Integrated high-resolution stratigraphy: Deciphering fundamental controls on basin evolution

沉积岩提供了地球上最重要的生命记录，也记录了大气和海洋的历史。 拟议的调查方案涉及白垩纪时期沉积的沉积岩，大约在1.08亿至8300万年前，位于现在的东北部不列颠哥伦比亚省、阿尔伯塔和萨斯喀彻温省。 当时，大草原地区被一片浅海占据，有时将北冰洋与墨西哥湾连接起来。 在西部，活跃上升的落基山脉向东将沉积物排入航道，形成三角洲和沿海平原，支持两种针叶树的茂盛植物群，大约1.04亿年前，开花植物迅速多样化。 从桑迪海岸海岸到内陆河谷和洪泛平原的环境都居住着许多类型的恐龙，鸭嘴龙，甲龙和各种兽脚亚目恐龙特别常见。 这些动物主要是从它们在沉积物中留下的丰富足迹中了解的; -骨骼很少被保存下来。 加拿大地盾在北方萨斯喀彻温省和马尼托巴省形成了一个低洼的陆地区域，向西将沉积物排入了海道。 我们发现，曾经有一段时间，一个巨大的三角洲从东海岸形成，完全阻塞了航道。 上升的落基山脉将地壳向东压低了约1000公里，使一个向西增厚的楔形沉积物堆积起来。 由于沉积发生在浅水和低洼的沿海平原，即使是海平面的微小变化也会导致海岸线位置的横向移动，因为水会交替变深和变浅。 盆地下沉速度的变化也导致了古海岸线位置的重大变化。 通过研究陆地、海岸线和近海沉积物的垂直序列和横向分布，可以推断海岸线的运动。 通过利用丰富的勘探钻孔数据绘制这些岩石类型的分布图，以及通过露头研究，有可能重建盆地地理的演变过程，并评估海平面（主要受气候变化控制）和沉降或隆起（受板块构造控制）对盆地地理的相对影响。加拿大西部的白垩纪岩石不仅提供了动物、植物、海平面变化和造山运动的详细记录，而且还提供了丰富的自然资源，对该省的经济至关重要。 沉积在海道中心的海洋泥岩含有藻类组织，随着热量、压力和时间的推移，这些藻类组织产生了天然气和石油，这些天然气和石油聚集在多孔的桑迪海岸线沉积物中。低洼的沿海平原积累了厚厚的泥炭沉积物，后来压缩成高质量的煤炭，这在格兰德卡什和不倒翁岭等城镇具有重要的经济意义。**

Sedimentary rocks provide the most important record of life on Earth, as well as recording the history of the atmosphere and oceans. The proposed programme of investigation is concerned with sedimentary rocks deposited during the Cretaceous Period, between about 108 and 83 million years ago in what is now NE British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. At that time, the Prairie region was occupied by a shallow sea that at times connected the Arctic Ocean with the Gulf of Mexico. To the west, the actively-rising Rocky Mountain chain was shedding sediment eastward into the Seaway, building deltas and coastal plains that supported a lush flora of both conifers, and, after about 104 million years ago, a rapidly diversifying assemblage of flowering plants. Environments ranging from the sandy sea shore to inland river valleys and floodplains were inhabited by many types of dinosaur, with hadrosaurs, ankylosaurs, and various theropods being particularly common. These animals are known mainly from the abundant footprints that they left in the sediments; - bones are rarely preserved. The Canadian Shield formed a low-lying land area in northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba that shed sediment westward into the seaway. We have discovered that at one time, a huge delta built out from the eastern shore to completely block the seaway. The mass of the rising Rocky Mountains depressed the crust for about 1000 km to the east, allowing a westward-thickening wedge of sediment to accumulate. Because deposition occurred in shallow water and on low-lying coastal plains, even small changes in sea-level caused lateral shifts in the shoreline position as the water alternately deepened and shallowed. Changes in the rate at which the basin subsided also caused major changes in the position of the ancient shoreline. Shoreline movements can be deduced by studying the vertical succession and lateral distribution of terrestrial, shoreline and offshore sediments. By mapping the distribution of these rock types using abundant exploration borehole data, as well as through outcrop study, it is possible to reconstruct how the geography of the basin evolved, and to assess the relative influence of sea-level (mostly controlled by changing climate), and subsidence or uplift (controlled by plate tectonics), on basin geography.***The Cretaceous rocks of Western Canada provide not only a detailed record of evolving animals, plants, sea-level change and mountain-building, but also a wealth of natural resources, of vital interest to Provincial economies. Marine mudstones deposited in the centre of the seaway contain algal tissues that, with heat, pressure, and time, generated natural gas and petroleum that accumulated in the porous sandy shoreline sediments. Low-lying coastal plains accumulated thick peat deposits that later compacted to high-quality coal, that is of major economic significance in towns like Grande Cache and Tumbler Ridge. **