No description available.

Geography and the Environment / Studies of the Amazon drainage network have primarily focused on the Western Basin and the Amazon Cone, but they have neglected the integration between these areas. Data presents a time gap in the Amazon’s development and the forces responsible for the organization of the drainage network are poorly understood. A key element towards gaining an improved awareness of the Amazon is the Eastern Amazon River Valley. The focus of this study is an 80,000 km² portion of this area. An integrated method is adopted that combines terrain information derived from a digital elevation model with geologic data. The interpretation of DEM data is unique to this study. Seven distinct surfaces were identified, along with numerous erosional environments. This observation supports a geomorphologic record of numerous erosional events starting in the Miocene. This finding is significant as it rejects previous models for staircase-like terraces for the Amazon, and establishes a timeline for the development of geomorphologic landforms in the study area. In addition, neotectonics events provide an alternative explanation to the generation of topography in the study area. It was concluded that geomorphology in the study area is the result of physical and chemical weathering, and modified by neotectonics. These findings provide alternative means for Amazon landscape evolution. / text

The holotypic locality of the brachiosaurid titanosauriform sauropod, Abydosaurus mcintoshi, is quarry DNM-16, located in Dinosaur National Monument. The bones are preserved near the base of a heterolithic, trough cross stratified to planar bedded sandstone channel complex. The trough cross to planar bedded sandstones mark times of variable flow with times of high flow velocity based on bones whose upper surfaces were eroded before final burial. The abundance of mud with the dominant medium to fine sand, and poorly confined sandstone channels indicate the bones were transported and buried in medial to distal intermittent flows of a distributive fluvial system. The quarry is at the base of the Naturita Formation, the base of which is latest Albian in age. The sauropods lived and died in the middle Cretaceous as the Cretaceous seaway advanced southward. The unconformity below the Naturita Formation and on top of the underlying the Ruby Ranch Member represents the LK-2 sequence boundary. The quarry produced ~260 bones, all of which represent Abydosaurus, except for several small theropod teeth, denoting a single catastrophic event acting on a group of sauropods. About one-third of the bones occur in close association or articulation, including three skulls (one articulated with the first five cervical vertebrae), five limbs, and strings of caudal vertebrae. There is no evidence of preburial weathering or breakage, and trample scratch marks are rare. More than 20% of the bones exhibit irregular, mm-scale pits occur on the shafts and the articular ends of limb bones are commonly hollowed out. The irregular pits are termite foraging traces, and hollows indicate extensive mining by these insects. At least seven individuals of Abydosaurus are present, representing at least two ontogenetic stages (juveniles and subadults).Together, these observations indicate the following: (1) the catastrophic death of a sauropod herd; (2) partial carcass maceration; (3) minor transportation, including articulated units (skulls, vertebrae, limbs); (4) rapid burial in migrating, ephemeral, branches of a distributary fluvial system; (5) channel migration resulting in in-situ scouring of the upper surface of some bones; (6) burial of scoured bones. Termite infestation occurred both prior to, and after, fluvial entrainment and burial.

Mature karst topography is well recognized within the hydrology and geology communities to include subterranean fluid pathways that act as turbulent conduits conveying fluid from surface stream sinks called swallets to sources called springs. However, we find that little knowledge has been reported with regards to the transport and fate of terrestrially-derived sediment organic carbon (SOC) within karst watersheds. This study investigated the hypothesis that karst pathways could act as biologically active conveyors of SOC that temporarily store sediment, turnover carbon at higher rates than otherwise considered, and recharge depleted SOC back to the surface stream within the fluvial system. Mixed research methods were applied within a mature karst network. Methods included high resolution measurements of water and sediment characteristics of surface streams, carbon and stable carbon isotope measurements of transported sediment, and numerical modeling of water and sediment pathways. The mixing of sediment during net zero deposition and erosion was investigated in this study using a parameter calibrated to SOC data. Results of this study showed that heterotrophic bacteria in the subsurface conduit oxidized 0.05 tCkm-2y-1 resulting from the temporary storage of terrestrial carbon in the karst conduit. The subsurface conduit transports 0.15 tCkm-2y-1 out of the fluviokarst watershed.

