scholarly journals Ice-rafting in lakes in the early Neoproterozoic: dropstones in the Diabaig Formation, Torridon Group, NW Scotland

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-53
Author(s):  
Adrian Hartley ◽  
Bartosz Kurjanski ◽  
Jessica Pugsley ◽  
Joseph Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Lake Levels ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Lateral Distance ◽  
Ice Rafting ◽  
Lake Deposits ◽  
Early Neoproterozoic

A dropstone horizon is described from lake deposits in a palaeo-valley from the c. 1000 Ma Diabaig Formation, Torridon Group, NW Scotland. Dropstones occur in wave-rippled, fine-grained sandstones and siltstones that contain desiccation and syneresis cracks indicative of fluctuating lake levels. Five locally derived dropstones occur at the same horizon over lateral distance of 250 m and display clear evidence of deflection and penetration of laminae at the base, with thinning, onlap and draping of laminae on to clast margins and tops. Mechanisms of dropstone formation are discussed, with ice-rafting considered the most likely explanation. It is suggested that rafting was promoted by cold winters at 35° S in the early Neoproterozoic, possibly in an upland setting. Interpretation of the dropstones as ice-rafted debris provides the first physical record of evidence for ice at the Earth's surface during the late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic.

Subsurface sediment profiles below Point Pelee: indicators of postglacial evolution in western Lake Erie

1998 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-99
Author(s):  
John P Coakley ◽  
Allan S Crowe ◽  
Patrice A Huddart
Keyword(s):  
Lake Levels ◽  
Dune Sand ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Subsurface Sediment ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Western Lake ◽  
Planar Wave ◽  
Point Pelee ◽  
Sediment Data ◽  
Point Pelee National Park

An extensive drilling program, undertaken along the western barrier bar at Point Pelee National Park, Ontario, Canada, yielded considerable subsurface sediment data relevant to the nature and lateral geometry of sedimentary units below the Point Pelee foreland. Four major sedimentary units were identified: a basal clay-rich till, a fine-grained glaciolacustrine sand, a medium-grained sand unit (subdivided into a poorly sorted shoreface sand and an aeolian (dune) sand derived from the shoreface sand), and an organic marsh (gyttja) deposit. The present study confirms the existence of a planar, wave-eroded till surface below the southern portion of Point Pelee at an elevation of approximately 164 m asl. Following this low-water period in the basin, lake levels rose abruptly to an elevation several metres above 172 m asl. This resulted in erosion of the upper part of the glaciolacustrine sand during a later period of stable higher lake levels, perhaps coinciding with the Nipissing flood event (about 4000 BP). This resulted in a planar surface at approximately 169.5 m asl. Several radiocarbon dates on basal gyttja from the marsh (averaging 3200 BP) reflect a subsequent drop in levels to about 2-3 m below present levels. Though undated, the initiation of shoreface and dune sand deposition is roughly coeval with the basal marsh deposits.

Rise of the Erg—Paleontology and paleoenvironments of the Triassic-Jurassic transition in Northeastern Utah

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Brooks Britt ◽  
Daniel Chure
Keyword(s):  
Biological Activity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Theropod Dinosaur ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Chinle Formation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lake Deposits ◽  
Lacustrine Deposit

This field trip focuses on the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic transition in northeastern Utah. This transition records one of the most striking terrestrial environmental transformations in the history of North America, wherein the fluvio-lacustrine Chinle Formation is transgressed by the vast erg system of the Nugget (Wingate+Navajo)/Navajo/Aztec Sandstones. Exposures in northeastern Utah are ideal for studying this transition as they are closely spaced and accessible. The uppermost Chinle Formation beds are lacustrine/fluvial fine-grained sediments which are overlain by increasingly drier, sandy, transitional beds. The non-eolian basal beds of the Nugget Sandstone preserve a Late Triassic ichnofauna, with some sites including Brachychirotherium tracks. Large-scale dune deposits comprise most of the Nugget Sandstone and contain vertebrate (Brasilichnium) tracks and a diverse invertebrate ichnofauna. Interdunal, carbonate, spring mounds, as much as 3 m tall, fed carbonate freshwater lake deposits containing gastropod body fossils and invertebrate ichnofossils. Another lacustrine deposit, located at the Saints & Sinners Quarry, is on the shoreline of a non-carbonate interdunal lake/oasis. Over 11,500 bones have been collected from the site and represent two theropod dinosaur taxa, sphenodonts, sphenosuchians, a pterosaur, and drepanosaurs (with many complete, three-dimensional, articulated skeletons). In addition to bones, dinosaur trackways are also preserved in shoreline and other interdunal beds. The fauna shows that this interdunal area of the Nugget Sandstone was the site of intense biological activity. The drepanosaurs are chronologically significant in that they are restricted globally to the Late Triassic, indicating that at least the lower one-fourth to one-third of the formation is Late Triassic in age.

