Use of Sedimentary Structures in the Recognition of Sequence Boundaries in Upper Jurassic–Upper Cretaceous Peritidal Carbonates of the Western Taurides, Turkey

Western North America preserves iconic dinosaur faunas from the Upper Jurassic and Upper Cretaceous, but this record is interrupted by an approximately 20 Myr gap with essentially no terrestrial vertebrate fossil localities. This poorly sampled interval is nonetheless important because it is thought to include a possible mass extinction, the origin of orogenic controls on dinosaur spatial distribution, and the origin of important Upper Cretaceous dinosaur taxa. Therefore, dinosaur-bearing rocks from this interval are of particular interest to vertebrate palaeontologists. In this study, we report on one such locality from Highwood Pass, Alberta. This locality has yielded a multitaxic assemblage, with the most diagnostic material identified so far including ankylosaurian osteoderms and a turtle plastron element. The fossil horizon lies within the upper part of the Pocaterra Creek Member of the Cadomin Formation (Blairmore Group). The fossils are assigned as Berriasian (earliest Cretaceous) in age, based on previous palynomorph analyses of the Pocaterra Creek Member and underlying and overlying strata. The fossils lie within numerous cross-bedded sandstone beds separated by pebble lenses. These sediments are indicative of a relatively high-energy depositional environment, and the distribution of these fossils over multiple beds indicates that they accumulated over multiple events, possibly flash floods. The fossils exhibit a range of surface weathering, having intact to heavily weathered cortices. The presence of definitive dinosaur material from near the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary of Alberta establishes the oldest record of dinosaur body fossils in western Canada and provides a unique opportunity to study the Early Cretaceous dinosaur faunas of western North America.

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Mesozoic and Cenozoic History of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences ◽

10.1139/e71-004 ◽

1971 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 65-84 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Grant A. Bartlett ◽

Leigh Smith

Keyword(s):

Upper Cretaceous ◽

Fine Sand ◽

Upper Jurassic ◽

Oceanic Circulation ◽

Silty Mudstone ◽

Grand Banks ◽

History Of ◽

Depositional Age ◽

Sea Floor Spreading ◽

Lime Muds

Two wells drilled by Pan American in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland gave the first stratigraphic section of Cretaceous and Cenozoic age northeast of Long Island and the only Jurassic and possible Permian sections in the Atlantic Continental Margin of North America.Integrated analysis of lithic and faunal data showed a minimum of seven sequences present. These are Pleistocene, Middle and Upper Miocene, Intra-Eocene, Paleocene and lowest Eocene, Upper Cretaceous, Middle Cretaceous, and Neocomian in age.The rocks range from halite and anhydrite, of possible Permian depositional age, to limestones, in the Upper Jurassic, lower Upper Cretaceous, mid-Eocene and mid-Miocene, and sandstones, which dominate the Neocomian, Upper Eocene, and Middle Miocene. Variable proportions of shale and silty mudstone occur throughout.The microfaunas contain both Tethyan and Boreal elements, and suggest oceanic circulation changes, sea-floor spreading, or both.Depositional environments ranged from subaerial, for the quartz arenites, through very low-land, for stream and swamp deposits, to estuarine, lagoonal, bank and open-shelf warm-marine environments, in which were deposited fine sand to clay-size terrigenous sediment, or, in its absence, skeletal carbonates or lime muds. The first dominant cooling trend appeared in the Late Miocene.All erosional environments of the hiatal episodes appear to have been subaerial and humid.A salt dome intruded the Tors Cove well section, its last movement being in mid-Early Eocene.Periodic interregional tectonic oscillations produced the erosional and depositional episodes of the major baselevel transit cycles. Their total effect is a sedimentary wedge, thickening by preservation toward the continent's edge, and representing one-half or less of Upper Mesozoic and Cenozoic time.

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Analysis of coastal-plain fluvial architecture and high-frequency stacking patterns in the Upper Cretaceous Masuk Formation, Utah, U.S.A.: Climate-driven cyclicity?

