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Lecture 10: Shelf Sediments

Prothero and Schwab pp. 197-203
I.

X-Section of the Marine Environment

(Check out the Heezen and Tharp map.)

Oceanic Environment

Continental Slope
Abyssal Plain
Continental
Mid-Ocean
Abyssal Plain
Shelf (Neritic)
Continental Rise
Ridge

Shelf

Shelf
Break

Shelf
Break
Passive Continental
Margin

Trench

Ocean Basin

Active Continental
Margin

A. Continental Margins (passive and active)

B. Continental Shelf: between shoaling zone of beach to shelf break. Averages a 0.1
slope out to the point where slope markedly increases, which is called the Shelf Break.
-Usually occurs about 75 km offshore, but ranges between ~50 m to >1000 km.
-Tends to be widest on passive margins, narrowest on active margins.
-Average water depth is about 130 m, which is just 10 m or so deeper than last glacial
sea level minimum.
-Can host various islands and barrier reefs.
-In general, silts and clays nearer to the beach grading out to impure limestones out to
pure limestones as few clastics are transported out to sea, leaving only the biogenic
carbonates (shell materials) to accumulate. Narrow shelves won't have much if any
carbonate.
C. Continental Slope: descends from shelf break to deep sea floor with typical slope of 4
D. On passive margins, there follows a continental rise, which is a gently sloping
surface created by coalescing submarine fans at base of Continental Slope. Submarine fans
are cool (see Prothero and Schwab pp. 203 - 209).
Rise passes gradually to Abyssal Plains, which are basically flat and covered with very
fine clastic, carbonate, and silica sediments. Deepest parts of ocean outside of subduction
trenches.
If you look at map of sea floor, can see all sorts of volcanic chains and mountains, and oceanic
plateaus dotting the abyssal plains.

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Average depths range from 1.5 to 4 km at base on Continental slope, to 4 - 6 km on old cold
oceanic crust.
E. On active margins, Continental Slope dives into a Subduction Trench, which can be up
to 10 km deep. Often have mountain ranges and, of course, volcanoes on shores nearby. This
can result in rapid accumulation of immature sediments on these shelves. Faulting can also
push up a basin, resulting in erosion or non-deposition. Very complex systems; can have
rapid changes in sedimentary environments.
F. Finally, the Mid-Ocean Ridges. Hot new oceanic crust is produced. Due to presence of
hot (expanded) lithosphere, ridges are greatly elevated over Abyssal Plains. Up to 2.5 km
of relief. Depth of ocean ridge decreases as a function of age as lithosphere cools and
contracts:
epth = 2500 + 350 t ,
where depth is in meters and t is in millions of years. An equation of similar form holds for
heat flow. This relationship is valid for ages 0 - 70 Ma; if you want to model older crust
another equation makes a better fit with the data, but thats another story.
II. Continental Shelf: Divided into Inner Shelf (dominated by waves, storms,
and tides) and Outer Shelf (affected by ocean currents such as Gulf Stream).
A. Modern shelves are generally Pericontinental or Marginal Seas
In the past, vast shallow seas covered much of the continents. These are called
Epicontinental or Epeiric Seas. (epeiric = Gk: mainland or continental)
1. Handouts of Cretaceous Transgression/Regression
2. Paleozoic also had dramatic high stands and low-stands. Wisconsin, for example, is
covered by Ordovician sediments.
B. Shelf Sediments:
1. Main sources: Sediments are introduced to the ocean through deltas and coastal
erosion. Longshore transport smears sediments from a single source along the coast (see
handouts showing 3 examples: oceanic currents move Amazon and Columbia river
sediments north of the respective river mouths; tides help flush sediment away from the
Fly River delta of Papua New Guinea.) Then fair weather waves rework bulk sediment:
they push sand landward and carry suspended fines seaward, where they eventually
settle out. The strong bottom currents set up by storm waves can, in short episodes,
move large volumes of relatively coarse sediment seaward. Thus, most shelf sediments
may ultimately reflect brief pulses of sedimentation associated with storms.
2. Expected distribution of sediments: Storm-generated currents weaken as a function
of distance from the coast. Suspended loads settle as a function of grain size: coarser

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sediments settle faster than finer sediments. Thus, expect general decrease in grain size
to as a function of distance from coast (and increased water depth) due to decreasing
wave/storm/tidal current energy. Coarsest sediment at beach, grading out to fine muds.
Warm waters favor extensive carbonate production on the outer shelves (coral reef
complexes and all sorts of limestone beds), but colder waters favor only limited
carbonate production from non-reef forming organisms (clams, snails, brachiopods, and
foraminifera, and the like). Key variable to getting pure carbonate beds is limiting
input of siliciclastic sediment, which either chokes reef development or swamps slow
biogenic carbonate accumulation.
C. Modern Shelves: a real sedimentologic mess. Patchy, irregular grain-size
distribution all over shelves. Why? Because modern shelves were largely exposed during
the last Ice Age. Rapid sea level rise since then has stranded all sorts of coarse sediment in
deeper part of shelves. These sediments are not representative of modern water depth,
current velocity, or other sedimentation processes.
Relict Sediments: Deposits not in hydrodynamic equilibrium with present day conditions.
D. Shelves are like a smooth board. There is considerable variation in modern shelf
morphology: Overheads: U.S. Shelf features
Ancient epicontinental seas were generally flatter and smoother? Probably not, but over
distance at which we see outcrops, shelf deposits are generally very laterally continuous.
You have to measure sections over considerable distances to see significant thickness
variations and see various types of sediment pinch in and out.
E. Main Sediment Types on Shelves:
1)
2)
3)
4)

