Turbidites and Submarine Fans

By Jesse Powers

http://pangea.stanford.edu/research/SPODDS/Public/chingueOverview.jpg

Outline
Turbidites
Description Environment Submarine Fans Lithology Bouma Sequence Structures
Graded Beds Cross Beds Convoluted Laminations Channel Scours

Case Study: Bald Mt

http://www.albion.edu/geology/gif/uk/uk_34.gif&imgrefurl

Turbidites
Defined as the deposit of a turbidity current Typically associated with Deep ocean environments Each Couplet is the result of a single shot-lived event

http://www.maine.gov/doc/nrimc/mgs/explore/bedrock/sites/mar01-3.htm

http://www.enres.nl/Images/turbidites.jpg

Couplets are composed of two rocktypes: Arenites (sandstone) and lutites (mudstones) Tops are easily determined within turbidite facies

Depositional Environment

http://www.mie.utoronto.ca/labs/lcdlab/biopic/fig/57.11.jpg

Submarine Fans
Similar to alluvial fans, submarine fans are gravity feed debris flows down the continental slope Stretch for hundreds of miles out into the abyssal plane and can contain hundreds of cubic ft. of sediment Consist of olistholiths, olistostromes, and trubidites
http://www.letras.up.pt/geograf/geofis/turbidites.JPG

http://instruct.uwo.ca/earth-sci/200a-001/07turbidity.jpg

Congo River
Congo, Africa

http://www.aquatic.uoguelph.ca/oceans/AtlanticOceanWeb/Images/grand_banks.jpg http://eur.i1.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/ng/mo/allocine_films/20060405/01/3345713940.jpg

Magdalena River
Columbia, South America

http://www.poledakar.org/IMG/gif/africa_congo.gif

http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t287/T287810A.jpg
http://www.cimcool.ca/html/columbia/images/SouthAmerica_Colombia_000.jpg

Bouma Sequence
A E D C B Muds (pelagic and hemipelagic) Laminated Silts Cross Beds (lower flow regime) Laminated sands (upper flow regime) A Graded beds (upper flow regime) Sole Marks (flutes and grooves)

http://csmres.jmu.edu/geollab/fichter/SedRx/subfan.html

Graded Bedding
A fining upward within a individual layer or couplet

http://www.winona.edu/geology/MRW/mrwimages/gradedbedding.jpg

http://www.maine.gov/doc/nrimc/mgs/explore/bedrock/sites/mar01-4.htm

Cross Laminations

http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/Magazines/images/252crossbed_dia.jpg

Convoluted Laminations

http://www.depauw.edu/acad/geosciences/tcope/SedStruct/HiRes/ConvoluteClimbingRipples.jpg

Channel Scours

http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/geolsci/dlr/laingsburg/lng21.JPG

Rip-up clasts

http://instruct.uwo.ca/earth-sci/200a-001/423stobiestaur.jpg

Bald Mt.

Devonian ~400ma

NW

SE
Silurian ~440ma

 Bald Mt. part of Day Mt. formation, a sub-group of the Seboomook formation Couplets have been metamorphosed into metagreywackes and garnet- staurolite- schists

http://www.maine.gov/doc/nrimc/mgs/explore/bedrock/sites/mar01-2.htm

 Later deformation of the strata lead to present structures

Variety of bed thicknesses along the Mt. possibly suggest different depositional depths? Or thinning due to metamorphism?