Tides, tectronics and sedimentation

沉积岩几乎包含了我们对地球表面历史的唯一记录，并承载着我们几乎所有的石油和地下水资源。在所有沉积沉积物中，积聚在沿海地区的沉积物最为复杂，因为它们几乎受到所有陆地和海洋作用的影响。虽然传统的相和层序地层模型使我们能够以适度的信心和细节识别和解释大多数沿海沉积物，但潮汐环境的模型缺乏复杂性，部分原因是它们被忽视了。之所以出现这种情况，是因为潮汐相模型是最早开发出来的（例如，潮滩模型），而且大多数沿海地带被认为是波浪主导的。然而，潮汐过程在所有海洋海岸环境中都起作用。此外，最近人们认识到，包括阿萨巴斯卡油砂在内的重要碳氢化合物储量存在于潮汐沉积物中；因此，我们必须增加对这一系列复杂的沿海环境的理解。潮汐沉积的解释本身就比波浪主导的层序复杂，因为普遍存在沟槽和相特征的非单调变化（即与水深没有直接关系，但与波浪产生的结构有直接关系）。潮汐沉积物的异石器性质是由于潮汐流的启停性质而产生的，这使得从这些沉积物中提取碳氢化合物非常困难。我建议进行的研究旨在通过对选定的现代和古代沉积物进行独特的综合检查，并辅以实验工作，增加我们对潮汐环境动力学和相结构的基本理解。该研究项目是国际性的，利用了世界各地最好的地方（其中许多是经典遗址），以最大限度地发挥研究的价值。研究领域包括韩国、美国东部的现代矿床，加拿大西部、西班牙、挪威、美国西部的古代矿床。本次研究将培养6名研究生和2-3名博士后。

Sedimentary rocks contain nearly our only record of the history of the Earth's surface, and host almost all of our petroleum and groundwater resources. Of all sedimentary deposits, those that accumulate in the coastal zone are the most complex because they are influenced by virtually all terrestrial and marine processes. While traditional facies and sequence-stratigraphic models allow us to identify and interpret most coastal deposits with at least moderate confidence and detail, those for tidal environments lack sophistication, in part because they have been overlooked. This has occurred because tidal facies models were among the first to be developed (e.g., that for tidal flats), and because most coastal zones are considered to be wave dominated. However, tidal processes operate in all marine coastal settings. Furthermore, it has been recognized recently that significant hydrocarbon reserves, including the Athabasca Oil Sands, occur in tidal deposits; thus, it imperative that we increase our understanding of this complex array of coastal environments. The interpretation of tidal deposits is inherently more complex than that of wave-dominated successions because of pervasive channeling and the non-monotonic changes in facies characteristics (i.e., there is no direct correlation with water depth as there is with wave-generated structures). The heterolithic nature of tidal deposits that occurs because of the stop-start nature of tidal currents makes it very difficult to extract hydrocarbons from such deposits. The research that I propose to undertake is designed to increase our fundamental understanding of the dynamics and facies architecture of tidal environments, by undertaking a unique, integrated examination of selected modern and ancient deposits, supplemented by experimental work. The research program is international in scope, utilizing the very best localities (many of them classic sites) from around the world, in order to maximize the value of the research. Study areas include modern deposits in South Korea and the eastern U.S., and ancient deposits in western Canada, Spain, Norway, and the western U.S. Six graduate students and 2-3 post-doctoral fellows will receive training in the course of this research.