Submarine channel-levee systems represent one of the most significant features of sediment transfer on Earth and one of the final segments in source-to-sink routing systems. As such, they serve as conduits as well as intermediate or final storage for large volumes of sediment, paleoenvironmental signals, and pollutants on their way to the deep ocean. Over the years, these systems have been studied through a variety of methods, including: (i) outcropping analogs; (ii) seismic data, occasionally integrated with core analysis; (iii) numerical modeling and physical experiments, and more recently; (iv) repeated multibeam bathymetry and (v) direct measurement of sediment gravity flows. However, as we are able to show in this study, there are still questions about the inherent evolution of these systems that need to be addressed.
In this study, we focus on the sedimentary processes and depositional products of submarine channel-levee systems through the characterization, analysis and interpretation at different scales of outcropping analog systems of the Upper Cretaceous Tres Pasos and Cerro Toro Formations in the Magallanes-Austral Basin.
In the first research-chapter, Chapter 2, we analyze the transition between laterally offset and vertically stacked channels on a previously undocumented, seismic-scale outcrop of the Tres Pasos Formation. This change in stacking pattern has been widely recognized in submarine channel systems, however, the stratigraphic and sedimentologic details and implications to general conceptual models have not been addressed in the past. Our observations indicate that in between these two depositional architecture styles there is a significant phase of erosion and bypass at a complex-scale (or larger) and that the relief achieved via this deep incision of one or multiple simultaneously active conduits was the necessary condition to promote flow stripping processes and associated overbank deposition. In addition, we discuss the presence of an unusual intra-channel lithofacies association observed directly overlying one of these incisions, which we interpret to represent the along-strike expression of bedforms associated with supercritical flow processes that are found in modern channels and some ancient channel-fill successions.
In the next research chapter, Chapter 3, we characterize a 500 m thick fine-grained dominated sedimentary succession interpreted as overbank deposits of the Cerro Toro Formation that have been affected by synsedimentary faulting and crosscut by an extensive injectite network. The scale of this outcrop allows us to resolve the relationship between sedimentary packages and structural features that are commonly overlooked or beyond the resolution of datasets derived from other sources by using high-resolution measurements and quantitative analysis at a cm scale. The orientation of synsedimentary normal faults, paleocurrent directions, and characteristics of 10-36 m thick sandstone-prone intervals suggest a model of overspilling turbidity currents (from the main axial channel belt to the west) on a large levee-slope that might share deformational mechanisms with other depositional slopes.
Finally, in Chapter 4, we use detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology to determine maximum depositional ages of seven sandstone samples attributed to the axial channel-belt of the Cerro Toro Formation and shallow-marine deposits of the Dorotea Formation, which extend the chronostratigraphic framework for Ultima Esperanza 55 km southward to help reduce the gap between field sites in the Ultima Esperanza and Magallanes provinces. Based on these new data, we hypothesize that the conglomeratic-rich deposits at this location, which have generally similar lithofacies and large-scale stratigraphic architecture to the Cerro Toro Formation, are unlikely to represent the southward extension of the well-studied axial channel belt deposits to the north, and therefore they potentially represent their own sediment routing system emanating from erosional catchments in the fold-thrust belt to the west. This chapter highlights the value of establishing a chronostratigraphic framework to reconstruct ancient paleogeography in addition to interpretation based purely on observable sedimentary parameters. / Doctor of Philosophy / Turbidity currents are one of the most common processes in in deep-marine environments, they are sediment-laden flows that move downslope due to an excess of density caused by the sediment they carry. They occur under a wide range of geomorphologic configurations, one of such are submarine channel-levees systems. A submarine channel-levee system is a composite geomorphologic feature in the ocean floor consisting of a concave, long-lived sedimentary conduit flanked by parallel depositional highs that is orders of magnitude longer in its downslope longitude than its width. These systems have a worldwide distribution and can be found in every tectonic setting. They represent one of the final segments in sedimentary routing systems and their study is of great importance for numerous reasons, including (i) as hydrocarbon reservoirs, (ii) to mitigate submarine geological hazards that might affect human infrastructure, (iii) their role in the carbon cycle as they transport and bury organic carbon, (iv) their impact to the marine environment as they disperse human-sourced pollutants, and (v) their capacity to preserve geochemical proxies that record past climate and tectonic history.
This dissertation is divided in three research chapters focused on different aspects of the processes and depositional products of submarine channel-levee systems through the characterization, analysis and interpretation at different scales of analog ancient systems now exposed in the mountains of Southern Chile. The use of outcropping sedimentary successions is a common practice to characterize and understand modern environments, as they provide an accessible record of their evolution through temporal scales of hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. From a geologic point of view, this study is located in the Chilean part of the Magallanes-Austral Basin, which in the past was an ocean that reached paleowater depths of ~2,000 m during the Late Cretaceous and that was subsequently filled with sediments that form the different geologic units of the area. Here, we focus on two geologic units that represent deep-marine sedimentation in this ancient ocean, known as the Tres Pasos and the Cerro Toro formations. Our study ranges from the detailed stratigraphic characterization of the transition between two different styles of stacking patterns widely recognized in submarine channel systems and its implications, to the influence of sedimentary structures on hundreds of meters of fine-grained sediments deposited in a large levee subjected to failure, and the use of tiny minerals known as zircons to constrain the depositional age and paleogeography associated to coarse-grained deposits historically attributed to a >150 km long axial channel-belt.
The results presented here do not only serve to better understand the configuration of ancient deep-marine deposits in this part of the world, but also have implications to improve our understanding of the fundamental sedimentary processes and the depositional products in deep-marine environments worldwide.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/110764 |
| Date | 13 June 2022 |
| Creators | Kaempfe Droguett, Sebastian Andres |
| Contributors | Geosciences, Romans, Brian W., Hubbard, Stephen M., Eriksson, Kenneth A., Gill, Benjamin C. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet, application/octet-stream |
| Coverage | Chile |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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