Recognizing deformation origins: a review of deformation structures and hypothesis on the perspective of sediment consolidation

Cui, Mingming; Peng, Nan; Liu, Yongqing; Wang, Zongxiu; Li, Chunlin; Xu, Kemin; Kuang, Hongwei

doi:10.1080/00206814.2022.2094840

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…In all study sediments, the water content and sediment permeability were crucial for sediment saturation and affected the course and depositional effect of the liquefaction process (cf. Cui et al., 2022; Owen & Moretti, 2011). The water‐saturated condition of sediments above 90%, necessary for the liquefaction to occur, has certainly been met in the case of studied sediments (cf.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…AU are formed in response to high pressure, energy and driving force, giving them a characteristic convex upward shape (Alsop et al., 2022; Cui et al., 2022; Liang et al., 2018). In most cases, the upward injections of water‐saturated sediment that create concave up structures should be regarded as the primary and main cause of the whole deformation process.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sedimentary Records of Liquefaction: Implications From Field Studies

et al. 2023

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The susceptibility of grains in sediment to the liquefaction process causes the development of deformation structures. Some sediments undergo liquefaction, others do not. There is a group of sediments especially prone to liquefaction, which was proven during laboratory experiments. However, the field results are often slightly different from those obtained experimentally because of many unpredictable factors influencing the course of the liquefaction process. For this reason, we tested 144 samples of unconsolidated Quaternary‐age sediments, collected from eight study sites in Germany, Lithuania and Latvia, which have been liquefied. We also present some new dating results. These samples were divided into two groups of soft‐sediment deformation structures: concave up (e.g., injection structures) and concave down (e.g., load casts, pseudonodules). The granulometry of all deformation types was statistically evaluated, which allowed identifying textural differences between sediment contained in concave up and concave down structures. We suggest that the mobilization of silt fraction is responsible for the further deforming process. We also confirm that the maximum content of clay in sediment prone to liquefaction cannot exceed 14%, but only with a significant content of coarser fractions (silt and sand). Moreover, we identified two separate zones of the specific grain size in which only concave down structures or only concave up structures develop as an effect of liquefaction, and the third “transitional zone” where all forms occur. The “transitional zone” is separated from the concave up structures and concave down structures zones by two “gap zones” in which no liquefied sediments were observed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sedimentary Records of Liquefaction: Implications From Field Studies

et al. 2023

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“…Brittle behaviour documented by breccias and sedimentary dykes may be frequently associated with soft‐sediment deformation structures, reflecting the existence of sediments with different degrees of cohesivity and consolidation. Actually, deformation structures change according to the consolidation states of the sediments (Jones, 1994; Cui et al ., 2022), but also texture, grain‐size distribution and cementation may affect the type and distribution of possible soft‐sediment deformation structures (Elliott & Williams, 1988).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, the identification of a single soft‐sediment deformation structure as a result of a specific kind of all of the possible processes may be speculative (e.g. Cui et al ., 2022) without a set of constraints, required to reduce uncertainties on their origin and, eventually, to identify the most plausible triggering process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft‐sediment deformation structures and Neptunian dykes across a carbonate system: Evidence for an earthquake‐related origin (Norian, Dolomia Principale, Southern Alps, Italy)

Berra

2023

Sedimentology

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Identification of the processes producing soft‐sediment deformation structures, common in siliciclastic deposits and less abundant in carbonate successions, is complex, because different processes may produce similar structures. Thus, interpreting the origin of these structures may be challenging: it requires both a detailed sedimentological study and the knowledge of the depositional environment and stratigraphic evolution, in order to provide hints to identify the processes affecting sediments after deposition. Among the potential causes of the formation of soft‐sediment deformation structures, seismic shock is one of the possibilities, but their origin could be also related to other triggering mechanisms, such as volcanic activity, sediment loading, salt tectonics, fluid expulsion, meteorite impacts and mass movements. Although it is a plausible option, the interpretation of these structures as ‘seismites’ is not obvious: it must be supported by different lines of evidence, considering that the correct interpretation of soft‐sediment deformation structures as a consequence of seismic shocks acquires important implications in palaeoseismology studies.The occurrence of diverse soft‐sediment deformation structures in a fault‐controlled basin (i.e. in a geological setting characterized by syndepositional tectonics) preserved in different subenvironments of a Norian carbonate system in the Southern Alps of Italy provides the chance to characterize different types of soft‐sediment deformation structures along a platform‐to‐basin depositional profile. Presence of pseudonodules in basinal resedimented limestone, sedimentary dykes and clinostratified breccias with unlithified clasts in slope settings and liquefaction of inner platform facies at the platform top testify to an origin compatible with multiple seismic shocks, repetitively affecting the same stratigraphic intervals. The diverse types of soft‐sediment deformation structures in the studied carbonate system provide a rich catalogue of structures related to seismic shocks, representing a possible reference for other similar settings.

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