B. Kneller

University of Aberdeen | ABDN · Department of Geology and Geophysics

Hybrid beds deposited by transitional flows are found to be more and more common in submarine lobe systems, and various ways of promoting flow transformation have been proposed. Clay concentration, especially clay flocculation has been regarded as the main reason for the increase of flow cohesiveness, and in recent years, microbial bioforms has als...

This poster presents the preliminary results of a mixed (Calciclastic and Siliciclastic) deepwater gravity-flow system in the West Qinling area, Central China, in which we 1) characterized the different types of deposits (facies) and interpreted their depositional processes, with a special focus on intriguing carbonate mega-beds; 2) established the...

Understanding how subaqueous sediment gravity flows (SSGF) evolve in time and space, and how their deposits vary spatially, is a key research focus for gravity flow sedimentology. This study investigates depositional facies, depositional elements, and sediment transport processes of supercritical flows and hybrid event beds (HEBs) of the Lingshanda...

Over the past decade, fundamental advances in seismic imaging of carbonate strata in nonmarine carbonate reservoirs of the South Atlantic pre-salt have improved our understanding of the complex stratigraphic architecture of late- and postrift lacustrine carbonate systems in areas like the Campos and Santos basin. However, a lack of 3D seismic data...

A new wood type for the Baja California Cretaceous adds to the plant diversity so far known for the area where gymnosperms seem to be dominant. It was collected near El Rosario, Baja California, from rocks of the Rosario Formation, in a sedimentary sequence that comprises ca. 1200 m of non-marine to deep marine sediments from Upper Campanian to Low...

A continuous Late Cretaceous-Paleocene sedimentary succession within the India-Asia collision suture zone in Xigaze, Tibet, contains a c. 80 m thick sand injection complex immediately overlain by a c. 60 m thick mass transport deposit (MTD, the first of several) with the first evidence of Asian provenance, and immediately followed by a ∼61 Ma tuff....

Effective exploration, appraisal and development of deep-water reservoirs requires 18 systematic mapping, description and characterization of the depositional systems that host 19 them. Success in these areas requires that there is a firm understanding of hydrocarbon 20 volumes and uncertainties, facies distributions to locate exploration and appra...

The characterization and predictability of submarine channel-lobe systems on topographically complex slopes have proven challenging, due to the complex responses of such systems to interacting flows and seafloor topography, in terms of their temporal evolution and spatial changes in morphology and architecture. Detailed subsurface studies can revea...

Effective exploration, appraisal and development of deep-water reservoirs requires systematic mapping, description and characterisation of the depositional systems that host them. We present a practical seismic interpretation workflow methodology which will be applicable in most cases and with most seismic data sets. The workflows are for channels,...

Continental margins usually display along-strike morphological variation, with diverse underlying controls around the world. Based on 3D seismic data from the Baiyun Sag, northern South China Sea, this work provides a new case study to understand the combined controls on along-strike morphological variation over short strike distances. The northern...

slope channel architecture and process

During the Late Palaeozoic, the Gondwana supercontinent formed an extensive Southern Hemisphere landmass that was affected by multiple glacial episodes, known collectively as the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age (LPIA). This resulted in the deposition of glacial, periglacial and deglacial sediments over much of the supercontinent. The Mississippian to early...

During the Late Palaeozoic, the Gondwana supercontinent formed an extensive Southern Hemisphere landmass that was affected by multiple glacial episodes, known collectively as the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age (LPIA). This resulted in the deposition of glacial, periglacial and deglacial sediments over much of the supercontinent. The Mississippian to early...

Circular to elliptical topographic depressions, isolated or organized in trails, have been observed on the modern seabed in different contexts and water depths. Such features have been alternatively interpreted as pockmarks generated by fluid flow, as sediment waves generated by turbidity currents, or as a combination of both processes. In the latt...

The La Peña Canyon section (San Juan Province, western Argentina) provides outstanding examples of different varieties of mass‐transport deposits (MTDs) and related sediments, showing a wide range of lithologies (from mud to sand dominated), scales and styles of deformation (from imbricate thrusts comprising the entire thickness of the deposit down...