Geochemical Archives in Lake Deposits

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew S. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Geochemical Data ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Basin Morphometry ◽  
Information Filters ◽  
Chemical Inputs ◽  
Geochemical Profiles ◽  
Short Time ◽  
Lake Deposits

As we saw in chapter 4, the isotopic, elemental, or molecular constituents of a lake and its sediments reflect both external chemical inputs and the lake’s internal biogeochemical cycles. Lake sediment geochemistry is the product of interactions between these external inputs from watershed geology, groundwater, vegetation, and the airshed, and internal lake processes. Both external and internal inputs are heavily influenced by climate, and for the past few thousand years, human activities. With careful consideration of the various information filters affecting their records, geochemists can greatly broaden the scope of questions that can be addressed using paleolimnology. It is of critical importance when interpreting chemical data, that it be placed in the context of other sedimentological or paleontological archives. With modern, automated techniques, it is possible to amass large amounts of geochemical data in a relatively short time, data that can be compiled into deceptively ‘‘simple’’ geochemical profiles. Perhaps more than any other types of indicator, geochemical profiles are often interpreted as standalone records, without reference to petrographical, or even gross lithofacies information. Although it is tempting to read chemical stratigraphies as a direct record of inputs from a watershed or airshed, the signals are blurred by the whole host of messy, internal processes that we have already encountered in the hydroclimate filter: lag and residence time effects, reworking, particle and redox focusing, organismal uptake, and bioturbation. Lake deposits integrate local changes in source conditions, background sedimentation rates, and geochemical focusing processes (Engstrom and Swain, 1986). As a result, different locations within a lake may provide different geochemical histories, and interpretations of an integrated lake history must take into account these internal variations and their probable causes. This is always harder to do with paleolake deposits, where the original basin morphometry and hydrology is obscure. In this chapter we will also consider postdepositional information filters that affect geochemical archives, in particular bioturbation and diagenesis. Because many geochemical components of interest to paleolimnologists are bound to fine-grained particles, they can be readily mixed by bioturbation.

Tabun Khara Obo impact crater, Mongolia: Geophysics, geology, petrography, and geochemistry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsolmon Amgaa ◽  
Dieter Mader ◽  
Wolf Uwe Reimold ◽  
Christian Koeberl
Keyword(s):  
Impact Crater ◽  
Mica Schist ◽  
Surface Mapping ◽  
Planar Deformation ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Eolian Sand ◽  
Deformation Features ◽  
Lake Deposits ◽  
Planar Deformation Features ◽  
Impact Origin

ABSTRACT Tabun Khara Obo is the only currently known impact crater in Mongolia. The crater is centered at 44°07′50″N and 109°39′20″E in southeastern Mongolia. Tabun Khara Obo is a 1.3-km-diameter, simple bowl-shaped structure that is well visible in topography and clearly visible on remote-sensing images. The crater is located on a flat, elevated plateau composed of Carboniferous arc-related volcanic and volcanosedimentary rocks metamorphosed to upper amphibolite to greenschist facies (volcaniclastic sandstones, metagraywacke, quartz-feldspar–mica schist, and other schistose sedimentary rocks). Some geophysical data exist for the Tabun Khara Obo structure. The gravity data correlate well with topography. The −2.5–3 mGal anomaly is similar to that of other, similarly sized impact craters. A weak magnetic low over the crater area may be attributed to impact disruption of the regional trend. The Tabun Khara Obo crater is slightly oval in shape and is elongated perpendicular to the regional lithological and foliation trend in a northeasterly direction. This may be a result of crater modification, when rocks of the crater rim preferentially slumped along fracture planes parallel to the regional structural trend. Radial and tangential faults and fractures occur abundantly along the periphery of the crater. Breccias occur along the crater periphery as well, mostly in the E-NE parts of the structure. Monomict breccias form narrow (<1 m) lenses, and polymict breccias cover the outer flank of the eastern crater rim. While geophysical and morphological data are consistent with expectations for an impact crater, no diagnostic evidence for shock metamorphism, such as planar deformation features or shatter cones, was demonstrated by earlier authors. As it is commonly difficult to find convincing impact evidence at small craters, we carried out further geological and geophysical work in 2005–2007 and drilling in 2007–2008. Surface mapping and sampling did not reveal structural, mineralogical, or geochemical evidence for an impact origin. In 2008, we drilled into the center of the crater to a maximum depth of 206 m, with 135 m of core recovery. From the top, the core consists of 3 m of eolian sand, 137 m of lake deposits (mud, evaporites), 34 m of lake deposits (gypsum with carbonate and mud), 11 m of polymict breccia (with greenschist and gneiss clasts), and 19 m of monomict breccia (brecciated quartz-feldspar–mica schist). The breccias start at 174 m depth as polymict breccias with angular clasts of different lithologies and gradually change downward to breccias constituting the dominant lithology, until finally grading into monomict breccia. At the bottom of the borehole, we noted strongly brecciated quartz-feldspar schist. The breccia cement also changes over this interval from gypsum and carbonate cement to fine-grained clastic matrix. Some quartz grains from breccia samples from 192, 194.2, 196.4, 199.3, 201.6, and 204 m depth showed planar deformation features with impact-characteristic orientations. This discovery of unambiguous shock features in drill core samples confirms the impact origin of the Tabun Khara Obo crater. The age of the structure is not yet known. Currently, it is only poorly constrained to post-Cretaceous on stratigraphic grounds.