The Upper Devonian Catskill Formation represents marginal marine and alluvial sediments which prograded into the Appalachian Basin during the Acadian Orogeny. Distributive fluvial systems (DFS) are prevalent in modern actively aggrading basins in all tectonic and climatic regimes and may be common in the rock record. In this study, I reinterpret the Catskill Formation as a prograding distributive fluvial system (DFS) on the basis of up-section variability in paleosols, channel sandstone textural trends, and alluvial architecture. At least three distinct pedotypes representative of prevailing soil forming conditions are identified during deposition of the Irish Valley, Sherman Creek, and Duncannon Members of the Catskill Formation. Increased paleosol drainage is inferred from an up-section transition from hydromorphic aqualfs within the Irish Valley Member to non-calcareous, uderts within the Duncannon Member. Qualitative field observations of channel sandstone morphology show an increase in channel size up-section. Channels occur as small isolated bodies at the base of the section, transitioning to relatively larger, amalgamated channels, and finally, large isolated channel bodies up-section. Sandstones are litharenites and coarsen-upward throughout the Catskill Formation overall. This coarsening upward trend results from increasing paleo-flow competency in larger channels up-section. These results are consistent with deposition of the Catskill Formation by DFS processes and demonstrate the utility of paleopedological analysis in interpreting alluvial depositional processes. Identifying DFS in the rock record has implications for paleosol-based paleoclimatic studies, as paleosols forming on prograding DFS have increased paleosol drainage up-section, which could potentially be misinterpreted as a shift from prevailing humid to arid paleoclimatic conditions. Recognition of DFS in the rock record also has implications for basin analysis and exploration of fluvial aquifers and hydrocarbon reservoirs, as the stratigraphic architecture of DFS are fundamentally different from tributary systems at the basin scale. / Geology

Outcrops of late Quaternary deposits along the north–east coast of Mallorca were examined, and a high resolution chronological framework established using optically stimulated luminescence of quartz and feldspar grains. Coastal sections at Es Barrancar and Cala Mata record a complex succession of alluvial fan deposition with a minor aeolian component, mainly deposited during the last two glacial cycles. For the last ~200ka different orbital configurations appear to have produced a series of subtly different climatic scenarios that resulted in great variations in the regional availability of moisture. In turn, each of these climatic scenarios set in motion a distinct set of sedimentary processes, which imprinted themselves upon the character of fluvial system response recorded in the alluvial archives on Mallorca. Within the resulting complex of sediments were units of fluvially reworked aeolianite which, although truncated in places, were traceable laterally along wide sections of the sea front outcrops of both fan systems. These archives yielded 47 new OSL and pIRIR290 ages which suggest a number of previously unrecognised periods of enhanced fluvial activity. Luminescence ages identify significant ephemeral fluvial activity taking place during MIS 6, MIS 5 sub-stages d/c, b/a, and across the MIS 5/4 boundary. Another major phase of reworking corresponds with the middle part of MIS 3, and continued sporadically into the Last Glacial Maximum. These fluvial reworking events have been interpreted as having taken place during cold arid climatic intervals, when vegetation was at a minimum, precipitation was low and displayed a much higher degree of seasonality, enhancing the effects of runoff.

