Effects of Intra-Basinal Structures on Early Cretaceous Fluvial Systems (Lakota/Cloverly Formations), Central Cordilleran Foreland Basin

Suttner 9628367这项拟议工作的目标是定量重建中央科迪勒伦前陆盆地早白垩世河流沉积的古河道几何和水力学以及相关的冲积结构。前人的工作表明，早白垩世早期主要河流在CCFB中部和远端的位置和流态部分地受到同沉积盆地内断裂作用的局部控制。这项研究将准确地阐明这种断层作用如何影响河道几何形状(例如宽度、深度、弯曲程度、河道形态)、水力学(例如河道坡度、流速、流量)以及相关的河道坝、河道带和泛滥平原沉积的分布。这些参数将在(I)CCFB内的中端和远端环境中进行比较和对比，(Ii)河流基本上位于已知结构上或邻近的地方与结构物几公里外的地方进行比较，以及(Iii)河流在当地穿过结构物的地方与它们平行的地方。这项研究的结果对于那些试图模拟盆地内构造如何在前陆盆地中端和远端的非海相充填堆积中表现出来的人来说是有价值的。此外，这项工作将首次定量记录局部同沉积断层对前第四纪河流沉积的影响。

Suttner 9628367 The goal of the proposed work is to quantitatively reconstruct paleochannel geometries and hydraulics, and associated alluvial architecture for early Cretaceous fluvial deposits in the Central Cordilleran Foreland Basin (CCFB). Previous work has shown that the location and flow patterns of the major early Cretaceous rivers in the medial and distal parts of the CCFB were controlled, in part, locally by syndepositional intra-basinal faulting. This study will elucidate precisely how this faulting influenced channel geometries (e.g. widths, depths, sinuosities, channel patterns), hydraulics (e.g. channel slopes, velocities, discharges), and the distribution of associated channel-bar, channel-belt, and floodplain deposits. These parameters will be compared and contrasted in (i) medial and distal setting within the CCFB, (ii) in places where the rivers were located essentially on or adjacent to known structures versus places where the structures were several kilometers away, and (iii) where the rivers locally crossed the structures versus where they paralleled them. Results of this study should be valuable for those who attempt to model how intra-basinal tectonism is manifested n the accumulation of nonmarine fill in the medial and distal parts of foreland basins. Moreover, this work will be the first of its kind to document quantitatively the effects of localized syndepositional faulting on pre-Quaternary fluvial sedimentation.