling the infilling, including sea-level rise, substratum morphology, and hydrodynamics, the stratigraphic scheme of the bay has been reconstructed. The lowstand system track (LST) is assumed to correspond to relict Pleistocene continental deposits associated with the last low sea level around 21,000calyrB.P. The transgressive phase, represented by the transgressive system track (TST), is divided into two parts. The lower part (TST1) constitutes the first stage of transgressive deposition in the bay. Starting around 9000calyrB.P. and currently conserved in the shallowest parts, it is characterized by tidal flats associated with deposits in the inner estuary. This stage ends at about 7000calyrB.P. and is separated from the upper part (TST2) by a tidal ravinement surface that occurs around 7700calyrB.P. at the foot slope. TST2 formed sand bodies in the central part of the bay between 6800 and 3000calyrB.P. These deposits, interpreted as tidal banks, are associated with the outer estuarine environment. The maximum flooding surface (MFS), dated around 3000 and 2000calyrB.P., marked the installation of a highstand system track (HST) under the combined influence of tidal currents, storms events, and anthropogenic activity. The geometry deposition of each system track is controlled at the first order by the combination of the irregular Holocene sea level rise and the inherited rocky substratum morphology. The retreat of the shoreline, and estuarine environments, is function of the successive flooding of stepped domains. The direct evolution of the volume of the assumed accumulated sea water in the bay favoured the gradual installation of the present-day hydrodynamic circulation.

Sequence stratigraphy and ichnology of Early Cretaceous reservoirs, Gadvan Formation in southwestern Iran

The siliciclastic Gadvan Formation from Abadan Plain, southwestern Iran, is highly bioturbated and allows relationships between changes in ichnocoenoses within a depositional system to be documented and placed in a high-resolution sequence stratigraphic framework. Relying on the sedimentary and ichnological characteristics, the siliciclastic succession is divided into two facies associations: a wave-dominated offshore-shoreface complex and a tide-river influenced delta. The first includes facies that have been deposited in shelf-offshore, upper offshore, lower shoreface and upper/middle shoreface environments, the latter includes facies that have been deposited in prodelta and delta front. Integrated ichnologic and sedimentologic studies of the Gadvan Formation, allow distinction between prodelta and delta front and open marine deposits. With the identification of maximum flooding and ravinement surfaces as bounding surfaces of the stratal units, detailed analysis on systematic changes in the stacking pattern (cycle thickness, cycle type, and facies proportion) are made. Eight ichnocoenoses could be differentiated in the studied sections. The positions of the ichnocoenoses within genetically related stratal units (genetically related ichnocoenoses), indicate three large-scale cycles (DS1 to DS3, from oldest to youngest). The cyclical nature of the Gadvan Formation is attributed to low-amplitude eustasy in greenhouse conditions formed under interaction of eustatic high-frequency cycles and longer term tectonically driven sea-level variations during the long-term transgressive sea-level trend of the early Cretaceous. Stratigraphic architectural style of sequences DS1 to DS3 (which includes scarce evidence of lowstand deposits, partial or total truncation of the HST, and predominance of thick transgressive deposits), is remarkably similar to long-term transgressive sea-level trend of the Early Cretaceous across the Arabian Plate. This study suggests a more relatively seaward position of the siliciclastic successions of the Gadvan Formation of Abadan Plain than the Mesopotamian Basin (upper Zubair Formation equivalent in western Iraq and Kuwait), which would be concordant with the prevailing view of an easterly prograding coastline across the Arabian Plate.This study reveals important sedimentological and ichnological features and permits the development of predictive models for the paleoenvironmental and sequence stratigraphical significance of trace fossil assemblages that can be readily compared or translated to analogous depositional systems worldwide. The ichnological analysis is based on cores and can be especially applied to evaluate the applicability of current ichnological models to the study of Cretaceous reservoirs of western Iraq, Kuwait and western Saudi Arabia.

The Co-Occurence ofTrypanitesandGlossifungitesSubstrate-Controlled Trace-Fossil Assemblages In A Triassic Mixed Siliciclastic–Carbonate Depositional System: Baldonnel Formation, Williston Lake, B.C., Canada

Abstract Detailed outcrop analysis of an Upper Triassic, shallow marine, mixed siliciclastic–carbonate ramp succession in northwestern Canada reveals numerous disconformities that are characterized by substrate-controlled trace-fossil assemblages. Although Glossifungites assemblages, and to a lesser extent, Trypanites assemblages, are common in the Upper Carnian Baldonnel Formation, in several horizons, a pattern of paired Trypanites–Glossifungites-demarcated discontinuity surfaces occurs. These paired surfaces occur in the same overall environmental setting and are interpreted to have the same general stratigraphic implications in each case. The Trypanites surfaces invariably occur lower in the section. They penetrate into sandy bioclastic limestone and are infilled and overlain by a coarse-grained detrital lag. Their development indicates early cementation in a coastal setting. The Trypanites surfaces form coplanar maximum regressive surfaces and transgressive surfaces of erosion and are correlatable on a regional scale. The lags are overlain, in turn, by laminated calcareous siltstone (denoting offshore deposition) and bioclastic sandstone (a return to shoreface depositional conditions). The siltstone–sandstone contacts are characterized by low-diversity Glossifungites assemblages, which are interpreted as an amalgamated succession of storm-induced wave ravinement surfaces emplaced in front of a rapidly prograding shoreface. Paired Trypanites–Glossifungites surfaces in the Baldonnel Formation reflect fluctuations in relative sea level and sediment input in an overall low accommodation mixed siliciclastic–carbonate ramp setting.

