A sequence stratigraphic framework predicts that time averaging and hiatus durations will be long at times of fastest sea-level rise. This prediction does not necessarily apply to environments where carbonate production keeps up with sea-level rise and where undetected hiatuses decouple short-term from long-term sedimentation rates. The taphonomic clock, however, which measures the residence time of

Since their first occurrence in the late Cretaceous, seagrasses have played a major role in carbonate production and sedimentation across shallow-water and nearshore environments, sustaining a prolific carbonate factory and contributing to sediment accumulation through the combination of baffling and trapping effects. Most reported Palaeogene seagrass occurrences developed in oligo−mesotrophic shallow

A heterolithic tidalite succession yielding spring–neap bundles is newly reported from a mid-Carboniferous (Serpukhovian) section of the Alston Formation of Northumberland, England. The rhythmite records deposition over an interval that can be confidently calibrated to at least 84 lunar days, and attests to a non-negligible tidal range in parts of the Northwest European Seaway in the late Mississippian

Frequency changes in intense typhoons are of great concern to modern society. However, current understanding of the influence of climate on typhoon activity on the millennial scale is restricted by the sparseness of pre-observational reconstructions in the north-western Pacific. This study presents a 5500 year long typhoon record from the Jiangsu coast that provides the first >2 ka record in eastern

Repeated multibeam echo-sounder surveys can provide information on developing stratigraphy over large areas and during periods when environmental conditions are known. In this study, analysis encompasses 13 time-separated multibeam echo-sounder surveys between 2002 and 2010 of a tidal sand ridge in a macrotidal estuary: Nash Sands, a banner bank in the Bristol Channel (UK). Over the surveyed period

The origin of pisoids in a diversity of environments has been recently discussed. While traditionally considered physico-chemical sedimentary products developed in turbulent environments, or even grown in situ, new results show that microbes may influence their development. In the Terma Los Hornos travertine system, two types of actively forming pisoids were recognized: (i) laminated pisoids with a

Porosity is one of the key properties of fluvial sediments. It is defined as the ratio of pore volume to total volume. In river science, porosity is often assumed to be spatially constant, which might be a gross simplification of reality. Ignoring the spatial variations in porosity can cause errors in morphological, ecological, hydrological, hydrogeological and sedimentological applications. Although

Early-diagenetic cementation of tropical carbonates results from the combination of numerous physico-chemical and biological processes. In the marine phreatic environment it represents an essential mechanism for the development and stabilization of carbonate platforms. However, diagenetic cements that developed early in the marine phreatic environment are likely to become obliterated during later stages

Current knowledge of submarine fan deposits has historically relied heavily on qualitative field and subsurface observations and interpretations, but recent studies using statistical analyses have enhanced the understanding of submarine fan sub-environments, including the degree of confinement, stratigraphic patterns and potential control factors. The purpose of this study is to improve the quantitative

Radish concretions exhibit a typical columnar to pear-shaped, stipe downward geometry. In Middle Jurassic mudrock in south-west Germany, radish concretions started to form around an iron-sulphide lined tube by pervasive cementation constituting an ellipsoidal parent domain in uncompacted sediment at burial depths of ≤5 to 8 m as recorded by 75 to 80% minus-cement porosity. Thereafter, the concretions

Transport of continental shelf sediments to the deep ocean can be studied from displaced symbiont-bearing larger benthic foraminifera found in turbidity current deposits. The larger benthic foraminifera habitat depth, physical characteristics and preservation serve as indicators for understanding sediment transport dynamics near the seabed and in the water column. Here, an experiment was designed to

Equilibrium sediment transport is the condition of zero net entrainment and deposition by sediment-transporting flow (i.e. grade or regime). Here criteria for equilibrium sediment transport, or those used as proxies for equilibrium (for example, onset of erosion, onset of particle setting or suppression of turbulence) for dilute, suspended-load-dominated, turbidity currents, are tested against laboratory

