Late Neogene Louisiana Continental Margin Construction Timed by Sea-Level Fluctuations

Author(s):  
Arnold H. Bouma ◽  
Harry H. Roberts ◽  
James M. Coleman
1973 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. P. Poulton

The Upper Proterozoic 'Limestone Unit' of the Horsethief Creek Group in the northern Dogtooth Mountains consists of deformed sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks with complex depositional and erosional relationships. They are interpreted to represent a westwardly prograding terrigenous and carbonate wedge in a continental margin situation. Shoaling resulted in differential carbonate deposition on top of a largely pelitic succession. Sea level fluctuations produced a complex unit characterized by alternating erosion and sedimentation, in different fades from east to west. This was succeeded by terrigenous clastic sediments with easterly or southeasterly provenance. The last recognizable events produced a widespread carbonate and sandstone blanket.A carbonate unit of similar stratigraphic position occurs in several locations north–northwest of the Dogtooth Mountains, approximately along a line paralleling the trend of Phanerozoic fades belts.


Author(s):  
Tim R Naish ◽  
Gary S Wilson

Ice-volume calibrations of the deep-ocean foraminiferal δ 18 O record imply orbitally influenced sea-level fluctuations of up to 30 m amplitude during the Mid-Pliocene, and up to 30 per cent loss of the present-day mass of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) assuming complete deglaciation of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) and Greenland. These sea-level oscillations have driven recurrent transgressions and regressions across the world's continental shelves. Wanganui Basin, New Zealand, contains the most complete shallow-marine Late Neogene stratigraphic record in the form of a continuous cyclostratigraphy representing every 41 and 100 ka sea-level cycle since ca 3.6 Ma. This paper presents a synthesis of faunally derived palaeobathymetric data for shallow-marine sedimentary cycles corresponding to marine isotope stages M2–100 ( ca 3.4–2.4 Ma). Our approach estimates the eustatic sea-level contribution to the palaeobathymetry curve by placing constraints on total subsidence and decompacted sediment accumulation. The sea-level estimates are consistent with those from δ 18 O curves and numerical ice sheet models, and imply a significant sensitivity of the WAIS and the coastal margins of the EAIS to orbital oscillations in insolation during the Mid-Pliocene period of relative global warmth. Sea-level oscillations of 10–30 m were paced by obliquity.


2003 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis Lavoie ◽  
Elliott Burden ◽  
Daniel Lebel

The Taconian Humber Zone stretches from western Newfoundland to southern Quebec. The Early Cambrian slope succession in Newfoundland is found in the Curling Group, whereas in Quebec, various units were deposited during that first time slice. Biostratigraphic data allow correlation of the Curling Group with the Labrador Group in Newfoundland and with the newly time-constrained slope succession in Quebec. The end of the rift–drift transition is marked by a sea-level lowstand at the end of the Early Cambrian. The Middle Cambrian to latest Early Ordovician passive margin history recorded five cyclic sea-level fluctuations. Three of these cycles are recorded in the shallow-marine Middle to Late Cambrian platform (Port au Port Group) and slope sediments preserved in the Cow Head and Northern Head groups in Newfoundland. The biostratigraphic information assists correlation with Cambrian passive margin units in Quebec. Major sea-level lowstands are recognized along the continental margin in early–middle Late Cambrian (Steptoan) and in late Late Cambrian (Sunwaptan). Even if the Quebec succession can be tied with its Newfoundland correlative, some significant differences in the nature of Upper Cambrian slope conglomerates argue for a tectonic control on the depth of erosion of the Cambrian continental margin. The Lower Ordovician record of the passive margin consists of two depositional cycles (Tremadocian–Arenigian) separated by a sea-level lowstand. This last event is well expressed in platform succession and is also recognized in conglomerate units found in the slope succession.


2010 ◽  
Vol 58 (spe1) ◽  
pp. 31-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata Hanae Nagai ◽  
Silvia Helena de Mello e Sousa ◽  
Rafael André Lourenço ◽  
Márcia Caruso Bícego ◽  
Michel Michaelovitch de Mahiques

Changes in the Brazilian continental margins oceanic productivity and circulation over the last 27,000 years were reconstructed based on sedimentological and microfaunal analyses. Our results suggest that oceanic paleoproductivity and the supply of terrigenous sediments to the Brazilian continental margin were higher during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) than during the Holocene. These changes may have been primarily influenced by significant sea level fluctuations that have occurred since the late Pleistocene. During the LGM, the lower sea level, higher productivity and lower sea-surface paleotemperatures may have been the result of the offshore displacement of the main flow of the Brazil Current. However, during the Holocene, the warm waters of the Brazil Current were displaced toward the coast. This displacement contributed to the increase in water temperature and prevented an increase in oceanic productivity. The decrease in terrigenous supply since the LGM could be related to the increase of the extension of the continental shelf and/or drier climatic conditions.


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