Mass‐transport processes are notorious for their ability to carry large blocks or megaclasts, to deform sediments, and to interact with the seafloor through deformation and/or erosion of the substrate. These processes, together with their influence on slope sedimentation, are themes we address via direct field observation of three Carboniferous‐age...

A late Cretaceous slope channel system in NW Mexico reveals much about the architecture of such systems, and the sedimentological, biological and oceanographic diversity within them.

Overbank deposits of submarine channels are typically thin‐bedded, fine‐grained, and predominantly characterised by a series of sedimentary structures interpreted to record a relatively simple history of waning flow. Here, a new type of bedform indicative of Froude‐supercritical flow is reported from successions of thin‐bedded turbidites interprete...

The La Peña Canyon section (San Juan Province, Western Argentina) provides outstanding examples of different varieties of mass transport deposits (MTDs) and related sediments, showing a wide range of lithologies (from mud- to sand-dominated), scales and styles of deformation, (from imbricate thrusts comprising the entire thickness of the deposit do...

In deep-water settings, the accommodation for sediment transported by turbidity flows relates to the difference between the elevation of the depositional surface and its equilibrium profile. As a consequence, accommodation creation, or disruption, may depend from changes in the physiography of the receiving basin, or changes in the flow properties....

The Upper Cretaceous Cerro Toro Formation, southern Chile, is characterised by thin-bedded turbidites that envelope a series of coarse-grained, confined slope complex systems, interpreted as part of the Lago Sofia Member. This deep-water slope system overlies basin floor sheets of the Punta Barrosa Formation, and is overlain by the sand-filled slop...

In deep-water settings, the accommodation space for sediment transported by turbidity flows relates to the difference between the elevation of the depositional surface and its equilibrium profile. As a consequence, accommodation space creation, or disruption, may depend from changes in the physiography of the receiving basin, or changes in the flow...

We provide a new perspective on the transition of hyperpycnal flows into saline turbidity currents, which permits longer runout lengths than might be otherwise expected. This mechanism relies on the differential turbulent diffusion of salt and sediment, and in contrast to ambient saltwater entrainment it enables the salinification of the freshwater...

Key words: Degree of confinement; Turbidite sheet systems; Depositional architecture; Stacking patterns; Facies Associations; Autocyclic

In this study, we propose a new depositional mechanism for the formation of sea floor depression features similar to pockmark trails, but generated by the interplay between turbidity currents and fluid migration. By using high-resolution 3D seismic data from offshore Ceará State (Brazil), we show how vertically stacked and upslope migrating sedimen...

Statistical analysis of bed thickness was performed for sampled turbidite successions from well-documented architectural elements of the Grès d' Annot Formation to characterize confined deep-water mini-basins of the Tertiary foreland basin of SE France. The purpose was to use advanced statistical processing techniques in order to evaluate whether a...

Degree of confinement refers to the degree to which sediment gravity flows are influenced by the surrounding basin relief and interact with the basin margins, and is a key controlling factor in determining the depositional architectures of turbidite sheet systems. Two well exposed late Palaeozoic sandy turbidite sheet systems in the Paganzo Basin a...

In this study we explore the role of sediment supply, halokinesis and deep ocean circulation in promoting margin instability. The analysis was carried out on multibeam and high-resolution seismic data that allowed the imaging of mass failure deposits and current-driven depositional features along a portion of the lower continental slope and upper c...

Turbidity currents regulate the transport of terrigenous sediment, abundant in carbon and nutrients, from the shelf to the deep sea. However, triggers of deep-sea turbidity currents are diverse and remain debatable in individual cases due to few direct measurements and unpredictable occurrence. Here we present long-term monitoring of turbidity curr...

The Nile is generally regarded as the longest river in the world. Knowledge of the timing of the Nile's initiation as a major river is important to a number of research questions. For example, the timing of the river's establishment as a catchment of continental proportions can be used to document surface uplift of its Ethiopian upland drainage, wi...

These are the log sheets (inked from the original pencil drawn ones in the field) that show a detailed representation of the texture of a section of the CS3 canyon-fill plus numerical data from clasts.

