Thin section petrography and chemostratigraphy: Integrated evaluation of an upper Mississippian mudstone dominated succession from the southern Netherlands

Abstract

Sedimentological data acquired by thin section petrography is a rich source of information to better understand and interpret depositional environments that are dominated by fine-grained deposits. This study provides an evaluation of the sedimentological and geochemical changes recorded over Upper Viséan to Lower Namurian successions preserved in a core section from a well drilled in the southern part of the Netherlands.Facies analysis and the recognition of microfacies associations allow detailed interpretations of depositional environments. Interpretation of additional geochemical data acquired by portable X-ray fluorescence analyses has resulted in a chemostratigraphic zonation for the core section.The zonation reflects stratigraphic changes in the mineralogy of the sedimentary successions. Integration of the microfacies associations and the chemostratigraphic zonation has led to the identification of three so-called depositional zones, which show the development of depositional settings from Late Viséan to Early Namurian times. Depositional Zone 1 consists of fine-grained turbiditic limestones and mudstones deposited in a distal carbonate ramp setting during Latest Viséan times. The overlying Depositional Zone 2 corresponds to the Geverik Member (Lower Namurian) and is particularly heterogeneous in geochemical and lithological terms: the zone reflects a complex interplay between different parameters such as sediment source, transport mechanisms and oxygen content that are assumed to be governed by fluctuating sea levels and changing depositional environments (from basinal to shallow marine settings). Sandy lenticular mudstones are predominant in the lower part of Depositional Zone 2 and show that sedimentation was via erosive bedload, whilst the common fossiliferous mudstones present within the upper part of the same zone yield evidence for increased endobenthic activity in dysoxic conditions. The successions assigned to Depositional Zone 3 ( = Epen Formation -Namurian) are the products of cyclic sedimentation of a terrestrial sourced delta.

On depositional processes governing along‐strike facies variations of fine‐grained deposits: Unlocking the Little Ice Age subaqueous clinothems on the Adriatic shelf

“…By looking at similar deposits documented worldwide, the authors wonder if these conditions were also recorded in fossil examples of fine‐grained depositional systems that have been interpreted as produced by bottom currents of ‘various nature’, so far (e.g. Pratt, 1984; O'Brien, 1996; Schieber, 1998, 1999, 2016; Loucks & Ruppel, 2007; Singh et al ., 2008; Trabucho‐Alexandre et al ., 2012; Egenhoff & Fishman, 2013; Leonowicz, 2013; Nyhuis et al ., 2014; Birgenheier et al ., 2017; Li & Schieber, 2018; Minisini et al ., 2018). The oceanographic model shows a weak interaction between wave base (at ca 40 m water depth) and the prodelta sector (Fig.…”

“…Drift‐dominated deposits constitute an additional example on the growing list of fine‐grained successions where traction structures are considered the product of bottom current reworking (e.g. Pratt, 1984; O'Brien, 1996; Schieber, 1998, 1999, 2016; Singh et al ., 2008; Trabucho‐Alexandre et al ., 2012; Frébourg et al ., 2013; Leonowicz, 2013; Nyhuis et al ., 2014; Birgenheier et al ., 2017; Ayranci et al ., 2018; Li & Schieber, 2018; Minisini et al ., 2018).…”

Application of Chemical Sequence Stratigraphy to the Prediction of Shale Gas Sweet Spots in the Wufeng and Lower Longmaxi Formations within the Upper Yangtze Region

“…These rocks contain various minerals, and the minerals are composed of constituent elements (Table 1); therefore, the elements have genetic significance. For example, Al, K, Ti, and Zr are the most common representative elements of a terrigenous clastic input [26][27][28][29][30], Ca, Mg, Mn, and Ba are the most common representative elements of authigenic precipitation [10,31], and V, U, and Mo are the most common representative elements of reduction environment [32][33][34]. The different chemical elements within strata have particular responses to the relative rise and fall of sea level, and the element combinations therein can be considered as an effective response index.…”

Mississippian (Early Carboniferous) sequence stratigraphy of the Rhenish Kulm Basin, Germany

“…A three metres thick unit bearing phosphate nodules and a rich radiolarian fauna from the adjacent Kohleiche road cut most probably also represents the interval (Thomas & Zimmerle, 1992: bed 8/17). It also might be present in the subsurface of the eastern Campine Basin in the southern Netherlands (Nyhuis et al, 2016).…”

“…Hence, a major sequence boundary, masked by the general tectonic downwarp of the foreland basin, is related to the Viséan-Namurian boundary. In the eastern Campine Basin (southern Netherlands), the TST of this sequence 12 is documented by the bituminous black shale of the Geverik Mb (lower Epen Fm), that conformably overlies upper Viséan limestone (Goeree Mb, upper Zeeland Fm) (van Adrichem Boogaert & Kouwe, 1993;Nyhuis et al, 2016). An analogous succession is known from the subsurface of the Lower Rhine Embayment (Mathes- Schmidt & Elfers, 1998;Mathes-Schmidt, 2000;Nyhuis et al, 2015).…”