Le comportement des rivières au cours du rifting joue un rôle important dans la sédimentation syn-rift et la distribution de la subsidence. Pendant la croissance des failles normales, les rivières répondent aux mouvements verticaux. En réponse au soulèvement tectonique, les rivières peuvent être déviées vers les zones en subsidence ou inversées. Les rivières peuvent aussi inciser les zones en soulèvement. L'évolution à long terme des rivières et leurs enregistrements stratigraphiques restent mal documentés pendant les processus de croissance et de migration des failles normales. Cette thèse analyse les interactions entre les rivières antécédentes et la croissance des réseaux de failles normales. Les implications en termes de distribution des faciès syn-rift sont étudiées à l'échelle du bassin et des blocs de failles. Les dépôts fluviatiles et deltaïques sont préservés dans plusieurs blocs de failles normales soulevés le long de la marge sud du rift de Corinthe (Grèce). Les logs sédimentaires et la cartographie des faciès syn-rift permettent le découpage lithostratigraphique de la zone d'étude. La série syn-rift est principalement conglomératique et difficile à dater. La magnétostratigraphie et quelques marqueurs biostratigraphiques sont utilisés pour dater et corréler les dépôts entre les différents blocs de faille. L'analyse des isotopes cosmogéniques 26Al et 10Be dans les dépôts a permis la détermination d'âge d'enfouissement. L'ensemble des âges obtenus par ces différentes méthodes permet de proposer un modèle de corrélation et de reconstruire l'évolution du rift précoce entre 3,6 et 1,8 Ma environ. (1) Le système fluviatile étudié évolue à travers plusieurs blocs de failles actives. (2) Le système de drainage antécédent hérité de la chaîne hellénique est caractérisé par un flux sédimentaire important depuis le début du rifting. (3) Le système fluviatile (au moins 30 km de long) remplit le paléorelief et le flux sédimentaire dépasse largement l'accommodation créée par les failles. L'enfouissement des failles par le système fluviatile limite la création de topographie et le développement d'un réseau de drainage conséquent. (4) L'axe fluviatile antécédent reste constant et contrôle la distribution des faciès. (5) Les changements de faciès et les architectures alluviales sont observés à l'échelle du bassin et ne sont pas directement contrôlés par les variations d'accommodation dans les blocs de failles. (6) Les zones d'accommodation maximale sont ici disposées parallèlement à l'axe fluviatile antécédent. La persistance des rivières et le flux sédimentaire pendant plusieurs centaines de milliers d'années ont permis la localisation de la déformation, induisant une rétroaction positive sur la croissance des failles. Le système distributaire se termine à l'est où des deltas progradent en milieu lacustre peu profond. Les systèmes de dépôts fluviatiles, deltaïques et turbiditiques actifs à l'initiation du rift de Corinthe enregistrent l'approfondissement diachrone du bassin. Le comportement des rivières antécédentes est aussi étudié à l'échelle d'une zone de relais entre deux failles bordières actuellement actives. Pendant le Pléistocène moyen et supérieur, la zone de relais a capturé la rivière antécédente de Krathis qui a construit une succession de deltas. La connexion entre les deux failles majeures est marquée par (1) des failles obliques dites "de transfert", (2) plusieurs familles de terrasses marines enregistrant le soulèvement diachrone de la rampe de relais, et (3) la migration progressive de l'accommodation vers le bassin. Cette étude permet pour la première fois de reconstruire les processus de connexion de failles sur une période 0,5 Ma. La rivière Krathis persiste au cours du développement de la zone de relais et met en évidence, une fois de plus, l'importance des rivières antécédentes dans la localisation des dépocentres majeurs dans les rifts / Rivers behaviour during early rifting can significantly impact on syn-rift sedimentation and the distribution of subsidence. During normal fault growth, existing rivers can be diverted toward subsiding zones. They can respond to footwall uplift either by reversing their flow or by incising into uplifting zones. Long-lived river systems and their stratigraphic