Deep-water conglomeratic megabeds are recognized in the Upper Jurassic Brae member (equivalent to part of the more regionally defined Brae Formation) of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation in UK Block 16/17, within the South Viking Graben in several submarine fans, but have not been described in detail previously. The megabeds are distinguished from enve...

The Alikayası Canyon-Channel System of the Miocene Maras Basin, eastern Turkey, is compared with the South Brae Fan, South Viking Graben, UKNS, demonstrating the importance of outcrop analogues to subsurface oil reservoirs. The Alikayası Canyon-Channel is a coarse-grained, deep-water slope depositional system that developed in a contractional tecto...

Submarine lobes have various geometries and stacking patterns, whose differences are likely to be the result of variations in flow efficiency and degree of confinement. This study examines four contrasting units with differing flow efficiency and confinement, to evaluate their roles on bed geometries and stacking patterns. Three of these units occu...

Direct Numerical Simulations are employed to investigate the mixing dynamics of turbidity currents interacting with seamounts of various heights. The mixing properties are found to be governed by the competing effects of turbulence amplification and enhanced dissipation due to the three-dimensional topography. In addition, particle settling is seen...

The Exploration and development of what it is commonly known the “pre-salt” layer, offshore SE Brazil, is in its infancy but with reservoirs buried below as much as 3000 meter of salt, the pre-salt play presents a multifaceted deep-water scenario that is bringing new challenges to seismic interpretation in offshore Brazilian exploration and product...

Slope channel systems, well-known for their significance in hydrocarbon exploration and sediment transport and deposition in deep-water settings, are inherently complicated in the rock record. To unravel the complexity, a better understanding of their internal organization is needed. Here an integrated qualitative and quantitative examination of in...

Deepwater depositional systems are inherently variable. This creates substantial difficulty in producing models for their architecture and thus for the distribution of reservoir facies in the subsurface. Often this means that the best that can be done is to assign broad probability distributions for the key parameters (e.g. shale baffle dimensions)...

Individual turbidite beds are distributed according to the properties of the flow that deposited them, and the interaction, if any, of these flows with the basin margins. We have studied intervals that exhibit the deposits of flows with different flow efficiency in different basin settings, which allows us to investigate the role of flow efficiency...

The Paraná Basin, the largest basin in South America, received glacially derived sediments during the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age (LPIA) of the Gondwana supercontinent. Despite the importance of this basin for understanding the continental development of the Gondwana glaciation, and the fact that ca. 95% of this basin is not exposed at the surface, few...

Plant megafossils collected from different localities in Northern Mexico have yielded leaves and woods that have characteristics suggestive of Lauraceae affinity. A wood sample from an Upper Cretaceous sequence close to El Rosario, Baja California, has distinct growth rings, diffuse porosity, alternate vestured intervascular pits, simple perforatio...

RESUMEN Se analiza la arquitectura y sedimentología del sistema depositacional conformado por la sección inferior de la Formación Sierra de la Invernada, para determinar los procesos que le dieron origen. Para definir la edad de la uni-dad se muestreó por conodontes, que determinan un Darriwiliano temprano distinguiéndose de la sección superior que...

Basin floor fans contain some of the largest deep-water hydrocarbon accumulations discovered, however they also demonstrate extremely complex stratigraphic architecture, understanding of which is crucial for maximum recovery. Here we develop a new method, based upon palynofacies analysis, for the distinction of the different depositional environmen...

Thin-bedded turbidites deposited by sediment gravity flows that spill from submarine channels often contain significant volumes of sand in laterally continuous beds. These can make up over 50% of the channel-belt fill volume, and can thus form commercially important hydrocarbon reservoirs. Thin-bedded turbidites can be deposited in environments tha...

Submarine fans, supplied primarily by turbidity currents, constitute the largest sediment accumulations on Earth. Generally accepted models of turbidity current behavior imply they should dissipate rapidly on the very small gradients of submarine fans, thus their persistence over long distances is enigmatic. We present numerical evidence, constrain...

