Facies variability within a mixed carbonate–siliciclastic sea-floor fan (upper Wolfcamp Formation, Permian, Delaware Basin, New Mexico)

Kvale, Erik P.; Bowie, Christopher M.; Flenthrope, Chris; Mace, Christopher; Parrish, Jessica M.; Price, Buddy; Anderson, Sloan; DiMichele, William A.

doi:10.1306/06121917225

Cited by 28 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…McNeill et al, 2004;Ainsworth, 2010;Chiarella et al, 2017). For example, studies of the Delaware Basin (USA) show that a significant portion of hydrocarbon production comes from mixed carbonate-siliciclastic seafloor fans that differ significantly from their pure siliciclastic equivalents (Kvale et al, 2019). The high lateral facies variability documented in this study at the basin, outcrop and bedform scale indicate that future study of this and similar mixed carbonate-siliciclastic settings is needed for improved facies models and understanding of mixed tidal systems.…”

Section: Implications For Mixed Carbonate-siliciclastic Tidal Depositsmentioning

confidence: 69%

Mixed carbonate–siliciclastic tidal sedimentation in the Miocene to Pliocene Bouse Formation, palaeo‐Gulf of California

et al. 2021

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Mixed carbonate-siliciclastic deposits provide unique insights into hydrodynamic processes that control sedimentation in tidal systems. This study presents sedimentological and ichnological data from the upper Miocene to lower Pliocene Bouse Formation, which accumulated during regional transgression at the margin of a tidal strait near the north end of the ancestral Gulf of California. The basal carbonate member of the Bouse Formation records deposition in a tide-influenced, compositionally mixed carbonate-siliciclastic system dominated by salt marsh, tidal flat and channel environments. The basal carbonate member is an overall deepening up succession of facies associations comprising: Facies Association 1siliciclastic-rich heterolithic facies, lime mudstone with desiccation cracks, and plant debris rich carbonate silt interpreted as siliciclastic-rich tidal flats; Facies Association 2well-sorted gravels, siliciclastic-rich sandy strata, lime mudstone with desiccation cracks, and sandy microbial micrite interpreted as tidal-channel deposits; Facies Association 3carbonate-rich heterolithic lime mudstone to well-sorted, cross-bedded bioclastic grainstone interpreted as intertidal to shallow subtidal deposits; and Facies Association 4lime mudstone interpreted as shallow to deep subtidal low-energy deposits that record the end of tidal conditions in the basin. Trace fossils include marine forms Gyrolithes, Teichichnus and Thalassinoides, and non-diagnostic forms Arenicolites, Cochlichnus, Conichnus, Lockeia, Planolites, Skolithos and Treptichnus (known from marine, brackish and freshwater environments). The diminutive size of trace fossils reflects brackish conditions created by mixing of freshwater and seawater. This study provides evidence for a late Miocene to early Pliocene humid climate in southwestern North America, in stark contrast to the modern hyperarid climate. Factors that controlled the relative percentage of mixed carbonate and siliciclastic sediment include siliciclastic input from local rivers, in situ carbonate production, current energy, degree of tidal mixing and relative sea level. Pronounced facies variability at bedform, outcrop and basin scale documented in this study appears to be an important characteristic of mixed carbonate-siliciclastic deposits in tidal depositional systems.

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Section: Implications For Mixed Carbonate-siliciclastic Tidal Depositsmentioning

confidence: 69%

Mixed carbonate–siliciclastic tidal sedimentation in the Miocene to Pliocene Bouse Formation, palaeo‐Gulf of California

et al. 2021

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“…This two‐part H3 structure is not something specific to the Ross Formation but has been noted elsewhere (e.g. Kane & Pontén, ; Popović, ; Kane et al ., ; Wearmouth, ; Angus et al ., ; Dodd et al ., ; Kvale et al., ). Concentrations of mud clasts at the boundary between H3a and H3b suggest possible buoyancy‐driven segregation (Postma et al ., ; Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