detrital (sand, silt, mud)

biogenic (limestones = shells and other biogenic debris; cherts)
authigenic (mainly glauconite, phosphorite, carbonate cement)
volcanic

May occur in many thin, laterally continuous layers, or thick laterally continuous layers,
or show strong lateral variations (e.g. carbonate reef systems).
III.

Four Sediment Transport Processes (constant sea level).

A.

Tidal Currents --> Tide-dominated shelves (~17% worlds total)

1. In some places, such as around the British Isles, the Bay of Fundy (Nova Scotia,
Maine), and around Korea, tidal currents can be strong enough to move sand and even
gravel on the shelf.
More commonly, a storm might stir things up, and the tidal currents will transport the
temporarily suspended sediment.

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Tidal-dominated shelves tend to be shallow (easier to get high flow velocities).
2. Bedforms. Ripples up to huge dunes tend to be oriented parallel to the mean Spring
Tide ebb or flow, depending on which is faster. Size and morphology change with current
strengths. See Fig. 10.4 in Prothero and Schwab for some huge cross-beds.
3. Handout: Maps with tidal current directions compared to sand bodies.
Sand bars are oriented along main flow directions, just as in tidal estuaries and deltas.
B.

Storm-generated currents --> Storm-dominated shelves (~80%)

1. Fair-weather wave base is generally < 10 m, so for most of the time, little or no
movement of sediment over much of shelf.
2. Main action occurs during Storms.
When strong winds blow at a coast, surface waters pile up along shore even more than
usual. Not only do you get powerful along-shore currents, but powerful bottom water
currents move offshore, sweeping suspended sediments into deeper water.
Surface wave currents

Suspended Load

Stuf f sett ling

f rom suspension

Storm Wave Bas e

sio

Fairweather Wave Bas e

Ero

Bottom Water Flow

ay lead
Scouring mstites
to tempe

hen
n, t
sio ocky .
o
r
E umm tion
h posi
de

. bottom sediment can form

Stirred up
turbidity currents that lead to depo.
of fine-grained turbidites.

Measured velocities during tropical storms and hurricanes match the range indicated in
tidal-dominated shelves: 50 - >200 cm/s. As storm intensifies, more and deeper depth of
erosion. As storm fades, one of three types of beds may form:
a. Our old friend, the Hummocky X-Bed (handout). Storm waves smack the bottom,
resuspended sediment, make hummock-and-swale topography on the seafloor. Suspended
sediment rapidly accumulates in successive laminae that drape seafloor. The odd big
wave will partially rework the freshly deposited laminae, causing the sequence of
laminae that intersect each other at shallow angles (<15). As storm fades, current
velocities decrease such that hummocky cross beds can be followed by ripple x-bedding.
Finally, if in deep enough water, silt or mud can accumulate on top of sandy beds. Most
common in inner shelf!
b. Tempestites (Storm Deposits) (found in somewhat deeper water)

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In deeper waters in which clays and silts are accumulating, storm waves can still
resuspend bottom sediments and/or the strong bottom water undercurrents can sweep
the resuspended sediment out to deeper waters.
Since these deeper, normally quiet waters are home to a diverse array of shelly
invertebrates, storms really mess up their lives. The storms carry away the fine
sediment, but leave behind the larger-sized invertebrate shell material in a process
called winnowing. ==> Leaves behind a lag of shells and debris.
As the storm wanes, weakening undercurrents transport and deposit progressively finer
sediment (typically silts) on top of the shell lags.
Thus, a typical tempestite is a fining-upwards sequence 1 to 80 cm thick (typically 520 cm) that consists of (see handout)
1) A basal scour followed by a lag (material left behind after winnowing) of shell
debris that is largely unbroken. There may be some sand, but most of the space
around the shells is filled in with silt from the waning storm currents. Any
originally unfilled spaces within the shells are often later filled with secondary
calcite.
2. Once the shell debris is buried, laminated and rippled silt deposits are laid down.
These grade into
3. Normal background silt/clay deposits.
d. Small scours filled with very fine sand. In the deeper shelf, storm-related
currents apparently can scour the bottom with currents focused in narrow channelsized areas. They push along sand and leave behind little lenses of fine sand in sediments
that are otherwise shales.

Four storm
scours in a
shale sequence

c.

