We analyze sediment texture, rock-magnetic, and depth-rank time series of meso-scale deltas and interpret the results in terms of autogenic depositional processes and exogenic forcings. As an analogue for natural deltas, this study leverages a semi-controlled environment where the deltas prograde rapidly into quarry settling ponds over decadal time spans and have compensation times on the order of ~2.4 months. The distal parts of two deltas were cored with a Geoprobe to a depth of 8.4 m. Recovery ranged from 30% to 70%, that we model as either sediment compaction or missing section (unconformities). The compaction model allows us to generate a complete time series of a decompacted section whereas the unconformity model allows us to consider the impact of significant periods of missing time. The cores were analyzed every 2 cm for magnetic susceptibility as well as grain size, texture, color, pebble content, and organic content, all of which contribute to an overall relative depth and textural ranking. Multi-taper method red-noise modeling of the time series using Astrochron identifies frequencies which rise above a 99% confidence level. The power spectra show a range of peaks, many of which fall below the compensation time and are disregarded. A significant periodicity of 2.6 months emerges in the compaction model. In the unconformity model, a peridocity of 2.6 months and also longer periodicities of 3.5 and 6 months emerge. These seasonal-scale periodicities are similar to those in regional precipitation data (4.4, 3.1, and 2.6 months) and suggest that exogenic forcing, in this case from precipitation that impacts both discharge in the source and water depth of the settling pond, are strong enough to be encoded in the sediments. Meso-scale studies of depositional systems such as these quarry deltas provide a bridge between small-scale analogue models and natural source to sink systems that we are in the process of sampling to further test our approach.
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Distinguishing multi-decadal, quasi-periodic autogenic processes from external forcings in deltaic stratigraphy
Periodic external environmental forcings, typically operating at Milankovitch frequencies, are known to be encoded in sediments and sedimentary rocks, but sub-Milankovitch frequencies are more difficult to recognize, in part because of temporal overlap with autogenic processes. Here we use luminescence geochronology and rock-magnetic and lithostratigraphic-based cyclostratigraphy to investigate sub-Milankovitch periodicity in three high sedimentation rate deltas located in diverse tectonic and climatic settings. The Sciota kame delta in tectonically stable eastern Pennsylvania (USA) was deposited at a rate of ~2.5 cm/yr over ~1 kyrs and has a concentration of magnetic spectral power at ~53 cm, corresponding to a ~22 yr period. Lacking a subaerial fluvial catchment, periodicity in this delta is necessarily restricted to depositional processes or ice-wasting discharge fluctuations. Similarly, the Provo-stage Lake Bonneville High Creek delta (Utah, USA) was deposited at a rate of ~3 cm/yr over ~3 kyrs. It displays meter-scale coarsening-up bedsets interpreted as decadal-scale discharge variations during foreset propagation. Unlike the Sciota kame, the High Creek delta is fed by a subaerial catchment with little storage that supported a small cirque glacier during the LGM. The High Creek delta also aggraded in the subsiding hanging wall of the East Cache Valley fault and experienced at least one syn-depositional earthquake. Lastly, The Pagliara delta (northeast Sicily, Italy) was deposited at a rate of ~3 cm/yr in the rapidly uplifting footwall of a coastal seismogenic normal fault. This delta has a concentration of magnetic susceptibility spectral power at ~60 cm corresponding to a ~20 yr period. A multi-decadal periodicity emerges in all three deltas, despite the variable catchment, climate, and tectonic setting. We interpret this as representing a quasi-periodic, autogenic depositional process possibly related to distributary channel switching. However, differences in the rock-magnetic power spectra and lithostratigraphy of the Pagliara and High Creek deltas respectfully, indicates that sub-Milankovitch external forcings in the catchments, including tectonics, are also encoded in the delta stratigraphy.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1904262
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10325666
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- AGU Fall Meeting
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract How tectonic forcing, expressed as base level change, is encoded in the stratigraphic and geomorphic records of coupled source‐to‐sink systems remains uncertain. Using sedimentological, geochronological and geomorphic approaches, we describe the relationship between transient topographic change and sediment deposition for a low‐storage system forced by rapid rock uplift. We present five new luminescence ages and two terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide paleo‐erosion rates for the late Pleistocene Pagliara fan‐delta complex and we model corresponding base level fall history and erosion of the source catchment located on the Ionian flank of the Peloritani Mountains (NE‐Sicily, Italy). The Pagliara delta complex is part of the broader Messina Gravel‐and‐Sands lithostratigraphic unit that outcrops along the Peloritani coastal belt as extensional basins have been recently inverted by both normal faults and regional uplift at the Messina Straits. The deltas exposed at the mouth of the Pagliara River have constructional tops at ca. 300 m a.s.l. and onlap steeply east‐dipping bedrock at the coast to thickness between ca. 100 and 200 m. Five infrared‐stimulated luminescence (IRSL) ages collected from the delta range in age from ca. 327 to 208 ka and indicate a vertical long‐term sediment accumulation rate as rapid as ca. 2.2 cm/yr during MIS 7. Two cosmogenic10Be concentrations measured in samples of delta sediment indicate paleo‐erosion rates during MIS 8–7 near or slightly higher than the modern rates of ca. 1 mm/yr. Linear inversion of Pagliara fluvial topography indicates an unsteady base level fall history in phase with eustasy that is superimposed on a longer, tectonically driven trend that doubled in rate from ca. 0.95 to 1.8 mm/yr in the past 150 ky. The combination of footwall uplift rate and eustasy determines the accommodation space history to trap the fan‐deltas at the Peloritani coast in hanging wall basins, which are now inverted, uplifted and exposed hundreds of metres above the sea level.
