SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) eBooks, 1994
... We also confirm previous conclusions (Heckel, 1986; Veevers and Powell, 1987) that durations ... more ... We also confirm previous conclusions (Heckel, 1986; Veevers and Powell, 1987) that durations of Permo-Carboniferous cycles lie within the Milankovitch hand of fre-quencies ... 1), and experienced complex foreland deformation (Armin, 1987) in a peripheral foreland setting (Fig ...
Pennsylvanian strata within the San Andres Mountains (western Orogrande basin) contain very well-... more Pennsylvanian strata within the San Andres Mountains (western Orogrande basin) contain very well-developed phylloid algal bioherms, but these bioherms remain understudied owing to their location within the bounds of the US^Army White Sands Missile Range.^The exposed ...
2014 GSA Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia (19–22 October 2014), Oct 20, 2014
Megaflaps are halokinetic features that are increasingly targeted for hydrocarbon exploration, pa... more Megaflaps are halokinetic features that are increasingly targeted for hydrocarbon exploration, particulary in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Megaflaps are geometrically defined as structural panels of relatively conformable strata that extend long distances (as much as 5km) steeply to overturned, up the margins of salt diapirs. In the Paradox Basin, the Upper Pennsylvanian Honaker Trail Formation forms part of a partially exposed megaflap on the southwestern flank of the Gypsum Valley primary salt wall and provides an excellent opportunity to enhance our understanding of diapir-proximal salt-sediment interaction. The megaflap comprises a 200m thick 5km wide steeply dipping (60 – 90°) stratal panel composed primarily of cyclic shallow marine carbonates and siliciclastics of the Pennsylvanian Honaker Trail Formation, but contains a basal thin (10’s m) black shale & dolomite cycle of the Pennsylvanian Paradox Formation, and an upper, thin (10’s m) cycle of siliciclastics of the Permian lower Cutler Formation. The megaflap/Gypsum Valley salt wall evaporite contact is not exposed, but is mostly in normal fault contact with the Jurassic Morrison Formation. The megaflap is progressively onlapped by the Permian Cutler Formation through Jurassic Entrada Formation forming a large-scale growth stratal wedge referred to here as the “onlap wedge”. Both the megaflap and onlap wedge are erosionally beveled at the angular unconformity contact with the overlying Jurassic Summerville/ Morrison formations, which form the megaflap burying “overlap wedge”. The exposed megaflap will be evaluated by measuring sections in order to develop a sequence stratigraphic framework. Preliminary stratigraphic analysis of this Pennsylvanian megaflap has revealed pronounced depositional contacts between supratidal carbonates and diapir derived debris flows. The findings of this study will provide assessment of the early formational history of megaflaps and add to the growing database of attributes of megaflap stratal packages
Abstract The lower Mississippian Joana Limestone was deposited on a gently dipping, west-facing h... more Abstract The lower Mississippian Joana Limestone was deposited on a gently dipping, west-facing homoclinal ramp that formed the distal margin of the Antler foreland basin. Depositional facies of the Joana Limestone are organized into an overall retrogradational stratigraphic pattern. Retrogradation is interpreted to have been forced by rapid accommodation increase associated with lithospheric flexural subsidence during the Antler orogeny. The Joana Limestone is subdivided in two, third-order stratigraphic sequences that are internally composed of a total of seven parasequences. Three types of parasequences are recognized based on dominance of component lithofacies (peritidal, shallow subtidal, and deep subtidal). Parasequences can be correlated regionally using conodont biostratigraphy and stratigraphic position in relation to prominent stratal surfaces. Parasequence stacking patterns suggest that the Joana Limestone carbonate complex was initially capable of keeping pace and even out-pacing available accommodation creation increase, which produced a short-lived progradational pattern for Sequence 1. During Sequence 2 the system became retrogradational due to accommodation increases that outpaced carbonate production. This rapid increase in accommodation reflects concurrent eustatic sea-level rise and flexural downwarping of the distal margin of the Antler foreland basin. Flexural downwarping migrated eastward in response to progressive eastward emplacement of the Roberts Mountains allochthon. Depositional facies tracts within the Joana Limestone retrograded eastward approximately 140 km during early Mississippian time (late Kinderhookian to early Osagean), which correlates well with the amount of overthrusting estimated for the Roberts Mountains allochthon.
