The currently unnamed early Cambrian (Series 2, Stage 4) sandstone unit is exposed in the Minto Inlier of western Victoria Island, Canadian Arctic Islands, and forms the base of the Phanerozoic succession. Coeval with other sandstones of this age in Laurentia, it was deposited in a shallow-marine embayment on the passive margin during the initial phase of the early Paleozoic transgression. Four facies associations are recognized: (1) outer embayment sand dune complex characterized by laterally continuous, planar cross-stratified, medium- to coarse-grained sandstone; (2) inner embayment sand flat consisting dominantly of fine- to medium-grained bioturbated sandstone and fine- to medium-grained sandstone interbedded with laminated mudstone; (3) coastal lagoon characterized by laterally continuous, medium-grained oolitic ironstone and fine- to medium-grained bioturbated sandstone; and (4) offshore muddy shelf consisting dominantly of laminated mudstone with discontinuous seams of medium- to coarse sand. Bioturbation in the form of a typical early Cambrian suite of shallow-subtidal ichnofossils predominated in the inner embayment and coastal lagoon settings, representing a low-diversity Cruziana ichnofacies. Oolitic ironstone horizons in the coastal lagoon setting mark periods of low sedimentation rates when iron became concentrated and calcite was the primary cementing agent. Dunes are, for the most part, non-bioturbated or contain just a few individual burrows belonging to Skolithos, representing the Skolithos ichnofacies. The dominantly tabular, sheet-like geometry of the sandstones characterizes a comparatively lower energy regime than what has been found in typical complex dune geometries in modern and ancient examples and is attributed to sediment deposition under essentially uniform current speeds at consistent water depth conditions on a low-gradient shelf. Paleocurrent measurements and thickness variation suggest that deposition was affected by undulating topography on the Proterozoic basement within facies association 1 and 2, as well as by syndepositional faulting in some areas. The coastline is envisaged as a complex of bays and lagoons. The embayment opened to the northwest where sandbars developed offshore; stratigraphic thinning towards both the south and northeast indicates the direction of the paleoshoreline. Approximately shoreline orthogonal paleocurrents are considered indicative of a tidal origin. The lack of hummocky cross-stratification suggests there was no influence of major storms in this region.

No description available.

Sedimentary rocks are an important source of information about previous orogenic conditions and the composition of which may describe the evolution of provenance and tectonic setting. Many factors influence sediment composition, namely, source rock composition, chemical weathering, climate, transport burial, and diagenesis. As the sediment composition changes through time, the geochemical characteristics of the sediment can be used to understand its geologic history. The geochemical characteristics of clastic sedimentary rocks are useful in determining the depositional setting and its associated provenance. Although many different studies have used geochemical discriminants to evaluate provenance and tectonic settings, none have used a defined geochemical method. This study evaluates the present-day geochemical approaches to see which, if any, are the most useful.

