The Stratigraphic Record of Submarine-Channel Evolution

Covault, Jacob A.; Sylvester, Zoltán; Hubbard, Stephen M.; Jobe, Zane R.; Sech, Richard P.

doi:10.2110/sedred.2016.3.4

Cited by 59 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…This typical sequence of channel architectural styles records a multi‐phase degradational–aggradational trend that has been documented globally in both seismic (e.g. Deptuck et al ., ; Janocko et al ., ; Covault et al ., ) and outcrop (e.g. Hodgson et al ., ; Brunt et al ., 2013a; Macauley & Hubbard, ) datasets.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Di Celma et al, 2011;Bain & Hubbard, 2016). Early-stage, high-mobility channels show limited vertical aggradation and are commonly erosional and bypass-dominated, cannibalizing their own deposits as they migrate laterally (Deptuck et al, 2003;Covault et al, 2016). As a result, there is a limited preservation of the channel fills towards the base of the channel systems , with discontinuous remnants of sandy channels and relatively thick packages of thinly bedded, mudprone overbank deposits overlaying the broad basal erosion surface (Deptuck et al, 2003;McHargue et al, 2011).…”

Section: General Architecture Of the Gorgoglione Flysch Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multi‐scale analysis of a migrating submarine channel system in a tectonically‐confined basin: The Miocene Gorgoglione Flysch Formation, southern Italy

et al. 2018

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The Miocene Gorgoglione Flysch Formation records the stratigraphic product of protracted sediment transfer and deposition through a long‐lived submarine channel system developed in a narrow and elongate thrust‐top basin of the Southern Apennines (Italy). Channel‐fill deposits are exposed in an outcrop belt approximately 500 m thick and 15 km long, oriented oblique to the palaeoflow, which was roughly south‐eastward. These exceptional exposures of channel‐fill strata allow the stacking architectures and the evolution of the channel system to be analyzed at multiple scales, enabling the effects of syn‐sedimentary thrust tectonics and basin confinement on the depositional system development to be deciphered. Two end‐member types of elementary channel architecture have been identified: high‐aspect‐ratio, weakly‐confined channels, and low‐aspect‐ratio, incisional channels. Their systematic stacking results in a complex pattern of seismic‐scale depositional architectures that determines the stratigraphic framework of the deep‐water system. From the base of the succession, two prominent channel complex sets have been recognized, namely CS1 and CS2, consisting of amalgamated incisional channel elements and weakly‐confined channel elements. These channelized units are overlain by isolated incisional channels, erosional into mud‐prone slope deposits. The juxtaposition of different channel architectures is interpreted to have been governed by regional thrust‐tectonics, in combination with a high subsidence rate that promoted significant aggradation. In this scenario, the alternating ‘in sequence’ and ‘out of sequence’ tectonic pulses of the basin‐bounding thrusts controlled the activation of coarse‐clastic inputs in the basin and the resulting stacking architectures of channelized units. The tectonically‐driven confinement of the depositional system limited the lateral offset in channel stacking, preventing large‐scale avulsions. This study represents an excellent opportunity to analyze the stratigraphic evolution of a submarine channel system in tectonically‐active settings from an outcrop perspective. It should find wide applicability in analogous depositional systems, whose stratigraphic architecture has been influenced by tectonically‐controlled lateral confinement and associated lateral tilting.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: General Architecture Of the Gorgoglione Flysch Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi‐scale analysis of a migrating submarine channel system in a tectonically‐confined basin: The Miocene Gorgoglione Flysch Formation, southern Italy

et al. 2018

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“…Based on our new experiments, we propose an additional hypothesis not identified in earlier work: We hypothesize that the rarity may be due to deposition within the inactive submarine channels that, in effect, self-limits the pattern development. This phenomenon may also explain why sinuous submarine channels commonly shift from early phases of incision and lateral migration to aggradation [Covault et al, 2016;Jobe et al, 2016]. Our line of reasoning is as follows: Inactive threads (1) for the definition of dimensionless stream power and Tables S1 and S3 in the supporting information for the tabulated values.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Infilling of inactive channels and tendency for overspill onto the adjacent levee and overbank settings would prevent the avulsion and migration patterns necessary to maintain a braided planform. This pattern should be distinguishable from lateral movement of a single, sinuous channel that would result in a series of overlapping and subjacent channel fills with similar grain size distribution [Covault et al, 2016;Jobe et al, 2016]. Two key parameters need to be altered in future experiments to test this hypothesis: (1) suspended sediment must be included within the density current and (2) currents must be episodic, with distinct low-flow or no-flow intervals rather than the continuous bankfull flow conditions in our experiments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stream power controls the braiding intensity of submarine channels similarly to rivers