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We adapted the coupled ocean-sediment transport model to the northern Gulf of Mexico to examine sediment dynamics on seasonal-to-decadal time scales as well as its response to decreased fluvial inputs from the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River. Sediment transport on the shelf exhibited contrasting conditions in a year, with strong westward transport in spring, fall, and winter, and relatively weak eastward transport in summer. Sedimentation rate varied from almost zero on the open shelf to more than 10 cm/year near river mouths. A phase shift in river discharge was detected in 1999 and was associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event, after which, water and sediment fluxes decreased by ~20% and ~40%, respectively. Two sensitivity tests were carried out to examine the response of sediment dynamics to high and low river discharge, respectively. With a decreased fluvial supply, sediment flux and sedimentation rate were largely reduced in areas proximal to the deltas, which might accelerate the land loss in down-coast bays and estuaries. The results of two sensitivity tests indicated the decreased river discharge would largely affect sediment balance in waters around the delta. The impact from decreased fluvial input was minimum on the sandy shoals ~100 km west of the Mississippi Delta, where deposition of fluvial sediments was highly affected by winds.more » « less
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null (Ed.)ABSTRACT The stratigraphic record of Cenozoic uplift and denudation of the Himalayas is distributed across its peripheral foreland basins, as well as in the sediments of the Ganges–Brahmaputra Delta (GBD) and the Bengal–Nicobar Fan (BNF). Recent interrogation of Miocene–Quaternary sediments of the GBD and BNF advance our knowledge of Himalayan sediment dispersal and its relationship to regional tectonics and climate, but these studies are limited to IODP boreholes from the BNF (IODP 354 and 362, 2015-16) and Quaternary sediment cores from the GBD (NSF-PIRE: Life on a tectonically active delta, 2010-18). We examine a complementary yet understudied stratigraphic record of the Miocene–Pliocene ancestral Brahmaputra Delta in outcrops of the Indo-Burman Ranges fold–thrust belt (IBR) of eastern India. We present detailed lithofacies assemblages of Neogene delta plain (Tipam Group) and intertidal to upper-shelf (Surma Group) deposits of the IBR based on two ∼ 500 m stratigraphic sections. New detrital-apatite fission-track (dAFT) and (U-Th)/He (dAHe) dates from the Surma Group in the IBR help to constrain maximum depositional ages (MDA), thermal histories, and sediment accumulation rates. Three fluvial facies (F1–F3) and four shallow marine to intertidal facies (M1–M4) are delineated based on analog depositional environments of the Holocene–modern GBD. Unreset dAFT and dAHe ages constrain MDA to ∼ 9–11 Ma for the Surma Group, which is bracketed by intensification of turbidite deposition on the eastern BNF (∼ 13.5–6.8 Ma). Two dAHe samples yielded younger (∼ 3 Ma) reset ages that we interpret to record cooling from denudation following burial resetting due to a thicker (∼ 2.2–3.2 km) accumulation of sediments near the depocenter. Thermal modeling of the dAFT and dAHe results using QTQt and HeFTy suggest that late Miocene marginal marine sediment accumulation rates may have ranged from ∼ 0.9 to 1.1 mm/yr near the center of the paleodelta. Thermal modeling results imply postdepositional cooling beginning at ∼ 8–6.5 Ma, interpreted to record onset of exhumation associated with the advancing IBR fold belt. The timing of post-burial exhumation of the IBR strata is consistent with previously published constraints for the avulsion of the paleo-Brahmaputra to the west and a westward shift of turbidite deposition on the BNF that started at ∼ 6.8 Ma. Our results contextualize tectonic controls on basin history, creating a pathway for future investigations into autogenic and climatic drivers of behavior of fluvial systems that can be extracted from the stratigraphic record.more » « less
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Abstract Tide‐influenced deltas are among the largest depositional features on Earth and are ecologically and economically important as they support large populations. However, the continued rise in relative sea level threatens the sustainability of these landscapes and calls for new insights on their morphological response. While field studies of ancient deposits allow for insight into delta evolution during times of eustatic adjustment, tide‐influenced deltas are notoriously hard to identify in the rock record. We present a suite of physical experiments aimed at investigating the morphological response of tide‐influenced deltas subject to relative sea‐level rise. We show that increasing relative tidal energy changes the response of the delta because tides effectively act to remove fluvially deposited sediment from the delta topset. This leads to enhanced transgression, which we quantify via a new methodology for comparing shoreline transgression rates based on the concept of a ‘transgression anomaly’ relative to a simple reference case. We also show that stronger tidal forcing can create composite deltas where distinct land‐forming processes dominate different areas of the delta plain, shaping characteristic morphological features. The net effect of tidal action is to enhance seaward transfer of bedload sediment, resulting in greater shoreline transgression compared to identical, yet purely fluvial, deltaic systems that exhibit static or even regressive shorelines. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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