A presente dissertação estuda os enxames de diques clásticos presentes na porção superior da Formação Corumbataí, Permotriássico da Bacia do Paraná, no interior do Estado de São Paulo. Foram analisadas três seções estratigráficas, levantadas em cortes de rodovias e ferrovia nos municípios de Limeira, Batovi e Santa Luzia. No total foram obtidas 273 medidas de atitudes de diques, distribuídos em quatro níveis estratigráficos em Santa Luzia e Limeira, e três em Batovi. Os diques estão intrudidos em siltitos, são compostos por arenito muito fino a siltoso, em sua maioria são subverticais, e possuem geometrias tabulares e ptigmáticas, essas devido a efeitos de compactação posterior. O processo de formação dos diques foi injeção forçada ascendente de sedimento fluidificado. As feições observadas que sustentam essa conclusão são: ramificações rumo ao topo, deformação na laminação da camada encaixante, diques alimentadores de extrusão de sedimento, intraclastos da encaixante, e orientação vertical da petrotrama paralela à parede dos diques. A fluidificação foi induzida provavelmente por atividade sísmica, os diques clásticos estudados podem ser intepretados como sismitos. As características em favor dessa hipótese são: a associação com outras estruturas de liquefação cronocorrelatas da Formação Corumbataí e Pirambóia, ampla distribuição geográfica das ocorrências (dezenas a centenas de quilômetros), confinamento em determinados níveis estratigráficos, e relação com estruturas tectônicas do embasamento. As atitudes dos diques apresentam significativa dispersão nas orientações, porém foi possível identificar orientação preferencial, com atitudes variando principalmente entre NNW a NE, e predomínio da direção NNE. Admitindo o fraturamento hidráulico como o principal mecanismo de ruptura das camadas pelíticas para a colocação dos diques, a direção preferencial NNE marca o esforço horizontal máximo atuante durante a intrusão, associado a distensão no plano vertical na direção WNW-ESSE. A considerável dispersão das atitudes é atribuída a existência de baixos valores de stress diferencial durante o fraturamento e injeção do sedimento fluidificado, situação esperada em casos de intrusão em baixas profundidades. Os sismos indutores dos diques clásticos foram resultado de reativações de falhas pré-cambrianas do embasamento da Bacia do Paraná. Essa relação é observada pelo alinhamento geográfico dos sismitos permotriássicos que corresponde de maneira geral ao traçado ENE da Zona de Cisalhamento Jacutinga. Dentre os afloramentos estudados, os diques de Limeira, os mais próximos a esse traçado, são mais abundantes e possuem maiores espessuras, produtos de maiores volumes de sedimento remobilizados pela fluidificação, provavelmente em função da maior proximidade com a região epicentral dos antigos abalos sísmicos. O campo de esforços sugerido pelas orientações dos diques implicaria numa reativação transcorrente sinistral da Zona de Cisalhemento Jacutinga durante os eventos de sismicidade penecontemporâneos à sedimentação permotriássica da Bacia do Paraná. Essa tectônica, numa quadro mais amplo, possivelmente está relacionada à propagação continente adentro da compressão de direção geral N-S, que ocorreu ao longo da borda sul do Gondwana ao final do Paleozóico, como bem documentado na deformação das rochas sedimentares e sedimentação sin-tectônica do Cinturão do Cabo, na África do Sul, e Serra La Ventana na Argentina. / The current dissertation presents the study of clastic dike swarms of the upper part of the Corumbataí Formation, Permian-Triassic of the Paraná Basin, São Paulo State, Brazil. Three columnar sections were analyzed in road and railroad cuts in the municipalities of Limeira, Batovi and Santa Luzia. A total of 273 measurements of structural attributes of dikes were obtained, grouped by stratigraphic level. Four different stratigraphic levels with clastic dikes were recognized in both the Santa Luzia and Limeira exposures, and three in Batovi. The clastic dikes intrude siltstones and are composed of very fine to silty sandstone, being mostly subvertical and with tabular forms, sometimes with ptigmatic folds caused by latter compaction. The origin of the dikes is related to upward forced injection of fluidized sediment. Observed features supporting this conclusion are upward ramification, drag folds in the host rock, sediment extrusion structures over the upper termination of feeding dikes, host rock intraclasts in the dikes and vertical fabric of the dikes grains oriented parallely to the dike walls. Fluidization of the sand was most likely caused by seismic activity, and therefore the studied dikes are considered as seismites. Other evidence support this interpretation, such as their association with other types of liquefaction features found in the coeval Corumbataí and Pirambóia formations, the broad area of occurrence of the dikes (tens to hundreds of kilometers), the confinement of the dikes to specific stratigraphic levels, and their spatial relationship with tectonic structures of the basement. Despite the great dispersion of dike directions, there are preferential orientations, with strikes varying from NNW to NE and the NNE direction being the most common.Admiting that hydraulic fracturing was the main mechanism of dike generation, the prevailing NNE direction would indicate the maximum horizontal stress during the intrusion, related to a WNW-ESE extensional. The great dispersion of attitudes can be interpreted as the consequence of low diferential stresses during the fracturing and injection of fluidized sediment, which is common in shallow intrusions. The interpreted earthquakes were the result of reactivation of Precambrian basement faults, as indicated by the geographic alignment of the Permian- Triassic seismites following the ENE direction of the Jacutinga Shear Zone. The Limeira dikes, which are the closest to the shear zone, are the most closely spaced and the thickest of all occurrences, indicating the fluidazitin of larger volumes of sediment, probably due to proximity to the epicentral zone of the earthquakes. The stress field interpreted from the dike orientations implies in a left-slip reactivation of the Jacutinga Shear Zone during the Permian-Triassic seismic events in the Paraná Basin. These events are possibly related, in a broader scene, to the far-field propagation of the compressional stresses of N-S direction originated in the southern border of Gondwana in the Late Paleozoic, recorded in the Cape Belt of South Africa and Sierra de Las Ventanas in Argentina.

