Low‐accommodation and backwater effects on sequence stratigraphic surfaces and depositional architecture of fluvio‐deltaic settings (Cretaceous Mesa Rica Sandstone, Dakota Group, USA)

Yperen, Anna Elisabeth van; Holbrook, John; Poyatos‐Moré, Miquel; Myers, Cody; Midtkandal, Ivar

doi:10.1111/bre.12483

Cited by 11 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 102 publications

(385 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Toplap surface D′ is the continuation of the D fluvial erosional surface over the lowstand wedge, making it a mappable composite scour surface beneath delta distributary channels cut into the lowstand, but not the sequence boundary proper [i.e. a BDCS (basal distributary composite surface); Van Yperen et al ., 2020]. Elements 2a and 2b together form the lowstand deposits of the Modern microsequence.…”

Section: Microsequences In the Holocene Falling‐stage Wedgementioning

confidence: 99%

Century‐scale sequences and density‐flow deltas of the late Holocene and modern Dead Sea coast, Israel

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Late Holocene Dead Sea rift‐margin strata reveal century‐scale sequences. Sequences are known to form at millennial timescales, but whether they can form at scales as short as centuries (seventh‐order, sensu Vail et al., 1991) was previously unconfirmed. This study maps lithofacies and sequence‐stratigraphic surfaces from a ca 35 m high outcrop of the post‐1500 ad part of the Holocene falling‐stage wedge, and adjacent subaerial environments, along the Nahal Darga of the western Dead Sea coast, using drone images. The study also produces the first maps of subaqueous delta environments from remotely operated vehicle photographs. Comparison of outcrop and remotely operated vehicle data show that delta foresets form by debris‐flow lobes accreting onto the delta face. Debris lobes increase in size with depth, have sorted cobble heads, and stack compensationally. Debris lobes dewater to form mostly erosive turbidity currents that cut channels and obstacle scours down slope. Topsets comprising fluvial, beach‐ridge and lagoonal deposits prograde over these foresets. Surfaces separating foreset and topset elements of this Gilbert‐delta system bind systems tracts and record downstep and upstep of the shoreface associated with base‐level rises and falls. These surfaces match known lake‐level changes in the Dead Sea in magnitude, timing and direction. They confirm Medieval (ca 600 to 1300 ad) and Modern (ca 1300 ad to Modern) century‐scale sequences. These microsequences form in the Dead Sea because this climate‐sensitive lake can generate metres‐scale lake‐level cycles on century timescales, and because depositional systems can, as shown here, reestablish sufficiently rapidly (≤101 years) to record century‐scale cycles with complete systems tracts. Although conditions for generating microsequences are optimal in the Dead Sea, they are not unique. These microsequences pose a challenge to sequence stratigraphy because they typically fall below seismic resolution, may geometrically resemble higher‐order composite sequences and complicate defining of anchor sequences within a sequence hierarchy.

show abstract

Section: Microsequences In the Holocene Falling‐stage Wedgementioning

confidence: 99%

Century‐scale sequences and density‐flow deltas of the late Holocene and modern Dead Sea coast, Israel

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To test the reliability of the scaling relationships produced in this study for the rock record, we utilized ~400 km transects of the Cenomanian Mesa Rica (Dakota Group, USA) exposed along an overall NNW-to SSE-oriented depositional profile in southeast Colorado and northeast New Mexico (Holbrook, 1996;R.W. Scott et al, 2004;Oboh-Ikuenobe et al, 2008;van Yperen et al, 2019;van Yperen et al, 2020). In east-central New Mexico, the Mesa Rica is subdivided into lower, middle and upper units (R.W.…”

Section: Applying Width-discharge Scaling Relationships the Rock Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A down-dip transition from fluvial to deltaic deposits occurs at the northwestern rim of the Tucumcari sub-basin (Western Interior Basin). Here, the lower Mesa Rica consists of coalesced mouth-bar deposits overlain by amalgamated sandy distributary-channel deposits indicative of a river-dominated delta (van Yperen et al, 2019;van Yperen et al, 2020). During the Cretaceous, the Mesa Rica was located at ~35N latitude, with a warm and humid climate (Chumakov et al, 1995).…”

Section: Applying Width-discharge Scaling Relationships the Rock Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practical sampling criteria for using delta channel width to estimate paleodischarge in the rock record