Composite halokinetic sequences (CHS) are unconformity-bounded successions of upturned and thinne... more Composite halokinetic sequences (CHS) are unconformity-bounded successions of upturned and thinned strata that form due to drape folding of diapir roofs during passive salt rise. Tabular and tapered CHS have narrow (50–200 m) and broad (300–1000 m) zones of folding, respectively. CHS are originally defined as exposed diapirs bounded by shallow-water strata in La Popa Basin, Mexico. This paper tests the concepts of CHS development at the subsurface, deepwater Auger diapir in the northern Gulf of Mexico. We used 3D wide-azimuth seismic data, well and biostratigraphic data, and structural restorations to interpret and analyzed 11 well-imaged Pleistocene CHS that correlate around the diapir. The lower and uppermost flanks are characterized exclusively by tapered CHS, with wide zones of thinning (240–660 m) and broad taper angles (41°–75°). In between are four discrete CHS with mixed tapered and tabular geometries, with the latter displaying narrow zones of thinning ([Formula: see text]) and negligible taper. Three of the intervals switch geometry around the diapir. The CHS-bounding unconformities typically intersect the salt at cusps and are continuous with bright amplitudes in the minibasins that tie to biostratigraphically defined condensed sections. CHS represent 50–500 kyr time spans and correlate well with fourth-order sea-level cycles. We corroborated many aspects of the published model of CHS development, showed that the formation of CHS due to drape folding was independent of depositional environment and related to fluctuations in sea level and sediment input. The style of CHS is generally determined by the interplay between salt-rise and sediment-accumulation rates, but variable CHS geometries around the diapir within the same interval suggested that the ultimate control is the roof thickness. Our results are critical to understanding and predicting aspects of hydrocarbon traps against salt, including trap geometry, and reservoir distribution.
Abstract The Lower Mississippian (Kinderhook-Osage) Tripon Pass Limestone in northwestern Utah an... more Abstract The Lower Mississippian (Kinderhook-Osage) Tripon Pass Limestone in northwestern Utah and northeastern Nevada comprises dominantly calciclastic turbidite and debris-flow facies deposited within a submarine fan complex in the Antler foredeep depozone. Six depositional facies are recognized, including turbidite assemblages of distal fan origin, channelized conglomerate and coarse-grained sand bodies of the middle fan, and hemipelagic calcareous siltstone and fossiliferous limestone deposited in a slope/outer shelf setting. Provenance studies of the Tripon Pass Limestone unequivocally define an eastern margin or forebulge source of detritus in western Utah. The Tripon Pass contains dominantly carbonate clasts and lithic sand grains, flute casts that indicate paleoflow directions of west to southwest, and depositional facies that are distributed with proximal facies located in the east and distal facies in the west. The western margin of the foreland in central Nevada comprises a series of east-verging, imbricated thrust sheets containing middle Paleozoic, deep basinal siliceous lithologies collectively termed the Roberts Mountains allochthon. In contrast, the eastern margin of the foredeep comprises middle to late Paleozoic preorogenic and synorogenic shelfal carbonates, which are the only possible sources of Tripon Pass calciclastic facies. The stratigraphic architecture of the Tripon Pass Limestone is divided into three informal members (lower, middle, and upper) that reflect varying rates of subsidence, eustatic sea-level change, and sediment supply to the basin. The lower member comprises dominantly thin bedded calcareous siltstone deposited in a sediment starved basinal setting during rapid transgression and tectonic subsidence. The middle member comprises a progradational submarine fan complex indicating increased sediment supply from local tectonic uplift of the forebulge margin during regression. The upper member is characterized by mostly fine-grained facies and eastward retrogradation of the fan complex in response to waning sediment supply and flexural subsidence. Estimates of the cumulative amount of lowermost Mississippian and Devonian forebulge strata erosionally removed and incorporated into the Tripon Pass submarine fan complex range between 300 and 750 m. The Tripon Pass accounts for nearly 75% of the preserved foreland basin fill near the eastern forebulge margin and progressively decreases in importance toward the west.
SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) eBooks, 1995
... By comparing regional accommodation trends in syntectonic stratigraphic sequences to publishe... more ... By comparing regional accommodation trends in syntectonic stratigraphic sequences to published third order eustatic sea level curves Ross and Ross 1987 ... for its origin have been pro posed Nilsen and Stewart 1980 Dickinson and others 1983 Burchfiel and Royden 1991 Most ...
The structural style of the High Atlas fold and thrust belt is controlled by precursor diapirs th... more The structural style of the High Atlas fold and thrust belt is controlled by precursor diapirs that initiated during preorogenic rifting episodes. In this work, we document and interpret the geometry and the along-strike variation of salt tectonic features on a particularly well-exposed salt ridge (the Aberdouz salt wall) that records tectonic evolution for linear diapiric structures from an extensional to contractional regime. The Aberdouz salt wall, cored by Triassic Keuper salt, was created during the Jurassic rifting of the Atlas domain, and was subsequently shortened during Cenozoic mountain building. The study presented is based on field observations, including geological mapping, definition of syn-growth stratigraphy, and the construction of serial cross-sections and sequential restorations.The Aberdouz salt ridge trends ENE-WSW, is ca. 38 km long and is flanked by minibasins containing Jurassic growth strata up to 5 km thick. The minibasin fill displays a deepening to shallo...
SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) eBooks, 1994
... We also confirm previous conclusions (Heckel, 1986; Veevers and Powell, 1987) that durations ... more ... We also confirm previous conclusions (Heckel, 1986; Veevers and Powell, 1987) that durations of Permo-Carboniferous cycles lie within the Milankovitch hand of fre-quencies ... 1), and experienced complex foreland deformation (Armin, 1987) in a peripheral foreland setting (Fig ...
Pennsylvanian strata within the San Andres Mountains (western Orogrande basin) contain very well-... more Pennsylvanian strata within the San Andres Mountains (western Orogrande basin) contain very well-developed phylloid algal bioherms, but these bioherms remain understudied owing to their location within the bounds of the US^Army White Sands Missile Range.^The exposed ...
2014 GSA Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia (19–22 October 2014), Oct 20, 2014
Megaflaps are halokinetic features that are increasingly targeted for hydrocarbon exploration, pa... more Megaflaps are halokinetic features that are increasingly targeted for hydrocarbon exploration, particulary in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Megaflaps are geometrically defined as structural panels of relatively conformable strata that extend long distances (as much as 5km) steeply to overturned, up the margins of salt diapirs. In the Paradox Basin, the Upper Pennsylvanian Honaker Trail Formation forms part of a partially exposed megaflap on the southwestern flank of the Gypsum Valley primary salt wall and provides an excellent opportunity to enhance our understanding of diapir-proximal salt-sediment interaction. The megaflap comprises a 200m thick 5km wide steeply dipping (60 – 90°) stratal panel composed primarily of cyclic shallow marine carbonates and siliciclastics of the Pennsylvanian Honaker Trail Formation, but contains a basal thin (10’s m) black shale & dolomite cycle of the Pennsylvanian Paradox Formation, and an upper, thin (10’s m) cycle of siliciclastics of the Permian lower Cutler Formation. The megaflap/Gypsum Valley salt wall evaporite contact is not exposed, but is mostly in normal fault contact with the Jurassic Morrison Formation. The megaflap is progressively onlapped by the Permian Cutler Formation through Jurassic Entrada Formation forming a large-scale growth stratal wedge referred to here as the “onlap wedge”. Both the megaflap and onlap wedge are erosionally beveled at the angular unconformity contact with the overlying Jurassic Summerville/ Morrison formations, which form the megaflap burying “overlap wedge”. The exposed megaflap will be evaluated by measuring sections in order to develop a sequence stratigraphic framework. Preliminary stratigraphic analysis of this Pennsylvanian megaflap has revealed pronounced depositional contacts between supratidal carbonates and diapir derived debris flows. The findings of this study will provide assessment of the early formational history of megaflaps and add to the growing database of attributes of megaflap stratal packages
Abstract The lower Mississippian Joana Limestone was deposited on a gently dipping, west-facing h... more Abstract The lower Mississippian Joana Limestone was deposited on a gently dipping, west-facing homoclinal ramp that formed the distal margin of the Antler foreland basin. Depositional facies of the Joana Limestone are organized into an overall retrogradational stratigraphic pattern. Retrogradation is interpreted to have been forced by rapid accommodation increase associated with lithospheric flexural subsidence during the Antler orogeny. The Joana Limestone is subdivided in two, third-order stratigraphic sequences that are internally composed of a total of seven parasequences. Three types of parasequences are recognized based on dominance of component lithofacies (peritidal, shallow subtidal, and deep subtidal). Parasequences can be correlated regionally using conodont biostratigraphy and stratigraphic position in relation to prominent stratal surfaces. Parasequence stacking patterns suggest that the Joana Limestone carbonate complex was initially capable of keeping pace and even out-pacing available accommodation creation increase, which produced a short-lived progradational pattern for Sequence 1. During Sequence 2 the system became retrogradational due to accommodation increases that outpaced carbonate production. This rapid increase in accommodation reflects concurrent eustatic sea-level rise and flexural downwarping of the distal margin of the Antler foreland basin. Flexural downwarping migrated eastward in response to progressive eastward emplacement of the Roberts Mountains allochthon. Depositional facies tracts within the Joana Limestone retrograded eastward approximately 140 km during early Mississippian time (late Kinderhookian to early Osagean), which correlates well with the amount of overthrusting estimated for the Roberts Mountains allochthon.
