The functioning of sediment routing systems using a mass balance approach: Example from the Eocene of the southern Pyrenees

Journal of Geology

Volumn 121, Issue 6, 2013, Pages 581-606

  Michael, Nikolas A ^a   Whittaker, Alexander C ^a   Allen, Philip A ^a  

^a IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEPOSITION; DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT; EOCENE; FRACTIONATION; GRAIN SIZE; MASS BALANCE; PROVENANCE; SEDIMENT ANALYSIS; SEDIMENT BUDGET; SOURCE ROCK; SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION;

PYRENEES;

EID: 84886872731     PISSN: 00221376     EISSN: 15375269     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/673176     Document Type: Article

References (89)

1. Allen, P. A. 2008a. From landscapes into geological history. Nature 451:274-276.
2. Allen, P. A. 2008b. Time scales of tectonic landscapes and their sediment routing systems. In Gallagher, K.; Jones, S. J.; and Wainwright, J., eds. Earth's dynamic surface: catastrophe and continuity in landscape evolution. Spec. Publ. Geol. Soc. Lond. 296:7-28.
3. Allen, P. A.; Armitage, J. J.; Carter, A.; Duller, R. A.; Michael, N. A.; Sinclair, H. D.; Whitchurch, A. L.; and Whittaker, A. C. 2013. The Qs problem: sediment volumetric balance of proximal foreland basin systems. Sedimentology 60:102-130.
4. Allen, P. A.; Cabrera, L.; Colombo, F.; and Matter, A. 1983. Variations in fluvial style on the Eocene-Oligocene alluvial of the Scala Dei Group, SE Ebro Basin, Spain. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 140:133-146.
5. Allen, P. A., and Densmore, A. L. 2000. Sediment flux from an uplifting fault block. Basin Res. 12:367-380.
6. Allen, P. A., and Heller, P. L. 2012. Dispersal and preservation of tectonically generated alluvial gravels in sedimentary basins. In Busby, C., and Azor, A., eds. Tectonics of sedimentary basins: recent advances. Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell, p. 111-130.
7. Ardèvol, L.; Klimowitz, J.; Malagón, J.; and Nagtegaal, P. J. C. 2000. Depositional sequence response to foreland deformation in the Upper Cretaceous of the southern Pyrenees, Spain. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull. 84: 566-587.
8. Armitage, J. J.; Duller, R. A.; Whittaker, A. C.; and Allen, P. A. 2011. Transformation of tectonic and climatic signals from source to sedimentary archive. Nat. Geosci. 4:231-235.
9. Barnes, J. B., and Heins, W. A. 2009. Plio-Quaternary sediment budget between thrust belt erosion and foreland deposition in the central Andes, southern Bolivia. Basin Res. 21:91-109.
10. Beamud, E.; Garcés, M.; Cabrera, L.; Muñoz, J. A.; and Almar, Y. 2003. A new middle to late Eocene continental chronostratigraphy from NE Spain. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 216:501-514.
11. Beamud, E.; Muñoz, J. A.; Fitzgerald, P. G.; Baldwin, S. L.; Garcés, M.; Cabrera, L.; and Metcalf, J. R. 2010. Magnetostratigraphy and detrital apatite fission track thermochronology in syntectonic conglomerates: constraints on the exhumation of the south-central Pyrenees. Basin Res. 13:309-331.
12. Bentham, P. A. 1992. The tectonic stratigraphic development of the western oblique ramp of the southcentral Pyrenean thrust system, north Spain. PhD dissertation, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
13. Bentham, P. A., and Burbank, D. W. 1996. Chronology of Eocene foreland basin evolution along the western margin of the south-central Pyrenees. In Friend, P. F., and Dabrio, C. J., eds. Tertiary basins of Spain: the stratigraphic record of crustal kinematics. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p. 144-152.
14. Bentham, P. A.; Burbank, D. W.; and Puigdefabregas, C. 1992. Temporal and spatial controls on the alluvial architecture of an axial drainage system: late Eocene Escanilla Formation, southern Pyrenean foreland basin, Spain. Basin Res. 4:335-352.
15. Bentham, P. A.; Talling, P. J.; and Burbank, D. W. 1993. Braided stream and floodplain deposition in a rapidly aggrading basin: the Escanilla Formation, Spanish Pyrenees. Geol. Soc. Lond. Spec. Publ. 75:177-194.