scholarly journals Topographically-controlled Deglacial History of the Humber River Basin, Western Newfoundland

2003 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin J. Batterson ◽  
Norm R. Catto
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
River Basin ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Lake Levels ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
The North ◽  
History Of ◽  
Humber River ◽  
Late Wisconsinan

AbstractThe Humber River in western Newfoundland flows through a large interior basin, that influenced Late Wisconsinan ice flow from major dispersal centres to the north, in the Long Range Mountains, and to the east in The Topsails. An early southward ice flow from a source to the north covered coastal areas in the western part of the basin. Subsequent regional ice flow was southwestward to northwestward from The Topsails, while south to southwestward flowing ice from the Long Range Mountains occupied the upper Humber River valley. This flow was confluent with ice from The Topsails and moved northwestward toward Bonne Bay. Regional deglaciation began about 13 ka from the inner coast. Ice occupying the Deer Lake valley dammed glacial Lake Howley in the adjacent Grand Lake and Sandy Lake basins to an elevation up to 85 m above present lake levels, which were controlled by drainage through a western outlet feeding into St. George’s Bay. The lake was lowered by exposure of the South Brook valley outlet, and finally drained catastrophically through a spillway at Junction Brook. Marine limit at the coast was 60 m asl. Inland deltas at the head of Deer Lake and fine-grained sediment exposed in the Deer Lake valley show inundation below 45 m present elevation. This produced a narrow embayment extending at least 50 km inland from the modern coast and is named here as ‘Jukes Arm’. Dated marine macrofossils in the Humber Arm and lower Humber River valley, indicate the deltas at the head of Deer Lake formed about 12.5 ka.

Life in the Late Paleozoic ice age: trace fossils from glacially influenced deposits in a Late Carboniferous fjord of western Argentina

2011 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 502-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth R. Schatz ◽  
María Gabriela Mángano ◽  
Luis A. Buatois ◽  
Carlos Oscar Limarino
Keyword(s):  
Trace Fossils ◽  
Late Carboniferous ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Lower Section ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Storm Waves ◽  
Late Paleozoic Ice Age ◽  
Marine Influence ◽  
Ice Rafting ◽  
Early Late

The early Late Carboniferous rocks of the Guandacol Formation in western Argentina preserve the glacial to postglacial transition. In the study area, this unit has been divided in three intervals: 1) a lower diamictitic interval; 2) a middle interval chiefly composed of mudstone, and 3) an upper sandstone-dominated interval. The lower interval records infill of a fjord incised into the underlying Ordovician limestone. The middle and upper intervals reflect postglacial sedimentation. Four ichnotaxa, occurring as both discrete and compound trace fossils, are documented from the lower and middle intervals of the Guandacol Formation. Diplopodichnus biformis and Cruziana diplopoda n. isp. occur in the thinly bedded stratified diamictite in the upper section of the lower interval. These deposits record sedimentation from debris flows with dropstones reflecting overprinting of ice-rafting and rain-out processes. Cruziana cf. problematica and Rusophycus carbonarius are present in very-fine to fine-grained sandstone layers interbedded with dropstone-bearing mudstone in the lower section of the middle interval. These deposits record the interplay of suspension fall-out sedimentation, ice-rafting, rain-out processes, and storm waves. The presence of linguliformean brachiopods in coeval beds nearby strongly suggests marine influence and that brackish-water conditions prevailed during the early phase of the transgression. Harsh paleoenvironmental conditions may explain the small size of the trace fossils and the low ichnodiversity in comparison to that expected in fully marine environments. The morphology of the trace fossils as bilobate ridges and furrows ornamented with scratch marks indicates that the structures were produced by arthropods, most likely trilobites and/or notostracans. Although the possibility that different ichnotaxa have resulted from changes in burrowing behaviors can not be completely disregarded, the fact that distinct Cruziana ichnospecies display non-overlapping facies distribution may suggest their production by different arthropods.

