Search results for "Siliciclastic"
showing 10 items of 51 documents
Two Years at Meridiani Planum: Results from the Opportunity Rover
2006
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has spent more than 2 years exploring Meridiani Planum, traveling ∼8 kilometers and detecting features that reveal ancient environmental conditions. These include well-developed festoon (trough) cross-lamination formed in flowing liquid water, strata with smaller and more abundant hematite-rich concretions than those seen previously, possible relict “hopper crystals” that might reflect the formation of halite, thick weathering rinds on rock surfaces, resistant fracture fills, and networks of polygonal fractures likely caused by dehydration of sulfate salts. Chemical variations with depth show that the siliciclastic fraction of outcrop rock has undergon…
The Opportunity Rover's Athena Science Investigation at Meridiani Planum, Mars
2004
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has investigated the landing site in Eagle crater and the nearby plains within Meridiani Planum. The soils consist of fine-grained basaltic sand and a surface lag of hematite-rich spherules, spherule fragments, and other granules. Wind ripples are common. Underlying the thin soil layer, and exposed within small impact craters and troughs, are flat-lying sedimentary rocks. These rocks are finely laminated, are rich in sulfur, and contain abundant sulfate salts. Small-scale cross-lamination in some locations provides evidence for deposition in flowing liquid water. We interpret the rocks to be a mixture of chemical and siliciclastic sediments formed by e…
Provenance and diagenesis of the evaporite-bearing Burns formation, Meridiani Planum, Mars
2005
Abstract Impure reworked evaporitic sandstones, preserved on Meridiani Planum, Mars, are mixtures of roughly equal amounts of altered siliciclastic debris, of basaltic provenance (40 ± 10% by mass), and chemical constituents, dominated by evaporitic minerals (jarosite, Mg-, Ca-sulfates ± chlorides ± Fe-, Na-sulfates), hematite and possibly secondary silica (60 ± 10%). These chemical constituents and their relative abundances are not an equilibrium evaporite assemblage and to a substantial degree have been reworked by aeolian and subaqueous transport. Ultimately they formed by evaporation of acidic waters derived from interaction with olivine-bearing basalts and subsequent diagenetic alterat…
Stratigraphic and structural relationships between Meso-Cenozoic Lagonegro basin and coeval carbonate platforms in southern Apennines, Italy
1999
Abstract Stratigraphic studies and facies analysis integrated with a new geological and structural survey of the Meso-Cenozoic units outcropping in the Campania–Lucania Apennines, southern Italy, allowed us to restore the palaeogeographic pattern and the tectonic evolution of the chain during Oligo-Miocene times. The southern Apennines are a N150°-striking and NE-verging fold-and-thrust belt mainly derived from the deformation of the African–Apulian passive margin. Four wide belts with different features have been recognized in the chain area. From east to west the following units outcrop: (a) successions characterized by basinal to marginal facies, ranging in age from Cretaceous to Miocene…
Tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Pliocene to Lower Pleistocene succession of the Apricena-Lesina-Poggio Imperiale quarrying district (western Gar…
2010
The post-Miocene marine succession of the «Apricena horst» is described with the purpose to verify the chronostratigraphic constraints for the type-locality of the Pirro Nord Faunal Unit. The stratigraphic succession has been subdivided in four units bounded by ubiquitous unconformities with evidence of subaerial exposure. The two basal units (dated late Zanclean to at most early Piacenzian) are formally grouped in the Lago di Varano Fm. that on the whole consists of sediments ranging from lagoonal to circalittoral environments. Within the lowermost unit, a megabreccia is interpreted as the product of a tsunami event. The third unit, Gelasian in age, is informally cited as Calcari a Briozoi…
Multifactorial control of sedimentation patterns in an ocean marginal basin: the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal) during the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian
1987
The Mesozoic Lusitanian Basin developed as a part of the North Atlantic rift system. Tectonic rifting activity was rejuvenated during the Upper Jurassic, leading to intensive differentiation of facies development. Kimmeridgian and Lower Tithonian calcareous and siliciclastic sediments represent basinal and slope, shallow marine, and terrestrial environments. The lithostratigraphic arrangement of facies units is demonstrated. Sediment character, distribution and thicknesses are mainly controlled by synsedimentary faulting, with a partial overprint by uprise of salt diapirs. Eustatic sea level fluctuations, exogenic and biogenic factors resulted in additional control on facies development.
Mass mortality or exceptional fossilization ? The case of the early and middle Toarcian fossiliferous beds from the Digne-Les-Bains area (southeaster…
2003
Abstract The latest Domerian to late Toarcian sedimentary series (from −190 Ma up to −180 Ma) from the « Réserve Géologique de Haute-Provence » (southeastern France) yields two kinds of remarkable fossiliferous beds. The greatest interest of the early Toarcian type is the occurrence of ichtyosaur remains (at least in six sites) among many other fossils such as ammonites, belemnites, bivalves, wood. The middle Toarcian type is specifically rich in ammonites and nautiluses. Litho- and biostratigraphical, palaeontological, sedimentological and geochemical analyses allow us to determine whether these fossiliferous beds are the results of mass mortalities, linked or not to biological crisis, o…
Una asociación peculiar de fusulinas en las calizas de Tanes, sección de Campo de Caso (Pensilvánico, Moscoviense superior; zona Cantábrica, España)
2021
The Campo de Caso section (eastern part of the Cantabrian Zone, NW Spain) exposes a middle to upper Moscovian (Middle Pennsylvanian) succession, up to 3500-m thick, consisting of marine shelfal and deltaic siliciclastic and shale deposits with numerous intercalated fossiliferous limestones. A limestone outcropping in the upper part of this section, close to the village of Tanes, has yielded a fusuline assemblage composed of species of the genera Eostaffella, Pseudonovella, Ozawainella, Pseudostaffella, Neostaffella, Schubertella, Fusiella, Taitzehoella, Fusulinella, Beedeina and Putrella . The specific composition of these genera, considered as a whole, indicates an early to mid- Myachkov…
A latest Biharian small vertebrate fauna from the lacustrine succession of San Lorenzo (Sant’Arcangelo Basin, Basilicata, Italy)
2005
Abstract The Sant’Arcangelo Basin is located in the southern part of the Apennine chain (Basilicata). It is filled by a siliciclastic sequence 3500 m thick, dated to the Late Pliocene–Middle Pleistocene time interval. In this basin an Early Middle Pleistocene fluvio-lacustrine sequence, known as San Lorenzo Cycle, has been recognised. In the upper part of the sequence, in Rifreddo, a fairly diversified small vertebrate assemblage has been recovered. The occurrence of Mimomys savini allows to the fauna to be considered as Biharian. The presence of some faunal elements such as Microtus ( Terricola ) arvalidens, Microtus ( Iberomys ) ex gr . huescarensis-brecciensis, and Macroneomys cf. brachy…
Rare earth element contents of Jurassic fish and reptile teeth and their potential relation to seawater composition (Anglo-Paris Basin, France and En…
2002
The rare earth element (REE) chemistry of Jurassic shelf seawater from western Europe (Anglo-Paris Basin) was investigated by analyzing the fish and reptile teeth deposited in shallow to deeper water (<200 m) environments. REE patterns in apatites are controlled by the host sediments. Vertebrate teeth sampled from the siliciclastic sediments (calcareous sandstones and shales) show flat shale-normalized REE patterns that reflect the dominant influence of the continental source from which the REE were derived. Carbonate deposits, protected from the clastic sources, contain fish and reptile teeth whose REE patterns reflect more accurately the REE composition of the overlying water column. The …