Sedimentary Geology 138 (2000) 161±177

www.elsevier.nl/locate/sedgeo

Bored pebbles and ravinement surface clusters in a transgressive

systems tract, Sant LlorencË del Munt fan-delta complex,
SE Ebro Basin, Spain
E.I.H. Siggerud a,*, R.J. Steel b, J.E. Pollard c
a
PSG Reservoir Consultants, Strandveien 4, N-1326 Lysaker, Norway
b
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071-3355, USA
c
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK

Abstract
A 25-m thick transgressive systems tract in the Sant LlorencË del Munt, wave-in¯uenced, fan-delta system (Eocene, SE Ebro
Basin) has an internal framework consisting of a cluster of transgressive erosion surfaces, each of which has minor relief and
which are collectively stacked vertically no more than two metres apart. Each erosion surface bounds a cycle containing a
conglomeratic lag (up to 0.5-m thick) followed by a coarsening-upward sandstone to conglomeratic unit (the uppermost levels
of which can be nonmarine). Individual cycles become entirely nonmarine landwards of the termination of the basal-bounding
erosion surface, whereas they thin and eventually become entirely marine basinwards.
The individual erosion surfaces within the transgressive tract, some 16 of them within a 20-m thick lithosome, are interpreted as
wave-ravinement surfaces that repeatedly eroded into the conglomeratic shoreface during transgression. This interpretation, rather
than one invoking nonmarine ¯ooding or other marine erosion surface types, is consistent with the arrangement of bivalve and
sponge borings on the top surfaces of clasts and with the associated lag pavements. Multiphase boring around the entire surface of
clasts, as well as erosion of the clasts at some horizons, particularly in reaches of the tract where the ravinement trajectory is sub-
horizontal, suggest repeated reworking of previously generated lag pavements in zones of minimal aggradation during transgression.
Where the transgressive shoreline trajectory rises more steeply and there has been more rapid aggradation during transgression, the
lag pavements show only single-phase borings, with the borings on the upper surface of the pebble-pavement only.
The close spacing of erosion surfaces within the transgressive systems tract, together with estimates of time span in the tract,
suggest that transgressive erosion occurred with a frequency of less than 500 years. q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights
reserved.
Keywords: Fan-delta system; Erosion surfaces; Transgressive systems tract; Trace fossils; Bored pebble logs

1. Introduction transpressional slip on the Valles Fault System running

The Sant LlorencË del Munt fan-delta complex occu-
pies part of the Ebro Basin of Catalunya in northeastern
Spain (Fig. 1A). During the Eocene, a period of sinistral
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: erling.siggerud@oslo.pgs.com
(E.I.H. Siggerud).
0037-0738/00/$ - see front matter q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0037-073 8(00)00148-2
along the NE±SW trending Catalan Coastal Range led
to the uplift of basement blocks and dispersal of large
volumes of detritus as alluvial fans and fan-deltas that
prograded north and north-westwards into the Ebro
Basin (AnaÂdon et al., 1985; GuimeraÁ, 1988) (Fig. 1B).
The Sant LlorencË del Munt fan-delta complex that
developed from one uplifted and rotated basement-
slice extends approximately 20 km into the Ebro Basin
162 E.I.H. Siggerud et al. / Sedimentary Geology 138 (2000) 161±177
 E.I.H. Siggerud et al. / Sedimentary Geology 138 (2000) 161±177 163

Fig. 2. Architecture of the transgressive and regressive tracts of the El Marcet I fundamental sequence within the Sant LlorencË del Munt fan-
delta complex. Note the geometry of the ravinement complex in the transgressive systems tract.

and forms a 1000-m thick succession of coarse-grained
alluvial conglomerates and sandstones that grade basin-
wards into marine siltstones, sandstones, and limestones
(LoÂpez-Blanco, 1993; and other papers in this volume).
Alluvial progradation was interrupted by a series of
transgressive episodes of frequency varying from 300
to 60,000 years (LoÂpez-Blanco et al., 2000), resulting in
the development of a highly cyclic succession (Fig. 1C).
Sedimentation was controlled largely by basin margin
tectonics, as well as sea level changes and climate
(LoÂpez-Blanco et al., 2000).
Because of the rapid lateral facies changes, as well
as the variety and repetition of facies, an allostratigra-
phical subdivision (NACSN, 1983) has been
suggested by LoÁpez-Blanco (1993). The Sant LlorencË
del Munt fan-delta complex has accordingly been