Journal of Sedimentary Research ◽

10.2110/jsr.2020.63 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 90 (10) ◽

pp. 1265-1285

Author(s):

Aaron M. Hess ◽

Christopher R. Fielding

Keyword(s):

Coastal Plain ◽

High Frequency ◽

Upper Cretaceous ◽

Alternative Hypothesis ◽

Water Discharge ◽

Short Interval ◽

Directed Dispersal ◽

Composite Channel ◽

Sequence Boundaries ◽

Stacking Patterns

ABSTRACT Most sequence stratigraphic models are based on the premise that relative changes in sea level (RSL) control stacking patterns in continental-margin settings. An alternative hypothesis, however, is that upstream factors, notably variations in relative water discharge (RQW) or the ratio of water to sediment discharge can influence or control stratal stacking patterns in fluvial systems. Sequence boundaries of RQW-driven systems differ from those driven by base-level fluctuations in that: 1) the depth of incision increases updip, and 2) rates of erosion are spatially uniform, leading to the formation of widespread, planar sequence boundaries. This paper presents an architectural and stratigraphic analysis of the well-exposed Masuk Formation of the Henry Mountains Syncline in southern Utah, an Upper Cretaceous coastal-plain fluvial succession that is interpreted to have been influenced significantly by RQW. Six lithofacies are recognized, three (Facies 1–3) recording floodbasin, mire, and (in one short interval) estuarine environments, and three (Facies 4–6) record different kinds of channel fills on a coastal alluvial plain. Seven major composite channel bodies (Facies 4–6), separated by intervals of non-channel deposits (Facies 1–3), are recognized in the stratigraphic interval. Composite channel bodies display planar, sheet-like geometry and are laterally continuous to a significantly greater extent (> 10 km) than would be expected from purely autogenic channel-belt construction. Together, these intervals record a series of high-frequency sequences, formed along the western margin of the Western Interior Seaway. In each individual sequence is a repetitive facies succession from a basal chaotic sandstone with admixed mudrock and sandstone transitioning upward to a more organized cross-bedded and stratified sandstone. This is interpreted to record cyclical changes from a peaked (flashy) discharge regime to a more normal runoff regime. Paleoflow data indicate a dominance of transverse (eastward-directed) dispersal early in the accumulation of the Masuk Formation, shifting to a pattern of greater axial (northward) dispersal over time. The RQW signal is strong in the lower part of the formation, decreasing upward. This suggests that the relatively short-headed streams draining from the rising Sevier fold–thrust belt were strongly influenced by climatic cyclicity, whereas more distally sourced systems were not. This study provides new insights into the architecture and stacking patterns of coastal-plain fluvial successions, emphasizing the plausible role that climate can play in shaping alluvial architecture in the rock record.

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The final closure of the Vardar Ocean: paleomagnetic, AMS and structural results

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-17266 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Emö Márton ◽

Marinko Toljić ◽

Vesna Lesić ◽

Vesna Cvetkov

Keyword(s):

