Influence of relative sea level changes on the construction of the Mississippi Fan

Abstract

A conceptual sea-level-driven depositional model for individual fanlobes (channel-overbank systems) of the Mississippi Fan does not permit direct application of the sequence stratigraphic principles of Vail and colleagues. Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 96 results suggest that, during initial relative lowering of sea level, the canyon and upper fan channel were formed; excavated finegrained slope sediments may have formed a debris flow deposit base for the fanlobe. Continued lowering produced constructional channel-levee-overbank deposits. Rising relative sea level inhibited input of coarse clastics, and channel depressions filled with muds. A blanket of (hemi)pelagics represents relative high sea level stand.

Physiography and recent sediment distribution of the Celtic Deep-Sea Fan, Bay of Biscay

“…Comparisons between recently mapped fans and those largely documented in the literature e.g. Indus Fan (Kolla and Coumes, 1987;Kenyon et al, 1995), Mississippi Fan (Bouma, 1985;Bouma et al, 1989;Weimer, 1990;Twichell et al, 1991;Schwab et al, 1996), Amazon Fan (Damuth and Flood, 1985;Damuth et al, 1988;Flood and Piper, 1997), Zaire Fan (Droz et al, 1996) are of major interest for the improvement of submarine fan models. In addition studies of modern turbidite systems bring important information on sea-level changes, sediment flux to the deep oceans, ocean circulation, and regional and global climate variations (Flood and Piper, 1997).…”

“…Pliocene-Pleistocene eustatic cycles are classically interpreted as the major factors controlling the timing and style of sedimentation (Damuth, 1977;Shanmugam et al, 1985;Stow et al, 1985;Bouma et al, 1989;Weimer, 1990). At the lowest sea-level point, sediment derived from rivers and deltas are transported into the deep basin via submarine canyons and deposited as channel-levee systems and distal lobes.…”

“…The low sea-level activity of the larger low latitude passive margin fans is dominant on several fans (e.g. Mississippi Fan (Bouma et al, 1989), Amazon Fan (Flood and Piper, 1997), Indus Fan (Kolla and Coumes, 1987)). For the majority of these fans, turbidite supplies ceased during the sealevel rise.…”

Improved recovery from Gulf of Mexico reservoirs. Quarterly status report, January 1--March 31, 1996

“…Not to scale. SL: strand line; SB: shelf break; BOS: base-of-slope (Redrawn after Bouma et al, 1989). …”

Erosional sculpting of the Caprera confined deep-sea fan as a result of distal basin-spilling processes (eastern Sardinian margin, Tyrrhenian Sea)

“…Intense investigations have focussed mainly on large, modern, passive margin deep-sea fans e.g. Zaire Fan (Droz et al, 2003;Anka and Seranne, 2004), Amazon Fan (Damuth et al, 1988;Pirmez and Flood, 1995;Damuth, 2002), Niger Fan (Corredor et al, 2005;Adeogba et al, 2005), Indus Fan (Kolla and Coumes, 1987;Kenyon et al, 1995), and Mississippi Fan (Bouma et al, 1985;Bouma et al, 1989;Weimer, 1990;Schwab et al, 1996). They are mostly characterized by a single source of sediments, an open oceanic setting, and a deepening upward evolution due to margin drifting subsidence (Eschard, 2001;Amy et al, 2007).…”