During the Early Cretaceous a regionally extensive cover of dominantly siliciclastic sediments was deposited across the North African continental margin. Historically, these siliciclastic sediments have been considered to be a relatively homogeneous lithofacies known as the ‘Nubian sandstone’. This lithofacies is generally described as coarse grained, cross-bedded sandstone and is ascribed to a braided fluvial depositional environment. However, there have been few detailed sedimentological studies carried out on these sediments. Furthermore, the stratigraphic relationships between regional Early Cretaceous continental strata in different North African countries has only briefly been described and has only locally been related to equivalent marine deposits. In order to address these problems, this study focuses upon two main approaches. Firstly, outcrop analysis of the Messak Fm (SW Libya) and the Sidi Aïch Fm (C Tunisia) details and contrasts the lithofacies variability of Early Cretaceous siliciclastic sediments in North Africa. Secondly, a unified stratigraphic framework is erected for the Early Cretaceous of Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt and the palaeogeographic evolution is reconstructed. Detailed sedimentological investigation of the Messak Fm has identified greater variation in lithofacies and depositional processes than was previously recognised. By lithostratigraphic correlation with outcrops in northwest Libya, we show a fluvial system transported sediment northward into a wide fluvio-paralic basin covering western Libya. Several episodes of marine influence culminating in a distinct and regionally correlatable transgressive episode are identified. This is the first time that marine influence has been identified in the Murzuq Basin and increases the maximum known extent of marine transgression in the Early Cretaceous of Libya by 600km. The sedimentology of the Messak Fm is contrasted with the sandstone dominated Sidi Aïch Fm which, although showing similar lithofacies, was deposited in a marginal-shallow marine environment.Building upon previous reviews and new insights from the Messak Fm and Sidi Aïch Fm, a synthesis and reinterpretation of the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of sediments and depositional environments in this region throughout the Early Cretaceous is presented. During the Berriasian-Barremian, the North African platform coastline was dominated by a dry subtropical climate with moderate vegetation. The interior of the platform experienced a Savannah-like semi-arid climate with limited vegetation and palaeosol development but was crossed by extensive fluvial networks draining the equatorial tropics. During the Late Barremian-Early Aptian, simultaneous aridification and marine transgression led to a decreased detrital flux to the marginal basins and widespread deposition of marine carbonates and mudstones. During the Late Aptian-Albian the platform returned to a humid tropical climate. Widespread coarse grained fluvial sediments mark the base of this sequence and palaeosols occur locally. The results of this work have implications for the development and controls of large-scale fluvio-paralic systems and illustrate the fact that, in a limited accommodation epicontinental setting, relative sea-level may be the key control on sedimentation and depositional processes for many hundreds of kilometres inland of the lowstand coastline.

The Neogene history of Caribbean deep-sea benthic foraminifera was investigated by calculating changes in paleoproductivity, diversity and paleobiogeography ~26 to 2 Ma, which includes the progressive closure of the Central American Seaway. Three hypotheses were tested: (1) Paleoproductivity values prior to closure of the Central American Seaway are similar in both the Caribbean and equatorial Pacific and then diverge by the time of early shoaling events; (2) Diversity values of benthic foraminifera prior to the closure of the Central American Seaway were similar in the Caribbean and EEP, and had changed by the time of early shoaling; and (3) during the Miocene and into the Pleistocene, the progressive constriction of the CAS affected deep-sea benthic foraminiferal assemblages by increasing their dissimilarity between the Caribbean and equatorial Eastern Pacific. These hypotheses were tested with 104 samples from five Caribbean and EEP deep-sea cores by calculating paleoproductivity with multiple proxies, determining diversity indices and calculating biogeographic similarity coefficients. The data supported the first two hypotheses: The greatest change in paleoproductivity occurred at ~8 Ma during seaway constriction, when values diverged between the Caribbean and EEP. After complete seaway closure at ~4 Ma, the Caribbean became oligotrophic, noted by a decrease in high-organic flux species, and an increase in Nuttalides umbonifera, an indicator species. The largest changes in species-level diversity occurred with the barrier to deep-water flow at ~12 Ma, and Caribbean diversity increased at ~8 Ma with seaway constriction. However, the third hypothesis was rejected: Increases in assemblage similarity actually occurred during most major paleoceanographic events, with the only decrease in Caribbean-EEP similarity occurring at ~12 Ma, coincident with a drop in diversity and emplacement of the Panama isthmian sill. Thus, the barrier to deep-water flow at ~12 Ma affected the composition of tropical American benthic foraminifera more than the largest change in paleoproductivity at ~8 Ma, or closure of the Central American Seaway at ~4 Ma.