record in rifts are poorly documented, not only during early fault propagation and linkage processes but also during successive migrating phases of fault activity. We investigate the interactions of major antecedent rivers with a growing normal fault system and the implications for facies distributions, both on a basin scale and at the scale of individual normal fault blocks. Along the southern margin of the western Corinth rift (Greece), the Plio-Pleistocene fluvial and deltaic successions are investigated. Syn-rift deposits are preserved in a series of uplifted normal fault blocks (10–20 km long, 3–7 km wide). Detailed sedimentary logging and high resolution mapping of the syn-rift deposits document variations of alluvial architecture across the basin and enable to define lithostratigraphic units. Magnetostratigraphy and rare biostratigraphic data are used to date and correlate the alluvial succession between fault blocks. Burial ages were tentatively determined using cosmogenic isotopes 10Be and 26Al produced in situ in quartz grains. Based on the correlation model, we reconstruct the evolution of the early western Corinth rift between about 3.6 and 1.8 Ma. (1) The transverse and antecedent Kalavryta river system flowed and deposited across a series of active normal fault blocks. (2) This river system was inherited from the Hellenide mountain belt and supplied high volumes of coarse sediments from the onset of extension. (3) As depocentres enlarged through time, the fluvial deposits progressively filled palaeorelief. A continuous braided plain developed above active buried faults and no significant consequent drainage system developed between the narrow fault blocks. (4) The main fluvial axis of the antecedent drainage persists through time and controlled facies distribution. (5) The length scale of facies transitions is greater than, and therefore not related to fault spacing. Here, along-strike subsidence variations in individual fault blocks represent a secondary contributor to the alluvial architecture. (6) The zones of maximum subsidence on individual faults are aligned across strike, parallel to the persistent fluvial axis. This implies that long-term sediment supply and loading influenced normal fault growth. Sediment supply largely outpaced local hangingwall subsidence and overfilled the early rift basin. The river system terminated eastward where small deltas are built into a shallow lake that occupied the central Corinth rift. During this time, another river system built fan deltas along the southern margin, recording diachronous deepening of the basin. The behaviour of antecedent rivers is also studied at the scale of a relay zone, that developed later in the rift history between two growing fault segments. During the Middle to Late Pleistocene, the relay zone captured the antecedent Krathis River, which deposited prograding Gilbert-type deltas. Transfer faults record progressive linkage and basinward migration of accommodation along the ramp axis, while marine terraces record diachronous uplift in their footwalls. Although early linkage occurred, the main normal faults continued to propagate until final connexion. For the first time a reconstruction of the linkage phase is presented over a period of ca. 0.5 Myr. Throughout this linkage history, the Krathis River continued to flow across the relay zone. Again, this emphasizes the role of antecedent rivers in supplying sediments and controlling the location of the major depocentres along the rift margins

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No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Eliezer Senna Gonçalves Júnior.pdf: 13704881 bytes, checksum: 1d71d2269743a9193eaff46fd6fd9f0b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-30 / OUTRAS / In Careiro-da-Várzea, Careiro-Castanho, Manaquiri and Autazes areas, near Manaus, three asymetric quaternary fluvial terraces levels overlains the Alter do Chão (Cretaceous) and Novo Remanso (Miocene) siliciclastic sediments. Locally, these geological basement outcrops as an elongated stripe about 150 kilometers length toward NE-SW, in heights between 100 and 50 meters sustained by three chemically distinct lateritic paleosoils levels. The quaternary fluvial terraces developed