Seismo-stratigraphic evidences for deep base level control on middle to late Pleistocene drift evolution and mass wasting along southern Levant continental slope (Eastern Mediterranean)

Since early Pliocene, a counterclockwise surface gyre transported Nile derived silt and clay northeastwards along the Levant coast, where a basinward prograding plastered drift emerged. Based on high-resolution seismic reflection data we develop a middle to late Pleistocene sequence stratigraphic scheme for this plastered drift. For creating stacked sections of the seismic data we used the common reflection surface (CRS) stack technology which enhanced lateral reflection continuity and visibility of deep reflections. The shelf comprises stratigraphic sequences which show classical, systems tract like stacking patterns of sea level controlled sequences such as offlapping forced regression deposits or diachronous ravinement surfaces which formed during base level rise. On the slope, base level was periodically located well below the wave base and thus rather controlled by hydrodynamics, presumably by high-velocity contour currents. Hence, the term ‘deep base level’ is introduced. The deep base level controlled especially down and backstepping slope deposits. This example shows that care has to be taken when interpreting subsurface data containing typical systems tract like seismic sequences, since such geometries do not necessarily imply shallow water deposition of the sediments. A chronostratigraphic analysis based on the seismic stratigraphy indicates that base level fluctuations were related to eccentricity driven glacio-eustatic fluctuations. Periodic mass wasting, facilitated by foreset over-steepening and possibly triggered by salt tectonics or erosion by the contour current occurred during late base level fall or early base level rise.

Holocene depositional patterns of the subaqueous Nakdong Delta on the Korea Strait with respect to sequence stratigraphy

A sequence stratigraphic analysis was conducted using high-resolution ‘Chirp’ seismic profiles and a long core data off the Nakdong River where Holocene deltaic deposition prevails in the Korea Strait. The depositional sequence comprises a group of transgressive and highstand systems tracts, intercalated with their bounding surfaces of maximum flooding surfaces, above a sequence boundary. It is formed by an erosional process within an incised valley, indicating the Nakdong River at the lowstand of sea level. The transgressive systems tract consists of the lower and upper depositional units, bounded by a ravinement surface, formed during the early Holocene when sea-level rose between 12.0 and 6.0 ka BP. The lower depositional unit mostly occurs in the incised valley area, comprising fluvio-estuarine sediments, whereas the upper one nearshore environments consist of sand sheet and ridges. The overall stacking pattern of these sequences demonstrates retrogradation. During the late Holocene sea-level highstand of around 6.0 ka BP, the highstand systems tract overlying the maximum flooding surface consists of the deltaic sequence, formed as a seaward sigmoid progradational pattern. The subaqueous Nakdong delta system has evolved to depositional units of the retrogradational transgressive and then the progradational highstand systems tract over a sequence boundary during the Holocene transgression.

The stratigraphic evolution of a large back-barrier lagoon system with a non-migrating barrier

Lake St Lucia, the largest estuarine system in Africa, is enclosed by a 120m-high compound Quaternary barrier-dune system in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It comprises several discrete sedimentary basins within a single shallow back-barrier water body. This paper reports the first very-high-resolution seismic study of the system. Seven seismic units (A–G) are identified and interpreted based on their geometry, acoustic properties and a sediment coring programme. The units are bounded by regionally developed sequence boundaries and lower order unconformity surfaces corresponding to bay and tidal ravinement and hiatus surfaces. The lowermost subaerial unconformity formed during regression related to late-Pliocene hinterland uplift. Initial infilling of this surface in the proximal areas reflects estuarine sedimentation in a mixed wave- and tide-dominated system during the subsequent lowstand and early transgressive systems tracts, overlain by prograding highstand deltaic deposits that developed as sea-levels began to stabilise. Distally, this cycle of sedimentation is initially reflected by the infilling of a similar estuarine system that gradually transitioned to a back-barrier lagoon. Superimposed stillstands drove imbalances in the rate of sediment supply and accommodation space, and this, coupled with the development of an early barrier complex, caused lagoon aggradation and shallowing. A second similar trend is repeated for the recent postglacial sea-level cycle. There appears to be no preservation of the intervening Pleistocene cycles of erosion and deposition. The system is capped by estuarine-lacustrine deposits. The onset of lower energy estuarine-lake conditions began ~6235cal BP in North Lake and started earlier in the proximal False Bay owing to sheltering by the antecedent barrier of a rocky peninsula. This study reveals a markedly different evolutionary history in adjacent basins of the same back-barrier system during two full sea-level cycles. These are attributed to a long established, non-migrating barrier, and to the influence of antecedent conditions on the system response to transgression. Unlike the US Atlantic margin, where migrating barriers truncate the infilling sequences, the main stratigraphic unconformities within each fill sequence correspond to tidal and bay ravinement surfaces.