Fig. 1. (A) Location map of Catalunya and simpli®ed map (B) and section (C) of the Sant LlorencË del Munt fan-delta complex.
164 E.I.H. Siggerud et al. / Sedimentary Geology 138 (2000) 161±177
divided into a series of composite sequences, three of
which are shown in Fig. 1C. Within each composite
sequence there are smaller-scale transgressive±
regressive fundamental sequences (LoÂpez-Blanco,
1993). The Vilomara composite sequence consists of
a lower (El Marcet) overall transgressive succession
and an upper (Vilomara) overall regressive succes-
sion. This paper describes details of the ravinement
surfaces, bored clasts, and associated transgressive
lags within the lowermost fundamental sequence in
the overall transgressive El Marcet succession. The
facies and the sequence stratigraphy of the whole El
Marcet succession are dealt with by Rasmussen
(2000) and Steel et al. (2000), respectively. The
trace fossils of one fundamental sequence (El Marcet
1) within this succession was analysed by Siggerud
and Steel (1999). Interest has arisen in this transgres-
sive El Marcet succession because it is well exposed,
it is unusually thick (almost as thick as the overlying
regressive succession), and it provides an opportunity
to examine how the sediment volumes and facies are
partitioned into regressive and transgressive tracts.
The characterization and evaluation of multiple
ravinement surfaces and their signi®cance within
transgressive successions also has generated interest.
2. The El Marcet 1 transgressive systems tract
The transgressive part of the lowermost fundamental
sequence in the El Marcet succession (the El Marcet 1
fundamental sequence, as shown in Fig. 2) is consid-
ered to be retrogradational or ªtransgressiveº in char-
acter because each of the main lithofacies belts
(shoreface sandstones, shoreface gravels, alluvial
deposits; Fig. 2) is mapped as having a landward-
stepping stacking-pattern through time. This stacking
character is seen most clearly within the nearshore
conglomerate belt, which, in detail, has a lower trans-
gressive trend, a middle aggradational trend, and an
upper highly transgressive character in its most land-
ward segment. The uppermost levels of this transgres-
sive system tract are ®ne-grained argillaceous
sandstones and, in places (distally), limestones.
Above this level, which is interpreted to be a maxi-
mum ¯ooding zone, there is a reversal of the stacking-
pattern with a regressive silty to sandy shoreface or
delta-front lithofacies belt, which shows a series of
basinward-stepping clinoforms that lap down at a
low angle onto the maximum ¯ooding zone (see
Siggerud and Steel, 1999, Fig. 4).
The details of facies development within the prox-
imal, intermediate, and distal portions of the El
Marcet 1 transgressive systems tract are shown in
Fig. 2. Proximal regions are dominated by alluvial
conglomerates and sandstones (see Rasmussen,
2000, for details) but show an increased brackish
water in¯uence in the ¯ood basin siltstone facies in
the upper half of the succession, as indicated by
vertical marine burrows (Ichnofabric 2 of Siggerud
and Steel, 1999). In the uppermost levels of the trans-
gressive tract, there are thin nearshore conglomerates
and sandstones (just below the maximum ¯ooding
zone of the sequence) (Fig. 2). The alluvial deposits
consist of a series of erosively-based, channelised
¯uvial conglomerates that grade upwards fairly
abruptly into pebbly sandstones and red siltstones.
There is also a debris ¯ow deposit that is utilized as
a marker horizon in this alluvial package.
The intermediate reaches of the El Marcet 1 trans-
gressive systems tract (Fig. 2) show a succession
passing from red alluvial deposits at the base up to
nearshore conglomerates and sandstones. The succes-
sion, though overall transgressive, consists of
repeated small-scale (,2 m thick) cycles, any one of
which has the following idealized vertical structure,
consisting of (a) up to (d) as follows (Fig. 3):
(a) An erosion surface overlain by a lag deposit or
ªpavementº in which pebbles are commonly bored,
especially on the upper surfaces; these are the
coarsest deposits in each cycle.
(b) An abrupt change up to siltstones and ®ne-
grained marine bioturbated sandstones (the sand-
stones tend to coarsen upwards);
(c) Upper levels of the sandstones in (b) that
become reddish and/or conglomeratic, sometimes
with a mottled, soil-like appearance (in either
case, they may be burrowed by vertical marine
traces);
(d) A new erosion surface capped by a lag deposit
with bored pebbles;
The cycles listed above could be described as
ªparasequences,º that is, the basic building blocks of
the transgressive succession along the shoreline
 E.I.H. Siggerud et al. / Sedimentary Geology 138 (2000) 161±177 165