16. Best, J. L. 1988. Sediment transport and bed morphology at river channel confluences. Sedimentology 35:481-498.
17. Bristow, C. S.; Best, J. L.; and Roy, A. G. 1993. Morphology and facies models of channel confluences. In Marzo, M., and Puigdefabregas, C., eds. Alluvial sedimentation. Int. Assoc. Sedimentol. Spec. Publ. 17:91-100.
18. Brommer, M. B.; Weltje, G. J.; and Trincardi, F. 2009. Reconstruction of sediment supply from mass accumulation rates in the northern Adriatic Basin (Italy) over the past 19,000 years. J. Geophys. Res. 114:1-15.
19. Burbank, D. W.; Meigs, A.; and Brozovic, N. 1996. Interactions of growing folds and coeval depositional systems. Basin Res. 8:199-223.
20. Burbank, D. W., and Vergés, J. 1994. Reconstruction of topography and related depositional systems during active thrusting. J. Geophys. Res. 99:20,281-20,297.
21. Caja, M. A.; Marfil, R.; Garcia, D.; Remacha, E.; Morad, S.; Mansurbeg, H.; Amorosi, A.; Marti{dotless}́nez-Calvo, C.; and Lahoz-Beltrá, R. 2010. Provenance of siliciclastic and hybrid turbiditic arenites of the Eocene Hecho Group, Spanish Pyrenees: implications for the tectonic evolution of a foreland basin. Basin Res. 22:157-180.
22. Carvajal, C., and Steel, R. 2011. Source-to-sink sediment volumes within a tectono-stratigraphic model for a Laramide shelf-to-deep-water basin: methods and results. In Busby, C., and Azor, A., eds. Tectonics of sedimentary basins: recent advances. Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell, p. 131-151.
23. Casas, A. M.; Soto, R.; and Marti{dotless}́nez-Peña, B. 2002. Geometrical relationships between unconformities and subsequent folding: the Arro fold system (southern Pyrenees). Tectonics 334:765-772.
24. Clift, P., and Gaedicke, P. 2002. Accelerated mass flux to the Arabian Sea during the middle to late Miocene. Geology 30:207-210.
25. Colombo, F. 1980. Estratigrafia y sedimentologia del Terciario interior continental de los Catalanides. PhD thesis, University of Barcelona.
26. Coney, P. J.; Muñoz, J. A.; McClay, K. R.; and Evenchick, C. A. 1996. Syntectonic burial and post-tectonic exhumation of the southern Pyrenees foreland foldthrust belt. J. Geol. Soc. 153:9-16.
27. Costa, E.; Garcés, M.; López-Blanco, M.; Beamud, E.; Gómez-Paccard, M.; and Larrasoaña, J. C. 2010. Closing and continentalization of the south Pyrenean foreland basin (NE Spain): magnetochronological constraints. Basin Res. 22:904-917.
28. Cross, T. A., and Lessinger, M. A. 1998. Sediment volume partitioning: rationale for stratigraphic model evaluation and high-resolution stratigraphic correlation. In Gradstein, F.; Sandvik, K.; and Milton, N., eds. Sequence stratigraphy: concepts and applications. Spec. Publ. Nor. Petrol. Soc. 8:171-195.
29. Densmore, A. L.; Allen, P. A.; and Simpson, G. 2007. Development and response of a coupled catchmentfan system under changing tectonic and climatic forcing. J. Geophys. Res. 112:F01002.
30. Dreyer, T.; Corregidor, J.; Arbues, P.; and Puigdefabregas, C. 1999. Architecture of the tectonically influenced Sobrarbe deltaic complex in the Ainsa Basin, northern Spain. Sediment. Geol. 127:127-169.
31. Duller, R. A.; Whittaker, A. C.; Fedele, J. J.; Whitchurch, A. L.; Springett, J.; Smithells, R.; Fordyce, S.; and Allen, P. A. 2010. From grain size to tectonics. J. Geophys. Res. 115:F03022.
32. Einsele, G.; Ratschbacher, L.; and Wetzel, A. 1996. The Himalaya-Bengal fan denudation-accumulation system during the past 20 Ma. J. Geol. 104:163-184.
33. Fedele, J. J., and Paola, C. 2007. Similarity solutions for fluvial sediment fining by selective deposition. J. Geophys. Res. 112:F02038.