At the Castle Creek study area, levee deposits are well-exposed over an area of ~2.6 km wide and ~90 m thick. This provides an opportunity to describe their lateral and vertical lithological changes, and accordingly details about their reservoir geometry and stratal continuity. Here, levee deposits are divided vertically into packages, each consisting of a sand-rich lower part overlain sharply by a mud-rich upper part. Each lower part displays a consistent thickening then thinning trend laterally away from its genetically related channel. The characteristics of these packages suggest that they were controlled by recurring changes in the structure of channellized flows, which in turn was controlled by grain size and grain sorting. This ultimately was controlled by short-term changes in relative sea level. Moreover, some mud- and sand-rich strata are rich in residual carbon suggesting that mid-fan levees can serve as source rocks for hydrocarbon generation, and also reservoirs.

Le Tian Shan est une chaîne intracontinentale d’Asie Centrale, dont la structure lithosphérique résulte de l’accrétion de divers blocs au cours du Paléozoïque. Son histoire tectonique récente est marquée par sa réactivation au Tertiaire, liée à la collision entre l’Inde et l’Asie. L’histoire topographique et tectonique de la chaine entre les deux orogenèses majeures (paléozoïque terminal et cénozoïque) reste peu contrainte. Cette thèse associe deux approches, la sédimentologie et la thermochronologie basse température, dans le but de déterminer de façon qualitative l’évolution de la topographie au cours du Mésozoïque.Le démantèlement des reliefs associés à la chaine tardi-paléozoïque s’achève au Trias supérieur. Il est suivi d’une activité tectonique très faible au Jurassique, majoritairement transtensive et caractérisée par des taux d’exhumation très faibles dans le Tian Shan. Une surface majeure de pénéplanation se développe alors en Asie Centrale. A la limite Jurassique – Crétacé, la mise en place de cônes alluviaux indique une réactivation de la chaîne, qui n’est néanmoins pas suffisante pour être enregistrée par la thermochronologie. Cette période est caractérisée par un régime généralement extensif en Asie Centrale (jusqu’au Bassin Caspien qui s’ouvre à l’est), et précède la phase d’exhumation lente, qui suit au Crétacé inférieur. La chaîne est progressivement réactivée à partir de 100 Ma et pendant le Crétacé supérieur, ce qui pourrait correspondre à un effet retardé de la collision du Bloc de Lhassa (140 - 120 Ma). Vers 65 - 60 Ma, une phase d’exhumation rapide atteste d’une réactivation plus intense et localisée le long des principales failles. Elle est sans doute liée aux collisions de blocs le long de la marge sud-ouest de l’Asie (e.g. Bloc du Kohistan, arc du Dras, Bloc Afghan). Dans la région du Tian Shan, l’activité tectonique semble totalement s’arrêter au Paléocène permettant le développement d’un niveau majeur de calcrêtes, avant la nouvelle réactivation au Néogène. Par conséquent, l’association des données de thermochronologie sur le socle avec la reconstruction des milieux de dépôt dans les différents bassins, montre que la paléo-chaîne du Tian Shan s’aplanit durant le Mésozoïque. Des évènements tectoniques de faible envergure ont lieu en Asie Centrale, induits par les principaux mouvements géodynamiques le long des bordures entourant l’Asie. Pourtant leur enregistrement est incomplet et seule la combinaison des deux approches étudiées permet de reconstituer l’évolution topographique et paléogéographique du Tian Shan. / The Tian Shan is an intracontinental range located in Central Asia. The structure of the range formed during the Paleozoic through the accretion of several blocks. Recently the range has been reactivated due to far-field effects of the collision between India and Asia. The topographic and tectonic evolution of the range in-between these two major relief-building phases (Late Paleozoic and Cenozoic) is still poorly understood. Two different approaches are combined in this work, in order to determine the Mesozoic topographic evolution of the area, in a qualitative way.The Late-Paleozoic range has been progressively eroded until the Upper Triassic/Lower Jurassic. Tectonic activity was relatively quiet during the Jurassic characterised by low exhumation rates. We suggest that the tectonic regime was dominated by transtension in the Tian Shan area. This period is linked to a regional peneplanation in Central Asia. At the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary, the occurrence of alluvial fan deposits shows a reactivation of the range, though not strong enough to be recorded by low-temperature thermochronology. This period is characterised by an overall extensional tectonic regime all over Central Asia, with the opening of the Caspian Basin further west. It precedes the phase of very slow exhumation that occurs during the Lower Cretaceous. From 100 Ma and during the Upper Cretaceous, the range is progressively reactivated. We suggest that this correspond to a delayed answer of the Lhassa bloc collision (140 - 120 Ma). Around 65 - 60 Ma, a new phase of rapid exhumation attests of a stronger reactivation, localised along the major faults. This is contemporary of bloc collisions along the south-west margin of Asia, such as the Kohistan Block, the Dras arc or the Afghan Block. In the Tian Shan area, the development of calcrete features in the Paleocene suggests the end of tectonic activity, before the new reactivation in the Neogene.The combination of low temperature thermochronology on the basement rocks and facies sedimentology in the various basins indicate that while during the Mesozoic, the Palaeo-Tian Shan topography generally flattens, some small-scale tectonic events driven by far-field effects of major geodynamic processes around the edges of Asia did occur. However, those tectonic movements did not induce enough exhumation to be recorded by low temperature thermochronometers. Only the sediment record allows their detection and detailed description.