Upper Cretaceous ◽

National Development ◽

Upper Jurassic ◽

Igneous Rocks ◽

Magmatic Activity ◽

Ministry Of Education ◽

Bedding Planes ◽

The Republic ◽

Final Closure ◽

Oceanic Domain

The Vardar zone divides units of African affinity from units of the European margin. It is characterized by extensional opening of an oceanic domain during the Triassic and Jurassic followed by divergent simultaneous obduction of the oceanic litoshphere over the continental units in the Upper Jurassic. However, a stripe of the oceanic domain persisted till the Cretaceous and Paleogene convergence. The remnants of the last closing part of the Vardar ocean are found in the Sava zone.In this paper recently published and new paleomagnetic, AMS results in combination with structural observations will be presented from Upper Cretaceous sediments and Oligocene &#8211;Lower Miocene igneous rocks representing the areas bordering the Sava zone from the western and eastern sides, respectively and from the upper Cretaceous flysch deposited in the Sava zone.In the areas W and E of the Sava zone, respectively, the primary remanences of the igneous rocks point to post-Oligocene CW rotation of about 30&#176;. The sediments carry secondary magnetizations, imprinted during magmatic activity. Compared to the areas flanking it, the sediments of the Sava zone were intensively folded during the Upper Cretaceous and Paleogene and the paleomagnetic signals, which exhibit smeared distribution close to the present N, are of post-folding age. The AMS foliation and bedding planes are sub-parallel, thus the deformation must have been weak. Fold axes and AMS lineations are roughly N-S oriented, pointing to the deformational origin of the AMS lineations. These observations form the Sava zone will be discussed in the context of the post-Oligocene CW rotation of the flanking areas and the general NE-SW orientation of the compressional stress field outside of the zone.Acknowledgement. This work was financially supported by the National Development and Innovation Office of Hungary, project K 128625 and by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia, project 176015.

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Facies analysis and paleosol characterization of Urucuia group in the Sao Domingos - GO region

Revista dos Trabalhos de Iniciação Científica da UNICAMP ◽

10.20396/revpibic262018836 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Leticia Correa ◽

Alessandro Batezelli

Keyword(s):

Biological Activity ◽

Upper Cretaceous ◽

Facies Analysis ◽

Laboratory Analysis ◽

Environmental Reconstruction ◽

Sample Collection ◽

Sedimentary Structures ◽

Areal Distribution ◽

Intracratonic Basin

The Sanfranciscana basin is a wide intracratonic basin sub-divided in Abaeté sub-basin and Urucuia sub-basin which includes four Groups of Neo Paleozoic to Neo Cretaceous ages, among them there is the target of this study, the Urucuia Group (Upper Cretaceous). The Urucuia Group has the largest rock volume and areal distribution of the basin. Its rocks constitute two Formations, the basal named Posse overlaid by Serra das Araras Formation. In a continental environment where there is a few fossil contents, the paleosol study can bring important information about climatic and geomorphologic conditions, and biological activity being possible to do an environmental reconstruction. Therefore, this project aims to elaborate a paleoenvironmental model to the Upper Cretaceous of the Sanfraciscana basin through facies analysis and paleosol characterization. The fieldwork was accomplished in the outcrops of the Urucuia Group situated near to São Domingo (GO) town. Outcrop descriptions, photographic registration, and sample collection to laboratory analysis were the methodology applied. The outcrop description was made by the identification of lithologies, textures, sedimentary structures, paleocurrents, fossil content, bed geometry, as well as paleosol macromorphologic description.

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THE KIMMERIDGIAN MARL IN THE TIMOR SEA: RELEVANCE TO REGIONAL GEOLOGICAL EVOLUTION AND POSSIBLE HYDROCARBON PLAYS

The APPEA Journal ◽

10.1071/aj94011 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

pp. 152

Author(s):

J. D. Gorter ◽

A.S. Kirk

Keyword(s):