Lake Agassiz deposits in the main offshore basin of southern Manitoba

1976 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
James T. Teller
Keyword(s):  
Red River ◽  
Sandy Sediment ◽  
Silty Clay ◽  
Lake Levels ◽  
Lake Agassiz ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Red River Valley ◽  
Quaternary Glaciation ◽  
Clayey Silt ◽  
Late Wisconsinan

The lowlands adjacent to the Red River Valley were flooded whenever Quaternary glaciation dammed the northward-draining river systems of the region. The most recent impoundment, referred to as Lake Agassiz, began shortly before 13 500 years BP, as late Wisconsinan ice retreated northward in the Valley for the last time. In southern Manitoba, three fine-grained lacustrine units, numerous beach deposits, and an extensive area of fluvio-lacustrine (deltaic) sediment were deposited in and around the main depositional center of the Lake Agassiz basin during the life of the lake.The oldest offshore deposit of Lake Agassiz (Unit 1) is a silty clay containing ice-rafted clasts of till, clayey silt, and rock. Most of the silty and sandy sediment of the Assiniboine Delta also was deposited at this time. A readvance of ice into the northern and eastern Lake Agassiz basin, about 9800 years ago, caused a new influx of ice-rafted sediment into the offshore silty clays of southern Manitoba. Clast-rich Unit 2 was deposited at this time along the northern and eastern margins of the basin. When the ice retreated from the area shortly after 9800 years BP, lake levels dropped, and siltier, better laminated, and relatively clast-free Unit 3 was deposited. Units 1, 2, and 3 in southern Manitoba are correlated, respectively, with the Brenna Formation, lower part of the Sherack Formation, and upper part of the Sherack Formation of Lake Agassiz in North Dakota and Minnesota. Lake Agassiz deposition continued in southern Manitoba until after 8700 years BP.

scholarly journals Rise of the erg—Paleontology and paleoenvironments of the Triassic-Jurassic transition in Northeastern Utah

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brooks B. Britt ◽  
Daniel J. Chure ◽  
George F. Engelmann ◽  
Jesse Dean Shumway
Keyword(s):  
Biological Activity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Theropod Dinosaur ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Chinle Formation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lake Deposits ◽  
Lacustrine Deposit

This field trip focuses on the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic transition in northeastern Utah. This transition records one of the most striking terrestrial environmental transformations in the history of North America, wherein the fluvio-lacustrine Chinle Formation is transgressed by the vast erg system of the Nugget (Wingate+Navajo)/Navajo/Aztec Sandstones. Exposures in northeastern Utah are ideal for studying this transition as they are closely spaced and accessible. The uppermost Chinle Formation beds are lacustrine/fluvial fine-grained sediments which are overlain by increasingly drier, sandy, transitional beds. The non-eolian basal beds of the Nugget Sandstone preserve a Late Triassic ichnofauna, with some sites including Brachychirotherium tracks. Large-scale dune deposits comprise most of the Nugget Sandstone and contain vertebrate (Brasilichnium) tracks and a diverse invertebrate ichnofauna. Interdunal, carbonate, spring mounds, as much as 3 m tall, fed carbonate freshwater lake deposits containing gastropod body fossils and invertebrate ichnofossils. Another lacustrine deposit, located at the Saints & Sinners Quarry, is on the shoreline of a non-carbonate interdunal lake/oasis. Over 11,500 bones have been collected from the site and represent two theropod dinosaur taxa, sphenodonts, sphenosuchians, a pterosaur, and drepanosaurs (with many complete, three-dimensional, articulated skeletons). In addition to bones, dinosaur trackways are also preserved in shoreline and other interdunal beds. The fauna shows that this interdunal area of the Nugget Sandstone was the site of intense biological activity. The drepanosaurs are chronologically significant in that they are restricted globally to the Late Triassic, indicating that at least the lower one-fourth to one-third of the formation is Late Triassic in age.

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