Palaeoenvironmental investigations from the Lake Plav catchment of the Prokletije Mountains in Montenegro and Albania, allowed primarily climatic change and anthropogenic influences during the Late Holocene and particularly the Little Ice Age (LIA) to be identified. Three sediment cores were analysed, two from Lake Plav (904 m a.s.l., cores LPCA and LPCB) and one from the upper catchment site of Lake C in Buni i Jezerces (1754 m a.s.l., core BJC1). These sediments were analysed for a variety of proxies including pollen, ostracoda, organic content, magnetic susceptibility and particle size. Chronologies for each sediment core were constructed using AMS radiocarbon, 210Pb and 137Cs dating techniques. The lower sites provided a record of past flood events, anthropogenic influences, lake development and infilling that have occurred since c. AD 500. Core BJC1 provided longer-term data since c. 2720 BC, providing complementary records of Pediastrum and thermophilous arboreal types, identified following a catchment vegetation survey. Glacial geomorphological mapping of the Maja e Koljaet glacier in Buni i Jezerces, Albania, enabled a catchment specific palaeotemperature record to be constructed from AD 1859 to the present. Glacial features were dated using lichenometry before degree-day modelling enabled temperature reconstruction. The palaeotemperature reconstruction for the Albanian Little Ice Age glacial maximum (LIAGM) suggests that temperatures were 0.9°C below the 1980-2008 annual temperature mean. This work also provided the first record of glacial extent during the LIA in Albania, indicating that the Albania LIAGM occurred c. AD 1859, around a decade after the European LIAGM and two decades before that of Montenegro. Anthropogenic indicators were used to reconstruct human activity in the catchment, which suggested that arable farming was pursued throughout the Medieval Warm Period (MWP; c. AD 800-1090) and continued during a period of transition to the LIA, between c. AD 1090 and AD 1300. The LIA (c. AD 1300 - 1860) was characterised by an abrupt Alnus decline, thought to be the result of anthropogenic clearance of the floodplain and reduction of both arable and thermophilous types. During the LIA sedimentation rates were up to 1.41 + 0.17 cm yr-1 at Lake Plav causing lake infilling and shallowing allowing wetland expansion c. AD 1570. The result of lake infilling is highlighted during the early 20th century, when the lake extent fell by around 42% as a result of climatic amelioration post-LIA causing lake levels to fall and wetland indicators to decline. The inferred past climatic changes from the Lake Plav catchment are compared to data from around the Mediterranean and Southern Europe. This allows identification of the climatic influences affecting the site during the Late Holocene. Catchment records have provided evidence of cooler and wetter conditions coeval to the occurrence of solar minima such as the Wolf, Spörer and Maunder minima. Overall, the records suggest that continental atmospheric circulation patterns such as the North Sea-Caspian Pattern (NCP) and East Atlantic-West Russia pattern (EA-WR), dominated the site until the late 1800s, when records become more synchronous with the NAO index and Mediterranean/Southern European data.

