|Table of Contents|

Controlling Factors of Migration of Gravel-sand Transition in River Sediment and Its Implications(PDF)

《地球科学与环境学报》[ISSN:1672-6561/CN:61-1423/P]

Issue:
2023年第01期
Page:
54-67
Research Field:
沉积地质与油气勘探
Publishing date:

Info

Title:
Controlling Factors of Migration of Gravel-sand Transition in River Sediment and Its Implications
Author(s):
SHI Yi-fan1;  LI Chao1*;  WANG Ping2;  LIU Xiao-bo3;  RAO Wen-bo1
(1. School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, Jiangsu, China; 2. School of Geography, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu, China; 3. School of Earth Science and Resources, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710054, Shaanxi, China)
Keywords:
sedimentology;  gravel-sand transition;  basin-mountain relationship;  foreland basin;  tectonic evolution;  climate change;  fluvial deposition;  grain size
PACS:
P512.2
DOI:
10.19814/j.jese.2022.06011
Abstract:
Sediments from the mountain are transported downstream and accumulate in basins by river systems. Sediments routing through the network of rivers display downstream grain size fining due to sorting and abrasion. The riverbed sediments rapidly change from gravel to sand over a short downstream distance, the grain size transition from gravel to sand along rivers is termed the gravel-sand transition(GST). GST is preserved in the stratigraphy as the conglomerate-sandstone transition. Previous studies demonstrate that GST is a universal sedimentary facies symbol in spatial and temporal evolution of sedimentary basins, and it has tectonic and climatic implications. The controlling factors of the positions of GST and their geological implications from the existing related studies were summarized and reviewed. The reconstruction of the spatial and temporal evolutionary history of GST within the sedimentary basins reflects that the position of GST in a sedimentary basin succession is determined by basin subsidence rate, sediment supply flux, and grain size distribution of sediment supply, and the geological implications of GST in different basin-mountain backgrounds are entirely different. The horizontal migration of GST relative to the basin reflects the changes in basin subsidence rate or sediment supply flux decided by tectonic or climate changes, when the basin is fixed relative to the mountain. The migrations of GST within the convergent foreland basin-orogen systems reveal the convergence processes between the basins and orogens, and the migration rates of GST provide a potential proxy for long-term crustal shortening rates in the systems.

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Last Update: 2023-01-30