Sediment Plugs Research Articles

Sandy-gravelly mass-flow deposits in an ice-marginal lake (Saalian, Leuvenumsche Beek Valley, Veluwe, the Netherlands), with emphasis on plug-flow deposits

In three pits in the Leuvenumsche Beek Valley (near Ermelo and Elspeet), massive and diffusely banded clean gravelly sands, found in association with sandy sediments showing some similarities to the Bouma sequence, were interpreted as originating from sediment gravity flows. The flows, which came to rest on a ca. 6° paleoslope, probably originated from slumping of parts of the ice-pushed ridges at either side of an ice-marginal lake. Major characteristic features in the three sand pits studied are U-shaped channel forms with a maximum depth and width of 10 × 25 rmm. The fills consist of sand and gravels, locally containing giant sand-clasts. The sediments just below the base of these channel-forms are commonly distorted and folded. Especially the massive more sandy fills are surrounded by a finer-grained diffusely bedded and inversely graded zone. These sedimentary features suggest that “rigid” sediment plugs sheared downslope, generating a finer-grained shear zone around the plug scouring a slide scar till its present semi-cylindrical form and preserving the steep sides (exceeding the angle of repose) of the channel-form by “freezing”. The U-shaped channel forms (plugged troughs) are locally overlain by shallower gently sided trough structures, with mainly diffusely banded infillings. Very shallow and often smaller troughs are found again on top of these massive and diffusely banded infillings. The sediments in these troughs consist of repetitions of two types of microsequences: (1) thickly bedded sequences of normally graded massive sands, near-horizontal stratifications, plane beds and cross-bedded sets; and (2) thinly bedded sequences of relatively thick units T A and thin units T C and T D of the Bouma sequence. The repetitions of the microsequences are interpreted as flow pulsations. Upwards thinning of the sequence, together with a finer grain size may point to waning flow conditions. Their association with plugged troughs is suggestive of retrogressive flow-slides.