34. González-Bonorino, G.; Colombo, F.; and Abascal, L. 2010. Architecture of an Oligocene fluvial ribbon sandstone in the Ebro Basin, north-eastern Spain. Sedimentology 57:845-856.
35. Gradstein, F. M., and Ogg, J. G. 2004. Geological time scale 2004: why, how and where next? Lethaia 37:175-181.
36. Granjeon, D., and Joseph, P. 1999. Concepts and applications of a 3-D multiple lithology, diffusive model in stratigraphic modeling. In Harbaugh, J. W.; Watney, W. L.; Rankey, E. C.; Slingerland, R.; Goldstein, R. H.; and Franseen, E. K., eds. Numerical experiments in stratigraphy: recent advances in stratigraphic and sedimentologic simulations. Spec. Publ. Soc. Sediment. Geol. 62:197-210.
37. Guillocheau, F.; Rouby, D.; Robin, C.; Helm, C.; Rolland, N.; Le Carlier de Veslud, C.; and Braun, J. 2012. Quantification and causes of the terrigeneous sediment budget at the scale of a continental margin: a new method applied to the Namibia-South Africa margin. Basin Res. 24:3-30.
38. Heard, T. G.; Pickering, K. T.; and Robinson, S. A. 2008. Milankovitch forcing of bioturbation intensity in deep-marine thin-bedded siliciclastic turbidites. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 272:130-138.
39. Hoey, T. B., and Bluck, B. J. 1999. Identifying the controls over downstream fining of river gravels. J. Sediment. Res. 69:40-50.
40. Hogan, P. J., and Burbank, D. W. 1996. Evolution of the Jaca piggyback basin and emergence of the External Sierra, southern Pyrenees. In Friend, P. F., and Dabrio, C. J., eds. Tertiary basins of Spain: the stratigraphic record of crustal kinematics. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p. 153-160.
41. Jerolmack, D. J., and Brzinski, T. A. 2010. Equivalence of abrupt grain-size transitions in alluvial rivers and aeolian sand seas: a hypothesis. Geology 38:719-722.
42. Jolley, E. J. 1987. Thrust tectonics and alluvial architecture of the Jaca Basin, southern Pyrenees. PhD dissertation, University of Wales.
43. Labourdette, R. 2011. Stratigraphy and static connectivity of braided fluvial deposits of the lower Escanilla Formation, south central Pyrenees, Spain. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull. 95:585-617.
44. Labourdette, R., and Jones, R. R. 2007. Characterization of fluvial architectural elements using a three-dimensional outcrop data set: Escanilla braided system, south-central Pyrenees, Spain. Geosphere 3:422.
45. López-Blanco, M.; Marzo, M.; Burbank, D. W.; Vergés, J.; Roca, E.; Anadón, P.; and Piña, J. 2000. Tectonic and climatic controls on the development of foreland fan deltas: Montserrat and Sant Llorençdel Munt systems (Middle Eocene, Ebro Basin, NE Spain). Sediment. Geol. 138:17-39.
46. Mellere, D. 1993. Thrust-generated, back-fill stacking of alluvial fan sequences, south-central Pyrenees, Spain (La Pobla de Segur Conglomerates). In Frostick, L. E., and Steel, R. J., eds. Tectonic controls and signatures in sedimentary successions. Spec. Publ. Int. Assoc. Sedimentol. 20:259-276.
47. Mellere, D., and Marzo, M. 1992. Los depósitos aluviales sintectónicos de la Pobla de Segur: alogrupos y su significado tectonoestratigráfico. Acta Geol. Hisp. 27: 145-159.
48. Métivier, F., and Gaudemer, Y. 1999. Stability of output fluxes of large rivers in South and East Asia during the last 2 million years: implications for floodplain processes. Basin Res. 11:293-304.
49. Michael, N. 2013. Functioning of an ancient sediment routing system, the Escanilla Formation, south-central Pyrenees. PhD thesis, Imperial College London.
50. Millán, H.; Aurell, M.; and Melendez, A. Synchronous detachment folds and coeval sedimentation in the Pre-Pyrenean External Sierras (Spain): a case study for a tectonic origin of sequences and systems tracts. Sedimentology 41:1001-1024.
