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At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
USGS1988

Early diagenesis of eolian dune and interdune sands at White Sands, New Mexico

The degree of early diagenesis in eolian dune and interdune sands at White Sands, New Mexico, is largely a function of the relationship between sand location and the water table. Most active and vegetation-stabilized dune sands are in the vadose zone, whereas interdune sands are in the capillary fringe and phreatic zones. Crystallographically controlled dissolution of the framework gypsum grains results in elongate, prismatic etch pits on sand grains from the capillary fringe and phreatic zones, whereas dissolution of sand grains in the vadose zone is slight, causing minute irregularities on grain surfaces. Vadose water percolating through the sand is manifest as meniscus layers. Consequently, dune sands in the vadose zone are cemented mainly by meniscus-shaped gypsum at grain contacts. Pendant cements formed on the lower margins of some sand grains. Cementation in the capillary fringe and the phreatic zone is more extensive than the vadose regardless of strata type. Typically, well-developed gypsum overgrowths form along the entire edge of a grain, or may encompass the entire grain. Complex diagenetic histories are suggested by multiple overgrowths and several episodes of dissolution on single grains, attesting to changing saturation levels with respect to gypsum in the shallow ground water. These changes in saturation are possibly due to periods of dilution by meteoric recharge, alternating with periods of concentration of ions and the formation of cement due to evaporation through the capillary fringe.

New Mexico↗
USGS1988

A proposed mechanism for the formation of spherical vivianite crystal aggregates in sediments

Vivianite [Fe 3 (PO 4 ) 2 ·8H 2 O] is often found in the form of nodules composed of spherical aggregates of crystals. Crystallization of vivianite in agar gels of various concentrations yield crystal aggregates (nodules) that have spherical morphology and a bimodal size distribution. The aggregates were formed under both biotic and abiotic conditions. When special redox cells fitted with electrodes were used, more perfect spherical structures were formed when the electrodes were shorted than when they were on open circuit. In nature, vivianite nodules generally are found in sediments or clays that are gelatinous, often caused by the presence of organic debris. A model consistent with experimental observations and based on the dynamics of gels is proposed to explain a possible origin of nodular vivianite. To maintain iron and phosphate concentrations in sedimentary pore spaces filled with gel-like organic debris, the electric field spanning the aerobic-anerobic zones in the upper sediments may be an important driving force in addition to diffusion. It is suggested that the combination of the gel medium in the pore spaces and the natural electric field in the upper sediments could be contributing causes to explain the spherical aggregates of vivianite crystals found in nature.

Sedimentary Geology↗
USGS1989

Variations in fluvial style in the Westwater Canyon Member, Morrison formation (Jurassic), San Juan basin, Colorado plateau

Techniques of architectural element analysis and lateral profiling have been applied to the fluvial Westwater Canyon Member of the Morrison Formation (Jurassic) in southern San Juan Basin. On a large scale, the sandstone-body architecture consists mainly of a series of tabular sandstone sheets 5–15 m thick and hundreds of meters wide, separated by thin fine-grained units. Internally these sheets contain lateral accretion surfaces and are cut by channels 10–20 m deep and at least 250 m wide. On a more detailed scale, interpretations made from large-scale photomosaics show a complex of architectural elements and bounding surfaces. Typical indicators of moderate- to high-sinuosity channels (lateral accretion deposits) coexist in the same outcrop with downstream-accreted macroform deposits that are typical of sand flats of low-sinuosity, multiple-channel rivers. Broad, deep channels with gently to steeply dipping margins were mapped in several of the outcrops by carefully tracing major bounding surfaces. Locally thick accumulations of plane-laminated and low-angle cross-laminated sandstone lithofacies suggest rapid flow, probably transitional to upper flow regime conditions. Such a depositional style is most typical of ephemeral rivers or those periodically undergoing major seasonal (or more erratic) stage fluctuations, an interpretation consistent with independent mineralogical evidence of aridity. Fining-upward sequences are rare in the project area, contrary to the descriptions of Campbell (1976). The humid alluvial fan model of Galloway (1978) cannot be substantiated and, similarly, the architectural model of Campbell (1976) requires major revision. Comparisons with the depositional architecture of the large Indian rivers, such as the Ganges and Brahmaputra, still seem reasonable, as originally proposed by Campbell (1976), although there is now convincing evidence for aridity and for major stage fluctuations, which differs both from those modern rivers and Campbell's interpretation.

Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah↗
USGS1989

Lower Permian sediment-gravity-flow sequence, eastern California

The Lower Permian (middle Wolfcampian) Zinc Hill sequence, a 65- to 110-m-thick series of beds in the Owens Valley Group in east-central California, comprises sediment-gravity-flow deposits consisting of carbonate sediment that originated on, and siliciclastic sediment that may have been generally ponded behind, a carbonate shelf to the east and northeast. Thickness patterns and paleocurrent indicators show that the sediment forming this sequence was transported primarily southeastward and deposited in a southeast-trending, lobe-shaped body. Evidently, the sediment was carried from the shelf by sediment-gravity flows that travelled westward down the slope and then turned southeastward upon reaching a southeast-trending basin at the base of the slope. Data derived from the study of this basin, which paralleled the shelf edge and is thought to have formed parallel to a southeast-oriented segment of the Early Permian continental margin, constitute one of the most important arguments favoring a Pennsylvanian to Early Permian age of truncation of the western North American continental margin.

California↗
USGS1989

Geochemistry and diagenesis of Miocene lacustrine siliceous sedimentary and pyroclastic rocks, Mytilinii basin, Samos Island, Greece

A Late Miocene non-marine stratigraphic sequence composed of limestone, opal-CT-bearing limestone, porcelanite, marlstone, diatomaceous marlstone, dolomite, and tuffite crops out on eastern Samos Island. This lacustrine sequence is subdivided into the Hora Beds and the underlying Pythagorion Formation. The Hora Beds is overlain by the clastic Mytilinii series which contains Turolian (Late Miocene) mammalian fossils. The lacustrine sequence contains volcanic glass and the silica polymorphs opal-A, opal-CT, and quartz. Volcanic glass predominantly occurs in tuffaceous rocks from the lower and upper parts of the lacustrine sequence. Opal-A (diatom frustules) is confined to layers in the upper part of the Hora Beds. Beds rich in opal-CT underlie those containing opal-A. The occurrence of opal-CT is extensive, encompassing the lower Hora Beds and the sedimentary rocks and tuffs of the Pythagorion Formation. A transition zone between the opal-A and opal-CT zones is identified by X-ray diffraction patterns that are intermediate between those of opal-CT and opal-A, perhaps due to a mixture of the two polymorphs. Diagenesis was not advanced enough for opal-CT to transform to quartz or for volcanic glass to transform to opal-C. Based on geochemical and mineralogical data, we suggest that the rate of diagenetic transformation of opal-A to opal-CT was mainly controlled by the chemistry of pore fluids. Pore fluids were characterized by high salinity, moderately high alkalinity, and high magnesium ion activity. These pore fluid characteristics are indicated by the presence of evaporitic salts (halite, sylvite, niter), high boron content in biogenic silica, and by dolomite in both the opal-A and opal-CT-bearing beds. The absence of authigenic K-feldspar, borosilicates, and zeolites also support these pore fluid characteristics. Additional factors that influenced the rate of silica diagenesis were host rock lithology and the relatively high heat flow in the Aegean region from Miocene to Holocene.

Samos Island↗
USGS1989

Evidence against pervasively deformed bed material beneath rapidly moving lobes of the southern Laurentide Ice Sheet

During the Wisconsin Glaciation, the ice lobes of the southern part of the Laurentide Ice Sheet moved rapidly as the result of elevated subglacial water pressure. The rapid movement was probably not accompanied by wide-spread pervasive deformation of unfrozen material under the ice. The till stratigraphy of much of this area is well known, and it is clear that the stratigraphic sequence is generally intact. Therefore, such deformation, if it occurred, would have been restricted to the till sheet that was currently being deposited. However, this seems unlikely as well, because the till of the region commonly contains lenses and clasts of unlithified bedded sand that should have been destroyed by pervasive shearing. If unfrozen deformed-till layers were widely present, they must have been confined to the thin upper parts of till sheets.

