Une analyse expérimentale approfondie avec une approche micro macro a été réalisée sur un matériaucomposé d’un mélange d’argile Kaolinite/Smectite. L’étude a permis de montrer à l’échelle macroscopiquecomme à l’échelle microscopique un comportement particulièrement sensible à la proportion de smectitedans le mélange. La kaolinite (Kaolinite P300) est bien connue du point de vu de sa caractérisation et deson comportement, la smectite (également nommée argile grecque) est de type calcique et a égalementfait l’objet de plusieurs études.Dès 35% de smectite dans le mélange, les résultats sur chemin triaxial montrent que le comportementapproche considérablement celui de la smectite. Par ailleurs, l’investigation à l’échelle microscopique (aumoyen de Microscope Electronique à Balayage complétée par une analyse de diffractions des rayons X)réalisé sur les échantillons après l’essai, met en évidence le fait que, lorsqu’elle dépasse un certain seuil, lafraction en smectite favorise le développement de plans de glissement. Ces plans apparaissent clairementsous forme de groupes de particules de smectite orientées.L’analyse microstructurale utilisée est basée sur une méthode rigoureuse, développée dans le cadre decette thèse, avec un traitement d’images automatisé permettant de fournir des résultats quantitatifs.Cette démarche d’investigation multi‐échelles a été employée afin caractériser le comportement d’unsédiment marin prélevé au large de Golfe de Guinée par 700 m de profondeur d’eau. L’étude, initialementmenée dans le cadre du projet CLAROM (2002‐2005), intéresse l’industrie Offshore. Le sédiment naturelcontient jusqu’à 60% de proportion argileuse avec approximativement 15% de smectite et 50% dekaolinite. / A thorough experimental analysis with a micro macro approach was performed on a material composed ofa mixture of Kaolinite / Smectite clays. The study showed at macroscopic scale as the microscopic scalethat the behaviour is particularly sensitive to the proportion of smectite in the mixture. Kaolinite(Kaolinite P300) is well known from the point of view of characterization and behaviour, smectite (also called Greek clay) is a calcic type and was also the subject of several studies.From 35% of smectite in the mixture, the results show that the behaviour on triaxial path approachconsiderably to that of smectite. Furthermore, investigation on the microscopic level (using scanningelectron microscope supplemented by X‐ray diffraction analysis) performed on the samples after the testshows that, if it exceeds a certain threshold, the smectite fraction promotes the development of slipplanes. These plans are evident as oriented groups of particles of smectite.The used microstructural analysis is based on a rigorous method, developed in the context of this thesis,with an automated image processing to provide quantitative results.This multi‐scale investigation has been used to characterize the behaviour of a marine sediment taken ofGulf of Guinea by 700 m water depth. The study, originally conducted in the CLAROM project (2002‐2005), interested to the offshore industry. The natural sediment contains up to 60% proportion of claywith approximately 15% smectite and 50% kaolinite.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / This study describes porosity and permeability distribution in the deep marine play of the central Bredasdorp Basin, Block 9, offshore South Africa using methods that include thin section petrography, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy, in order to characterize their porosity and permeability distributions, cementation and clay types that affect the porosity and permeability distribution. The study includes core samples from nine wells taken from selected depths within the Basin. Seventy three thin sections were described using parameters such as grain size measurement, quantification of porosity and permeability, mineralogy, sorting, grain shape, matrix, cementation, and clay content. Core samples were analyzed using x-ray diffraction for qualitative clay mineralogy and phase analysis. Scanning electron microscope analysis for qualitative assessment of clays and cements. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analyses were conducted on fifty-four (54) and thirty-five (35) samples respectively to identify and quantify the clay mineralogy of the sandstones. The SEM micrographs are also useful for estimating the type and distribution of porosity and cements. Analyses of these methods is used in describing the reservoir quality. Detrital matrix varies in abundance from one well to another. The matrix consists predominantly of clay minerals with lesser amounts of detrital cements. X-ray diffraction analyses suggest these clays largely consist of illitic and kaolinite, with minor amounts of chlorite and laumontite. Because these clays are highly illitic, the matrix could exhibit significant swelling if exposed to fresh sea water, thus further reducing the reservoir quality. The majority of the samples generally have significant cements; in particular quartz cement occurs abundantly in most samples. The high silica cement is possibly caused by the high number of nucleation sites owing to the relatively high abundance of detrital quartz. Carbonate cement, particularly siderite and calcite, occurs in variable amounts in most samples but generally has little effect on reservoir quality in the majority of samples. Authigenic, pore-filling kaolinite occurs in several samples and is probably related. to feldspar/glauconite alteration, it degrades reservoir quality. The presence of chlorite locally (plate 4.66A & B) and in minute quantities is attributed to a late stage replacement of lithic grains. Don't put references to plates and figures in abstract. A high argillaceous content is directly responsible for the low permeability obtained in the core analysis. Pervasive calcite and silica cementation are the main cause of porosity and permeability destruction. Dissolution of pore filling intergranular clays may result in the formation of micro porosity and interconnected secondary porosity. Based on the combination of information derived from thin section petrography, SEM and XRD, diagenetic stages and event sequences are established for the sandstone in the studied area. Reservoir quality deteriorates with depth, as cementation, grain coating and pore infilling authigenic chlorite, illite and kaolinite becomes more abundant.

