Search results for "stratigraphy"

Seismogenic rotational slumps and translational glides in pelagic deep-water carbonates. Upper Tithonian-Berriasian of Southern Tethyan margin (W Sic…

2017

Abstract Soft-sediment deformation structures (SSDSs), which reflect sediment mobilization processes, are helpful to identify punctual events of paleoenvironmental stresses. In the upper Tithonian-Berriasian calpionellid pelagic limestone of the Lattimusa Fm. outcropping in the Barracu section (W Sicily), paleoenvironmental restoration reveals the occurrence of a deep-water flat basin, characterised by undeformed planar bedding, laterally passing to a gentle slope where the deformed horizons alternate with undeformed beds. Here, two types of gravity slides have been differentiated on the basis of different kinds of SSDSs, brittle deformation, involved lithofacies, geometry and morphology. T…

Sedimentary and diagenetic markers of the restriction in a marine basin: the Lorca Basin (SE Spain) during the Messinian

1998

Abstract The Lorca Basin (southeastern Spain) is part of a chain of small marginal Neogene basins located in the structurally active Betic area. The Upper Miocene (Messinian) sequence is composed of a thick diatomite-bearing series (Tripoli Unit) overlain by the Main Evaporites, analogous to the classical succession that records the main events during the Salinity Crisis in the Mediterranean region. The shallow restricted conditions of this region amplified the sedimentary responses to local and global forcings. An integrated approach using sedimentology, micropalaeontology, stable isotope geochemistry and organic geochemistry has been applied to the Tortonian/Messinian succession of the Lo…

2016

Abstract. Various geoscientific applications require a fast prediction of fracture permeability for an optimal workflow. Hence, the objective of the current study is to introduce and validate a practical method to characterize and approximate single flow in fractures under different stress conditions by using a core-flooding apparatus, in situ X-ray computed tomography (CT) scans and a finite-volume method solving the Navier–Stokes–Brinkman equations. The permeability of the fractured sandstone sample was measured stepwise during a loading–unloading cycle (0.7 to 22.1 MPa and back) to validate the numerical results. Simultaneously, the pressurized core sample was imaged with a medical X-ray…

Litter contribution to soil organic carbon in the processes of agriculture abandon

2015

The mechanisms of litter decomposition, translocation and stabilization into soil layers are fundamental processes in the functioning of the ecosystem, as they regulate the cycle of soil organic matter (SOM) and CO2 emission into the atmosphere. In this study the contribution of litters of different stages of Mediterranean secondary succession on carbon sequestration was investigated, analyzing the role of earthworms in the translocation of SOM into the soil profile. For this purpose the δ13C difference between meadow C4-C soil and C3-C litter was used in a field experiment. Four undisturbed litters of different stages of succession (45, 70, 100 and 120 since agriculture abandon) were colle…

Taphonomic sequences—A new tool for sequence stratigraphy

2002

The Middle-Upper Jurassic boundary in western Europe is characterized by extensive condensed sections containing authigenic minerals together with abundant and varied fossils, both reworked and not reworked. We have analyzed ammonite shells and chronologically ordered taphonomic events in a taphonomic sequence extending from the time the dead organism settled on the seafloor to the time it became permanently incorporated in the sediment. Three types of taphonomic sequence are recognized; they are characteristic of (1) sedimentation in depositional environments having little and only occasional hydrodynamic activity (coinciding with periods of increasing accommodation), (2) sedimentation dur…

Anthropogenic units fingerprinted by REE in archaeological stratigraphy: Mas d'Is (Spain) case

2013

Abstract On occasions, archaeologists have to deal with serious difficulties to differentiate between processes that ultimately are responsible for the formation of stratigraphic units. Sometimes we face problems related with depositional units in multilayered deposits and other times, we ask for the character of some dark surface soils, very similar to natural paleosols and usually associated with archaeological findings. In both cases, the problems we must address concern the relative impact of human activities. The imbalance between anthropic and natural processes in the formation of archaeological deposits is crucial for a correct interpretation of the processes involved in the formatio…

Facies and facies association of the siliciclastic Brak River and carbonate Gemsbok formations in the Lower Ugab River valley, Namibia, W. Africa

2007

Abstract The Neoproterozoic Zerrissene Turbidite Complex of central-western Namibia comprises five turbiditic units. From the base to the top they are the Zebraputs Formation (greywacke and pelite), Brandberg West Formation (marble and pelite), Brak River Formation (greywacke and pelite with dropstones), Gemsbok River Formation (marble and pelite) and Amis River Formation (greywacke and pelites with rare carbonates and quartz-wacke). In the Lower Ugab River valley, five siliciclastic facies were recognised in the Brak River Formation. These are massive and laminated sandstones, classical turbidites (thick- and thin-bedded), mudrock, rare conglomerate and breccia. For the carbonate Gemsbok R…

Mesozoic tectonics and volcanism of Tethyan rifted continental margins in western Sicily

2010

Abstract The paleotectonic and volcanic features of the Jurassic–Cretaceous carbonate successions, outcropping in central-western Sicily, allow us to restore the tectono-sedimentary evolution of a sector of the African continental margin. These successions consist of shallow-to-deep-water Mesozoic deposits that have formed in the carbonate platform-to- pelagic plateau depositional setting of the so-called Trapanese paleogeographic domain. Fieldwork, including structural analyses, has indicated the occurrence of lateral facies changes, resedimented materials, volcanic products (pillow lavas and tuffitic deposits), unconformity surfaces and paleofaults of different trends and age. These data,…

Trepostomate bryozoans from the upper Katian (Upper Ordovician) of Morocco: gigantism in high latitude Gondwana platforms.

2015

AbstractA study of the Upper Ordovician trepostomate bryozoans belonging to the families Amplexoporidae and Monticuliporidae, from the eastern Anti-Atlas of Morocco, is presented here. They occur in the marly to fine-grained limestone, intermediate unit of the Khabt-el-Hajar Formation, late Katian in age, representing outer-ramp depositional environments. They inhabited the highest paleolatitude known for a bryozoan fauna during the Ordovician, estimated at more than 65–70ºS. A total of 11 species of the generaAnaphragma,Atactoporella,Homotrypa,Monotrypa,Monticulipora, andPrasoporaare described. Three species are already known from the equatorial-tropical paleocontinents of Baltica, Laurent…

Sedimentary processes in the Carnot Formation (Central African Republic) related to the palaeogeographic framework of Central Africa

1999

Abstract The depositional environment, provenance and processes of emplacement of the detrital material of the Mesozoic Carnot Formation are defined, by bedding and sedimentological analysis of its main facies, and are reconstructed within the palaeogeographic framework of Central Africa. The clastic material was laid down between probably the Albian and the end of the Cretaceous, in a NNW-oriented braided stream fluvial system that drained into the Doba Trough (Chad) and probably also into the Touboro Basin (Cameroon). The material was derived from weathering of the underlying Devonian–Carboniferous Mambere Glacial Formation and of the Precambrian schist–quartzite complex located to the so…