This paper regards the lower Pleistocene temperate-water carbonate deposits disconformably overlying an escarpment made up of faulted Cretaceous to Miocene limestones of the Apulia Foreland (southern Italy). Study deposits discontinuously crop out along the present-day eastern Salento sea cliff, and form isolated fan-shaped bodies, up to 1 kilometre wide and up to 40 to 50 metres thick, each of them

Understanding how carbonate factories influence platform evolution is either based on qualitative conceptual models or quantitative numerical stratigraphic forward models. This study establishes new production depth profiles for four Cenozoic carbonate factories and uses two-dimensional stratigraphic forward models to explore how interactions between sediment production and transport within carbonate

Intertidal meanders developed on salt marshes are known to expand and produce inclined heterolithic stratification rich in fine-grained sediments and to bear evidence for rhythmic deposition in the upper part of the inner meander bend(i.e. the upper part of the point bar). This occurs because the lower point-bar deposits are washed by strong currents, which remove mud drapes and develop discontinuous

Modern microfossil distributions reflect site-specific habitats and provide an opportunity to assess sediment transport pathways in the nearshore environment. When applied to overwash deposits in the geological record, they provide insight into sediment provenance and transport, factors important for understanding patterns of frequency and intensity of past storms and tsunamis. Modern distribution

A modern lithifying biofilm, associated with fluvial calcareous tufa in southern Italy, is composed of a complex community of micro-organisms including autotrophic and heterotrophic bacteria, together with likely viruses (bacteriophages) and bacterial vesicles. Produced by most of the bacterial forms, extracellular polymeric substances are widespread and are the main sites of mineral precipitation

Meander cutoffs and oxbow lakes are very common features of fluvial landscapes that add complexity and diversity to floodplain alluvial architecture and riverine habitats. Following initial cutoff, sediment accumulates within the entrance and exit of the original bend forming plugs that eventually disconnect the abandoned bend from the main channel. While studies have examined the sedimentology of

Forced-regressive conditions have been widely described by sequence-stratigraphic conceptual models, and the resulting deposits have been widely documented in sequences and parasequences. However, how forced-regressive conditions might impact on the short-term to mid-term evolution and the high-resolution stratigraphic record (102 to 105 kyr) of barred shoreline environments represents an unexplored

This work evaluates an exceptionally complex natural laboratory, the Middle Triassic Latemar isolated platform in the northern Italian Dolomite Mountains and explores spatial and temporal gradients in processes and products related to contact metamorphism, dolomitization and dedolomitization of marine limestones. The relation between petrographic change and re-equilibration of geochemical proxy data

End-member modelling analysis (EMMA) is a statistical approach to unmixing multimodal grain-size distributions to identify and quantify processes of sediment generation, transport and deposition. While the different computational implementations have been extensively benchmarked and show similarly high reliability characteristics, there is a series of unknowns regarding the applicability, quality and

To better understand the sedimentary facies of tide-dominated deltas, a core dataset from the Ba Lai palaeochannel in the Mekong River Delta was obtained and studied. Nine sedimentary facies were identified and interpreted as representing the Late Holocene evolution of the Ba Lai palaeochannel, including its pre-abandonment and post-abandonment phases, as well as its pre-channel phases. The channel

Lofer cyclothems of the Alpine Upper Triassic have many features in common with Holocene sediments of Florida Bay. The modal ‘complete’ Lofer cycle is essentially symmetrical, having a deepening and shoaling phase, as does the cycle-in-progress in Florida Bay. Lateral discontinuity and thickness variations within members of the Lofer cyclothems indicate syn-depositional relief, possibly in the form

The origin of early marine cements is still being debated as either abiotic, triggered by evaporation and CO2 degassing, or microbially-mediated. In particular, micritic envelopes and micritic meniscus cements have been proposed to be microbially-mediated but the microbial community and the resulting organomineralization processes have rarely been documented. Herein, scanning electron microscopy and