Continental slope channels, which serve as the primary conduits for sediment transport into the deep marine, occasionally become sites of sediment deposition with excellent reservoir potential. Increasingly reported in the literature are subsurface channel fills exhibiting shingled seismic reflectors that are interpreted to have formed by lateral channel migration. In lower Isaac Formation channels inclined strata are observed but at a lateral scale that is far below industry-seismic detection. Distinctively these flat-based channels are filled with coarse-grained sandstone that transitions abruptly and obliquely upwards into thin, fine grained turbidites. Like rivers, lateral accretion in Isaac channels is interpreted to be the result of the interaction of inertial and pressure forces, but in highly turbulent, highly density-stratified turbidity currents. This resulted in the formation of two superimposed secondary circulation cells that caused enhanced erosion on the outer bank and preferential deposition of coarse-grained sediment along the inner bank.

Deep-marine channels are conduits for turbidity currents that transport sediment from the continental shelf to the deep ocean floor. Along the way, some of the sediment suspended in the current is deposited within the channel whereas the rest of the sediment makes its way to deeper water to construct basin-floor lobes. Slope channel deposits provide information about past climates and other perturbations to Earth systems; the transfer of nutrients, pollutants, and organic carbon; and can be important subsurface reservoirs (hydrocarbon, groundwater, etc.). However, studying the processes associated with deep-marine channels is challenging and difficult to monitor directly. The Cretaceous Tres Pasos Formation in southern Chile is exposed in an extensive and well-documented outcrop belt where preserved slope channels and their sedimentary fill can be studied. Previous work has focused on these channels at a macroscopic scale (meters to kilometers) but very few studies have been conducted on the microscopic scale. For example, little is known about how the sedimentary texture, specifically grain size and sorting, of channel-fill sandstones vary across the width and along the length of a channel. Here, we quantify grain size and sorting by hand using petrographic analysis of 57 sandstone samples from eight channel-fill transects. Our results show that there are no systematic relationships of deep-water sandstone size and sorting within channel architectural transects (e.g., from axis to margin). We also show that there are no textural trends throughout the entire study area of the Figueroa unit (~25 km length of the slope system). We also find that these sandstones are poorly to very poorly sorted, which has implications to understanding the depositional processes. Finally, we also identify that these rocks should be classified as silty sandstones rather than sandstones according to Folk (1954). Based on our results we can predict that these flows were probably well fit to the channels as well as having similar velocities, concentrations, carrying capacity for grain size in suspension, etc. across multiple flows. We can also make predictions about these samples having a detrital vs. diagenetic matrix based on their volcanic lithic rich composition and looking at hybrid event beds (HEBs) to see if similar processes could be going on at this location. We hope that this human measured dataset can be used as a baseline and for the improvement of automative measuring processes that have started to develop. / Master of Science / Sediments that come from land get transported to the ocean by way of turbidity currents which travel through submarine channels bringing those sediments with them. Along the way, sediments will get deposited in the channel before the current reaches the ocean floor giving us channel-fill sandstones. The sediments that get deposited in these channels can provide us with information on things such as past climates; transfer of nutrients, pollutants, and organic carbon; and can be important subsurface reservoirs. Studying these channels directly