Fig. 3. Sedimentological log through the transgressive part of the succession at locality 3 (Fig. 2), showing the aggradational stacking of the
ravinement-bounded ªparasequences.º Note the thick transgressive component (ªaº component in cycle ªa-dº) of the ªparasequences.º

reaches. Parasequences tend to form in groups, each
group de®ning a trend of landward shift (Fig. 2). The
parasequence groups numbered 1±4 in Fig. 2 appear
to relate to channel belts in the alluvium behind the
shoreline area.
In its distal reaches, the transgressive systems tract
of the El Marcet 1 becomes dominated by limestones,
marls, and normally graded sandstone beds. The
limestones (Fig. 2) are mainly Nummulites packstones
(sometimes with coralline algae) and probably
originated as bioclastic bars on the transgressed
pavements of the delta front (Eide, 1996). The graded
sandstone beds have a tabular geometry, and occur in
groups of beds up to 7±8 m thick. They are interpreted
166 E.I.H. Siggerud et al. / Sedimentary Geology 138 (2000) 161±177
as sediment gravity ¯ows, possibly initiated by delta-
front collapse, in®lling shallow submarine gullies on
the delta front. The tract becomes progressively more
dominated by limestone beds distally, and some 4±
5 km basinwards from the proximal alluvial reaches,
the transgressive package is no more than a few
metres thick. In that distal region there are four
units, each capped by a limestone. The precise
geometric relationship of these units to the sub-
sequences of the proximal reaches is still uncertain.
3. Marine erosion surfaces
The erosion surfaces that underlie the lag deposits
are a striking feature of the marine facies belt within
the transgressive systems tract. Although they rarely
show erosive relief of more than a few tens of centi-
metres, they impart a characteristic sub-horizontal
ªstrati®cationº to the succession, a feature not seen
in the depositionally similar facies belt of the over-
lying regressive tract (Fig. 2). The erosive surfaces
(with their overlying bored pebble lags) within the
transgressive system tract are of frequent occurrence.
There are some 17 of these surfaces within a 20 m
succession within El Marcet 1 (Fig. 3).
When traced landwards from the intermediate
reaches of the transgressive tract, successive erosion
surfaces tend to diverge slightly from each other, and
younger surfaces extend farther landwards than older
ones. The sedimentary cycle between adjacent erosion
surfaces contains progressively less marine facies and
progressively more alluvial facies as each of these
cycles is traced landwards. At the point where any
cycle contains no marine facies, the basal erosion
surface terminates and from this point landwards the
ªcycleº can no longer be recognized. There is, thus, a
clear connection between the presence of marine
facies and the occurrence of the erosion surface.
When traced basinwards, the erosion surfaces
appear to converge slightly towards each other, and
older surfaces generally extend farther basinwards
than younger ones. The sedimentary cycle between
adjacent erosion surfaces contains progressively less
alluvium and becomes dominated by marine near-
shore and shelf deposits. The ªcycleº can still be
recognized basinwards as long as the bored lag of
coarse clasts persists basinwards. As can be seen
from Fig. 2, successive erosion surfaces are not evenly
distributed in space and time. Although successively
younger surfaces generally extend farther landwards,
there are groups of surfaces with a near-vertical
(aggradational) stacking, followed vertically by an
abrupt and more extensive landward shift, and a
new group of stacked erosion surfaces. The stacking-
pattern of the erosion surfaces is generally highlighted
by the occurrence and distribution of basinward-
wedging alluvial deposits, because the latter are
often red coloured and thus most easily identi®ed
from a distance.
The pathway or shoreline trajectory (Helland-
Hansen and Gjelberg, 1994) which is de®ned by the
line joining points of landward termination of succes-
sively younger erosion surfaces, is clearly landward
directed and related to a diachronous transgressive
ªfront.º It is argued below that each erosion surface
is a ravinementsurface generated by the landward
movement of shoreface erosion during a period
when relative sea level rise was greater than sediment
supply. The series of shingled erosion surfaces broadly
separating nearshore and shelf deposits from coastal
plain alluvium, cuts obliquely across the transgressive
tract. Thus, they have the character of shoreface
erosion surfaces (Heward, 1981) or wave-ravinement
surfaces (Nummedal and Swift, 1987). The unusual
aspect of these surfaces here is that they occur as a
vertically aggrading cluster of ravinement surfaces
and not as a single surface as usually described.
Shoreface erosion resulted in overall transgression
and destruction of the shoreline, but the trajectory of
shoreface erosion varied from very low-angle to
higher angle landwards, corresponding with intervals
of ªrapidº transgression or near-vertical aggradation,
respectively. The aggradational segments of the trans-
gressive tract highlight the high rates of sediment
supply during transgression.
4. Pavements of bored pebbles
The ªbored-pebbleº lags and associated ªdeepeningº
of facies within the studied transgressive tract are key
pieces of evidence for the interpretation of the asso-
ciated erosion surfaces as ravinement surfaces.
Although the lags ultimately derive from river ¯ood
products on the fan-delta front, they are nevertheless
 E.I.H. Siggerud et al. / Sedimentary Geology 138 (2000) 161±177 167