Composite halokinetic sequences (CHS) are unconformity-bounded successions of upturned and thinne... more Composite halokinetic sequences (CHS) are unconformity-bounded successions of upturned and thinned strata that form due to drape folding of diapir roofs during passive salt rise. Tabular and tapered CHS have narrow (50–200 m) and broad (300–1000 m) zones of folding, respectively. CHS are originally defined as exposed diapirs bounded by shallow-water strata in La Popa Basin, Mexico. This paper tests the concepts of CHS development at the subsurface, deepwater Auger diapir in the northern Gulf of Mexico. We used 3D wide-azimuth seismic data, well and biostratigraphic data, and structural restorations to interpret and analyzed 11 well-imaged Pleistocene CHS that correlate around the diapir. The lower and uppermost flanks are characterized exclusively by tapered CHS, with wide zones of thinning (240–660 m) and broad taper angles (41°–75°). In between are four discrete CHS with mixed tapered and tabular geometries, with the latter displaying narrow zones of thinning ([Formula: see text]) and negligible taper. Three of the intervals switch geometry around the diapir. The CHS-bounding unconformities typically intersect the salt at cusps and are continuous with bright amplitudes in the minibasins that tie to biostratigraphically defined condensed sections. CHS represent 50–500 kyr time spans and correlate well with fourth-order sea-level cycles. We corroborated many aspects of the published model of CHS development, showed that the formation of CHS due to drape folding was independent of depositional environment and related to fluctuations in sea level and sediment input. The style of CHS is generally determined by the interplay between salt-rise and sediment-accumulation rates, but variable CHS geometries around the diapir within the same interval suggested that the ultimate control is the roof thickness. Our results are critical to understanding and predicting aspects of hydrocarbon traps against salt, including trap geometry, and reservoir distribution.
Abstract The Lower Mississippian (Kinderhook-Osage) Tripon Pass Limestone in northwestern Utah an... more Abstract The Lower Mississippian (Kinderhook-Osage) Tripon Pass Limestone in northwestern Utah and northeastern Nevada comprises dominantly calciclastic turbidite and debris-flow facies deposited within a submarine fan complex in the Antler foredeep depozone. Six depositional facies are recognized, including turbidite assemblages of distal fan origin, channelized conglomerate and coarse-grained sand bodies of the middle fan, and hemipelagic calcareous siltstone and fossiliferous limestone deposited in a slope/outer shelf setting. Provenance studies of the Tripon Pass Limestone unequivocally define an eastern margin or forebulge source of detritus in western Utah. The Tripon Pass contains dominantly carbonate clasts and lithic sand grains, flute casts that indicate paleoflow directions of west to southwest, and depositional facies that are distributed with proximal facies located in the east and distal facies in the west. The western margin of the foreland in central Nevada comprises a series of east-verging, imbricated thrust sheets containing middle Paleozoic, deep basinal siliceous lithologies collectively termed the Roberts Mountains allochthon. In contrast, the eastern margin of the foredeep comprises middle to late Paleozoic preorogenic and synorogenic shelfal carbonates, which are the only possible sources of Tripon Pass calciclastic facies. The stratigraphic architecture of the Tripon Pass Limestone is divided into three informal members (lower, middle, and upper) that reflect varying rates of subsidence, eustatic sea-level change, and sediment supply to the basin. The lower member comprises dominantly thin bedded calcareous siltstone deposited in a sediment starved basinal setting during rapid transgression and tectonic subsidence. The middle member comprises a progradational submarine fan complex indicating increased sediment supply from local tectonic uplift of the forebulge margin during regression. The upper member is characterized by mostly fine-grained facies and eastward retrogradation of the fan complex in response to waning sediment supply and flexural subsidence. Estimates of the cumulative amount of lowermost Mississippian and Devonian forebulge strata erosionally removed and incorporated into the Tripon Pass submarine fan complex range between 300 and 750 m. The Tripon Pass accounts for nearly 75% of the preserved foreland basin fill near the eastern forebulge margin and progressively decreases in importance toward the west.
SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) eBooks, 1995
... By comparing regional accommodation trends in syntectonic stratigraphic sequences to publishe... more ... By comparing regional accommodation trends in syntectonic stratigraphic sequences to published third order eustatic sea level curves Ross and Ross 1987 ... for its origin have been pro posed Nilsen and Stewart 1980 Dickinson and others 1983 Burchfiel and Royden 1991 Most ...
The structural style of the High Atlas fold and thrust belt is controlled by precursor diapirs th... more The structural style of the High Atlas fold and thrust belt is controlled by precursor diapirs that initiated during preorogenic rifting episodes. In this work, we document and interpret the geometry and the along-strike variation of salt tectonic features on a particularly well-exposed salt ridge (the Aberdouz salt wall) that records tectonic evolution for linear diapiric structures from an extensional to contractional regime. The Aberdouz salt wall, cored by Triassic Keuper salt, was created during the Jurassic rifting of the Atlas domain, and was subsequently shortened during Cenozoic mountain building. The study presented is based on field observations, including geological mapping, definition of syn-growth stratigraphy, and the construction of serial cross-sections and sequential restorations.The Aberdouz salt ridge trends ENE-WSW, is ca. 38 km long and is flanked by minibasins containing Jurassic growth strata up to 5 km thick. The minibasin fill displays a deepening to shallo...
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