in the ocean can be hard to do so we study outcrops which allow us to study sediments that have been buried, lithified, and uplifted onto land. This study looks at the Cretaceous Tres Pasos Formation in southern Chile where we have lots of exposure to these antient submarine channels. Lots of previous work in this area has focused on large scale dynamics (macroscale) but there has been very little study looking at these small-scale dynamics (microscale). For example, little is known about how sedimentary texture, grain size and sorting, of channel-fill sandstones might change across the width and along the length of a channel. In this study we measure the grain size and sorting by hand using petrographic analysis of 57 sandstone samples from eight channel-fill transects. Our results show no trends in deep-water sandstone size and sorting within different transects (e.g., from the middle to outside) or across the whole study area (~25 km). We also find that these sandstones are poorly to very poorly sorted and that the classification of these rocks according to Folk (1954) is silty sandstones rather than sandstones. Based on these results we can make predictions about the flow of turbidity currents in relation to submarine channels such as flows having similar velocities, concentrations, carrying capacity for grain size in suspension, etc. across multiple flows. We can also make predictions about where the matrix of these rocks might have originated based on the composition of the rocks and by looking at another type of flow, hybrid event beds (HEBs), to see if similar processes could be going on at this location. We hope that this human measured dataset can be used as a baseline and for the improvement of automative measuring processes that have started to develop.

Deep-marine sandstones containing significant (> 10%) detrital mud (silt and clay) matrix have become increasingly recognized, but mostly in drill core or poorly exposed outcrops where details of their vertical and lateral variability are poorly captured. Exceptional vertical and along-strike exposures of matrix-rich and associated matrix-poor deposits in deep-marine strata of the passive margin Neoproterozoic Windermere Supergroup and foreland basin Ordovician Cloridorme Formation, provide an unparalleled opportunity to document such characteristics. In both study areas, strata form a 100s m long depositional continuum that at its upflow end consists of thick-bedded matrix-poor sandstone (<20% matrix) that transforms progressively downflow to medium- to thick-bedded muddy sandstone (20 – 50% matrix) to medium-bedded bipartite facies with a basal sandy (30 – 60% matrix) part overlain sharply by a muddier part (40 – 80% matrix), and then to thin-bedded sandy mudstone (50 – 90% matrix). This depositional continuum is then overlain everywhere by a thin- to very thin-bedded traction-structured sandstone and/or silty mudstone cap. This consistent lithofacies change is interpreted to reflect particle settling in a rapidly but systematically evolving, negligibly-sheared sand-mud suspension developed along the margins (Windermere) and downflow terminus (Cloridorme) of a high-energy, mud-enriched avulsion jet. Stratigraphically upward, beds of similar lithofacies type succeed one another vertically and transform to the next facies in the depositional continuum at about the same along-strike position, forming stratal units 2–9 beds thick whose grain-size distribution gradually decreases upward. This spatial and temporal regularity is interpreted to be caused by multiple surges of a single, progressively waning turbidity current, with sufficient lag between successive surges for the deposition of a traction-structured sandstone overlain by mudstone cap. Furthermore, the systematic backstepping or side-stepping recognized at the stratal unit scale in both the Windermere and Cloridorme is interpreted to be driven by a combination of knickpoint migration and local topographic steering of the flows, which continued until the supply of mud from local seafloor erosion became exhausted, the main channel avulsed elsewhere, or a new stratal element developed.