the immediate products of marine reworking during (mostly bivalves but also sponges and worms prob-
transgression. ably during abandonment of the gravel pavement)
when sediment supply to the area was low or insig-
4.1. Description ni®cant. Pebbles in some horizons show more than
one phase of boring as indicated by only the inner
Bored pebble-pavements are lag concentrations of
part of the borings being preserved (Fig. 6). Rare
clast-supported conglomerate in beds up to 50-cm
geopetal in®lls indicate that pebbles were rotated in
thick, which lie on a prominent erosion surface.
the gravel before the boring in®ll was lithi®ed (Figs.
They overlie somewhat ®ner-grained beds. The latter
5B and 6). Foraminifera in the sand in®ll con®rm that
commonly show a slight upward-coarsening trend and
both boring and in®lling took place under marine
can become conglomeratic and red-coloured at their
conditions, in sub-tidal water depth, presumably on
tops. The borings are developed preferentially in lime-
the lower to middle shoreface. Pebbles in other hori-
stone clasts in the uppermost pebble layer of any
zons show unabraded shallow borings only on the
conglomerate bed (Figs. 3 and 4A). The clasts with
upper surface of the clasts, suggesting a single genera-
borings are fairly well rounded, and consist of grey
tion of abandonment and preservation of the surface
limestone with sparite patches, rare gastropods and
of the gravel. These probably re¯ect a depositional
ostracods. The clasts are abraded or etched and
hiatus and the formation of a rockground. Similar
bored preferentially on one surface or on all surfaces
bored pebbles of Triassic dolomite have been reported
by irregular or ¯ask-shaped borings that are generally
from the Eocene lag deposits (Roniewicz, 1970) and
in®lled with red sand (Fig. 4B). The borings are iden-
Miocene lag deposits (Radwanski, 1970) of Poland
ti®ed as Gastrocoenolites (bivalve boring; Fig. 4B),
and the basal Pliocene lags of the Barcelona area,
and are circular in cross-section, ¯asked-shaped, 5±
Spain (de Gilbert and Martinell, 1992). All of these
25 mm deep and oriented vertical to the pebble
pebbles were bored by at least two genera of bivalves,
surface (Fig. 4B). The Entobia ispp. consists of rows
sponges, and worms in shallow marine shoreline areas
of small ovoid borings 1±2 mm in length, resembling
with slow sedimentation. The Miocene and Pliocene
strings of beads or sausages (Fig. 5A and B). The rows
examples are associated with Ophiomorpha nodosa
are only rarely observed to radiate or cross-cut to form
sands and were interpreted as shoreline or storm-
crude polygonal networks. Fine straight or branching
generated gravel sheets.
tubes (approximately 0.2 mm in diameter) are asso-
Environmental comparisons can be made with
ciated with the borings. In some pavements, the
recent studies of communities of borers in limestone
borings are preserved only on the upper surface of
rockgrounds of Pliocene±Pleistocene age in the inner
pebbles (when viewed in-situ) or internally adjacent
Mediterranean area (Bromley and D'Alessandro,
to the walls of the bivalve borings (Figs. 4C and 5B), Ê sgaard, 1993). The dominant
1987; Bromley and A
with an in®ll of red silt or very ®ne-grained sand.
borings in the El Marcet pebbles are Gastrocoenolites
These borings belong to the ichnogenus Entobia and
ispp.; the most complete form recognized is the ¯ask-
the most regular forms to E. cateniformis (Fig. 5A)
shaped G. lapidicus (Fig. 6B) rather than the deeper,
produced by sponges (Bromley and D'Alessandro,
more elongated G. torpedo (Bromley, 1994; Kelly and
1984). A third type of boring is small isolate elongated
Bromley, 1984). The circular-cross section and
or slit-like borings similar to the Meandropolydora or
rounded, rather than strongly tapering, inner termina-
Caulostrepsis worm borings described by Bromley
tions of the bivalve borings further support this provi-
and D'Alessandro (1983). Within the larger Gastro-
sional assignment (Figs. 4B and 5B). The entobian
coenolites borings, Nummulites foraminifera occur
sponge borings observed are more dif®cult to identify
stacked; geopetal in®ll orientation commonly indi-
speci®cally (Bromley and D'Alessandro, 1984, 1989),
cates that the host clasts have been rolled after boring
although E. cateniformis (Fig. 5A) was con®rmed by
and geopetal generation (Fig. 5B).
Dr R.G. Bromley (pers. comm.). Crowded Gastrocoe-
4.2. Paleoenvironmental signi®cance nolites borings usually occur in very shallow marine
water of only a few metres depth (Bromley, 1994). In
The pebbles have been bored by marine organisms the Neogene of the inner Mediterranean, the zone of
168 E.I.H. Siggerud et al. / Sedimentary Geology 138 (2000) 161±177

