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Basin Sediments (basin + sediment)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Earth and Environmental Science	50%

Selected Abstracts

Long-term landscape evolution: linking tectonics and surface processes

EARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, Issue 3 2007
Paul Bishop
Abstract Research in landscape evolution over millions to tens of millions of years slowed considerably in the mid-20th century, when Davisian and other approaches to geomorphology were replaced by functional, morphometric and ultimately process-based approaches. Hack's scheme of dynamic equilibrium in landscape evolution was perhaps the major theoretical contribution to long-term landscape evolution between the 1950s and about 1990, but it essentially ,looked back' to Davis for its springboard to a viewpoint contrary to that of Davis, as did less widely known schemes, such as Crickmay's hypothesis of unequal activity. Since about 1990, the field of long-term landscape evolution has blossomed again, stimulated by the plate tectonics revolution and its re-forging of the link between tectonics and topography, and by the development of numerical models that explore the links between tectonic processes and surface processes. This numerical modelling of landscape evolution has been built around formulation of bedrock river processes and slope processes, and has mostly focused on high-elevation passive continental margins and convergent zones; these models now routinely include flexural and denudational isostasy. Major breakthroughs in analytical and geochronological techniques have been of profound relevance to all of the above. Low-temperature thermochronology, and in particular apatite fission track analysis and (U,Th)/He analysis in apatite, have enabled rates of rock uplift and denudational exhumation from relatively shallow crustal depths (up to about 4 km) to be determined directly from, in effect, rock hand specimens. In a few situations, (U,Th)/He analysis has been used to determine the antiquity of major, long-wavelength topography. Cosmogenic isotope analysis has enabled the determination of the ,ages' of bedrock and sedimentary surfaces, and/or the rates of denudation of these surfaces. These latter advances represent in some ways a ,holy grail' in geomorphology in that they enable determination of ,dates and rates' of geomorphological processes directly from rock surfaces. The increasing availability of analytical techniques such as cosmogenic isotope analysis should mean that much larger data sets become possible and lead to more sophisticated analyses, such as probability density functions (PDFs) of cosmogenic ages and even of cosmogenic isotope concentrations (CICs). PDFs of isotope concentrations must be a function of catchment area geomorphology (including tectonics) and it is at least theoretically possible to infer aspects of source area geomorphology and geomorphological processes from PDFs of CICs in sediments (,detrital CICs'). Thus it may be possible to use PDFs of detrital CICs in basin sediments as a tool to infer aspects of the sediments' source area geomorphology and tectonics, complementing the standard sedimentological textural and compositional approaches to such issues. One of the most stimulating of recent conceptual advances has followed the considerations of the relationships between tectonics, climate and surface processes and especially the recognition of the importance of denudational isostasy in driving rock uplift (i.e. in driving tectonics and crustal processes). Attention has been focused very directly on surface processes and on the ways in which they may ,drive' rock uplift and thus even influence sub-surface crustal conditions, such as pressure and temperature. Consequently, the broader geoscience communities are looking to geomorphologists to provide more detailed information on rates and processes of bedrock channel incision, as well as on catchment responses to such bedrock channel processes. More sophisticated numerical models of processes in bedrock channels and on their flanking hillslopes are required. In current numerical models of long-term evolution of hillslopes and interfluves, for example, the simple dependency on slope of both the fluvial and hillslope components of these models means that a Davisian-type of landscape evolution characterized by slope lowering is inevitably ,confirmed' by the models. In numerical modelling, the next advances will require better parameterized algorithms for hillslope processes, and more sophisticated formulations of bedrock channel incision processes, incorporating, for example, the effects of sediment shielding of the bed. Such increasing sophistication must be matched by careful assessment and testing of model outputs using pre-established criteria and tests. Confirmation by these more sophisticated Davisian-type numerical models of slope lowering under conditions of tectonic stability (no active rock uplift), and of constant slope angle and steady-state landscape under conditions of ongoing rock uplift, will indicate that the Davis and Hack models are not mutually exclusive. A Hack-type model (or a variant of it, incorporating slope adjustment to rock strength rather than to regolith strength) will apply to active settings where there is sufficient stream power and/or sediment flux for channels to incise at the rate of rock uplift. Post-orogenic settings of decreased (or zero) active rock uplift would be characterized by a Davisian scheme of declining slope angles and non-steady-state (or transient) landscapes. Such post-orogenic landscapes deserve much more attention than they have received of late, not least because the intriguing questions they pose about the preservation of ancient landscapes were hinted at in passing in the 1960s and have recently re-surfaced. As we begin to ask again some of the grand questions that lay at the heart of geomorphology in its earliest days, large-scale geomorphology is on the threshold of another ,golden' era to match that of the first half of the 20th century, when cyclical approaches underpinned virtually all geomorphological work. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Assessment of ,13C and C/N ratios in bulk organic matter as palaeosalinity indicators in Holocene and Lateglacial isolation basin sediments, northwest Scotland,

JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, Issue 6 2007
Elizabeth A. V. Mackie
Abstract Carbon isotopes (,13C) and C/N ratios from bulk organic matter have recently been used as alternative proxies for relative sea-level (RSL) reconstruction where there are problems associated with conventional biological indictors. A previous study on a single isolation basin (Upper Loch nan Eala) in northwest Scotland has shown a clear relationship between ,13C, C/N ratios and palaeosalinity from Younger Dryas and Holocene aged sediments. In this paper we present results of ,13C and C/N ratio analyses from other isolation basins in northwest Scotland over the Holocene and the Lateglacial period in order to validate this technique. The results from the Holocene sequences support the earlier findings that this technique can be used to identify RSL change from isolation basins over the Holocene in this region. The relationship between ,13C, C/N ratios and RSL change is not apparent in sediments of Lateglacial age. Other environmental variables such as atmospheric CO2 concentration, poor vegetation development and temperature influence ,13C values during this period. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Bulk organic ,13C and C/N ratios as palaeosalinity indicators within a Scottish isolation basin,

JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, Issue 4 2005
Elizabeth A. V. Mackie
Abstract Microfossils in isolation basin sediments are frequently used to reconstruct sea-level change, but preservation problems and non-analogue situations can limit their usefulness. Here we investigate the potential of stable carbon isotopes (,13C) and C/N ratios from bulk organic matter, as an alternative proxy of salinity within isolation basin sediments from a basin in northwest Scotland. Within the Holocene sediment ,13C and C/N are determined largely by the mean weighted values of the predominant source of the organic material. Analysis of modern materials and comparison with the diatom record shows that the marine parts of the sequence are dominated by high ,13C and variable C/N. In the fresh water sequences the organic material is a mixture of both freshwater aquatic and terrestrial plant input that have relatively low ,13C and high C/N. The application of ,13C and C/N ratios in the studied basin in general follow the environmental change recorded by the diatoms and shows the potential of bulk organic matter in the investigation of salinity change in isolation basins. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Insulating effect of coals and organic rich shales: implications for topography-driven fluid flow, heat transport, and genesis of ore deposits in the Arkoma Basin and Ozark Plateau

BASIN RESEARCH, Issue 2 2002
J.A. Nunn
ABSTRACT Sedimentary rocks rich in organic matter, such as coal and carbonaceous shales, are characterized by remarkably low thermal conductivities in the range of 0.2,1.0 W m,1 °C,1, lower by a factor of 2 or more than other common rock types. As a result of this natural insulating effect, temperature gradients in organic rich, fine-grained sediments may become elevated even with a typical continental basal heat flow of 60 mW m,2. Underlying rocks will attain higher temperatures and higher thermal maturities than would otherwise occur. A two-dimensional finite element model of fluid flow and heat transport has been used to study the insulating effect of low thermal conductivity carbonaceous sediments in an uplifted foreland basin. Topography-driven recharge is assumed to be the major driving force for regional groundwater flow. Our model section cuts through the Arkoma Basin to Ozark Plateau and terminates near the Missouri River, west of St. Louis. Fluid inclusions, organic maturation, and fission track evidence show that large areas of upper Cambrian rocks in southern Missouri have experienced high temperatures (100,140 °C) at shallow depths (< 1.5 km). Low thermal conductivity sediments, such as coal and organic rich mudstone were deposited over the Arkoma Basin and Ozark Plateau, as well as most of the mid-continent of North America, during the Late Palaeozoic. Much of these Late Palaeozoic sediments were subsequently removed by erosion. Our model results are consistent with high temperatures (100,130 °C) in the groundwater discharge region at shallow depths (< 1.5 km) even with a typical continental basal heat flow of 60 mW m,2. Higher heat energy retention in basin sediments and underlying basement rocks prior to basin-scale fluid flow and higher rates of advective heat transport along basal aquifers owing to lower fluid viscosity (more efficient heat transport) contribute to higher temperatures in the discharge region. Thermal insulation by organic rich sediments which traps heat transported by upward fluid advection is the dominant mechanism for elevated temperatures in the discharge region. This suggests localized formation of ore deposits within a basin-scale fluid flow system may be caused by the juxtaposition of upward fluid discharge with overlying areas of insulating organic rich sediments. The additional temperature increment contributed to underlying rocks by this insulating effect may help to explain anomalous thermal maturity of the Arkoma Basin and Ozark Plateau, reducing the need to call upon excessive burial or high basal heat flow (80,100 mW m,2) in the past. After subsequent uplift and erosion remove the insulating carbonaceous layer, the model slowly returns to a normal geothermal gradient of about 30 °C km,1. [source]