A presente dissertação estuda os enxames de diques clásticos presentes na porção superior da Formação Corumbataí, Permotriássico da Bacia do Paraná, no interior do Estado de São Paulo. Foram analisadas três seções estratigráficas, levantadas em cortes de rodovias e ferrovia nos municípios de Limeira, Batovi e Santa Luzia. No total foram obtidas 273 medidas de atitudes de diques, distribuídos em quatro níveis estratigráficos em Santa Luzia e Limeira, e três em Batovi. Os diques estão intrudidos em siltitos, são compostos por arenito muito fino a siltoso, em sua maioria são subverticais, e possuem geometrias tabulares e ptigmáticas, essas devido a efeitos de compactação posterior. O processo de formação dos diques foi injeção forçada ascendente de sedimento fluidificado. As feições observadas que sustentam essa conclusão são: ramificações rumo ao topo, deformação na laminação da camada encaixante, diques alimentadores de extrusão de sedimento, intraclastos da encaixante, e orientação vertical da petrotrama paralela à parede dos diques. A fluidificação foi induzida provavelmente por atividade sísmica, os diques clásticos estudados podem ser intepretados como sismitos. As características em favor dessa hipótese são: a associação com outras estruturas de liquefação cronocorrelatas da Formação Corumbataí e Pirambóia, ampla distribuição geográfica das ocorrências (dezenas a centenas de quilômetros), confinamento em determinados níveis estratigráficos, e relação com estruturas tectônicas do embasamento. As atitudes dos diques apresentam significativa dispersão nas orientações, porém foi possível identificar orientação preferencial, com atitudes variando principalmente entre NNW a NE, e predomínio da direção NNE. Admitindo o fraturamento hidráulico como o principal mecanismo de ruptura das camadas pelíticas para a colocação dos diques, a direção preferencial NNE marca o esforço horizontal máximo atuante durante a intrusão, associado a distensão no plano vertical na direção WNW-ESSE. A considerável dispersão das atitudes é atribuída a existência de baixos valores de stress diferencial durante o fraturamento e injeção do sedimento fluidificado, situação esperada em casos de intrusão em baixas profundidades. Os sismos indutores dos diques clásticos foram resultado de reativações de falhas pré-cambrianas do embasamento da Bacia do Paraná. Essa relação é observada pelo alinhamento geográfico dos sismitos permotriássicos que corresponde de maneira geral ao traçado ENE da Zona de Cisalhamento Jacutinga. Dentre os afloramentos estudados, os diques de Limeira, os mais próximos a esse traçado, são mais abundantes e possuem maiores espessuras, produtos de maiores volumes de sedimento remobilizados pela fluidificação, provavelmente em função da maior proximidade com a região epicentral dos antigos abalos sísmicos. O campo de esforços sugerido pelas orientações dos diques implicaria numa reativação transcorrente sinistral da Zona de Cisalhemento Jacutinga durante os eventos de sismicidade penecontemporâneos à sedimentação permotriássica da Bacia do Paraná. Essa tectônica, numa quadro mais amplo, possivelmente está relacionada à propagação continente adentro da compressão de direção geral N-S, que ocorreu ao longo da borda sul do Gondwana ao final do Paleozóico, como bem documentado na deformação das rochas sedimentares e sedimentação sin-tectônica do Cinturão do Cabo, na África do Sul, e Serra La Ventana na Argentina. / The current dissertation presents the study of clastic dike swarms of the upper part of the Corumbataí Formation, Permian-Triassic of the Paraná Basin, São Paulo State, Brazil. Three columnar sections were analyzed in road and railroad cuts in the municipalities of Limeira, Batovi and Santa Luzia. A total of 273 measurements of structural attributes of dikes were obtained, grouped by stratigraphic level. Four different stratigraphic levels with clastic dikes were recognized in both the Santa Luzia and Limeira exposures, and three in Batovi. The clastic dikes intrude siltstones and are composed of very fine to silty sandstone, being mostly subvertical and with tabular forms, sometimes with ptigmatic folds caused by latter compaction. The origin of the dikes is related to upward forced injection of fluidized sediment. Observed features supporting this conclusion are upward ramification, drag folds in the host rock, sediment extrusion structures over the upper termination of feeding dikes, host rock intraclasts in the dikes and vertical fabric of the dikes grains oriented parallely to the dike walls. Fluidization of the sand was most likely caused by seismic activity, and therefore the studied dikes are considered as seismites. Other evidence support this interpretation, such as their association with other types of liquefaction features found in the coeval Corumbataí and Pirambóia formations, the broad area of occurrence of the dikes (tens to hundreds of kilometers), the confinement of the dikes to specific stratigraphic levels, and their spatial relationship with tectonic structures of the basement. Despite the great dispersion of dike directions, there are preferential orientations, with strikes varying from NNW to NE and the NNE direction being the most common.Admiting that hydraulic fracturing was the main mechanism of dike generation, the prevailing NNE direction would indicate the maximum horizontal stress during the intrusion, related to a WNW-ESE extensional. The great dispersion of attitudes can be interpreted as the consequence of low diferential stresses during the fracturing and injection of fluidized sediment, which is common in shallow intrusions. The interpreted earthquakes were the result of reactivation of Precambrian basement faults, as indicated by the geographic alignment of the Permian- Triassic seismites following the ENE direction of the Jacutinga Shear Zone. The Limeira dikes, which are the closest to the shear zone, are the most closely spaced and the thickest of all occurrences, indicating the fluidazitin of larger volumes of sediment, probably due to proximity to the epicentral zone of the earthquakes. The stress field interpreted from the dike orientations implies in a left-slip reactivation of the Jacutinga Shear Zone during the Permian-Triassic seismic events in the Paraná Basin. These events are possibly related, in a broader scene, to the far-field propagation of the compressional stresses of N-S direction originated in the southern border of Gondwana in the Late Paleozoic, recorded in the Cape Belt of South Africa and Sierra de Las Ventanas in Argentina.