Fig. 4. Bivalve borings in limestone pebbles. (A) Abraded pebble with sand-®lled Gastrocoenolites borings in-situ at the top of the marine
gravel pavement below the maximum ¯ooding surface. (B) Vertical surface cut through a bored pebble where Nummulites specimen can be
observed within sand-®lled bivalve borings on the left. (C) Details of pebble shown in (B) with, at the top, articulate bivalve shells in in®lled
Gastrocoenolites boring; below two well preserved Gastrocoenolites lapidicus borings, where Entobia borings can be observed in walls of
bivalve borings.
 E.I.H. Siggerud et al. / Sedimentary Geology 138 (2000) 161±177 169

Fig. 4. (continued)

Fig. 5. In®lled sponge and bivalve boring in limestone pebbles. (A) Entobia borings, possibly E. Caeniformis, on the upper surface of bored
pebble (shown in the cross section in (B). (B) Vertical cut through a bored pebble showing near-surface borings of Entobia ispp. in the upper
surface; downward facing borings of G. lapidicus with rotated geopetal in®llings.
170 E.I.H. Siggerud et al. / Sedimentary Geology 138 (2000) 161±177

Fig. 6. (A) Initial phase of boring: boring mainly by bivalves (1), which were partly in®lled later with ®ne-grained marine sandstone. Transport
phase: transport leads to abrasion of the pebble surface. In some borings, small pebbles block the entrance of the boring, preventing sand from
completely emptying from the chamber (see detail in the ®gure below). First resting phase: borings become in®lled by sparite, producing
geopetals. Renewed transport and ®nal resting: pebble is moved and redeposited to a new position, as shown by the geopetal (see detail in ®gure
below); increased boring by bivalves (2), sponges (3) and worms (4). (B) Schematic drawing of the sectioned pebble shown in Fig. 5 and in the
®gure above. Note the multiphase boring (three generations), that the left-hand borings have small pebbles inside which prevented all sand from
emptying, and that the tilted geopetals indicate that the clast has been transported after the geopetal development.