Minnesota, Wisconsin↗
USGS1989

Late Wisconsin landform distribution and glacier-bed conditions in Wisconsin

The late Wisconsin Laurentide Ice Sheet advanced across permafrost and reached its maximum extent in Wisconsin between about 18,000 and 15,000 years ago. Deep permafrost persisted in southern Wisconsin until about 14,000 years ago and in northern Wisconsin until about 13,000 years ago. We suggest that during maximum glaciation a zone about 5 km wide in the south and 20 km wide in the north along the margin of the late Wisconsin glacier was frozen to its bed. Meltwater from farther behind the margin, where the bed was at least locally thawed, cut a series of closely spaced tunnel channels through the frozen-bed zone. These channels most likely formed episodically, and they were the source for much of the meltwater-stream sediment deposited in broad outwash plains beyond the ice margin. Frozen-bed conditions near the margin also likely contributed to increased upward shearing of sediment and the accumulation of thicl supraglacial sediment in northern areas. Up ice from the frozen-bed zone the glacier bed was at least locally thawed in a zone about 75 km wide. Extensive drumlin fields formed in the area of the bed that was thawed. By about 13,000 years ago permafrost melted in northern Wisconsin and thawed-bed conditions probably extended to the ice margin throughout Wisconsin and adjacent areas. After about 13,000 years ago in northern Wisconsin the glacier was sliding on its bed and forming drumlins out to the ice margin, and thick supraglacial sediment no longer accumulated.

Wisconsin↗
USGS1990

A dolomitized shelfedge hardground in the northern Gulf of Mexico

An elongated calcareous hardground occurs on the shelfedge northeast of the Mississippi Trough. High-resolution seismic reflection profiles show that the hardground is in 90-110 m of water, is 70-250 m wide, at least 2.3 km long, and of low relief (5-10 m). The hardground is composed of dolostone and coquinoid limestone, and exhibits a dead biofacies of nodular and encrusting calcium carbonate-secreting organisms that are significantly different from those forms living in the adjacent unconsolidated sediments. Cementation of the hardground substrate by primary dolomite was initiated during early diagenesis close to the sea floor and progressed by concretionary growth under an interstitial environment partially open to marine molecular fluxes. The bicarbonate necessary to form the dolomite came from an admixture of isotopically light thermogenic and sedimentary organic carbon sources and an isotopically heavier marine source. Exposed surfaces of the dolostone, which have been heavily bioeroded, are covered by an oxidized, goethite-rich, reddish-brown rind. The coquina is primarily composed of whole and fragmented mollusk shells and was deposited in a higher-energy environment than the precursor sediments of the dolostone. The hardground was preserved during the Holocene transgression because of its lithified nature and the top has been intermittently swept free of finer detritus by current action.

Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas↗
USGS1990

Variations in fluvial deposition on an alluvial plain: An example from the Tongue River Member of the Fort Union Formation (Paleocene), southeastern Powder River Basin, Wyoming, U.S.A.

The Tongue River Member of the Paleocene Fort Union Formation is an important coal-bearing sedimentary unit in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana. We studied the depositional environments of a portion of this member at three sites 20 km apart in the southeastern part of the basin. Six lithofacies are recognized that we assign to five depositional facies categorized as either channel or interchannel-wetlands environments. (1) Type A sandstone is cross stratified and occurs as lenticular bodies with concave-upward basal surfaces; these bodies are assigned to the channel facies interpreted to be the product of low-sinuosity streams. (2) Type B sandstone occurs in parallel-bedded units containing mudrock partings and fossil plant debris; these units constitute the levee facies. (3) Type C sandstone typically lacks internal structure and occurs as tabular bodies separating finer grained deposits; these bodies represent the crevasse-splay facies. (4) Gray mudrock is generally nonlaminated and contains ironstone concretions; these deposits constitute the floodplain facies. (5) Carbonaceous shale and coal are assigned to the swamp facies. We recognize two styles of stream deposition in our study area. Laterally continuous complexes of single and multistoried channel bodies occur at our middle study site and we interpret these to be the deposits of sandy braided stream systems. In the two adjacent study sites, single and multistoried channel bodies are isolated in a matrix of finer-grained interchannel sediment suggesting deposition by anastomosed streams. A depositional model for our study area contains northwest-trending braided stream systems. Avulsions of these systems created anastomosed streams that flowed into adjacent interchannel areas. We propose that during late Paleocene a broad alluvial plain existed on the southeastern flank of the Powder River Basin. The braided streams that crossed this surface were tributaries to a northward-flowing, basin-axis trunk stream that existed to the west.