The problem of how sand and mud was distributed downslope, within linked alluvial-brackish water-marine shoreline systems of an extensive clastic wedge is addressed here. The Iles Clastic wedge accumulated over a time period of a few million years (my), and its component high-frequency regressive-transgressive sequences have a duration of a few 100 thousand years (ky). The sediment partitioning study provides insight into where the thickest sandstones and mudstones were located, and generates a model that can be applied to improving the management of hydrocarbons or water resources. A 300 km 2-D study transect across the Iles Clastic Wedge in SW Wyoming and N Colorado included subsurface well log information and outcrop stratigraphic columns. This information was used to correlate high-frequency sequences across several hundred kilometers, characterize depositional processes from proximal to distal reaches, develop a sediment partitioning model, and understand the role of the likely drivers in the development of the wedge and its internal sequences. The main results of this study are: (1) The Iles Clastic Wedge spans 3 my (500 m thick) and is composed internally of 11 sequences of 200-400 ky, each of which have significant regressive-transgressive transits of up to 90 km. Sediment partitioning analysis shows that within the regressive limb of the large wedge, the component regressive compartments tend to thicken basinwards, whereas transgressive compartments thicken landwards. This geometry is driven by preferential erosion in proximal areas during regression, bypassing much sediment to the marine shorelines, and transgressive backfilling into proximal areas previously eroded more deeply. (2) The greatest concentration of sands tends to be located in the proximal fluvial and estuarine facies of the transgressive compartments and within the medial shoreline/deltaic facies of the regressive compartments. (3) As the high-frequency sequences developed, the effectiveness of basinward sand partitioning reaches a maximum value near the peak regression level of the wedge, reflecting stronger erosion and sediment bypass during this times. (4) The development of the Iles Clastic Wedge was influenced by both tectonic and eustatic drivers, with important tectonic control in the upstream reaches. On a 4th-order timescale, the Iles Wedge internal sequences were likely influenced mainly by eustasy. / text

Heightened industry focus on the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) Eagle Ford has resulted from recent discoveries of producible unconventional petroleum resource in this emerging play. However, little has been published on the facies and facies variabilities within this mixed carbonate-clastic mudrock system. This rock-based study is fundamental to understanding the controls, types, and scales of inherent facies variabilities, which have implications for enhanced comprehension of the Eagle Ford and other mixed carbonate-clastic mudrock systems worldwide. This study utilizes 8 cores and 2 outcrops with a total interval equaling 480 feet and is enhanced by synthesis of thin section, XRD, XRF, isotope, rock eval/TOC, and wireline log data. Central Texas Eagle Ford facies include 1) massive argillaceous mudrock, 2) massive argillaceous foraminiferal mudrock, 3) laminated argillaceous foraminiferal mudrock, 4) laminated foraminiferal wackestone, 5) cross-laminated foraminiferal packstone/grainstone, 6) massive bentonitic claystone, and 7) nodular foraminiferal packstone/grainstone. High degrees of facies variability are observed even at small scales (50 ft) within the Eagle Ford system and are characterized by pinching and swelling of units, lateral facies changes, truncations, and locally restricted units. Facies variability is attributed to erosional scouring, productivity blooms, bottom current reworking, and bioturbation. At the 10-mile well spacing scale and greater, the data significantly overestimates intra-formational facies continuity but is successful in defining the following four-fold stratigraphy: The basal Pepper Shale is an argillaceous, moderate TOC, high CGR and GR mudrock. The Waller Member is a newly designated name used in this study for an argillaceous and foraminiferal, high TOC, massive mudrock with a generally moderate CGR and GR profile. The Bouldin Member is a high energy, carbonate-rich (foraminiferal), low TOC, low and variable CGR but high GR zone. Finally, the South Bosque Formation is an argillaceous and foraminiferal, moderate TOC, massive and laminated mudrock with a moderate CGR and GR signature. GR logs alone are inadequate for determination of facies, TOC content, depositional environment, and sequence stratigraphic implications. Using integrated lithologic, isotopic, and wireline log data, cored wells in the study area are correlated across the San Marcos Arch. Geochemical proxies (enrichment in Mo, Mn, U, and V/Cr) indicate that maximum basin restriction occurred during deposition of the Bouldin Member. Bottom current activity influenced depositional processes and carbonate sediment input was driven by water column productivity. These primary controls on Eagle Ford stratigraphy and character are independent from eustatic fluctuation, rendering classical sequence stratigraphy unreliable. / text