G. torpedo (which often occurs with entobians and
Meandropolypora) is restricted to 1±2 m of water
depth and may be taken to indicate ancient sea-level
notches in limestone cliffs (Bromley and D'Alessan-
dro, 1987; Bromley and A Ê sgaard, 1993; Bromley,
1994). Although the association of G. lapidicus with
E. cateniformis and worm borings cannot be assigned
to a precise water depth, they do occur together in the
ªBoulder Assemblageº of Bromley and A Ê sgaard
(1993) and the ªhigh diversity entobian dominated
assemblageº of Bromley and D'Alessandro (1987).
These assemblages, common on boulders or pebbles
in Mediterranean Pliocene rockgrounds, are regarded
as deeper water than G. torpedo but indicative of
turbulent marine water free from suspended sediment,
probably less than 10 m of water depth. We interpret
this to equate with a middle±upper shoreface setting
within the gravelly shoreface of El Marcet 1 (Fig. 7).
5. Aggradation events between ravinement
episodes
The sediment that accumulated between successive
pebble-pavements indicates that renewed shoreface or
mouth-bar regression/aggradation occurred prior to
 E.I.H. Siggerud et al. / Sedimentary Geology 138 (2000) 161±177
Fig. 7. Cartoon showing the ªdevelopment mechanicsº of a bored-pebble-pavement and its relationship to the ravinement surface.
each ravinement episode. Above each lag pavement,
there is abrupt and marked grain-size reduction, which
is indicative of the ¯ooding/abandonment phase that
produced the borings (Fig. 3). The coarsening-upward
trend of the overlying siltstone±sandstone unit
(usually about 1-m thick) (Fig. 3) re¯ects either shore-
face regression and aggradation during times of
increased sediment supply or a reduced rate of relative
sea level rise. These upward-coarsening sedimentary
units thus resemble ªparasequencesº (Van Wagoner,
1991), except for the anomalous presence of thick,
intervening pebble lags (Figs. 3 and 8). It is of interest
to note that it is only in these regressive phases
that nonmarine and marine facies occur in lateral
continuity. Within the transgressive phase, there is
always an erosion surface separating marine shelf-
nearshore facies from slightly older, nonmarine facies
(Fig. 2).
Another interesting aspect of some of the ªparase-
quencesº is the occurrence of marine or brackish-
water crab burrows (Siggerud and Pollard, 2000)
within the uppermost and shallowest (nonmarine)
facies levels, immediately prior to the cutting of the
subsequent ravinement surface. This indicates marine
171
or brackish burrowing activity in backshore or
coastal±plain areas as a result of initial sea level
rise, but prior to the passage of shoreface erosion
across these environments.
6. Summary of evidence for ravinement
interpretation
The above interpretation of the lag pavement
borings, together with the character of the sedimen-
tary unit associated with any pavement, strongly
suggests that the closely spread erosion surfaces that
characterize the gravelly transgressive system tracts
were formed by wave-reworking processes and are
therefore transgressive ravinement surfaces. The key
arguments here are:
1. The erosion surfaces formed immediately prior to
(and became the host surfaces for) the marine lag
pavements, which are so coarse-grained signi®cant
wave energy is required for their formation (Fig. 7).
2. The lag pavements sometimes show evidence of
multiphase borings, as well as repeated reworking
172 E.I.H. Siggerud et al. / Sedimentary Geology 138 (2000) 161±177
 E.I.H. Siggerud et al. / Sedimentary Geology 138 (2000) 161±177 173

and abrasion, prior to ®nal burial, again implying
an association with high-energy events in the
marine environment (Fig. 7).
3. The formation of the erosively based lag
pavements was followed immediately by water
deepening and abandonment with respect to clastic
sediment supply for periods long enough to allow
the boring.
4. Pavement abandonment and boring was followed
by renewed clastic sediment in¯ux in a regressive,
shallowing upward mode (see below), until trun-
cated by the next transgressive surface of marine
erosion.
The bored pebble-pavements are themselves not
beach or upper shoreface deposits. The transgressive
passage of the shoreface generated the erosion surface
that underlies each pavement, and presumably
ensured the destruction of upper shoreface and
beach deposits, causing ªpulsesº of gravel and sand
to be redistributed out onto the lower/middle
shoreface and beyond. Boring took place on this
redistributed debris in the lower pact of the shoreface
(Fig. 7).
7. Shoreline trajectory during overall
transgression
The erosion surfaces seen in the intermediate
reaches of the transgressive tract are of wave-
generated origin. The pavements overlying individual
ravinement surfaces are transgressive lag deposits and
the boring of the pavement clasts as well as the abrupt
upward-®ning of grain-size were caused by water
deepening and abandonment of the pavement surface.
The overlying upward-coarsening sandstones repre-
sent a renewed shoreface or delta-front regressive
pulse (ªparasequenceº), culminating in the uppermost
pebbly, reddish sandstones of alluvial origin. The
brackish/marine burrows that cut down onto the top
of the red sandstones indicate that there was an in¯ux
of marine waters into the back-barrier areas prior to
the passage of the shoreface erosion surface.
The repeated occurrence of the above cycle
documents that aggradation occurred during overall
transgression, with the repeated landward passage of
shoreface erosion and the subsequent basinward
movement of the aggrading shorezone. In this irregu-
lar manner, the shoreline moved landwards by less
than 2 km during a relative sea level rise of some
20 m. Age estimates for the length of time occupied
by the Vilomara composite sequence (see LoÂpez-
Blanco et al., 2000) suggest that the El Marcet trans-
gressive tract was deposited over the course of 10±
20,0000 years. This implies that the ravinement
process documented here recurred in time intervals
of less than 500 years.
8. Relationship between ravinement trajectory and
pavement types
Bored pebble-pavements in zones where the
ravinement trajectory had a relatively steep inclina-
tion and, therefore, where there is aggradational stack-
ing of the lag pavements, appear to show mainly a
single generation of borings on the upper surface of
the uppermost pebbles in the pavement. Conversely,
pavements in the youngest and uppermost levels of
the transgressive systems tract (where ravinement
trajectories are relatively ¯at and penetrate far land-
wards across the underlying coastal plain deposits)
show multiphase boring (boring on all sides of the
pebbles), as well as multiple transport episodes and
abrasion (Figs. 6 and 9). Pavements in such a setting
have some pebbles in which (1) only the innermost
zones of boring are preserved due to abrasion
(Fig. 5B); (2) geopetal structures are multiple and
reoriented with respect to the present horizontal
position (Fig. 6); and (3) the growth of sponges or
worms is evident on the inner wall of abandoned bivalve
borings prior to in®lling with marine sand (Fig. 4B).
In addition, the bored pebbles are distributed more