between 240.000 and 2.000 years BP extends more than 100 kilometers between 80 e 10 meters heights composing the Amazonas-Solimões Fluvial System alluvial plain on the studied reach. Generally, these deposits present scroll-bars morphology, with low drainages density, characterized by sparse plain secondary channels and rounded lakes. Internally, they are constituted by pairs of layers made of sand and mud (silt and clay) forming Inclined Heterolitic Stratification (IHS) within the meander point bars. The TS deposits presents pink to reddish colors and shows pedogenesis features, while the TI and TInf deposits tends to present brownish to greyish colors due the rich organic matter and bioturbation features. The TS deposits occupies de south-central portion of the study area extending around 100 kilometers being constituted mainly of mud deposits, commonly used by the locals to brick and tiles manufacture. The TI and TInf deposits occur as narrow and elongated stripes of maximum 30 kilometers width, composing the active floodplain of the actual Solimões-Amazonas system. The point bars with IHS deposits, the terraces asymmetric distribution and the register of paleochannels features near the mouth of Purus River, suggests the predominance of a meander pattern in the study area between 240.000 and 6.000 years BP. The Solimões-Amazonas Fluvial System developed the last 6.000 years to an anastomosed-anabranching stable river related to the rise of sea level during the Late Holocene and the climatic changes that boosted the development of the rainforest, furthering the stabilization of margins on this fluvial system. / Na região entre os municípios do Careiro-da-Várzea, Careiro-Castanho, Manaquiri e Autazes, ao sul de Manaus, ocorrem três níveis de terraços fluviais quaternários, de distribuição assimétrica, desenvolvidos sobre as rochas siliciclásticas (arenitos, pelitos e conglomerados) das formações Alter do Chão (Cretáceo) e Novo Remanso (Mioceno), que compõem o embasamento geológico desta região. Localmente, este embasamento aflora como uma faixa alongada de direção NE-SW, com cerca de 150 km de comprimento e 15 km de largura, entre cotas de 100 e 50 metros sustentadas por três níveis de paleossolos lateríticos quimicamente distintos. Os terraços fluviais desenvolvidos entre 240.000 e 2.000 anos AP, se estendem por mais de 100 km e situam-se em cotas variando entre 80 e 10 metros de altitude, constituindo as planícies aluviais do sistema fluvial Solimões-Amazonas, no trecho estudado. Em geral, apresentam morfologia deposicional de barras de acresção lateral, com baixa densidade de drenagem, caracterizada por esparsos canais secundários de planície, além de lagos de vários tamanhos e formas. Internamente, os depósitos são constituídos principalmente de areia e lama (silte e argila), em diferentes proporções, que compõem os pares de estratificação heterolítica inclinada (EHI) das barras em pontal. Os depósitos do Terraço Superior (TS) apresentam coloração rosada a avermelhada e exibem feições de pedogênese, enquanto os depósitos dos Terraços Intermediário (TI) e Inferior (TInf) apresentam coloração marrom a cinza médio, com feições de bioturbação, sendo ricos em matéria orgânica. O TS ocupa a porção centro-sul da área de estudo, com cerca de 100 km de extensão, sendo constituído principalmente por depósitos finos (silte e argila), usados na fabricação da cerâmica vermelha (tijolos e telhas) pelas comunidades locais. Os TI e TInf ocorrem como faixas estreitas e alongadas de até 30 km de extensão, que compõem a planície ativa do sistema fluvial Solimões-Amazonas, estando, portanto, sujeitos as inundações periódicas. As barras em pontal com EHI, a distribuição assimétrica dos terraços, o registro de paleocanais na planície aluvial na região da foz do Rio Purus são evidências da predominância do estilo fluvial meandrante, com migração geral para norte, entre 240.000 e 6.000 anos AP. No Holoceno Tardio o sistema fluvial Solimões-Amazonas evoluiu para um estilo anastomosado-anabranching relativamente estável em resposta ao aumento do nível do mar que barrou sua foz e ao aumento da umidade que proporcionou o desenvolvimento vegetal e subsequentemente a fitoestabilização das margens e aumento da carga de finos em suspensão.