This research uses analyses from Nile catchment rivers, wadis, dunes and bedrocks to constrain the geological history of NE Africa and document influences on the composition of sediment reaching the Nile delta. Our data show evolution of the North African crust, highlighting phases in the development of the Arabian–Nubian Shield and amalgamation of...

Terraces on the modern seafloor are defined as topographically flat areas above the active submarine channel thalweg but within the confines of the channel-belt. They have been described from many modern submarine channels, but the controls on terrace distribution, evolution and stacking patterns are not well understood. In this study, we describe...

ABSTRACT: Quantitative petrographic analysis was conducted in vertical profiles of 8 turbidite beds of the Eocene-Oligocene Peïra Cava deep-marine mini basin in SE France in order to detect spatial trends in mineralogy related to the hydrodynamic sorting of particles. The analysis was mainly focused on sheet-like confined beds which can be traced t...

A 1.1–1.2 km long, 3–15 m thick exposure of the late Miocene to Pliocene Capistrano Formation crops out at San Clemente, California, providing a superb example of submarine channel elements with an asymmetric cross-sectional facies distribution. Coarser-grained, thicker bedded and more amalgamated channel axial deposits are partitioned towards one...

Turbidites deposited in confined mini-basins may demonstrate extremely complex stratigraphic architectures. We hypothesize that particulate organic matter preserved in turbidites will not be randomly distributed and may be used to assist the identification of architectural elements. An integrated sedimentological and palynological study was conduct...

Four megabeds (I to IV) were recognized throughout the Cerro Bola inlier, a glacially influenced depositional area of the Carboniferous Paganzo Basin, south-western La Rioja Province, Argentina. Such anomalous thick beds are associated with the collapse of an unstable basin margin after periods of large meltwater discharge and sediment accumulation....

The understanding of lateral migration in submarine channel systems, and their comparison to fluvial system has been a hot topic amongst sedimentologist, since the first observations of such a features in the deep-sea in the early 80’s (e.g. Garrison et al., 1982; Damuth et al., 1983). With the development of technologies such as side scan sonar, m...

The understanding of lateral migration in submarine channel systems, and their comparison to fluvial system has been a hot topic amongst sedimentologist, since the first observations of such a features in the deep-sea in the early 80’s (e.g. Garrison et al., 1982; Damuth et al., 1983). With the development of technologies such as side scan sonar, m...

The understanding of lateral migration in submarine channel systems, and their comparison to fluvial system has been a hot topic amongst sedimentologist, since the first observations of such a features in the deep-sea in the early 80’s (e.g. Garrison et al., 1982; Damuth et al., 1983). With the development of technologies such as side scan sonar, m...

Mass Transport Deposits (MTDs) are considered to be one of the major process responsible for the redistribution of sediments from the shelf break into deep water and are also responsible for modifying their surroundings The Late Paleozoic Paganzo Formation preserved at Cerro Bola provides exceptional 3-D exposure through the Paganzo Basin of northw...

The role of mass transport deposits (MTDs) in redistributing sediment from the shelf-break to deep water is becoming increasingly apparent and important in the study of basins. While seismic analysis may reveal the general morphology of such deposits, it is unable to provide information on the detailed geometry and kinematics of gravity-driven tran...

Identification of specific elements of a deep-marine system currently relies on detailed sedimentological studies, which can be problematic with sub-surface targets. Here we propose identification of specific architectural elements with palynofacies, hypothesizing that organic matter will not be uniformly spread in turbidite successions. An integra...

Mass-transport events are virtually ubiquitous on the modern continental slope and are also frequent in the stratigraphic record, but the potential they create for stratigraphic trapping within the sea-floor topography is not generally appreciated. Given the abundance of mass-transport deposits (MTDs), we should expect that many turbidite systems a...

The preservation of large, relatively undeformed blocks is a characteristic feature of mass transport deposits (MTD). We examine a well-exposed succession at Cerro Bola in La Rioja Province, western Argentina, which comprises mid to late Carboniferous fluvio-deltaic sediments, turbidites and MTD’s. The main MTD, which is up to 180 m thick and crops...