Upper Jurassic ◽

Secondary Porosity ◽

Condensed Section ◽

Timor Sea ◽

Time Structures ◽

Sequence Boundaries ◽

Shelf Margin ◽

Tectonic Movements ◽

Lower Kimmeridgian

Lower Kimmeridgian marls in the Sahul Syncline have a distinct seismic character and can be used to define the limits of depocentres, but the reflector is difficult to map in the Vulcan Sub-basin. The top of the carbonate is an unconformity in shelfal areas and on uplifted structures, but in the depocentres, where a distinctive and thin limestone is present at the top of the marls, there is no evidence of missing section. The limestone, which is interpreted to reflect the paraconformity of the 139 Ma Type 1 sequence boundary, consists of the amalgamated condensed highstand overlying the 139.5 Ma condensed section, and the condensed transgressive systems tract of the overlying C. perforans shelf margin wedge.The underlying Upper Jurassic section is an important source interval in the Vulcan Sub-basin and the regional extent of the reflector may approximate the area in which Oxfordian source beds were deposited. Regional isochore mapping may also delineate areas of potential silled, fault-bounded depocentres within the greater Sahul Syncline that were in existence during latest Callovian to early Kimmeridgian time. Structures located within the fetch of these depocentres should be ideally placed to trap migrating hydrocarbons sourced from restricted marine shales of Oxfordian age.Erosion accompanying the 138 Ma lowstand has removed some or all of the marls and the C. perforans sediments from structures uplifted during the contemporaneous mid-Kimmeridgian tectonism. Major sea level falls, probably also associated with tectonic movements at the 136, 135 and 134 Ma sequence boundaries, could have led to further erosion or non-deposition on high blocks. Given sufficient time and suitable lithology, fresh water diagenesis and leaching of these marls may have led to the development of secondary porosity with later sealing by post-Kimmeridgian shales, especially where the interval contains coarser clastics as along the flank of the Flamingo High.

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La geologie de la region montagneuse du Parnasse-Kiona-Oeta [with discussion]

BSGF - Earth Sciences Bulletin ◽

10.2113/gssgfbull.s7-ii.4.398 ◽

1960 ◽

Vol S7-II (4) ◽

pp. 398-409 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Jean Papastamatiou

Keyword(s):

Upper Cretaceous ◽

Upper Jurassic ◽

The Other ◽

Mountain Region ◽

Stratigraphic Sequence ◽

Central Greece ◽

New Discovery

Abstract The stratigraphic sequence in the Parnassus-Kiona-Oeta mountain region, central Greece, consists of Triassic to Paleocene limestones and Flysch deposits. Flysch sedimentation began later (in the Lutetian) in the Oeta massif than elsewhere in the ranges. Three bauxite horizons are reported, one of which is a new discovery (in the upper Jurassic, below the Cladocoropsis limestones); the other two occur in the upper Cretaceous and in the Kimeridgian-Tithonian (Jurassic) boundary. The Parnassus-Kiona zone is thrust westward over the Pindus zone and in turn is overthrust by the sub-Pelagonian series.

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The promise of taphonomy as a nomothetic discipline: taphonomic bias in two dinosaur-bearing faunas in North America

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences ◽

10.1139/cjes-2020-0176 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-18

Author(s):

Connor T. Leach ◽

Emma Hoffman ◽

Peter Dodson

Keyword(s):

Upper Cretaceous ◽

Upper Jurassic ◽

Western United States ◽

Morrison Formation ◽

Faunal Assemblages ◽

Hell Creek Formation ◽

The World ◽

Fossil Preservation ◽

Dinosaur Fossil ◽

Dinosaur Park Formation

The fossil record of dinosaurs is a rich, if biased, one with nearly complete skeletons, partial skeletons, and isolated parts found in diverse, well-studied faunal assemblages around the world. Among the recognized biases are the preferential preservation of large dinosaurs and the systematic underrepresentation of small dinosaurs. Such biases have been quantitatively described in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, where large, nearly complete dinosaurs were found and described early in collecting history and small, very incomplete dinosaurs were found and described later. This pattern, apparently replicated in the Maastrichtian Hell Creek Formation of Montana, is so striking that it begs the question of whether this is a nomothetic principle for the preservation of dinosaur faunas elsewhere. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing the very well-studied dinosaur fauna of the Upper Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) Morrison Formation of the western United States. The Morrison Formation fails to show any correlation between body size and completeness, order of discovery, or order of description. Both large and small dinosaurs of the Morrison include highly complete as well as highly incomplete taxa, and both large and small dinosaurs were discovered and described early in collecting history as well as more recently. The differences in preservation between the Dinosaur Park Formation and the Morrison Formation are so striking that we posit a Dinosaur Park model of dinosaur fossil preservation and a Morrison model. Future study will show whether either or both represent durable nomothetic models for dinosaur fossil preservation.

