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: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=710492
• 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，痕迹化石可以评估动物在活着时如何与其环境相互作用。 在浅海成因的岩石中，它们是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如何随着时间的推移而运作和变化。动物行为及其产生的痕迹化石会随着盐度、物理能量、沉积物大小、沉积速率、水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高度详细的解释。相应地，本研究提案概述了七项研究，重点评估动物与沉积物关系如何在古代三角洲、海岸/海滩和河口环境（古环境）中发挥作用。这些古环境将根据其对海平面变化的响应进行评估，用于建立作为层序地层学基本细分的系统域。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做出反应，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、潮汐影响的岸面），以及它们如何响应过去的海平面变化（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）。与此同时，这些研究还为年轻科学家提供了获得痕量化石和生物扰动（动物产生的）结构的识别和解释以及将这些数据与物理（过程响应）沉积学相结合方面急需的技能的机会。总之，这些研究途径可以对古代沉积物的起源进行更准确的解释，能够对所得沉积物进行空间测绘，并为识别古代边缘海洋环境如何沿着海岸线和向海进入盆地变化提供标准。这些沉积层序的生物和物理特征对油气藏和含水层的分布和质量具有重大影响。