Fig. 8. Cartoon showing the formation of ªparasequencesº within a gravelly transgressive systems tract, where aggradation is relatively high.
Time-slice 1: ¯uvial gravel dispersed from the river mouth is reworked at the shoreline by waves. Time-slice 2: shoreline migrates landwards
and the uppermost level of gravel becomes abandoned and exposed to boring by marine organisms. Time-slice ªnº: the shoreline is then subject
to repeated, high-frequency transgressions and regressions, which leave multiple ravinements with bored pavements that alternate with delta-
front accretion/regressive phases. Each bored pavement with its overlying accretional unit comprises a parasequence.
174 E.I.H. Siggerud et al. / Sedimentary Geology 138 (2000) 161±177
completely through the entire thickness of the pave-
ment, rather than occurring only along its upper
surface.
This relationship between boring history and the
overall trajectory of shoreface erosion may be
explained by the relatively rapid burial of sediment
(allowing only single-phase boring) where the ravine-
ment trajectory and aggradation rate was high, in
contrast to the situations with multiphase boring and
abrasion, where accommodation space was limited,
aggradation rates were low, and lag pavements under-
went repeated reworking prior to ®nal burial.
The above trend towards low rates of aggradation
and increased reworking of pebbles through time on
the approach to the maximum ¯ooding zone of the
sequence might seem counterintuitive. The time
interval around the maximum ¯ooding zone in a
sequence is often considered to be a period of rela-
tively high accommodation creation (e.g. Posamen-
tier and Vail, 1988) with the development of a deeper
water environment. We suggest here that the low-
angle trajectory of backstepping parasequences is
more likely to have been caused by a reduction of
sediment supply (rather than any signi®cant accom-
modation increase) and a maintenance of shallow-
water conditions.
9. Conclusions
Observations of the transgressive systems tract of
the El Marcet 1 fundamental sequence suggest that
coarse-grained, high-sediment supply, high-slope,
fan-deltaic systems subject to transgressive conditions
(sediment supply outpaced by relative sea level rise)
can leave a record of (a) relatively thick, shallow
marine/coastal ¯ood basin transgressive deposits; (b)
a prominent system of vertically stacked, slightly
landward-offset ravinement surfaces in the marine
part of the tract; and (c) basic building blocks (?para-
sequences), about one metre thick, with a transgres-
sive component that is almost as thick as the overlying
regressive component within the marine part of the
tract. Each ªparasequenceº consists of a thick, trans-
gressive conglomerate lag deposit containing pebbles
along its upper surface that are commonly bored by
bivalves, sponges, and worms. Overlying marine-to-
¯uvial regressive deposits coarsen and shallow
upwards. The complex history of boring on lag
pavements is key evidence for interpreting the ªpara-
sequenceº-bounding surfaces within the marine part
of the tract as wave-ravinement surfaces.
Fig. 8 illustrates one of the proposed models for the
development of the marine tract and its ªparase-
quences.º In the situation where aggradation rate
during transgression was relatively high, ¯uvial
gravel, dispersed from river mouths during overall
transgressive conditions, became reworked and
abraded at the shoreline by wave activity (ªtime-
slice 1,º Fig. 8). As the shoreline migrated landwards
(ªtime-slice 2º), the reworked gravel lag was aban-
doned and its upper surface was exposed to boring by
marine organisms (Fig. 8). As the shoreline and the
zone of shoreface erosion moved even further land-
wards, the area where pebbles were already bored
became buried by a new regressive unit of marine
sand, which was released by increased sediment
input. As transgression continued, a new shoreline
was formed, eroded, and overlain by a lag pavement
(ªtime-slice 3,º Fig. 8). During burial, the pavement
borings were in®lled by marine sand containing
nummulitid foraminifera, indicating lower-middle
shoreface water depth (conditions of Ichnofabric 6
of Siggerud and Pollard, 2000). This chain of events
was repeated so that the transgressive-to-regressive
shoreface units stacked upon one another, with a
slight landward offset, as a result of the overall rise
in sea level.
Fig. 9 shows a more complex transgressive scenario
(such as a late transgressive systems tract) where
¯uvially derived gravels are repeatedly reworked,
bored, and abraded by storm activity as well as
ªnormalº shoreface erosion. The setting here is one
of a lower rate of sediment input resulting in more
rapid/lower-angle transgression across the coastal
plain. In this case, the bored pebbles are distributed
more evenly throughout the transgressive lags (rather
than in the upper surface only). The clasts here show
multiphase boring (i.e. the individual pebbles have
experienced several generations of biological contam-
ination) (Figs. 4±6). In many of these cases, only the
deepest part of the borings are preserved, implying
signi®cant abrasion occurred after the borings were
made (Fig. 4). In other clasts, geopetals are observed
within the borings, but where the geopetals indicate
clast movement and reorientation after boring, the
 E.I.H. Siggerud et al. / Sedimentary Geology 138 (2000) 161±177 175