Contributions of abiotic and biotic processes on travertine deposition are still not well-understood due to technical difficulties, despite that the travertines draw attention as analogues for ancient microbial carbonates and oil reservoirs. To evaluate their contributions, this study examined eight hot springs in Japan. Water chemistry analyses showed common downstream trends: a decrease in CO2 concentration

Although carbonate ramps are widely described from the geological record, there is still a debate on the relative influence of water temperature, trophic conditions and type of carbonate factories on their development. The ca 2400 km long Australian North West Shelf is among the largest Cenozoic carbonate provinces worldwide, and records a transition from an early Miocene ramp to a middle Miocene rimmed

Marine red beds are usually interpreted as indicating water column oligotrophy, good bottom-water oxygenation and redox conditions. Lower Devonian successions of the Prague Basin, Czechia, exhibit a distinct centimetre to metre-scale alternation of layers of marine red beds, grey carbonates, marls and black shales. In order to understand why the redox potential fluctuated so rapidly, reflectance spectroscopy

Sabkhas are key landforms along the southern coast of the Arabian Gulf and represent modern analogues for depositional and diagenetic processes controlling properties and quality of ancient hydrocarbon-bearing carbonates. While previous investigations of coastal sabkhas in Qatar have mainly focused on dolomitization processes, presented here is one of the first studies reconstructing facies changes

This paper helps to address the growing need to resolve the severe loss of deltaic lands by providing a new understanding for shallow-water digitate delta growth. The integration of satellite image analysis of modern deltas, field studies of the Ganjiang Delta in the Poyang Lake and ‘Delft3D’ simulations further results in improved facies models for shallow-water digitate deltas. These analyses show

This paper examines how non-marine thrombolites are formed through a complex, multiphase process of microbial framework construction, erosion, cementation, recrystallization and episodes of internal sedimentation. Recognition of such phases of thrombolite construction provides a framework for the interpretation of the fluctuating environmental conditions leading to their formation. Microbialite frameworks

In part composed of Mg calcite and dolomite with a nearly continuous spectrum of MgCO3 contents, carbonates forming at marine methane seeps are ideal candidates to study the formation of early diagenetic dolomite at surface conditions. Laboratory experiments, modelling and the co-variation of mineralogical and geochemical attributes of seep carbonates suggest that sulphide – locally released from sulphate-driven

Morphology is one of the principal driving forces governing the sedimentology and evolution of delta-canyon-fan systems. However, quantified and systematic studies of morphological controls are still very limited. This study applied hydraulic-based stratigraphic forward modelling to investigate the impacts of morphological parameters on sediment budget partitioning and channel network of delta-canyon-fan

Sedimentary systems respond to environmental forcings in dissimilar ways over different timescales. The Lake Malawi (Nyasa) Rift is an ideal natural laboratory for evaluating the overall functioning of lacustrine source-to-sink systems on orbital or younger scales. These closed sedimentary systems exhibited high spatiotemporal climate variability, and their responses to two late Pleistocene lake-level

Little is known about the evolution and gradual abandonment of the fluvial channel and associated sedimentary architecture preserved in the ancient sedimentary rock record. This research aims to analyze the changes and evolution of a gradually abandoned fluvial valley and associated within-channel deposits and architecture from the rock record. This is achieved through detailed photogrammetry, outcrop

This article presents a detailed petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical study of clay, silt, sand and fine gravel generated in the Paraná–Etendeka large igneous province, once united and today exposed in contrasting climatic and orographic conditions on conjugate sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The comparison between low-relief wetter Uruguay and steeper hyper-dry Namibia allows to investigate the

Incised valley fills are complex as they correspond to multiple sea-level cycles which makes interpretation and correlation of stratigraphic surfaces fraught with uncertainty. Despite numerous studies of the stratigraphy of incised valley fills, few have focused on extensive core coverage linked to high fidelity dating in a macro-tidal, tide-dominated settings. For this study nineteen sediment cores

