Sequence stratigraphy and facies architecture of fluvio-deltaic depositional systems

建议的研究计划侧重于调查浅海、近海和河流沉积体系的层序地层学和三维相结构。主要的焦点是北美西部内海的白垩纪沉积序列。详细的野外和地下研究旨在回答关于沉积盆地充填的较大规模的地层控制(例如，海平面与构造)的问题，以及与较小规模的沉积单元(例如，床型和沙洲)的形成过程有关的同样重要的问题。 高分辨率露头和地下地层学分析与计时和生物地层学控制相结合，能够阐明全球温室气体循环的性质和程度。有证据表明气候驱动的米兰科维奇尺度周期性，表明白垩纪并不像一些人假设的那样是无冰时期。多个沉积盆地的时间地层分析，包括犹他州、怀俄明州和艾伯塔省基本完成的研究，与新墨西哥州、蒙大拿州和西北部的中间盆地的新提出的分析相比较，可以帮助解开构造和海平面过程的相对控制，这仍然是一个有争议的领域。这项研究还侧重于量化源汇关系，特别是利用来自沉积系统的信息(特别是主干河流化石的来源和古流量研究)来推断古流域盆地的大小和地貌、山区内水系的连通性、古气候和板块构造重建。 在较小的尺度上，研究集中在阐明构成三角洲和陆架沉积体系的沉积记录的基本建筑元素和事件过程。相结构元素分析在风成、河流和深水沉积体系的研究中已经相当成熟，但对于近海和浅海沉积体系的研究还没有很好的文献记载。我的研究项目的最新结果表明，以前的研究中描述的许多嘴巴杆实际上是复合特征。我们已经发现了与减速的河口羽流的形成物理过程相适应的基本“单位”沙洲。然而，这项工作是初步的，需要其他例子以及与流体流动模拟、数值模拟和现代系统研究的集成，以呈现三角洲海岸线生长和衰退的物理过程和时间尺度的综合。这不仅对于预测面对全球变化时海岸线如何演变具有重要意义，而且沉积体的三维地层组织对于模拟油藏的描述和建模也是至关重要的，例如在加拿大和全球的石油和天然气矿床中都很常见。

The proposed research program is focused on investigating the sequence stratigraphy and 3D facies architecture of shallow marine, paralic, and fluvial depositional systems. The primary focus is on Cretaceous sedimentary sequences in the Western Interior Seaway of North America. Detailed field and subsurface studies are designed to answer questions about the larger-scale stratigraphic controls on sedimentary basin fills (e.g. eustasy versus tectonics), and equally important questions relating to the formative processes of smaller-scale sedimentary units (e.g. bedforms and bars). High-resolution outcrop and subsurface stratigraphic analysis, integrated with chronometric and biostratigraphic control, enable the elucidation of the nature and degree of cyclicity in a global Greenhouse. There is evidence of climate-driven Milankovitch-scale cyclicity, suggesting that the Cretaceous was not an ice-free time, as has been hypothesized by some. Comparison of time-stratigraphic analysis within multiple sedimentary basins, including largely completed studies in Utah, Wyoming, and Alberta, with newly proposed analysis of intervening basins in New Mexico, Montana, and the NWT, can help unravel the relative control of tectonic versus eustatic processes, which remains an area of controversy. The research is also focused in quantifying source-to-sink relationships, and in particular using information from the depositional system (especially provenance and paleodischarge studies of the fossilized trunk rivers) to make inferences about paleo-drainage basin size and relief, connectivity of drainage systems within mountain belts, paleoclimate, and plate-tectonic reconstructions. At the smaller-scale, the research is focused on elucidating the fundamental architectural elements and event-processes that build the sedimentary record of deltaic and shelf sedimentary systems. Facies architectural element analysis is now quite mature in the examination of aeolian, fluvial, and deep-water sedimentary systems, but is not as well documented for paralic and shallow-marine systems. Recent results from my research program have demonstrated that many of the mouth-bars, described in previous studies, are actually composite features. We have discovered the fundamental "unit" bars that scale to the formative physical processes of decelerating river-mouth plumes. This work, however, is preliminary and requires other examples as well as integration with fluid-flow modeling, numerical modeling, and integration with studies of modern systems to present a synthesis of the physical processes and time scales over which deltaic shorelines grow and decay. This is significant, not only for predicting how coastlines evolve in the face of global change, but the 3D stratigraphic organization of sediment bodies is also of fundamental importance to the characterization and modeling of analog reservoirs, such as are common in oil and gas deposits both in Canada and globally.