Fig. 9. Cartoon showing the development of composite lag pavements with multiphase borings and clast reworking. This is typical of the late-
stage of transgression of the study sequence, or where the ravinement trajectory is non-aggradational (i.e. subhorizontal).

borings were partially in®lled and geopetals formed
(Fig. 5). In addition, some of the pebbles show sponge
or worm borings on the upper surface and on the inner
wall of the abandoned bivalve borings (Fig. 4) formed
prior to the in®lling of marine sands
Fig. 9 shows transgression proceeding with a low-
angle trajectory across the alluvial plain. The ¯at
topography and shallow burial of the abandoned and
bored pebble-pavements (Fig. 9.1) made them suscep-
tible to further reworking and abrasion during storm
activity (Fig. 9.2), prior to further generation of boring
and reworking (Fig. 9.3±9.5). The result of this
process was the production of a relatively thin lag
with well-sorted, well-rounded, and multi-phased
bored clasts, prior to the borings being in®lled and
buried by ®ne-grained marine sand. These transgressive
176 E.I.H. Siggerud et al. / Sedimentary Geology 138 (2000) 161±177
lags and their associated ravinement surfaces are there-
fore composite in nature.
There is a general time trend of aggradation (with
the production of relatively thick but stubby marine
lithosomes) to more marked retrogradation with the
deposition of more widespread, but thin marine litho-
somes, during overall transgression and the generation
of the studied transgressive systems tract (Fig. 2).
Estimates (from the two-dimensional study panel) of
the volume of sediments actually deposited during
transgressive events reach nearly 50% in the vicinity
of the ravinement clusters and basinwards. In the allu-
vial reaches, it is impossible to document transgres-
sive versus regressive deposition.
The unusual thickness of the transgressive tract, the
unusual thickness of the transgressive component of
parasequences, and the architecture of the ravinement
clusters all point to a high sediment-supply setting in a
highly subsiding basin.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express their thanks to Dr R.G.
Bromley for valuable comments and help in the iden-
ti®cation of the different borings, and Dr B.E.
Neuman for reading through the manuscript and
suggesting useful changes. Thanks are also due to
Sue Maher for making the photographs of the cut
pebbles and to Jane Ellingsen for turning them into
presentable ®gures. Reviewer Susan Kidwell is
thanked for insightful comments and for changing
our minds on some key aspects of the ravinement-
surface cluster geometry. Kathy Kirkaldie and Julie
Hamilton aided greatly with ®nal editing.
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