Three Holocene tufas from Gran Canaria volcanic island were studied with the aim of deciphering their sedimentary evolution through space and time. Las Temisas tufa (south-eastern arid part of the island) is dominantly composed of oncoids, intraclasts, phytoclasts, coated stems, minor thin stromatolites, and a high amount of siliciclastics. It was deposited in a fluvial system with variable flow velocities

The dynamics of river bedforms is still not well understood and detailed experimental investigation may provide significant insight into the process mechanisms. In this study, results are presented for a laboratory experiment that returned long time series of sediment kinematics for bed-load dunes. The run was performed in a closed conduit but, in the light of prior literature, the results are also

Changes in sedimentary profiles and stratigraphic architecture over time in lake basins are shown to be relevant markers of climate changes in terrestrial palaeoenvironments. The stratigraphic architecture of the Priabonian (late Eocene)–early Rupelian (early Oligocene) Alès–Saint-Chaptes–Issirac saline lake system has been reconstructed from the sedimentological, biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic

The Changjiang (i.e. the Yangtze River) debouches a huge amount of sediment to the East China Sea and exerts a significant effect on the evolution of the down-drift Qiantang River system. This study quantitatively documents the temporal change in the import of Changjiang sand and mud to the late Quaternary Qiantang River incised valley by establishing separate mixing models based on zircon U-Pb ages

Early Triassic temperatures were some of the hottest of the Phanerozoic, sea-surface temperatures approached 40°C, with profound consequences for both the sedimentology and faunal distributions in the oceans. However, the impact of these temperatures in terrestrial settings is unclear. This study examines shallow lacustrine sediments from the Lower Triassic succession of North China. These consist

Rock outcrops of the sedimentary–stratigraphic record often reveal bedding planes that can be considered to be true substrates: preserved surfaces that demonstrably existed at the sediment–water or sediment–air interface at the time of deposition. These surfaces have high value as repositories of palaeoenvironmental information, revealing fossilized snapshots of microscale topography from deep time

Shoal-water deltaic systems are predominant during the deposition of the second member of the Eocene Shahejie Formation (Es2) in the Dongying Depression, Bohai Bay Basin, China, and their presence is ascribed to low slopes, shallow water bodies and extremely slow tectonic subsidence. Integrated analyses of sedimentological, seismic geomorphological, palaeohydraulic, palynological and element-geochemical

Accumulations of fine sediments along continental shelf and deep-sea bathymetric contours, known as contourite drifts, form a sedimentary record that is dependent on oceanographic processes such as ocean–basin-scale circulation. A tool used to aid in interpretation of such deposits is the sortable silt hypothesis, which suggests that the mean size of the sortable silt (silt from 10 to 63 μm) within

The identification of the factors triggering continental environmental changes at the Permian–Triassic transition is of general interest as they allow a better understanding of the most controversial mass extinction of the Phanerozoic. This study investigates the environmental response to external forcings on continental successions at the south-east-margin of the Central European Basin System in Germany

Turbidites have been regarded as an important sedimentary infilling component in both oceans and lakes, but limited studies have been performed on the mechanisms governing the initiation and development of lacustrine turbidite systems. The present study offers unique insight into the controls and potential extent of ancient lacustrine turbidite systems by an investigation of the Triassic Ordos Lake

Deep-sea sediments record palaeoenvironmental and oceanographic changes over time through variations in their magnetochemical and sedimentological properties. This study presents the Late Quaternary sedimentary reconstruction of three sediment cores extracted from a source-to-sink sedimentary system located in a high marginal platform of the north-west Iberian Margin. The aim of this reconstruction

Petrographic and in situ geochemical analyses were carried out on cores of the fluvial sandstone (<50 to >4 mm; sublithic quartz arenite) dominated Tithonian Jeanne d’Arc Formation interval from wells C-09 and E-79 of the Terra Nova oilfield to understand diagenetic control on reservoir quality of the formation. Lithic clasts are dominantly carbonates and shales. Successively, early near-surface dolomite

