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FACIES ANALYSIS, ARCHITECTURE, AND DEPOSITIONAL MODEL OF THE TIDALLY-INFLUENCED NATURITA FORMATION (DAKOTA SANDSTONE)

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FACIES ANALYSIS, ARCHITECTURE, AND DEPOSITIONAL
MODEL OF THE TIDALLY-INFLUENCED NATURITA
FORMATION (DAKOTA SANDSTONE)
Stephen Phillips, John Howell, Adrian Hartley University of Aberdeen
Transgressive systems are less well-studied than their regressive
counterparts
Particularly tidal ones as a part of a basin-scale transgression
More focus is needed on these systems
The Naturita Formation has been interpreted as a fluvially dominated incised valley-
fill (Kirschbaum and Schenk, 2010)
We show that it is actually dominated by tidal deposits
What are the facies, facies associations, distribution, and architecture of
tidally-influenced deposits in the Naturita Formation of the San Rafael
Swell?
How is basin-scale transgression manifested in a foreland basin?
One piece of a larger puzzle:
Naturita Formation
Cedar Mountain Foredeep GSA 2019
Cedar Mountain Backbulge GSA 2019
Motivation
Western Interior Seaway
Cenomanian Paleogeography
Modified From: Kirschbaum and Schenk, 2010
Field Area San Rafael Swell, Utah, USA
Overlain by the Marine Tununk Shale Member of the
Mancos Shale
Underlain by the Fluvial Cedar Mountain Formation
Trough cross-stratification with multiple reactivation
surfaces, possibly some tidal bundling
Wavy to laminated heterolithics between and within
units
Ripples oriented up the slipface of some cross-stratified
beds up to 1.5m above channel base (i.e. Not just flow
separation)
Rare sigmoidal cross-stratification; always at the top of
the unit when present
Basal surface is scoured with common mud rip up clasts
that match Cedar Mountain mudstone in appearance
Reversing Current Indicators
Trough Cross-Stratification
Sigmoidal Cross-Stratification
Facies Associations Tidally-Influenced Fluvial
Broadly sigmoidal in cross-sectional
view
Undulatory to wavy on 10’s of
meters scale
Trough cross-stratification
Sigmoidal cross-stratification
Ripple cross-stratification, all
orientations
Wavy to laminated heterolithics
Mud and carbonaceous drapes are
common
Ripples mantling the bar surface
and moving in the subordinate
direction are also common
Oblique View
Interbedded Heterolithics
Rippled Bars
Sigmoidal Cross-Stratification
~4m
HMB - Caineville Reef
SRS - Hadden Holes
Facies Associations Tidal Channel: Sigmoidal Barform
Trough cross-stratification
Tabular cross-stratification
Mud and carbonaceous drapes are
common
Wavy to laminated heterolithics
Draped Foresets
Weathered Mud Drapes
Reversing Current
Facies Associations Tidal Channel: Compound Barform
Inclined heterolithic stratification
Fining upward sequence
Teichichnus and planolites
Rippled and bioturbated sandstone
Foresets mantled by carbonaceous material and mud
Mire or peat swamp facies association overlies in some
locations, in others Mancos Shale directly overlies with
or without a transgressive ravinement unit
Generally overlies the tidal channel facies association
Facies Associations Tidal Point Bar
Confined to two outcrop areas:
Henry Mountains Basin
Mussentuchit Wash
Upper shoreface trough cross-stratified sandstone
Lower shoreface hummocky cross-stratified sandstone
Fossiliferous sandstone
Shell material is always disarticulated and fragmented
Bioturbated sandstone
Sandstones are commonly both fossiliferous and bioturbated
Ophiomorpha and diplocraterion
Facies Associations Marine Shoreface
Transgressive Ravinement
Very thin bedded sandstone and siltstone
Sedimentary structures commonly destroyed by bioturbation
Ripples sometimes preserved
Woody material present
Flat to slightly inclined or undulate bedding
Mantling Underlying Barform Sand Flat Mud Flat
Burrows
Facies Associations Mud and Sand Flat Coastal Plain
Rooting in Sandstone
Coal and Carbonaceous Mudstone
Bedded coal and carbonaceous mudstone
Rooting
Very thin to thin beds of bioturbated sandstone
Minor rippled and cross-stratified sandstone
Laterally adjacent to, or overlies, tidal channel facies association
Increasing
Marine
Influence
Architecture Henry Mountains Basin
Viewed in LIME, Buckley et al., 2019
Depositional Model
Dalrymple et al., 1992; Dalrymple and Choi, 2007
Architecture Western San Rafael Swell
1) Basal deposits are fluvial channels that have a tidal influence.