51. Mochales, T.; Casas, A. M.; Pueyo, E. L.; and Barnolas, A. 2012. Rotational velocity for oblique structures (Boltaña anticline, southern Pyrenees). J. Struct. Geol. 35:2-16.
52. Muñoz, J. A. 1992. Evolution of a continental collision belt: ECORS-Pyrenees crustal balanced section. In McClay, K. R., eds. Thrust tectonics. London, Chapman & Hall, p. 235-246.
53. Muñoz, J. A.; Marti{dotless}́nez, A.; and Vergés, J. 1986. Thrust sequence in the Spanish eastern Pyrenees. J. Struct. Geol. 8:399-405.
54. Muto, T., and Steel, R. J. 2000. The accommodation concept in sequence stratigraphy: some dimensional problems and possible redefinition. Sediment. Geol. 130: 1-10.
55. Paola, C.; Heller, P. L.; and Angevine, C. L. 1992a. The large-scale dynamics of grain-size variation in alluvial basins. 1. Theory. Basin Res. 4:73-90.
56. Paola, C., and Martin, J. M. 2012. Mass-balance effects in depositional systems. J. Sediment. Res. 82:435-450.
57. Paola, C.; Parker, G.; Seal, G.; Shina, R.; Southard, S.; and Wilcock, J. B. 1992b. Downstream fining by selective deposition in a laboratory flume. Science 258: 1757-1760.
58. Paola, C.; Straub, K.; Mohrig, D.; and Reinhardt, L. 2009. The "unreasonable effectiveness" of stratigraphic and geomorphic experiments. Earth Sci. Rev. 97:1-43.
59. Paola, C., and Voller, V. R. 2005. A generalized Exner equation for sediment mass balance. J. Geophys. Res. 110:F0414.
60. Parsons, A. J.; Michael, N.; Whittaker, A. C.; Duller, R. A.; and Allen, P. A. 2012. Grain size trends reveal the late orogenic tectonic and erosional history of the south-central Pyrenees, Spain. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 109: 111-114.
61. Pickering, K. T., and Bayliss, N. J. 2009. Deconvolving tectono-climatic signals in deep-marine siliciclastics, Eocene Ainsa basin, Spanish Pyrenees: seesaw tectonics versus eustasy. Geology 37:203-206.
62. Pickering, K. T., and Corregidor, J. 2005. Mass-transport complexes (MTCs) and tectonic control on basin-floor submarine fans, middle Eocene, south Spanish Pyrenees. J. Sediment. Res. 75:761-783.
63. Poblet, J.; Muñoz, J. A.; Travé, A.; and Serra-Kiel, J. 1998. Quantifying the kinematics of detachment folds using three-dimensional geometry: application to the Mediano anticline (Pyrenees, Spain). Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 110:111-125.
64. Puigdefàbregas, C., and Souquet, P. 1986. Tecto-sedimentary cycles and depositional sequences of the Mesozoic and Tertiary from the Pyrenees. In Banda, E., and Wickman, S. W., eds. The geological evolution of the Pyrenees. Tectonophysics 129:173-203.
65. Ramos, E.; Busquets, P.; and Vergés, J. 2002. Interplay between longitudinal fluvial and transverse alluvial fan systems and growing thrusts in a piggyback basin (SE Pyrenees). Sediment. Geol. 146:105-131.
66. Robinson, R. A. J., and Slingerland, R. L. 1998. Grain size trends, basin subsidence and sediment supply in the Campanian Castlegate Sandstone, and equivalent conglomerates of central Utah. Basin Res. 10:109-127.
67. Rohais, S.; Bonnet, S.; and Eschard, R. 2012. Sedimentary record of tectonic and climatic erosional perturbations in an experimental coupled catchment-fan system. Basin Res. 24:198-212.
68. Sáez, A.; Anadón, P.; Herrero, M. J.; and Moscariello, A. 2007. Variable style of transition between Paleogene fluvial fan and lacustrine systems, southern Pyrenean foreland, NE Spain. Sedimentology 54:367-390.
69. Schumm, S. A. 1981. Evolution and response of the fluvial system, sedimentologic implications. In Ethridge, F. G., and Flores, R. M., eds. Recent and ancient nonmarine depositional environments: models for exploration. Soc. Econ. Paleontol. Mineral. Spec. Publ. 31: 19-29.