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Joint modeling of seismic, magnetic and gravimetric data unravels the extent of the Late Cretaceous Magmatic Province on the Estremadura Spur offshore West Iberia

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-571 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Paloma Simões ◽

Marta Neres ◽

Pedro Terrinha

Keyword(s):

Upper Cretaceous ◽

Heat Dissipation ◽

Compressive Strain ◽

Geophysical Methods ◽

Joint Modeling ◽

Upper Jurassic ◽

Alkaline Magmatism ◽

Volcanic Complex ◽

Seismic Profiles ◽

Seismic Reflection Profiles

This work consists on the interpretation of multichannel seismic profiles complemented and supported by gravimetric and magnetic forward modeling, on the region surrounding the underwater volcano Fontanelas (Estremadura Spur, west of Lisbon).The Fontanelas seamount (FSM) is a volcanic cone about 3000 m high from its top to its submerged base that coincides with a strong magnetic anomaly (~350 nT). From dredged samples it is known that it is consists of altered pillow-lavas of ultrabasic and basic alkaline composition (foidites and alkaline basalts) (Miranda et al., 2010). It has been associated with onshore Upper Cretaceous alkaline magmatic events due to its enrichment in incompatible elements and similar isotopic elementary signatures (Miranda et al., 2009 and 2010). The FSM is located halfway between the onshore Sintra intrusive complex and the Tore seamount, between which a 300 km long tectono-magmatic lineament of intrusive/extrusive alkaline bodies of Upper Cretaceous age has been proposed, based on the existence of several other magnetic anomalies (Neres et al., 2014).Magnetic and gravimetric modeling allowed to constrain the location, depth, extension and geometry of the magmatic bodies in the seismic reflection profiles that were used to map and dating the magmatic bodies and tectonic events.The joint modeling of these three geophysical methods (seismic, magnetic and gravimetric) allowed for the production of an integrated tectono-magmatic-sedimentary model of the Estremadura Spur. The existence of a complex volcanic and subvolcanic system in the Estremadura Spur was confirmed, including several intrusive bodies, besides the Fontanelas volcano: sills, secondary volcanic cones, large laccolith-type intrusions in the Upper Jurassic. Some extensional rift faults were used as magma conduits for sills plugs and volcanoes. &#160;Magmatic bodies localized compressive strain during the tectonic inversion of the Lusitanian basin during the Alpine compression.The age of the magmatic bodies is constrained by seismic stratigraphy as prior to the Campanian (83.9 Ma), which allows to associate them with the onshore Upper Cretaceous alkaline magmatic event (Sintra, Sines, Monchique, Lisbon Volcanic Complex, minor intrusive bodies), also correlative of the alkaline magmatism existing offshore along the Madeira-Tore Rise (Merle et al., 2018).This work will be the basis of future studies regarding the heat dissipation from the intrusion of the magmatic bodies over time in order to estimate the temperatures that surrounding rocks have reached.Support by Landmark Graphics Corporation, Oasis Montaj (Geosoft), FCT (project UID/GEO/50019/2019- Instituto Dom Luiz) and DGEG is acknowledged.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Merle, R., et al. (2018). Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 65(5), 591-605. https://doi.org/10.1080/08120099.2018.1471005Miranda R., et al. (2009). Cretaceous Research, 30, Elsevier, 575-586. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2008.11.002.Miranda, R., et al. (2010). In X Congresso de Geoqu&#237;mica dos Pa&#237;ses de L&#237;ngua Portuguesa e XVI Semana de Geoqu&#237;mica, 28 de Mar&#231;o a 1 de Abril de 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.9/1246Neres, M., et al. (2014). Geophysical Journal International, 199(1), 78-101. https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggu250Pereira, R., et al. (2016). Journal of the Geological Society, 174(3), 522-540. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2016-050

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