2) As transgression continues, these basal fluvial deposits are overlain by subtidal bars, point bars,
and mud/sand flats.
3) Continued transgression coupled with wave ravinement produces a regional transgressive lag.
Preservation of estuarine deposits in topographically low areas
Erosion dominates in topographically high areas.
4) After the entire field area has been transgressed.
Architecture Western San Rafael Swell
Facies belts migrate south and west through time
San Rafael Swell outcrop is shown as crosshatched
area
The transition from foredeep to forebulge is roughly
equivalent to the eastern flank of the San Rafael Swell
May have contributed to the location of
preserved estuarine deposits
Complete removal of Naturita Formation
deposits on the eastern flank
Embayment in this part of the seaway was common
Utah Bight
Tidal deposits focused here
Van Cappelle et al., 2018
Cobban et al. (1994)
Conclusions
The Naturita Formation of the northern Henry Mountains Basin and San
Rafael Swell is primarily of tidal-estuarine and marine origin
It can be subdivided based on facies associations that are arranged in a
predictable fashion top to base:
Transgressive ravinement
Shoreface
Tidal point bar, mud/sand flats, and mire/peat swamp
Tidal channel
Tidally influenced fluvial
Topography played a role in the deposition and preservation of Naturita
Formation deposits
The Naturita Formation is an ideal case study for thin transgressive
deposits, especially when located in areas that have experienced large
scale flooding
References
Buckley, S.J., Ringdal, K., Naumann, N., Dolva, B., Kurz, T.H., Howell, J.A., Dewez, T.J.B., 2019,
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Cobban, W.A., Merewether, E.A., Fouch, T.D., and Obradovich, J.D., 1994, Some Cretaceous
shorelines in the western interior of the United States, in Caputo, M.V., Peterson, J.A., and Franczyk,
K.J., Mesozoic systems of the Rocky Mountain region, USA, SEPM, p. 393-414.
Dalrymple, R.W., Zaitlin, B.A., and Boyd, R., 1992, Estuarine facies models: Conceptual basis
and stratigraphic implications: Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. 62, no. 6, p. 1130-1146.
Dalrymple, R.W., and Choi, K., 2007, Morphologic and facies trends through the fluvial-marine
transition in tide-dominated depositional systems: A schematic framework for environmental
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Kirschbaum, M.A., and Schenk, C.J., 2010, Sedimentology and reservoir heterogeneity of a valley-fill
deposita field guide to the Dakota Sandstone of the San Rafael Swell, Utah: U.S. Geological Survey
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Van Cappelle, M., Hampson, G.J., Johnson, H.D., 2018, Spatial and temporal evolution of
coastal depositional systems and regional depositional process regimes: Campanian Western
Interior Seaway, U.S.A., Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 88, p. 873-897.
Virtual Outcrop viewed in LIME
Field work funded by SAFARI
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
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Sedimentology and reservoir heterogeneity of a valley-fill deposit-a field guide to the Dakota Sandstone of the San Rafael Swell
  • M A Kirschbaum
  • C J Schenk
▪ Kirschbaum, M.A., and Schenk, C.J., 2010, Sedimentology and reservoir heterogeneity of a valley-fill deposit-a field guide to the Dakota Sandstone of the San Rafael Swell, Utah: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5222, 36 p., 1 plate.