70. Seal, R.; Paola, C.; Parker, G.; Southard, J.; and Wilcock, P. 1997. Experiments on downstream fining of gravel. I. Narrow-channel runs. J. Hydraul. Eng. 123:874-884.
71. Sheets, B. A.; Hickson, T. A.; and Paola, C. 2002. Assembling the stratigraphic record: depositional patterns and time-scales in an experimental alluvial basin. Basin Res. 14:287-301.
72. Sternberg, H. 1875. Untersuchungen über Längen und Querprofil geschiebeführnde Flüsse. Z. Bauwes. 25: 483-506.
73. Strong, N.; Sheets, B. A.; Hickson, T. A.; and Paola, C. 2005. A mass balance framework for quantifying downstream changes in fluvial architecture. In Blum, M. D.; Marriott, S. B.; and Leclair, S. F., eds. Fluvial sedimentology VII. Int. Assoc. Sedimentol. Spec. Publ. 35:243-253.
74. Teixell, A. 1998. Crustal structure and orogenic material budget in the west-central Pyrenees. Tectonics 17:395.
75. Toro-Escobar, C. M.; Parker, G.; and Paola, C. 1996. Transfer function for the deposition of poorly sorted gravel in response to streambed aggradation. J. Hydraul. Res. 34:35-53.
76. Turner, J. P. 1988. Tectonic and stratigraphic evolution of theWest Jaca Thrust top basin, southwest Pyrenees. PhD thesis, University of Bristol.
77. Turner, J. P. 1990. Structural and stratigraphic evolution of the West Jaca thrust-top basin, Spanish Pyrenees. J. Geol. Soc. 147:177-184.
78. Turner, J. P. 1992. Evolving alluvial stratigraphy and thrust front development in the West Jaca piggyback basin, Spanish Pyrenees. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 149:51-63.
79. Vergés, J. 2007. Drainage responses to oblique and lateral thrust ramps: a review. Spec. Publ. Int. Assoc. Sedimentol. 38:29-47.
80. Vergés, J.; Fernàndez, M.; and Marti{dotless}́nez, A. 2002. The Pyrenean orogen: pre-, syn-, and post-collisional evolution. In Rosenbaum, G., and Lister, G. S., eds. Reconstruction of the evolution of the Alpine-Himalayan Orogen. J. Virtual Explor. 8:55-74.
81. Vergés, J.; Millán, H.; Roca, E.; Muñoz, J. A.; Marzo, M.; Cirés, J.; Den Bezemer, T.; Zoetemeijer, R.; and Cloetingh, S. 1995. Eastern Pyrenees and related foreland basins: pre-, syn-and post-collisional crustal-scale cross-sections. Mar. Petrol. Geol. 12:903-915.
82. Vincent, S. J. 1993. Fluvial palaeovalleys in mountain belts: an example from south-central Pyrenees. PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.
83. Vincent, S. J. 2001. The Sis palaeovalley: a record of proximal fluvial sedimentation and drainage basin development in response to Pyrenean mountain building. Sedimentology 48:1235-1276.
84. Walford, H. L.; White, N. J.; and Sydow, J. C. 2005. Solid sediment load history of the Zambezi delta. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 238:49-63.
85. Weltje, G. J., and Brommer, M. B. 2011. Sediment-budget modelling of multi-sourced basin fills: application to recent deposits of the western Adriatic mud wedge (Italy). Basin Res. 23:291-308.
86. Whitchurch, A. L.; Carter, A.; Sinclair, H. D.; Duller, R. A.; Whittaker, A. C.; and Allen, P. A. 2011. Sediment routing system evolution within a diachronously uplifting orogen: insights from detrital zircon thermochronological analyses from the south-central Pyrenees. Am. J. Sci. 311:442-482.
87. Whittaker, A. C.; Attal, M.; and Allen, P. A. 2010. Characterising the origin, nature and fate of sediment exported from catchments perturbed by active tectonics. Basin Res. 21:1-20.
88. Whittaker, A. C.; Duller, R. A.; Springett, J.; Smithells, R.; Whitchurch, A. L.; and Allen, P. A. 2011. Decoding downstream trends in stratigraphic grain size as a function of tectonic subsidence and sediment supply. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 123:1363-1382.
89. Wolman, M. G. 1954. A method of sampling coarse riverbed material. EOS: Trans. Am. Geophys. Union 34: 951-956.