Integrated Ichnological-Sedimentological Facies Models in a Sequence Stratigraphic Framework

层序地层框架中的综合地质-沉积相模型

• 批准号: RGPIN-2017-04166
• 负责人: Maceachern, James
• 金额: $ 2.33万
• 依托单位: Simon Fraser University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=684302
• 关键词: Integrated; Ichnological; Sedimentological; Facies; Models

Trace fossils, unlike most other fossils, allow an assessment of how animals interacted with their environment while they were alive. In rocks of shallow-marine origin, they comprise one of the most common biological features, yet are relatively understudied. Nothing is more sensitive to changes in the environment and climate than the animals that inhabit them, and so trace fossils provide an unparalleled opportunity to investigate how their responses have operated and changed through time. Animal behaviours, and their resulting trace fossils, vary in response to changes in salinity, physical energy, sediment size, deposition rate, water turbidity, etc., permitting highly detailed interpretations of the ancient sedimentary and environmental record. Correspondingly, this research proposal outlines seven studies that focus on assessing how animal-sediment relations have operated in ancient delta, shoreface/beach, and estuarine settings (paleoenvironments). These paleoenvironments will be assessed with respect to their responses to sea level change, used to establish systems tracts that are fundamental subdivisions of sequence stratigraphy. These shallow-marine environments commonly respond to a complex interplay of river, wave, storm and tidal processes, and are referred to as mixed-process systems.***The studies in this proposal are designed to answer fundamental questions about shallow-marine deposits, how they change along the paleoshoreline (e.g., delta asymmetry, tidally influenced shorefaces), and how they have responded to changing sea level in the past (e.g., accumulation during falling sea level, low sea level, rising sea level, and stable but high sea level). Concomitantly, the studies also provide young scientists the opportunity to acquire much-needed skills in the identification and interpretation of trace fossils and bioturbation (animal-generated) fabrics, and the integration of these data with physical (process-response) sedimentology. Together, these avenues of research yield more accurate interpretations of the origins of ancient sedimentary deposits, enable the spatial mapping of resulting deposits, and provide criteria for recognizing how ancient marginal-marine environments vary along the shoreline and seaward into the basin. The biological and physical characteristics of the these sedimentary successions have a major impact on the distribution and quality of hydrocarbon reservoirs and aquifers.

与大多数其他化石不同，痕迹化石可以让我们评估动物在活着的时候是如何与环境相互作用的。在浅海起源的岩石中，它们构成了最常见的生物特征之一，但研究相对较少。没有什么比栖息在其中的动物对环境和气候的变化更敏感的了，因此，痕迹化石提供了一个无与伦比的机会来研究它们的反应是如何随着时间的推移而运作和变化的。动物行为以及由此产生的化石痕迹会随着盐度、物理能量、沉积物大小、沉积速率、水浑浊度等的变化而变化，从而可以对古代沉积和环境记录进行非常详细的解释。相应地，本研究计划概述了7项研究，重点是评估动物-沉积物关系在古三角洲、滨/滩和河口环境（古环境）中是如何运作的。这些古环境将根据其对海平面变化的响应进行评估，用于建立系统域，作为层序地层学的基本细分。这些浅海环境通常对河流、波浪、风暴和潮汐过程的复杂相互作用作出反应，被称为混合过程系统。***本提案中的研究旨在回答有关浅海沉积物的基本问题，它们如何沿着古海岸线变化（例如，三角洲不对称，潮汐影响的海岸线），以及它们如何响应过去海平面的变化（例如，海平面下降，低海平面，海平面上升和稳定但高海平面期间的积累）。同时，这些研究还为年轻科学家提供了获得鉴定和解释微量化石和生物扰动（动物产生的）结构以及将这些数据与物理（过程响应）沉积学相结合的急需技能的机会。总之，这些研究途径可以更准确地解释古代沉积物的起源，使所产生的沉积物的空间测绘成为可能，并为识别沿海岸线和向海进入盆地的古代边缘海洋环境的变化提供标准。这些沉积序列的生物和物理特征对油气储集层和含水层的分布和质量有重要影响。