Sedimentology, architecture, and sequence stratigraphy of coarse-grained, submarine canyon fills from the Pleistocene (Gelasian-Calabrian) of the Peri-Adriatic basin, central Italy

The Central Submarine Canyon in the Qiongdongnan Basin, northwestern South China Sea: Architecture, sequence stratigraphy, and depositional processes

“…Canyon fills have been argued to contain very complex turbiditic reservoirs (Mayall and Jones, 2006;Di Celma et al, 2010), and improved seismic imaging techniques and sequence stratigraphic analysis have proved to be critical in understanding these complex reservoirs (Catuneanu, 2006;Catuneanu et al, 2009;Di Celma et al, 2010). Examples of submarine canyon architecture and evolution using high-resolution seismic, well log, core data are still few in number.…”

“…Examples of submarine canyon architecture and evolution using high-resolution seismic, well log, core data are still few in number. Noticeable exceptions are the work on the Carlin canyon, Nevada (Fails, 1960) and canyon fills in the Sacramento Basin, California (Williams et al, 1998) and the Peri-Adriatic Basin, central Italy (Di Celma et al, 2010).…”

Off-shelf sedimentary record of recurring global sea-level changes during the Plio-Pleistocene: evidence from the cyclic fills of exhumed slope systems in central Italy

“…Each sequence is thought to document temporal variations in input of clastic sediments to the head of the slope canyon and typically includes the following components: (1) a basal sequence boundary generated during a period of erosion and complete sediment bypass; (2) a lowstand systems tract composed of channel-filling conglomerates and sandstones with or without laterally adjacent leveeoverbank heterolithic deposits (Motif-1 and Motif-2) or, alternatively, medium-to thick-bedded tabular sandstones of a frontal splay (Motif-3); (3) a transgressive to forced regressive systems tract made up of pebbly mudstones and chaotic beds of mass-transport deposits (Motif-1) or, alternatively, a transgressive systems tract comprising a fining-and thinning-upward heterolithic succession (Motif-2 and Motif-3). Outcrop characteristics of sequence boundaries, depositional elements and their associated lithofacies have been described and interpreted by Cantalamessa et al (2009), Di Celma et al (2010) and Di Celma (2011. In this paper, sequences are designated alphanumerically starting with an abbreviation for the slope system (MA, CST, O and CM for Monte Ascensione, Castignano, Offida and Colle Montarone, respectively) followed by a number, representing the sequence number in ascending order, and a numeric subscript that refers to the architectural motif.…”

“…The Colle Montarone system consists of a stack of seven deepwater depositional sequences (Di Celma et al 2010). Mudstone samples for biostratigraphic analysis were collected from both the canyon fill and the encasing mud-rich hemipelagic strata.…”

Evolution of the Gelasian (Pleistocene) slope turbidite systems of southern Marche (Peri-Adriatic basin, central Italy)

“…Regional field mapping of the exhumed early Pleistocene sedimentary succession of the PeriAdriatic basin (eastern central Italy) led to the identification of a series of deeply incised, mixed mud, and coarse-grained clastic slope turbidite systems (Di Celma, 2011;Di Celma, Cantalamessa, & Didaskalou, 2013;Di Celma, Cantalamessa, Didaskalou, & Lori, 2010;Di Celma, Teloni, & Rustichelli, 2014), which preserve an extraordinary record of orbitally dictated glacio-eustatic changes in the sea level (Cantalamessa et al, 2009;Di Celma & Cantalamessa, 2012). This article deals with four of these turbidite systems exposed at Monte Ascensione, Castignano, Offida, and Montedinove in southern Marche ( Figure 1) and focuses on the exceptional opportunity they provide to document, from an outcrop perspective, the important impact of structurally generated bathymetric relief on the routing of gravity currents depositing sand on deep-water basin floors and the long-term evolution of continental slope morphology from a thrust-related stepped slope, to a smooth, healed slope.…”