Lai

Hung

Foreman

et al. 2017

Geophysical Research Letters

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We use physical experiments to investigate the response of submarine braided channels driven by saline density currents to increasing inflow discharge and bed slope. We find that, similarly to braided rivers, only a fraction of submarine braided networks have active sediment transport. We then find similar response to imposed change between submarine and fluvial braided systems: (1) both the active and total braiding intensities increase with increasing discharge and slope; (2) the ratio of active braiding intensity to total braiding intensity is 0.5 in submarine braided systems regardless of discharge and slope; and (3) the active braiding intensity scales linearly with dimensionless stream power. Thus, braided submarine channels and braided rivers are similar in some important aspects of their behavior and responses to changes in stream power and bed slope. In light of the scale independence of braided channel planform organization, these results are likely to apply beyond experimental scales.

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“…We interpret the bulk of FA3 as on-axis channel deposits based on their greater thickness, degree of amalgamation, blocky vertical grain-size profile, and relative proportions of coarser-grained material (Sullivan et al, 2004;McHargue et al, 2011;Covault et al, 2016). FA1 and FA2 occupy an off-axis and channel margin to overbank position, respectively, relative to the on-axis FA3 flows (cf.…”

Section: • Facies Association 3 (Fa3): Clast-and Matrix-supported Cobmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facies architecture and provenance of a boulder-conglomerate submarine channel system, Panoche Formation, Great Valley Group: A forearc basin response to middle Cretaceous tectonism in the California convergent margin

Greene¹,

Surpless²

2017

Geosphere

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Tectonic reorganization induced by a rapid increase in plate motion obliquity and rate beginning at ca. 100 Ma affected California's Andean-style convergent margin, with concomitant changes in the accretionary prism of the Franciscan Complex, the Great Valley forearc basin, and the Sierran continental arc. Using facies analysis and a combined provenance approach, we suggest that this ca. 100 Ma tectonic signal is preserved in a Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) boulder-conglomerate outcrop along the San Luis Reservoir (SLR) in the southern Great Valley, which represents the thickest and coarsest deep-water deposit ever described in the Great Valley Group (GVG). We document a 1.8-km-thick by 4-km-long depositional-dip profile of an interpreted SE-directed (axial) submarine channel system that is part of a conglomeratic package that stretches 20 km along the east-central Diablo Range. Our facies analysis of the SLR area documents five facies associations within four aggradational channel complex sets, followed by regional abandonment.Sandstone petrography and mudrock geochemical data suggest a dissected continental Sierra Nevadan arc source. Conglomerate clast counts show abundant ophiolitic-type clasts that may be derived from the Coast Range Ophiolite and/or the Western Sierra Nevada Metamorphic Belt. Detrital-zircon geochronology data also indicate western and central Sierra Nevadan sources; however, we interpret an anomalous (relative to other Cenomanian localities) 105-95 Ma zircon population to indicate the initial erosional products from the volcanic carapace associated with the Late Cretaceous magmatic flare-up within the eastern Sierran arc. This flare-up has been linked to an increase in arc-parallel plate motion that induced deformation along shear zones in the eastern Sierra Nevada, allowing for widespread plutonism. Our provenance interpretation makes the SLR area the earliest Upper Cretaceous GVG locality to receive significant detritus from the flare-up, effectively linking tectonic plate motion changes and coarse-grained, deep-water forearc sedimentation.

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The Stratigraphic Record of Submarine-Channel Evolution

Cited by 59 publications

References 57 publications

Multi‐scale analysis of a migrating submarine channel system in a tectonically‐confined basin: The Miocene Gorgoglione Flysch Formation, southern Italy

Multi‐scale analysis of a migrating submarine channel system in a tectonically‐confined basin: The Miocene Gorgoglione Flysch Formation, southern Italy

Stream power controls the braiding intensity of submarine channels similarly to rivers

Facies architecture and provenance of a boulder-conglomerate submarine channel system, Panoche Formation, Great Valley Group: A forearc basin response to middle Cretaceous tectonism in the California convergent margin

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