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

本研究的目的是定量重建中科迪勒兰前陆盆地（CCFB）早白垩世河流沉积的古河道几何形状和水力学特征，以及相关的冲积结构。先前的研究表明，早白垩世CCFB中部和远端主要河流的位置和流动模式在一定程度上受到同沉积盆地内断裂的局部控制。这项研究将精确地阐明这种断层是如何影响河道几何形状（如宽度、深度、弯曲度、河道形态）、水力学（如河道坡度、速度、流量）以及相关的河道坝、河道带和洪泛平原沉积物的分布的。这些参数将在以下情况下进行比较和对比：(i) CCFB内的中部和远端设置，（ii）河流基本上位于已知结构上或邻近的地方与几公里外的地方，以及（iii）河流局部穿过结构的地方与平行结构的地方。这项研究的结果对于那些试图模拟在前陆盆地中部和远端非海相填充物堆积中如何表现盆内构造作用的人应该是有价值的。此外，这项工作将是第一次定量记录局部同沉积断裂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.