Prasojo¹,

Yperen²,

Hoey³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Quantifying paleodischarge from geological field observations have been for decades, and remains, a key research challenge. Several paleodischarge scaling relationships have been developed for fluvial environments, such as BQART, Fulcrum and regional hydraulic geometry or for river deltas by precluding the role of wave and tide. In deltas where marine (wave, tide) energy causes bidirectional flow, the available paleodischarge scaling relationships are not applicable. Here, the spatial variability of distributary channel widths from a database of 114 global modern river deltas is assessed to understand the limit of marine influence on distributary channel widths. Compiling 4459 distributary channel width measurements enables improvements to distributary channel width-discharge scaling relationships specifically for river-, tide- and wave-dominated deltas. By bootstrapping the channel widths measured from modern deltas, the minimum number of width measurements needed to apply width-discharge scaling relationships to ancient deltaic deposits is estimated as 3 and 30 for upstream and downstream river-dominated deltas, consecutively, 6 for upstream part of tide-dominated deltas and 4 for wave-dominated deltas. This estimate will guide sedimentologists who often have limited numbers of distributary channel widths exposed in the rock record. Statistically significant width-discharge scaling relationships are derived for river- and wave-dominated deltas, with no significant relationships identified for tide-dominated deltas. To test the reliability of these improved width-discharge scaling relationships in the rock record, paleodischarges were estimated for the well-studied Cretaceous lower Mesa Rica Formation, USA. Comparison of these results with the more complex Fulcrum method suggests that these new scaling relationships are accurate. Hence these scaling relationships obtained from modern deltas can be applied to the rock record, and this approach requires less, and easier to measure, data inputs than previously published methods.

show abstract

“…Facies Gmc is commonly underlain by lenses of facies Sm, and together they form distinct inverse‐graded units (Supplementary material 2: Figure S3c, d). The bed tabularity and chaotic internal textures of Gmc and Sm suggest deposition from cohesionless debris‐flows on the subaqueous delta surface (van Yperen et al., 2020). Facies Gn conglomerates are characterized by a well‐developed normal grading texture (Supplementary material 2: Figure S3e).…”

Section: Stratigraphy and Facies Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Tectonic and climatic controls on the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous stratigraphic architecture of the Xuanhua basin, North China

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Arguments for recognizing autogenic vs. allogenic signals in the stratigraphic record are still far from settled, as is the decoding of unsteady allogenic responses to climate vs. tectonic forcing. We offer the case of late Mesozoic Xuanhua basin in the western Yanshan fold-and-thrust belt of North China to make these points. The study area is an intramontane basin that has allowed detailed structural, sedimentological, and provenance analyses in a kilometrethick succession (the Tuchengzi Formation) of alluvial fan, fluvial, lake-delta and lacustrine deposits. Extensive geological mapping provided confidence of near-basinwide later correlation of strata, revealing two large-scale upwardcoarsening (CU) successions each 80-240 m thick, with prominent vertical changes from lacustrine through deltaic and fluvial to alluvial fan deposits. Two intervals of thrust-related growth strata identified in the Tuchengzi Fm suggest that the CU successions were the signals of tectonic uplift and accommodation change related to Likouquan and the Mapu thrusting. In the lower CU succession, there is a stacking (30+) of small-scale (3-16 m thick) upward-fining cyclothems that are argued to have been generated by alternating wet-dry climate cycles. The wet half-cycle is argued to have initiated with high sediment and water discharge of flood-generated mass flows into the lake and ended with accumulation of lacustrine mudstones as lake level rose. The lake deposits include the maximum flooding during the wet half-cycle. The dry half-cycle was characterized by continued lacustrine deposits, but increased evidence of subaerial exposure (rooting, paleosols, and mudcracks) argued to result from falling of the lake level under dry conditions.

show abstract

Low‐accommodation and backwater effects on sequence stratigraphic surfaces and depositional architecture of fluvio‐deltaic settings (Cretaceous Mesa Rica Sandstone, Dakota Group, USA)

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 11 publications

References 102 publications

Century‐scale sequences and density‐flow deltas of the late Holocene and modern Dead Sea coast, Israel

Century‐scale sequences and density‐flow deltas of the late Holocene and modern Dead Sea coast, Israel

Practical sampling criteria for using delta channel width to estimate paleodischarge in the rock record

Tectonic and climatic controls on the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous stratigraphic architecture of the Xuanhua basin, North China

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About