Stratigraphic successions of sedimentary rocks represent an important repository for signals pertaining to the history and evolution of Earth. Whereas the specific processes reflected by the stratigraphic record differ with respect to a given depositional environment, deposits in deep-marine settings, particularly passive margins, provide a unique, long-term record of paleoclimate, paleoceanography, and tectonics affecting the basin in question. Whereas deep-marine strata may be used to answer myriad of questions regarding the evolution and development of Earth systems, this dissertation narrowly targets two distinct aspects of sedimentation in deep-sea settings. The first two chapters focus on the utility of sortable silt in reconstructing bottom-current intensity linked to major shifts in climate. First, the relationship of sortable silt to flow velocity was tested under controlled conditions in a flow-through flume. This chapter investigates the correlation of sortable silt metrics across several experimental parameters, which is found here to dispute longstanding assumptions that multiple metrics must correlate to infer sediment sorting by deep currents. Additionally, the results are compared to calibrations from natural settings, where the correlation between the two datasets is remarkably similar, validating the relationship of sortable silt with current velocity in the deep ocean. Chapter two leverages sortable silt to investigate the long-term evolution of the Deep Western Boundary Current in the North Atlantic, targeting contourite drifts offshore Newfoundland to investigate the Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT), the most recent global greenhouse-to-icehouse transition. Results suggest that the Deep Western Boundary Current intensified gradually from 35-26 Ma, not abruptly at the EOT, and change consistent with deepening of the Greenland-Scotland Ridge and enhanced overflow of deep water into the North Atlantic. Chapter three utilizes detrital zircon U-Pb dating to characterize source-to-sink pathways and linkages during the rift-to-drift transition, in the Early Cretaceous, along the U.S. mid-Atlantic passive margin. This work shows that onshore and offshore system segments were initially disconnected, and progressively integrated over the course of ~45 Myr. Taken together, this work demonstrates a focused yet powerful example of how deep-marine sedimentary systems can be leveraged to robustly model major changes throughout Earth history. / Doctor of Philosophy / Sediments and sedimentary rocks deposited in the deep ocean house long-term signals pertaining to important Earth processes and properties. The nature of a given deposit, for example, can be the direct result of climatic conditions or tectonic development in adjacent mountainous and coastal environments. While the range of questions that can be answered using the sedimentary record is vast, this dissertation narrowly focuses on 1) how deep-ocean currents change over long periods of time, and 2) how onshore and offshore depositional environments correlate during the early phases of supercontinent break-up. To address the reconstruction of deep-ocean currents, laboratory experiments were performed to test how the sortable silt proxy – the 10-63 um fraction of a deposit – correlates with current velocity, the first controlled test of the proxy since its inception by paleoceanographers nearly three decades ago. Sortable silt is then applied to sediments of Eocene-Oligocene age, recovered from contourites offshore Newfoundland, Canada, to assess the long-term behavior of the Deep Western Boundary Current in the North Atlantic across the Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT). While the EOT, a major global cooling that occurred ~33.7 Ma, is well-studied with respect to Antarctica and its surrounding ocean basins, little is known about the paleoceanographic response of the North Atlantic. Grain-size records show a gradual increase in sortable silt before, during, and after the EOT, through entirety of the 9 Myr record. This trend is interpreted to reflect a long-term invigoration of the Deep Western Boundary Current in North Atlantic, likely due to progressive deepening of the Greenland-Scotland Ridge. The final chapter leverages detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology to compare sediment provenance of Early Cretaceous fluvial sandstones with coeval, distal turbidite sands. Results suggest that coastal rivers were fed by a single source terrane during the earliest Cretaceous, disconnected from the regional catchment feeding the submarine fan. By the Aptian-Albian, coastal rivers share a detrital zircon signature with turbidite strata, suggesting that rivers were progressively integrated into the sediment-routing system feeding the offshore margin.