Subsidence is one of the main factors controlling the stratigraphy and overall stratal architecture in tectonically active basins. This was particularly important in the Western US Cordilleran foreland and Laramide basins when some other controls were minor, e.g. reduced eustatic fluctuations in the late Cretaceous greenhouse period. The first part of the dissertation examines the upper Campanian Williams Fork Clastic Wedge (WFCW) in southern Wyoming and northern Colorado, through an outcrop and subsurface database. The WFCW built out from the Sevier orogenic belt like earlier clastic wedges, but its large-scale geometry changed as basement involved Laramide structures partitioned it. At the center of the WFCW there is an extensive fluvial sandstone sheet, the Canyon Creek Member of the Ericson Formation. From its proximal to distal reaches (~200 km) there is a first order trend of stratigraphic thickening and net-to-gross reduction, and a change from braided to meandering depositional style. These trends are caused by isostatic rebound of the foreland basin during periods of relative quiescence in the Sevier orogenic belt and by the eastward migration of dynamic subsidence. However, this long spatial trend was markedly modified by differential subsidence across Laramide-style structures. The Campanian age initiation of the Laramide structures appears to be earlier than the Maastrichtian to Paleogene age commonly attributed to the initiation of this orogeny. The second part of this research focuses on the transgressive limb of the WFCW, particularly on two sandstone bodies isolated in marine mudstones in the uppermost Almond Formation. The sandstone bodies previously interpreted as lowstand shoreline deposits are re-interpreted as transgressive shelf ridges generated by tidal currents and storm waves. There are limited examples of ancient tidal shelf ridges published and no facies model was described. Using Almond Fm. outcrops and examples from the literature, the diagnostic characteristics of storm and tidal shelf ridges are presented. The third part of the dissertation investigates the effects of differential subsidence on the large scale stratigraphic infill of a foreland basin through a geometric model and a series of flume experiments. The mathematical model and flume experiments show that despite constant allogenic forcing, three distinct autogenic responses in stratal architecture, associated with the imposed tectonic and sediment supply conditions are possible. The first response was “autoretreat”, where shoreline migration switched from initial progradation to retrogradation. The second response was progradation followed by constant aggradation. The third response was maintained progradation with a markedly accelerating rate, a new autogenic behavior termed “shoreline autoacceleration”. / text

This study investigates the depositional history of the Late Eocene sedimentary record in the northwest of the Thrace Basin in a sequence stratigraphic approach and estimates the contribution of regional tectonics, basin physiography and eustasy. Late Eocene sedimentary succession was analyzed in two third-order sequences based on two major data sets / seismic reflection and well data sets. Depositional Sequence-1, represented by progradational stacking patterns, comprises the coarse-grained Hamitabat turbidite system. The base of the Sequence-1 was defined as the base of channel fill deposits in the northern shelf setting and the base of slope fan deposits in the slope setting. This boundary separates Lower-Middle and Upper Eocene sediments. In the slope setting, the Hamitabat turbidite system was analyzed in three major depocenters / Western, Northwestern and Northeastern depocenters respectively. Hamitabat turbidite system was controlled by the interaction of regional tectonics, basin physiography and eustatic fluctuations in the Late Eocene. This study highlighted the role of the regional variables / tectonic influence and basin morphology on the submarine canyon formation. The facies distribution was controlled by the high subsidence rate of sea-floor dominantly instead of eustasy. Depositional Sequence-2, represented by mostly retrogradational stacking patterns, is a clastic-carbonate mixed system. Depositional Sequence-2 was subdivided into three higher-order sequences. The lower sequence boundaries were induced by the rapid relative sea-level rise. The upper boundary of the Depositional Sequence-2 was defined as the termination of clastic-carbonate mixed system and a candidate for the Eocene-Oligocene contact.

No description available.