Small Turbidites. (deepest waters on shelf, especially near deltas)

C. Ocean Currents: Remaining 3% of shelves. SE coast of S. Africa

Strong ocean currents can wash across deep shelves and move sediment or prevent fine
sediment (continental detritus or biogenic) from accumulating.

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IV.

Sedimentary Features as Paleoenvironmental Indicators.

A. Black shales: shales rich in organic carbon are commonly black or dark
gray and are commonly laminated.
1. Biological productivity is highest in the upper 100 meters of the water column because
this is the maximum depth to which sufficient sunlight penetrates.
Sun supports phytoplankton, which photosynthesize. = base of the food chain.
Zooplankton eat the phytoplankton and each other. Larger critters eat the zooplankton etc.
Marginal Sea

Deep Ocean
Upper 100 m are very productive

silt

clay
laminated black clays

With high productivity, settling organic matter

stimulates an orgy of bacterial activity over a
certain depth. This creates an "O2-minimum" zone
at this depth.
Intersection of O2 minimum zone with sea
floor creates laminated sediments
and black shales.

sand

clays

2. All of this life produces a rain of settling dead organic matter. As it settles through the
water column, bacteria decompose it. This releases nutrients back into the water, but also
consumes oxygen. If biological productivity is high enough, oxygen levels in the water
column can drop to zero. This dramatically slows the rate of organic carbon destruction in
the water column and thus enables significant amounts of organic carbon to reach the sea
floor.
Where productivity is low, or where water is very deep (i.e., the ocean > 1 km), 99% of all
organic matter is eaten up before it can reach the sea floor. It is not easy to produce
organic-rich sediments.
3. Once on the sea floor, organic matter is further degraded by critters burrowing through
the sediment and by more bacteria.
In the O2 minimum zone, however, the burrowing macrofauna (worms, clams, crustaceans,
etc.) cannot survive. This leaves only bacteria to break down organic goo and allows more
organic carbon to be preserved in the sedimentary record.
Elimination of burrowing animals also preserves fine sedimentary structures, such as
laminations. Thus, black shales are often laminated. Note: Organic-rich shales can also be
a brownish color, like old manure.
4. Variations in organic productivity (caused by several processes that introduce nutrients
to shallow waters) can change the thickness of oxygen minimum zone. If organic
productivity greatly increases, the oxygen minimum zone can expand (both shallowing and

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deepening) and thus cover large areas of both marginal or epicontinental shelves.
5. Source rocks for oil and gas: Organic matter has to be buried to a certain depth such that
it experiences a relatively narrow range of elevated temperatures (with the geothermal
gradient, deeper = hotter) and pressures over a limited amount of time. Organic-rich
sediments that have produced oil and gas are termed source rocks. Once produced, the oil and
gas migrate up toward the surface, stopping only if they are trapped by impermeable rocks
(like shales). If we are lucky, the oil and gas will concentrate in permeable rocks capped by
impermeable rocks. Otherwise, it oozes out onto the ground, like around Los Angeles (the La
Brea Tar Pits are famous) or, sea floor, like around Los Angeles or in the Gulf of Mexico. To
recover buried oil, we drill through the cap rock and suck the oil and gas out of the
reservoir rocks (frequently sandstones and carbonate reefs).
B.

Variations in carbonate content.

Variations in the biological rate of carbonate production (in the form of coccoliths and
foraminifera) or in the rate of detrital sediment delivery to the ocean can change the
proportions of carbonate and shale accumulating at different times. We often see shelf
sequences that vary back and forth between impure limestones and shale on the scale of 5 to
20 cm. It is possible that climatic changes cause changes in the rate at which regional
rivers deliver mud to the seas, or that they cause changes in the rate at which nutrients are
delivered to the shelf. An increase in biologic productivity could produce more microscopic
shell detritus without producing black shales as long as it does not produce so much organic
matter that it produces a strong oxygen minimum zone .
Thus, people suspect a climate connection, but it is tough to say whether it is changes in
detrital or biogenic sediment supply that changes.

C.

Hardgrounds
A rapid rise in sea level can push the shoreline back so fast that the deep shelf becomes
starved of sediment. So little sediment accumulates that the exposed sediments get slowly
winnowed away, exposing partially indurated (hardened/consolidated) sediment below. Lots
of marine creatures love a good firm substrate, so they burrow into this hardground and
create a distinctive surface. Other colonial organisms (such as bryozoa) encrust this
hardground. In some cases, no hardground is produced, but a lag of macrofossils is left
behind. These are also hard and can attract a range of encrusting and boring organisms.
Both indicate a period of sediment starvation on the shelf that reflects a relative rise in sea
level.

D.

Some Vertical Successions:

Handouts

The sections that start with "Pinhay Bay, Lyme Regis" cover much of the British Lower
Jurassic. Ammonite subzones define time along the left. These shelf sediments are mostly
shales with some limestones, but occasionally they become sandy, presumably in response to
a regression. A range of typical shelf sediment features are shown.