First distinguished from other sedimentary successions in 1928, the Entrada Sandstone has been the subject of numerous studies. The western extent of the formation was initially described as laterally continuous "earthy" red beds, and categorized as sub- to supratidal marine-influenced sediments. Recent workers have reexamined the sedimentary facies hosted by the Entrada Sandstone, and findings suggest purely terrestrial depositional environments. Several outcrops of the upper Entrada hosted peculiar sedimentary features, including undulatory and convex-upward, parallel-laminated bedforms, reminiscent of hummocky cross-stratification- unexpected features in a terrestrial environment. The purpose of this study was to collect detailed outcrop measurements of these and other facies present in the upper Entrada Sandstone and to place them in context within a regional sedimentary system. Measured section data was analyzed and divided into sixteen primary facies based on textures, features, bedforms, grain size, and other characteristics. Surfaces were also noted and described. Each facies and surface was recognized to have developed under specific depositional or flow conditions, including eolian, paleosol, and fluvial subcritical, critical, supercritical, and waning flow. Primary facies were grouped into observed and interpreted facies associations. A depositional environment was then assigned to each facies association. These environments included sabkha, overbank splay/paleosol, distal terminal splay, and hyper-distal terminal splay. Ancient analogs were found in the Blomidon, Skagerrak, and Ormskirk Formations, which have been described as dryland fluvial systems that terminated onto saline mudflats (sabkhas). Modern analogs were found in the central Australian continent, in the form of fluvial terminal splays in ephemeral Lakes Eyre and Frome. The sedimentary system of the upper Entrada Sandstone of the San Rafael Swell is interpreted as an interfingering fluvial terminal splay and inland sabkha system. These are marked by a wide array of sedimentary structures representing stark extremes, from hyperarid to flash flooding conditions. During arid conditions, the only source of water was evaporative pumping of a high water table. During the rare occasions when surface water flowed through the system, flash flooding events produced the highest stage of supercritical flow described in geological literature. The succession of these facies reveals allogenic and autogenic processes active at the time of deposition, including episodes of tectonic uplift and fluvial avulsions.

The fault-bounded Cianzo basin represents a Cenozoic intermontane depocenter between the Puna plateau and Eastern Cordillera of the central Andean fold-thrust belt in northern Argentina. New characterizations of fold-thrust structure, nonmarine sedimentation, and sediment provenance for the shortening-induced Cianzo basin at 23°S help constrain the origin, interconnectedness, and subsequent uplift and exhumation of the basin, which may serve as an analogue for other intermontane hinterland basins in the Andes. Structural mapping of the Cianzo basin reveals SW and NE-plunging synclines within the >6000 m-thick, upsection coarsening Cenozoic clastic succession in the shared footwall of the N-striking, E-directed Cianzo thrust fault and transverse, NE-striking Hornocal fault. Growth stratal relationships within upper Miocene levels of the succession indicate syncontractional sedimentation directly adjacent to the Hornocal fault. Measured stratigraphic sections and clastic sedimentary lithofacies of Cenozoic basin-fill deposits show upsection changes from (1) a distal fluvial system recorded by vi fine-grained, paleosol-rich, heavily bioturbated sandstones and mudstones (Paleocene‒Eocene Santa Bárbara Subgroup, ~400 m), to (2) a braided fluvial system represented by cross-stratified sandstones and interbedded mudstones with 0.3 to 8 m upsection-fining sequences (Upper Eocene–Oligocene Casa Grande Formation, ~1400 m), to (3) a distributary fluvial system in the distal sectors of a distributary fluvial megafan represented by structureless sheetflood sandstones, stratified pebble conglomerates and sandstones, and interbedded overbank mudstones (Miocene Río Grande Formation, ~3300 m), to (4) a proximal alluvial fan system with thick conglomerates interbedded with thin discontinuous sandstone lenses (upper Miocene Pisungo Formation, ~1600 m). New 40Ar/39Ar geochronological results for five interbedded volcanic tuffs indicate distributary fluvial deposition of the uppermost Río Grande Formation from 16.31 ± 0.6 Ma to 9.69 ± 0.05 Ma. Sandstone petrographic results show distinct upsection trends in lithic and feldspar content in the Casa Grande, Río Grande, and Pisungo formations, potentially distinguishing western magmatic arc (Western Cordillera) sediment sources from evolving eastern thrust-belt sources (Puna‒Eastern Cordillera). In addition to growth stratal relationships and 40Ar/39Ar constraints, conglomerate clast compositions reflect distinct lithologic differences, constraining the activation of the Cianzo thrust and coeval movement on the reactivated Hornocal fault. Finally, U-Pb geochronological analyses of sandstone detrital zircon populations in conjunction with paleocurrent data and depositional facies patterns help distinguish localized sources from more distal sources west of the basin, revealing a systematic eastward advance of Eocene to Miocene fold-thrust deformation in the central Andes of northern Argentina. / text