Wyoming↗
USGS1990

Coarse-grained deltaic sedimentation in the Miocene Cuyama strike-slip basin, California Coast Ranges

The Cuyama basin, located in the southern Coast Ranges of California southwest of the San Andreas fault, developed early in the history of the San Andreas transform system. The Miocene marine basin formed in a transtensional setting along a dextral strike-slip fault of the transform system following Oligocene non-marine basin formation in an extensional setting. The lower and middle Miocene Vaqueros Formation in the northwestern part of the basin, which represents the first of two transgressive-regressive cycles, is described here in terms of nine facies in two broad facies groups. The 400-m-thick Soda Lake Shale Member (of the Vaqueros) comprises deep-basin and starved-basin facies. A thin transgressive facies occurs locally at the base of the formation. The overlying Painted Rock Sandstone Member (of the Vaqueros), which is more than 2200 m thick and consists mostly of coarse-grained sandstone and pebbly sandstone, constitutes a delta complex of prodelta, slope channel, delta front, tide-influenced distributary channel, interdistributary bay, and fluvial channel facies. The basinal depositional system consisted of turbidite mud and sand, and hemipelagic and pelagic sediments of the basinal facies deposited in a rapidly subsiding basin. The delta depositional system consisted of the delta complex facies that prograded into the deep basin and had a steep prodelta slope that extended to bathyal depths. The delta is inferred to be a mixed fluvial-wave-dominated fan delta, analogous in its delta-front morphology and processes to a fjord delta, in which coarse sediment delivered to the delta front by braided streams was transported down the prodelta slope into deep water by sediment gravity flows. Transgression and rapid deepening of the basin in the early Miocene coincided with rapid tectonic subsidence. Deepening culminated with deposition of a starved-basin facies or condensed section at the time of maximum transgression, which was followed by the beginning of a regression and basin shallowing. The overall basin history and geometry of the northwestern Cuyama basin are typical of strike-slip basins. The initial rapid subsidence to bathyal depths at rates of more than 500 m/m.y. in the early Miocene is interpreted to be a result of extension at the releasing bend of a dextral strike-slip fault.

California↗
USGS1992

Distribution and characteristics of a Middle Ordovician oolitic ironstone in northeastern Kansas based on petrographic and petrophysical properties: A Laurasian ironstone case study

The margins of Gondwana are generally considered to be the major sites of oolitic ironstone production during the Ordovician, and appear to be linked with global eustatic sea-level rise. Occurrences of oolitic ironstones within the North American craton are less well documented, but provide important supplementary data. The low latitude of Laurasia contrasted with Gondwana allows useful comparisons of climatic and temporal patterns of Ordovician ironstone formation. Middle Ordovician ironstones occur in siliciclastic sequences in the American mid-continent and appear to become progressively younger as the epicontinental sea advanced from the southwest across a predominantly carbonate terrain. In northeastern Kansas, the regional distribution pattern of primary, syndiagenetic goethite iron oolites within the St. Peter Sandstone indicate deposition peripheral to a north-northeast-trending chain of islands underlain by predominantly granitic rocks, located along an ancestral Nemaha uplift. Detailed compositional mapping in the subsurface was made possible by the distinctive petrophysical properties of the goethite zone and the extensive regional control of wireline-logged exploration wells. Petrographic data from ironstone core- and drill-cuttings both validate log analysis and give insights on possible modes of genesis. We propose that eustatic changes in sea level were the primary factor governing the formation and observed distribution patterns of the oolite bed(s). The relationship of the observed occurrence patterns to major rift-related faults of the Central North American Rift system suggests that synsedimentary tectonism also influenced this process. The most likely source of iron appears to be by derivation from intensive, humid weathering of granite exposed extensively on the ancestral Nemaha uplift archipelago.

Kansas↗
USGS1992

Mid-Mesozoic (Mid-Jurassic to Early Cretaceous) evolution of the Georges Bank Basin, U.S. North Atlantic outer continental shelf: Sedimentology of the Conoco 145-1 well

