Statistical characterization of a confined submarine fan system: The Pennsylvanian Lower Atoka Formation, Ouachita Mountains, USA

Hou, Pengfei; Jobe, Zane R.; Wood, Lesli J.

doi:10.1111/sed.12925

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 102 publications

(267 reference statements)

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“…It is worth noting that the submarine fan in this study exhibits a tongue-shaped morphology, which significantly differs from commonly developed fan shapes, indicating it is a typical confined fan. Previous studies have found a strong correlation between submarine fan shape and the degree of confinement in geomorphology (Sinclair and Cowie, 2003;Hou et al, 2022). As the degree of confinement in geomorphology increases, the corresponding submarine fan demonstrates a reduced lateral width and an extended longitudinal length, gradually transitioning from a fan-shaped to a tongue-shaped planar evolution (Liu et al, 2014;Zhang et al, 2016).…”

Section: Major Controlling Factors For the Evolution Of The Submarine...mentioning

confidence: 95%

Sedimentary architecture and evolution of a Quaternary sand-rich submarine fan in the South China Sea

Liu,

Yan,

Pei

et al. 2023

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Investigating the sedimentary architecture and evolution of sand-rich submarine fans is vital for comprehending deep-water sedimentary processes and enhancing the success rate of hydrocarbon resource exploration. Recent drilling activities in the Qiongdongnan Basin, northern South China Sea, have unveiled significant gas hydrate and shallow gas potential. However, exploration in this area faces substantial challenges due to the limited understanding of sandy reservoirs. Leveraging extensive newly acquired extensive 3D seismic data (~9000 km2) and well data, our study reveals five distinct deep-water depositional systems in the Quaternary Ledong Formation, including a submarine fan system, mass transport deposits, deepwater channel-levee systems, slope fans, and hemipelagic sediments. Notably, the targeted sand-rich submarine fan lies within the abyssal plain, situated at a water depth of 1300-1700 m. This fan exhibits a unique tongue-shape configuration and a SW-NE flow direction within the plane and spans an expansive area of ~2800 km2 with maximum length and width reaching 140 km and 35 km, respectively. Vertically, the fan comprises five stages of distributary channel-lobe complexes, progressing from Unit 1 to Unit 5. Their distribution ranges steadily increase from Unit 1 to Unit 3, followed by a rapid decrease from Unit 4 to Unit 5. Our results suggest that the occurrence and evolution of the submarine fan are primarily controlled by sea level fluctuation, confined geomorphology, and sediment supply. Specifically, sea level fluctuation and sediment supply influenced the occurrence of the submarine fan. Concurrently, the confined geomorphology in the abyssal plain provided accumulation space for sediments and shaped the fan into its distinct tongue-like form. In contrast to the deepwater channels within the deepwater channel-levee systems, the distributary turbidite channels within the submarine fan are marked by lower erosion depth with “U” shapes, greater channel width, and higher ratios of width to depth. The comparative analysis identifies turbidite channels as the focal points for offshore gas hydrate and shallow gas exploration in the Qiongdongnan Basin. Furthermore, the temporal evolution of submarine fan offers valuable insights into Quaternary deep-water sedimentary processes and hydrocarbon exploration within shallow strata of marginal ocean basins.

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Section: Major Controlling Factors For the Evolution Of The Submarine...mentioning

confidence: 95%

Sedimentary architecture and evolution of a Quaternary sand-rich submarine fan in the South China Sea

Liu,

Yan,

Pei

et al. 2023

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Statistical analysis of the Hurst index indicating sedimentary processes' evolution trend in the deep lacustrine mudrock sequences: A case study of the Jiyang Depression, Bohai Bay Basin, eastern China

Wang,

Ruan,

et al. 2024

Sedimentary Geology

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(Dis)Order in Submarine Fans at Different Observational Scales: An Example From Unit a of the Laingsburg Formation, Karoo Basin

Spychala,

Burgess,

Stevenson

2024

The Sedimentary Record

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Perceived order in submarine fans is traditionally used to support simple sequence stratigraphic interpretation of allogenic forcing but evidence is typically limited to qualitative evaluation of the geological dataset. Quantitative analysis of the well-studied ‘Unit A’ basin-floor fan from the Laingsburg Formation, Karoo Basin, South Africa suggests a more complex interpretation. We use Markov facies analysis to test for order in the facies successions, and runs tests and power spectral analyses to assess order in the succession of bed thicknesses. Some bed-by-bed order is detectable in the facies successions, but thickness successions are more complex; no order is detectable as simple consistent bed-by-bed runs of thickening or thinning-upwards. Spectral analysis does detect some significant periodicities, but the periods are different in each vertical section analysed, ranging from 35-45 beds, 50-55 beds and from 60-70 beds in respective vertical sections. This perhaps indicates that complex autogenic compensational stacking processes control the details of how patterns emerge at specific locations, even when larger-scale trends do occur in regional stacking of lobes and lobe complexes and there is no evidence for a single, dominant allogenic control the Karoo submarine fan strata. More comprehensively, this analysis suggests that sequence stratigraphic interpretations of outcrop and core deep-water strata will be more robust with integrated quantitative bed thickness and facies trend analysis as a standard approach. Sequence stratigraphic interpretations of deep-water strata should avoid a model-driven single dominant control approach, and instead use the quantitative analysis to more fully explore the typical complexity of these strata.

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Statistical characterization of a confined submarine fan system: The Pennsylvanian Lower Atoka Formation, Ouachita Mountains, USA

Cited by 3 publications

References 102 publications

Sedimentary architecture and evolution of a Quaternary sand-rich submarine fan in the South China Sea

Sedimentary architecture and evolution of a Quaternary sand-rich submarine fan in the South China Sea

Statistical analysis of the Hurst index indicating sedimentary processes' evolution trend in the deep lacustrine mudrock sequences: A case study of the Jiyang Depression, Bohai Bay Basin, eastern China

(Dis)Order in Submarine Fans at Different Observational Scales: An Example From Unit a of the Laingsburg Formation, Karoo Basin

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