You are on page 1of 52

Challenge the future

Delft
University of
Technology
M.E. Donselaar
Deep-marine sand deposits

2
Sedimentary environments
Continental: fluvial (braided, meandering)
aeolian
lacustrine
Coastal: deltas
linear (clastic, carbonate)
Marine: shelf
deep marine sands
pelagic
3
Deep marine sands
Sands that have moved down slope from the shelf and
continental slope under the influence of gravity (gravity
flows)
4
Outline
Morphology
Processes
Facies types and sedimentary structures
Fan models
Sequences
Sequence-stratigraphy
5
Deep marine sands - Occurrence
6
Deep marine sands sediment source
Submarine canyons erode up
dip into shelf
Shelf edge collapse
Continental slope failure
Fluvial bypass of shelf during
lowstand

At the base-of-slope: fan-
shaped sediment accumulation:
Submarine fan

7
8
Submarine fans: Morphology - 1
Galloway & Hobday (1996)
point source
arcuate line source
line source (shelf edge)
line source (mass wasting)
9
Monterey submarine canyon
http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~voelker/Vorlesung_Meeresgeologie/sediment2.html
10
Indus & Ganges submarine fans
11
Deep marine sands: Slope failure
Galloway & Hobday (1996)
12
Relation bathymetry fan shape
Syn-sedimentary tectonics
Salt diapirism
Batholiths
Positive relief by previous fans
13
Influence on fan shape
Syn-sedimentary tectonics
1: Short, wide, fault-conditioned slope fan
2: Elongate fault-conditioned basin-floor fan
3: Lateral imbrication of basin-floor fan
14
Fault-conditioned basin floor fan: Fram
Field (U. Jurassic, Horda Platform)
I.1a
I.1b
I.2
I.3
II.4
II.4
II.3
II.2
II.1
35/11-8S 35/11-9
2.5 km
1
2
5

m
8
0

m
From: Visser (2005)
15
Fault-conditioned sediment transport
path
Modified from Williams (1993)
16
Salt diapirism
Mini-basins created by
salt-diapir controlled
bathymetry
Turbidite flows
concentrated in these
mini-basins
Reservoirs in GoM,
offshore Angola, Brazil
http://www2.petrobras.com.br/ri/pdf/2007_Formigli_Miami_pre-sal.pdf
Santos Basin, offshore Brazil
17
Deep-marine sands:
Transport & depositional processes
Shanmugan (1996)
18
Subsequent stages of gravity gliding
Slide
Coherent mass with preserved internal
organization
Slump
Coherent mass, but plastic
deformation of internal structure
Debris flow
Incoherent mass: internal organization
destroyed
Turbidity current
Newtonian fluid with sediment in
suspension
19
Slides
Martinsen (1989)
20
Slumps
Martinsen (1989)
21
Slump - outcrop example
22
Debris flow
Plastic flow
Sediment & water fully
mixed
Cohesive strength of matrix
is main clast-support
mechanism
Buoyancy
http://www.usask.ca/geology/classes/geol243/243notes/243week4a.html
23
Debris flow
Plastic flow can freeze = main
sand body just stops on the
slope.
Top of debris flow: gradual
change to suspension
http://faculty.gg.uwyo.edu/heller/sed_video_downloads.htm
24
Debris flow - outcrop examples
25
Liquefied flow
Metastable grain packing
texture disturbed, hence:
Closer grain packing creates
excess pore fluid
Fluid escape, hence texture
disturbed, and sediment-water
mixture behaves as rheological
fluid
On slope: flow
Freezing
http://www.usask.ca/geology/classes/geol243/243notes/243week4a.html
26
Liquefied flow outcrop example
Laminated sand
Dish structures
Fluid escape structures
27
Liquefied flow fluid escape
28
Turbidity current
Suspension of sediment
Sustained by fluid turbulence
http://www.usask.ca/geology/classes/geol243/243notes/243week4a.html
29
Turbidity current
Shanmugam (1997)
30
Turbidite flow - 1
Gradual vertical and
downstream change from
graded traction carpet (dark
colour) to high-density
suspended sand (light colour)
Traction carpet: non-Newtonian
(pseudo-plastic) flow
Creation of turbulent flow at
head of flow
31
Turbidite flow - 2
Fan-shaped turbidity flow in
flume experiment
http://faculty.gg.uwyo.edu/heller/sed_video_downloads.htm
32
Sedimentary
structures
Lowe (1982)
33
Bouma sequence
e: Pelagic and hemipelagic mud
d: Laminated silt (lower flow
regime)
c: Cross-laminated sand (lower
flow regime)
b: Parallel laminated sands
(upper flow regime)
a: Massive sand and granules
(upper flow regime)
Scoured base with tool marks,
flutes, etc.
Bouma (1962)
34
Bouma sequence: spatial distribution
http://www.usask.ca/geology/classes/geol243/243notes/243week4b.html
35
Bouma turbidite
36
Bouma turbidite: proximal
a
b
c
37
38
Bouma turbidite: distal
c
d
e
d
e
e
39
Submarine fan model
Mutti & Ricci Lucchi (1972)
Slope: feeder channel
Inner fan
Channel fill deposits
Incised channels
Middle fan
Bifurcating, multiple channels
Channel-levee complexes
Outer fan
Mounded lobes
Autocyclic channel avulsion and lobe
shifting
Basin plain
Fine-grained sheet turbidites

Mutti & Ricci Lucchi (1972)
40
Submarine fan model
Hypothetical prograding fan sequence
Mutti & Ricchi Lucchi (1972)
41
Proximal to distal changes
Fan sedimentation towards equilibrium profile
Proximal:
Slope is steep
Channels erode into fan
Distal:
Slope gentle
Gradual change from erosional to aggradational processes
42
43
Turbidite channels
Lithology and channel shape
Galloway & Hobday (1996)
44
Examples of sequences & log shapes
Galloway & Hobday (1996)
45
Deep-marine sands and sequence
stratigraphy
Relative sea level fall:
Shelf (partly) exposed, hence loss of accommodation
Sediment bypasses directly to slope and basin
Creation of lowstand fan
Lowstand:
Rate of relative sea level change low
Creation of lowstand wedge (aggradational)
Relative sea level rise:
Shelf gradually flooded, hence strong increase of
accommodation (storage capacity)

46
Sequence stratigraphy - HST
Posamentier et al. (1988)
47
Sequence stratigraphy - LST
Posamentier et al. (1988)
48
Sequence stratigraphy - LST
Posamentier et al. (1988)
49
Sequence stratigraphy - TST
Posamentier et al. (1988)
50
Sequence stratigraphy - HST
Posamentier et al. (1988)
51
Links
http://faculty.gg.uwyo.edu/heller/sed_video_downloads.ht
m
52
Compulsory reading
Nichols Chapter 16:
Sections 16.1 - 16.2

You might also like