Glacial-interglacial cycles drive changes in the discharge and sediment flux from the headwaters of glaciated basins, which are recorded by proglacial fluvial sediments. Linking braided river stratigraphy to the Quaternary climate record could indicate the control of climate-driven variations in discharge and sediment flux on fluvial processes, and the magnitude and frequency of past climate variations. New Zealand is a key location for investigating terrestrial records of Southern Hemisphere climate change. The Late Quaternary braided river deposits on the Canterbury Plains, South Island, New Zealand have formed over the last 400 ka. The coastal cliff marking the southeastern margin of the Canterbury Plains provides excellent exposure of fluvial sediments deposited during the last glacial period, from ~40 ka until the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) (~18 ka).Deposition at the modern coastline of the Canterbury Plains is interpreted in the context of the climate event stratigraphy for New Zealand, which requires a precise geochronology. This thesis demonstrates the first successful application of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating to glaciofluvial sediments on South Island: a technique that was previously considered unsuitable for this region. Ages produced for the coastal stratigraphy range from 36.7 ± 2.9 to 18.2 ± 1.3 ka, indicating that deposition took place during the last glacial, with little or no postglacial aggradation. Three adjacent catchments on the southern Canterbury Plains - the Rakaia, Ashburton and Rangitata - have undergone glacial-drainage capture during the period represented by the coastal stratigraphy. During glacials, transfluent ice reversed the flow direction in several key tributaries, resulting in dramatic variations in effective drainage area of the Ashburton and Rangitata, and variations in discharge and sediment flux which are recorded in the stratigraphy of these catchments. The magnitude, timing and duration of drainage capture were quantified using the Plummer and Phillips (2003) glacier model. The Ashburton catchment increased to 160% of the modern effective drainage area when temperature change relative to modern conditions exceeded -6°C during the LGM. Meanwhile, the effective drainage area of the Rangitata decreased to 63%, and the Rakaia to 93%, reducing discharge from these catchments. Furthermore, glaciation dramatically affects the seasonality of the annual hydrograph. At four coastal sites, the fluvial stratigraphy was surveyed to investigate possible variations in depositional architecture, due to both climate variations, and glacial-drainage capture in the Ashburton and Rangitata. Unexpectedly, little vertical variation in depositional architecture was found, indicating that the deposits created by the braided rivers represent sediment transport during a similar set of flow (and by inference, climate) conditions. Laterally extensive erosional surfaces separating storeys of one or two flow depths in thickness, in combination with the OSL geochronology, suggest that the gravel-bed braided river stratigraphy primarily records a response to climate variations within glacial maxima, rather than on the scale of the glacial-interglacial cycle.

M.Sc. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

An important episode of carbon sequestration, Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE-1a), characterizes the Lower Aptian worldwide, and is mostly known from deeper-water settings. The present work of two Lower Aptian deposits, Madotz (N Spain) and Curití Quarry (Colombia), is a multiproxy study that includes fossil assemblages, microfacies, X-ray diffraction bulk and clay mineralogy, elemental analyses (major, minor, trace elements), Rock-Eval pyrolysis, biomarkers, inorganic and organic carbon content, and stable carbon isotopes. The results provide baseline evidence of the local and global controlling environmental factors influencing OAE-1a in shallow-water settings. The data also improve our general understanding of the conditions under which organic-carbon-rich deposits accumulate. The sequence at Madotz includes four intervals (Unit 1; Subunits 2a, 2b and 2c) that overlap the times prior to, during and after the occurrence of OAE-1a. The Lower Unit 1(3m thick) is essentially siliciclastic, and Subunit 2a (20m) contains Urgonian carbonate facies that document abruptly changing platform conditions prior to OAE-1a. Subunit 2b (24.4 m) is a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic facies with orbitolinid-rich levels that coincides with OAE-1a δ13C stages C4-C6, and is coeval with the upper part of the Deshayesites forbesi ammonite zone. Levels with pyrite and the highest TOC values (0.4-0.97%), interpreted as accumulating under suboxic conditions, and are restricted to δ13C stages C4 and C5. The best development of the suboxic facies is at the level representing the peak of the transgression. Subunit 2c, within δ13C stage C7, shows a return of the Urgonian facies. The 23.35-m section at Curití includes a 6.3-m interval at the base of the Paja Formation dominated by organic-rich marlstones and shales lacking benthic fossils and bioturbation, with TOC values as high as 8.84%. The interval overlies a level containing reworked and phosphatized assemblages of middle Barremian to lowest Aptian ammonites. The range of values and the overall pattern of the δ13Corg (-22.05‰ to -20.47‰) in the 6.3m-interval is comparable with Lower Aptian δ13C stage C7. Thus, conditions of oxygen depletion at this site also occurred after Oceanic Anoxic Event-1a, which developed between carbon isotope stages C3 and C6. Both sites, Madotz and Curití, attest to the importance of terrigenous and nutrient fluxes in increasing OM productivity that led to episodic oxygen deficiency.