Deep-water strata of the Neoproterozoic Kaza Group and Isaac Formation (Cariboo Group) in the southern Canadian Cordillera (B.C.) were deposited in a passive-margin basin during the break-up of supercontinent Rodinia. At the Castle Creek and Mount Quanstrom study areas, a remarkably continuous stratigraphic interval throughout these units preserves a record of basin-floor overlain by strata deposited in the lowermost part of the slope. Although similar stratal intervals have been described from ancient and modern deep-marine settings, they still remain poorly understood. Three main stratal units are recognized within the study areas. The lower unit consists of three channel-lobe systems formed in the basin floor to slope transition. Uniquely, siliciclastic-dominated strata here consist of a variety of small- and few large-scale scour elements, indicating transport bypass along the channel-lobe transition zone, in addition to detached or attached depositional lobes composed mostly of distributary channels, fine-grained deposits, and uncommon splays, and a rare slope leveed channel complex. The middle unit is a siliciclastic-dominated succession of stacked, km-scale mass-transport deposits (i.e. debrites and slides), which indicates the more frequent emplacement of increasingly larger mass failures on a prograding slope, and are overlain by fine-grained, splay deposits that are successively overlain by channel, ponded and fine-grained deposits. In contrast, the upper unit is a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate slope succession of the first Isaac carbonate, a regional marker horizon that comprises mostly carbonate-rich and siliciclastic-rich fine-grained strata intercalated with channel and gully complexes that are mostly filled with coarser-grained strata. Abrupt changes in facies trends, stratal stacking patterns and depositional styles throughout these units are largely linked to long-term changes in relative sea level and its control on sediment supply, namely sediment caliber, volume and mineralogy. Notably, in the upper unit, small-scale changes in sediment source and supply are related to shorter sea-level variations superimposed on the long-term eustatic change.

La sédimentation marine récente dans les fosses de subduction est caractérisée par l'interstratification de sédiments hémipélagiques et de turbidites localement intercalées avec les coulées de débris, qui peuvent résulter de la destabilisation des pentes continentales par de tremblements de terre. La marge d’Equateur est constituée par une forte érosion tectonique qui contribue à la formation d'une fosse profonde remplie d'une suite complexe de faciès sédimentaires. La sédimentation par écoulements gravitaires est omniprésente le long de la marge et les faciès vont de dépôts de transport de masse d'épaisseur métriques latéralement continus à des turbidites d'épaisseur centimétriques isolées intercalées avec des couches d'hémipélagites, de volcanoclastiques et de téphras. Nous présentons l'interprétation de la bathymétrie, des profils sismiques à haute résolution et des données pétrophysiques des carottes sédimentaires. L'objectif de cette étude est de décrire la complexité morphologique à la frontière équatorienne de la plaque de Nazca où un ensemble d'aspérités marines profondes ont subducté à différentes échelles, et ses conséquences sur la distribution latérale des sédiments dans les différents sous-bassins. La marge équatorienne comprend trois segments géomorphologiques: Le segment nord, situé au nord de la crête Carnegie, est caractérisé par une large (5-10 km) et profonde fosse (3800-4000 m), une pente continentale ravinée et une plate-forme (10-40 km de large) avec subsidence active. Le segment central en face de la crête de Carnégie montre une fosse étroite (0-5 km de large) et peu profonde (3100-3700 m), la pente escarpée et ravinée, sans canyons, et plateau continental étroit de 15 à 40 km de large caractérisé par des zones d'affaissement et de soulèvement actifs. Enfin, le segment sud, situé au sud de la crête Carnegie, présente une large (5-10 km) et profonde fosse (4000-4700 m), une pente continentale pauvre en sédiments avec des systèmes de canyons bien définis et une large plate-forme de subsidence (20-50 km). La dynamique sédimentaire le long de la marge est évaluée par l'analyse de 15 carottes sédimentaires dont la description visuelle, les photographies à haute résolution, l'imagerie par rayons X, les données XRF et les propriétés pétrophysiques conduisent à l'identification de 11 faciès sédimentaires caractérisant 7 processus sédimentaires: dépôts de turbidite, hémipélagites, téphras, dépôts de coulées de débris, homogénites, des slumps et des dépôts de carbonate de ooze. Les âges des dépôts sont définis par la datation au radiocarbone des sédiments hémipélagites. Les âges vont de 500 à 48000 ans BP. Les profils sismiques à haute résolution permettent de définir 3 echo-faciès: transparent, stratifiés et chaotiques. Le facies transparent est principalement associé aux dépôts d'homogénites, le