Understanding of morphodynamic processes associated with large-scale floods has recently improved following significant advances of modern technologies. Nevertheless, a clear link between flood discharge and in-channel sedimentation processes remains to be resolved. The hydrological and geomorphological data available for the meandering Powder River (Montana, USA) since 1977 makes it a perfect laboratory

Chondrodonta is an opportunistic, oyster-like bivalve, common in shallow-water carbonates of the Cretaceous Tethyan Realm. Despite its high abundance and widespread geographic distribution, the precise relationship between the early Aptian proliferation and environmental perturbations resulting from the Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE1a), has not been investigated. Stratigraphic and geochemical analyses

The identification and distinction of fluvial from lacustrine deposits and the recognition of catchment changes are crucial for the reconstruction of climate changes in terrestrial environments. The investigated drill core succession shows a general evolution from red–brown claystones to white–grey marlstones and microcrystalline limestones, which all have previously been considered as relict deposits

Idealized facies of bottom current deposits (contourites) have been established for fine-grained contourite drifts in modern deep-marine sedimentary environments. Their equivalent facies in the ancient record however are only scarcely recognized due to the weathered nature of most fine-grained deposits in outcrop. Facies related to the erosional elements (i.e. contourite channels) of contourite depositional

Sedimentological studies of modern halites have focused on shallow water to subaerially-exposed saline pans, where in-place crystal growth, dissolution and cementation textures dominate. Clastic halite transported and deposited by waves and unidirectional currents as bedload is poorly known. This paper: (i) describes and interprets the diagnostic sedimentary features of clastic halite from a modern

Large sediment masses are transferred over many hundreds of kilometres along the coast of passive continental margins worldwide. The relevance of such a phenomenon for source-to-sink studies, environmental issues, and coastal management remains largely unperceived. This study traces the paths of volcaniclastic sand along ca 2170 km of the Argentine coast and documents a 760 km long cell of littoral

Limestone–marl alternations are commonly used for high-resolution cyclostratigraphic studies and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, but diagenetic studies indicate that not all limestone–marl alternations reflect genuine differences in the initial sediment composition driven by environmental changes. Differences in the ratios of diagenetically inert trace elements between limestones and marls indicate

Liquefaction can cause deformation of unconsolidated sediment, but specific processes involved and the trigger mechanisms often remain obscured. This study describes multiple deformed sediment layers in a succession of lacustrine sand, silt and clay deposited during the Marine Isotope Stage 5d in north-western Lithuania. The deformation structures (load casts, pseudonodules, ball-and-pillow structures

Submarine channels deliver globally important volumes of sediments, nutrients, contaminants and organic carbon into the deep sea. Knickpoints are significant topographic features found within numerous submarine channels, which most likely play an important role in channel evolution and the behaviour of the submarine sediment-laden flows (turbidity currents) that traverse them. Although prior research

Microplastic pollution has been reported from coral reef systems all over the tropics. Exposure to microplastics has several negative impacts on coral health, such as bleaching, tissue necrosis, or an impairment of the coral’s immune system. Despite this potential risk for reef systems, the controlling processes for microplastics dispersion and accumulation in reef sediments are still largely under-studied

Monitoring of modern deep-water channels has revealed how migrating channel-floor features generate and remove stratigraphy, improving understanding of how channel morphologies relate to their deposits. Here, seafloor and subsurface data are reconciled through an integrated study of high-resolution bathymetry and three-dimensional seismic data imaging a ca 150 km stretch of the trench-axial Hikurangi

Sediments deposited by glacial meltwaters (for example, ice-contact delta deposits) form permeable packages in the subsurface that can act as reservoirs for both water and hydrocarbons. They are also an important source of aggregate for the construction industry. As reservoirs they are challenging to characterize in terms of their structure, flow and storage properties due to their complex depositional