The Conoco 145-1 exploratory well, located in the southeastern portion of the Georges Bank Basin, was drilled to a total depth of 4303 m below the sea floor. The oldest sedimentary rocks sampled are of Middle Jurassic age (Late Bathonian-Callovian). A dolomite-limestone-evaporite sequence dominates the section below 3917 m; limestone is the predominant lithology in the intervals of 3271-3774 m, 2274-3158 m, and 1548-1981 m. Siliciclastics dominate the remainder of the drilled section. Calcite tightly cements most of the rocks below 1548 m; dolomite, silica, siderite, and diagenetic clay cements are locally important. Restricted inner marine environments, representing lagoonal and tidal flat conditions, prevailed at the wellsite during much of the deposition recorded by the Callovian-Bathonian age Iroquois Formation. These environments gave way to a carbonate platform, which formed part of the > 5,000 km long Bahama-Grand Banks gigaplatform that lasted through the end of the Late Jurassic (encompassing the uppermost portion of the Iroquois Formation and the Scatarie Limestone and Bacarro Limestone Members of the Abenaki Formation). The absence of a skeletal-reef association and the dominance of muddy limestone fabrics are evidence that the 145-1 wellsite was located on the platform interior. Major periods of siticiclastic deposition interrupted carbonate deposition, and they are recorded by stratigraphic equivalents of the Mohican Formation, Misaine Shale Member of the Abenaki Formation, and the Mohawk and Mic Mac Formations. A series of sustained prograding delta systems, the earliest of which is preserved as the Missisauga Formation, buried the carbonate platform following its drowning in the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian-Valanginian). The sparser, primarily allochthonous lignite content and better-sorted, glauconite-bearing sands of the Missisauga strata at the 145-1 wellsite suggest that shallow marine or barrier-bar environments were more prevalent than the low delta-plain facies recorded farther shoreward at the COST G-1 wellsite.

Sedimentary Geology↗
USGS1992

Transgressive channel filling in the Breathitt Formation (Upper Carboniferous), Eastern Kentucky Coal Field, USA

Carbonaceous shales of brackish or marine origin in the Breathitt Formation may exhibit sharp bases with local channel-form scours. Minor channels at the bases of these shales exhibit three general types of fill: (1) shale, (2) bioturbated, heterolithic strata, and (3) coal overlain by shale or bioturbated, heterolithic strata. Most of the scours at the bases of the channels were formed during a depositional hiatus that preceded transgression. Some may also have been formed by transgressive reworking of underlying estuarine and deltaic siliciclastics. The channel fills are bioturbated and may contain crudely cyclical rhythmites, subordinate and dominant siltstone-laminae couplets, wave ripples, and bimodal current ripple trends. The fills are interpreted to represent estuarine sedimentation during marine transgression. Channels are capped by sideritic, bioturbated sandstones that separate the fills from the overlying dark shales deposited under brackish- to marine-water conditions. Some of these sandstones may represent local transgressive surfaces. The occurrence of these types of channels in different parts of the coal-bearing Breathitt Formation supports the hypothesis of multiple transgressions during the Late Carboniferous in the Central Appalachian Basin.

Eastern Kentucky Coal Field↗
USGS1992

Geochemical and detrital mode evidence for two sources of Early Proterozoic sedimentary rocks from the Tonto Basin Supergroup, central Arizona

The Tonto Basin Supergroup includes up to 6.5 km of Early Proterozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks that were deposited in a relatively short period of time at about 1.7 Ga in central Arizona. Moderate correlations of rare earth elements (REE) and Ti with Al 2 O 3 and REE distributions in detrital sediments of this supergroup suggest that these elements are contained chiefly in clay-mica and/or zircon fractions. REE distributions, including negative Eu anomalies in most Tonto Basin sediments, are similar to those in Phanerozoic shales. Weak to moderate correlations of Fe, Sc, Ni, and Co to Al 2 O 3 also suggest a clay-mica control of these elements. Detrital modes and geochemical characteristics of sediments indicate two dominant sources for sedimentary rocks of the Tonto Basin Supergroup: a granitoid source and a volcanic source. The granitoid source was important during deposition of the upper part of the succession (the Mazatzal Group) as shown by increases in K 2 O, Al 2 O 3 , and Th in pelites with stratigraphic height, and increases in Zr and Hf and decreases in Eu/Eu ∗ , Cr, and Ni in in pelites of the Maverick Shale. Sediment provenance characteristics and paleocurrent indicators are consistent with deposition of the supergroup in a continental-margin back-arc basin. The granitoid sediment source appears to have been the North American craton on the north, and the volcanic source a more local source from an arc on the south.