The Gulf of Mexico (GoMx) is among the most productive regions for offshore oil and natural gas recovery. In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) drilling rig exploded, burned for three days, sank, and released over 4 million barrels of oil in the subsequent 84 days before it was capped. Some oil was buoyant enough to float to the ocean surface, where some was removed via a myriad techniques. Importantly, a plume of oil remained suspended in the water column at approximately 1,100 m water depth, where it drove a marine snow event, and deposited large quantities of oil on the seafloor. The northern GoMx seafloor is complex and dynamic. Submarine canyons, mounds, channels, and salt domes dominate the seafloor along the continental slope surrounding the DWH well. Using high-resolution bathymetric data, variables derived to characterize the seafloor (water depth, distance, slope, and aspect), and spatial relationships between seafloor stations and the DWH well, relationships between concentrations, fluxes and inventories of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and other seafloor variables were hypothesized to be statistically significantly related. The most significant seafloor characteristic to predict distributions was water depth, followed by distance, relative aspect, and slope.

A series of small mounds (&lt; 3m) were sampled in the foreland of Midtdalsbreen outlet glacier, southern Norway. These landforms were interesting, especially at site number 1 because they were located very close to a higher Little Ice Age (LIA) moraine (&gt; 5 m), thereby informing the dynamic of the glacier after the LIA at this location. It was yet to determine if these specific mounds are controlled moraines. If they are controlled moraines, then this would have implication for the glacier dynamics and the geometry of the snout after the LIA. It could be determined, based on the landform record evidence, whether the ice at the snout of Midtdalsbreen was thin and cold shortly after the LIA. Furthermore, whether the landscape was deglaciated by downwasting and then by backwasting was the main question addressed in relation to the nature of the mound and the thickness of ice at the snout during and after the LIA. In order to better understand the nature of the landform record and the mounds near the LIA moraine, satellite imagery coupled with careful field investigations were used in the foreland of the Midtdalsbreen outlet glacier. A geomorphological map was produced, and it was useful to put the mounds in a geographical context. Further sedimentological investigation; including clast-shape analyze, produced more evidence about the inner nature of these landforms. Both few controlled moraines and other landforms throughout the glacier foreland indicate that the ice geometry for Midtdalsbreen, shortly after the LIA was such that the snout of the glacier was a thin sheet of ice flowing against the previously deposited LIA moraine. The sedimentology of the controlled moraine is such that the sediments are deposited in steeply dipping layers, and they could even be misinterpreted as permafrost terrains at first glimpse. However, other sedimentological evidences such as the presence of sorted sand and sometimes dipping beds of gravels in addition to the geomorphological mapping make it meaningful to interpret few of the mounds as controlled moraines. A modern analogue to these controlled moraines is dirt cones present on top of the glacier snout as well as controlled moraines a few hundred of meter from the snout. Observations both on the glacier snout and on the foreland involve that dirt-cones later evolve into these sedimentological hummocky units with steeply dipping layers within the paleo-landscape. These observations constrain the thickness of ice at the snout of Midtdalsbreen after the LIA as well as the glacier dynamic during its melt: for controlled moraines to be generated by glaciers, these accumulations of sediments would have to thaw by downwasting and then by backwasting, directly at the glacier snout. This process -comprising of different stages- allows enough time to deposit controlled moraine. It is then a thin, cold-based sheet of ice which is by the end responsible for the deposition of such a landform record. There was even dead-ice present on the landscape at that point. After deposition of dirt cones on top of the ice, important meltwater action is contributing to the glacifluvial origin of these hummocks which evolve from dirt-cones onto the glacier, to ice-cored moraines, and then to controlled moraines onto the foreland. Details about the multistage processes leading to the formation of controlled moraines is also at the center of the investigations. / <p>Updated version, september 2019.</p>