Lecture: Shelf to Pelagic

Environments

Clastic sediment depositional processes

Continental Shelf
Continental Slope/Rise
Deep Sea (Pelagic)

Neoproterozoic Storms

1
 Clastic Shelf Settings
5% Earth covered in water < 200m deep
Palimpsest Effect- reworking of relict sediments
deposited at lower sea levels
Shelf sands - high porosity & permeability

2
 Extent of the modern shelves

Epeiric seas:
large bodies
of shallow
water.
75 Ma

3
 Current Velocity/Grain Size
Influence sedimentary structure and texture
Tidal Currents: a few to >100 cm/sec, all depths
Storms: Variable 10-100 cm/sec
Geostrophic Currents: <60 cm/sec

Seafloor Tidal Current Velocities

lunar-solar; K1
Lunar, M2

4
 Controls on shelf sedimentation
Inner Shelf affected by wind-driven, storm-driven waves &
currents, & tidal processes
Outer Shelf below wave base
Ocean circulation, upwelling, density stratification
Large storm waves - L = 200 m

Boggs 2001

Inner Shelf Wave Ripples

Symmetrical (bi-directional) x-laminae)

Entrada Formation, Jurassic, San Rafael Swell, Utah

5
 Inner-middle shelf: tidal control
Meso (2-4 m) and macrotidal (>4 m) zones
strong tide currents
(>100 cm/s) - sand
ribbons or ridges
up to 40 m high
km wide & long
Low angle x-strata
weaker currents (<50
cm/s) - rippled sand
sheets, patches

Rippled Sand Sheets -Central California Shelf (<30 m)

Weak current Strong current

6
 Tidal sand waves
Tidal currents - 50
and 100 cm/s
low angle sets of
large-scale cross-
strata (~6)
Small scale x-
bedding, ripples

Storm Dominated Shelves

Most Shelves (~80%)
Typical tidal currents < 25 cm/s
Fair weather wave base <10 m
Storm Waves -
Dominant mode of sediment (coarse) transport
Complex sedimentation patterns
Amount of relict sediment (Atlantic)
Deposits
Coarse grain storm layers
Thin concentration of coarse layers (sand to gravel) interbedded
with finer grain muds
Graded - high to low energy
Strongly Uni-directional, off-shore flow - strong currents
Hummocky cross stratification
Waning Oscillatory flow/uni-directional flow

7
Hummocky X-stratification - aggrading symmetric ripples

Storm Related Currents

Uni-directional (~50 cm/s)
Downwelling geostrophic currents
Offshore and Oblique to shoreline
Oscillatory flow (~100 cm/s)
Shoaling waves
Normal to shoreline

Duke et al., 1991

8
 Storm Deposits -
Hummocky Cross Stratification

Hummock

Hummock
Swale

Swale

Ferron Sandstone, Utah

Prograding Transgressive
(regressive) storm-
storm- dominated
dominated shelf
shelf

Transgressive Balanced
tide- accumulation,
dominated tide and storm
shelf shelf

9
Diagnostic Features of SHELVES
TECTONIC SETTING
Extensive in passive; restricted in active margins
GEOMETRY
Tabular shale intervals with sheet-like or lenticular sand bodies
SEQUENCE
Fining or coarsening-upward; bioturbated glauconitic mud
overlain by storm-graded beds, hummocky and trough cross
stratification
SEDIMENTOLOGY
Quartz & clay minerals, glauconite in muds & sands;
bioturbation

CONTINENTAL SLOPE & RISE

Narrow (10-100 km) slope ~ 4-6
Gravity deposits - slumps, fluid flow
Olistoliths (exotic slide blocks)
Olistostromes (exotic brecciated blocks)
Turbidites

10
 Downslope
transport
mechanisms

Examples and sizes of olistholiths

Late Proterozoic
Yangtze Platform

Giant olistholith in
Buces, Romanian
Alps. The olistolith is
composed mainly of
Jurassic limestone.

11
 Debris Flow/Turbidity Currents

Debris Flow Deposit

From Parker (UWYO),

http://faculty.gg.uwyo.edu/heller/sed_video_downloads.htm#ClimbRips%20anchor

12
 continental slope - submarine fans
dense currents of water and sediment
destabilization of slope sediments during an earthquake
Graded deposits

Grand Banks 1929

7.2 earthquake (star) triggered a turbidity current, severed

cables 600km - 13 hours later.
deposit is roughly the size of Quebec.
http://earthnet.bio.ns.ca/english/communities/earthquakes.html

13
Turbidity current and turbidites

From Parker (UWYO),

http://faculty.gg.uwyo.edu/heller/sed_video_downloads.htm#ClimbRips%20anchor

14
 Bouma Sequence

Boggs 2001

Bouma Sequence - Lateral Variation

15
 Tc

Tb

Ta

LOAD CASTS

16
 FLAME STRUCTURES

Sand layer

Mud layer

G TransportGraded Bedding

17
Regional
example:
The
Monterey
Canyon

Submarine fan deposits

18
Deep Geostrophic Currents

19
Outer shelf: current dominated deposits
(contourite, upwelling, oceanic currents)

Agulhas Plateau, SW Indian Ocean

Diagnostic Features of
CONTINENTAL SLOPE/RISE
TECTONIC SETTING
All continental margins; thickest in rifted passive margins
GEOMETRY
Wedge or lenticular against margin
SEQUENCE
Hemipelagic mud with intercalated submarine channel sands,
olistostromes, & slump deposits.
SEDIMENTOLOGY
Bouma sequences, graded and inverse graded bedding,
laminated silt/mud; Nereites ichnofacies

20
 PELAGIC SEDIMENTS
Deep sea ~ 50% Earth surface
Sediments settle from suspension (fine grain)
Terrigenous clays, biogenic skeletal components
Volcanic ash, eolian dust, tektites

21
DSDP, ODP, and IODP

22
23
24
Diagnostic Features of PELAGIC
SETTINGS
TECTONIC SETTING
Deep ocean basins
GEOMETRY
Vast, thin, tabular sheets limited by ocean basin
SEQUENCE
Homogenous, thinly bedded, finely laminated chalks, cherts, or
shales
SEDIMENTOLOGY
Calcite, opaline silica, & clay minerals with minor authigenic
minerals, volcanic and eolian dust, phosphatic fish fragments,
and manganese

Zachos et al., 2005

25
Zachos et al., 2005

26
 Storm-dominated regime: linear sand
- Storm waves - strong
ridges
currents move
obliquely onto the
shelf, accentute bottom
irregularities.
- Linear ridges can be up
to 10 m high, 1-2 km
wide, and tens of
kilometer long.
- Intense storms create
cross bedding.
- Quite periods are time
of wave ripple
formation.
New Jersey margin (NOAA website)

Storm-dominated regime: hummocky

cross stratification
- water depth of 5-15 meters.
- Strong storm waves, water
displacement of several
meters, velocity of 1 m/s or
more.
- Fine material is picked up by
strong surge and immediately
dropped when flow reverses.
- This material is deposited in
a irregular, hummocky sheet
partially eroded by the surge
(producing cross bedding).

27