Arizona↗
USGS1993

Mediterranean undercurrent sandy contourites, Gulf of Cadiz, Spain

The Pliocene—Quaternary pattern of contourite deposits on the eastern Gulf of Cadiz continental slope results from an interaction between linear diapiric ridges that are perpendicular to slope contours and the Mediterranean undercurrent that has flowed northwestward parallel to the slope contours and down valleys between the ridges since the late Miocene opening of the Strait of Gibraltar. Coincident with the northwestward decrease in undercurrent speeds from the Strait there is the following northwestward gradation of sediment facies associations: (1) upper slope facies, (2) sand dune facies on the upstream mid-slope terrace, (3) large mud wave facies on the lower slope, (4) sediment drift facies banked against the diapiric ridges, and (5) valley facies between the ridges. The southeastern sediment drift facies closest to Gibraltar contains medium-fine sand beds interbedded with mud. The adjacent valley floor facies is composed of gravelly, shelly coarse to medium sand lags and large sand dunes on the valley margins. Compared to this, the northwestern drift contains coarse silt interbeds and the adjacent valley floors exhibit small to medium sand dunes of fine sand. Further northwestward, sediment drift grades to biogenous silt near the Faro Drift at the Portuguese border. Because of the complex pattern of contour-parallel and valley-perpendicular flow paths of the Mediterranean undercurrent, the larger-scale bedforms and coarser-grained sediment of valley facies trend perpendicular to the smaller-scale bedforms and finer-grained contourite deposits of adjacent sediment drift facies. The bottom-current deposits of valleys and the contourites of the Cadiz slope intervalley areas are distinct from turbidite systems. The valley sequences are not aggradational like turbidite channel—levee complexes, but typically exhibit bedrock walls against ridges, extensive scour and fill into adjacent contourites, transverse bedform fields and bioclastic lag deposits. Both valley and contourite deposits exhibit reverse graded bedding and sharp upper bed contacts in coarse-grained layers, low deposition rates, and a regional pattern of bedform zones, textural variation, and compositional gradation. The surface sandy contourite layer of 0.2–1.2 m thickness that covers the Gulf of Cadiz slope has formed during the present Holocene high sea level because high sea level results in maximum water depth over the Gibraltar sill and full development of the Mediterranean undercurrent. The late Pleistocene age of the mud underlying the surface sand sheet correlates with the age of the last sea-level lowstand and apparent weak Mediterranean undercurrent development. Thus, the cyclic deposition of sand or mud layers and contourite or drape sequences appear to be related to late Pliocene and Quaternary sea-level changes and Mediterranean water circulation patterns. Since its Pliocene origin, the contourite sequence has had low deposition rates of < 5 cm/1000y on the upper slope and < 13 cm/1000y in the middle slope sediment drift.

Gulf of Cadiz↗
USGS1995

Silt fraction heavy-mineral distributions in a lateritic environment: The rivers and insular shelf of north-central Puerto Rico

This fraction, which is enriched in heavy minerals relative to the sand fraction, is mainly detrital but contains a strong authigenic component. The authigenic silt heavy-mineral fraction is largely a product of the lateritic weathering and dominated by iron oxides and alterites. Grains of bladed rutile and leached ilmenite are common. Spatial variability in silt-fraction mineralogy is considerable. Within the Rio Cibuco system variability is related to compositional differences in rapidly eroding source rocks. On the shelf, silt heavy-mineral abundances are greatest at the river mouths and decrease seaward. Variability in the shelf samples is controlled primarily by source rivers and shelf sorting processes.

Puerto Rico↗
USGS1995

Seismic stratigraphic evidence of ice-sheet advances on the Wilkes Land margin of Antarctica

The Wilkes Land continental shelf, similar to other Antarctic shelves, is underlain by thick sequences of steeply prograded glacial diamictons. On the outer shelf, banks that are shallower than 400 m are separated by broad outer-shelf troughs that deepen landward. The prograded sequences are found preferentially in these broad outer-shelf troughs. We propose that these outer-shelf prograding wedges were deposited by fallout from deforming till-layer transport beneath ice streams at times of ice expansion onto the continental shelf. Such deforming till-layer transport has recently been proposed to explain seismic observations beneath ice stream B of the Ross Embayment. Two prominent erosional unconformities with stratal truncations of more than 500 m indicate erosional events that overdeepened the shelf and provided the accommodation space to allow the deposition of these prograding sequences in front of advancing ice streams at times of past glacial maxima. The erosional events that produced these extraordinary downcuts were caused by erosion by ice that expanded onto a shelf with water depths far too shallow for flotation. These two particular erosional surfaces developed either on an initially shallow shelf, or from an extraordinarily high flux of ice, or both.

Sedimentary Geology↗