High‐resolution X‐ray fluorescence profiling of hybrid event beds: Implications for sediment gravity flow behaviour and deposit structure

et al. 2020

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Hybrid event beds form when turbidity currents that transport or locally acquire significant quantities of mud decelerate. The mud dampens turbulence driving flow transformations, allowing both mud and sand to settle into dense, near‐bed fluid layers and debris flows. Quantifying details of the mud distribution vertically in what are often complex tiered deposits is critical to reconstructing flow processes and explaining the diverse bed types left by mud‐bearing gravity flows. High‐resolution X‐ray fluorescence core scanning provides continuous vertical compositional profiles that can help to constrain mud distribution at sub‐millimetre scale, offering a significant improvement over discrete sampling. The approach is applied here to cores acquired from the Pennsylvanian Ross Sandstone Formation, western Ireland, where a range of hybrid event beds have been identified. Raw X‐ray fluorescence counts are calibrated against element concentrations and mineral abundances determined on coincident core plugs, with element and element log‐ratios used as proxies to track vertical changes in abundances of quartz, illite (including mica), chlorite and calcite cement. New insights include ‘stepped’ (to higher values) as opposed to ‘saw‐tooth’ vertical changes in mud content and the presence of compositional banding that would otherwise be overlooked. Hybrid event beds in basin floor sheets that arrived ahead of the prograding fan system have significantly cleaner sandy components than those in mid‐fan lobes. The latter may imply that the heads of the currents emerging from mid‐fan channels entrained significant mud immediately before they collapsed. Many of the H3 debrites are bipartite with a sandier H3a division attributed to re‐entrainment and mixing of a trailing debris or fluid mud flow (H3b) with sand left by the forward part of the flow. Hybrid event bed structure may thus partly reflect substrate interaction and mixing during deposition, and the texture of the bed divisions may not simply mirror those in the suspensions from which they formed.

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“…MTDs associated with these evacuation surfaces either initiated in this area or bypassed it, and were likely deposited at the toe-of-slope and in the basin (Saller et al, 1989;Montgomery, 1997a;Allen et al, 2013;Nance and Rowe, 2015;Bhatnagar et al, 2018;Hurd et al, 2018;Schwartz et al, 2018). Additionally, flow transformation (Fisher, 1983;Haughton et al, 2009;Talling et al, 2012) of MTDs along the sediment routing system may be reflected in the abundance of hybrid event beds documented in the distal Delaware basin (Driskill et al, 2018;Kvale et al, 2020). Terrigenous deposits draping the SDS (Figs.…”

Section: Evolution Of the Victorio Peak-bone Spring Mixed Marginmentioning

confidence: 99%

Progradational slope architecture and sediment distribution in outcrops of the mixed carbonate-siliciclastic Bone Spring Formation, Permian Basin, west Texas

et al. 2021

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Sediment transport and distribution are the keys to understanding slope-building processes in mixed carbonate-siliciclastic sediment routing systems. The Permian Bone Spring Formation, Delaware Basin, west Texas, is such a mixed system and has been extensively studied in its distal (basinal) extent but is poorly constrained in its proximal upper-slope segment. Here, we define the stratigraphic architecture of proximal outcrops in Guadalupe Mountains National Park in order to delineate the shelf-slope dynamics of carbonate and siliciclastic sediment distribution and delivery to the basin. Upper-slope deposits are predominantly fine-grained carbonate lithologies, interbedded at various scales with terrigenous (i.e., siliciclastic and clay) hemipelagic and gravity-flow deposits. We identify ten slope-building clinothems varying from terrigenous-rich to carbonate-rich and truncated by slope detachment surfaces that record large-scale mass wasting of the shelf margin. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) data indicate that slope detachment surfaces contain elevated proportions of terrigenous sediment, suggesting that failure is triggered by changes in accommodation or sediment supply at the shelf margin. A well-exposed terrigenous-rich clinothem, identified here as the 1st Bone Spring Sand, provides evidence that carbonate and terrigenous sediments were deposited contemporaneously, suggesting that both autogenic and allogenic processes influenced sediment accumulation. The mixing of lithologies at multiple scales and the prevalence of mass wasting acted as primary controls on the stacking patterns of terrigenous and carbonate lithologies of the Bone Spring Formation, not only on the shelf margin and upper slope, but also in the distal, basinal deposits of the Delaware Basin.

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Facies variability within a mixed carbonate–siliciclastic sea-floor fan (upper Wolfcamp Formation, Permian, Delaware Basin, New Mexico)

Cited by 28 publications

References 38 publications

Mixed carbonate–siliciclastic tidal sedimentation in the Miocene to Pliocene Bouse Formation, palaeo‐Gulf of California

Mixed carbonate–siliciclastic tidal sedimentation in the Miocene to Pliocene Bouse Formation, palaeo‐Gulf of California

High‐resolution X‐ray fluorescence profiling of hybrid event beds: Implications for sediment gravity flow behaviour and deposit structure

Progradational slope architecture and sediment distribution in outcrops of the mixed carbonate-siliciclastic Bone Spring Formation, Permian Basin, west Texas

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