facies stratifié est associé aux dépôts interstratifiés turbiditique-hémipélagique et le facies chaotique est associé à des dépôts gravitaires grossiers. Le remplissage de la fosse représente un enregistrement lacunaire mais important de l'histoire de la marge de subduction. De grandes coulées de débris se déplaçant vers l'est dans les deux séquences inférieures du remplissage de la fosse sont initiées le long de la paroi extérieure de la fosse, le long de grandes failles normales dues à la flexion de la plaque océanique subductante. Les sédiments de la séquence supérieure du remplissage qui nappent la fosse sont plus largement fournis par la paroi interne de la fosse mais avec un fort contrôle de la ride de Carnegie. En conséquence, la profondeur, la fréquence, l'épaisseur, la composition et la disposition latérale des dépôts sédimentaires varient grandement entre le nord et le sud. Les grands méga-lits simples, les slumps, les coulées de débris et les homogénites sont situés dans les segments nord et sud. Ils sont déclenchés par de grands escarpements de failles régionales, dans le Nord / Recent deep marine sedimentation in subduction trenches is characterized by the inter-stratification of hemipelagic and turbidite sediments locally interbedded with debris flow, which can result from continental slope shaking triggered by earthquakes. The active margin of Ecuador comprises tectonic erosion that contributes to the formation of a deep trench filled by a complex suite of sedimentary facies. Gravity flow sedimentation is ubiquitous along the margin and facies range from laterally continuous m-thick mass transport deposits to isolated cm-thick turbidites intercalated with hemipelagite, volcanoclastics and tephra. In this study we show interpretation of swath bathymetry, high-resolution seismic profiles and petrophysical data from cores. The objective is to describe the morphologic complexity on the Ecuadorian border of the Nazca plate where a set of deep marine asperities is subducting at different scales, and their consequences on the distribution of sediments in the different sub-basins. Ecuadorian margin comprises three geomorphological segments: The northern segment, northward of the Carnegie Ridge, is characterized by a wide (5-10 km) and deep trench (3800 – 4000 m), a gentler gullied continental slope and a shelf (10-40 km wide) with active subsidence. The central segment facing the Carnegie Ridge, is strongly influenced by the subduction of the Carnegie ridge which induces a narrow (0–5 km wide) and shallow trench (3100 – 3700 m depth), a steep and gullied slope with no canyons and a 15–40 km wide shelf characterized by areas with active subsidence and uplift. Finally, the southern segment, southward of the Carnegie Ridge, presents a wide (5–10 km) and deep (4000–4700 m) trench, a starved continental slope with well-defined canyon systems and a wide subsiding shelf (20–50 km). The sedimentary dynamics along the margin is evaluated by the analysis of 15 cores. Visual description, high-resolution photographs, X-Ray imagery, XRF data and petrophysical properties led to the identification of 11 sedimentary facies that characterize seven sedimentary processes: turbidites, hemipelagites, tephras, debris flows, homogenites, slumps, and ooze carbonate deposits. Age of the deposits is defined by radiocarbon age dating of hemipelagic sediments. Ages range from 500 to 48,000 years BP. High-resolution seismic profiles allow definition of three echo-facies: transparent, layered and chaotic. Transparent echo-facies is mainly associated to homogenite deposits, layered echo-facies is associated to the turbiditic-hemipelagic interbedded deposits and chaotic echo-facies is associated to reworked gravity flow deposits. The trench fill represents a lacunar but important record of the subduction margin history. Large eastward debris flows in the lower two sequences of the trench fill are provided by the trench outer wall as a results of slope failures along normal faults due to the downward bending of the oceanic plate. The sediment of the upper sequence of the trench fill draping the trench floor, are largely provided by the inner trench wall strongly controlled by the Carnegie Ridge. As a result, depth, frequency, thickness, composition and lateral disposition of the deposits vary greatly from those at north and south. The large, simple mega-beds like slump, debris flows and homogenites are located at the northern and southern segments. They were triggered by large regional faults in the North and enhanced by the activity of sets of splay faults in the South overhanging the seafloor at the slope toe. Small-size, fluid rich events were triggered by subduction of isolated seamounts at the edges of the Carnegie Ridge due to frequent but small destabilizations of an inner trench wall preconditioned by the impacts of successive seamounts. Sets of partly volcanoclastic turbidites in central segment might have been triggered by the complex interaction of slope and continental shelf deformation by seamount subduction