Publication Type:

Journal Article

Authors:

Long, Darrel G. F.; Lowey, Grant W.

Source:

Geoscience Frontiers, Elsevier for China University of Geosciences (Peking University), Beijing, China, Volume 2, Number 3, p.277-288 (2011)

ISBN:

1674-9871

Keywords:

alluvial fans, braided streams, Canada, channels, clastic rocks, conglomerate, Cretaceous, cross-stratification, gravel-bed streams, Mesozoic, Middle Cretaceous, planar bedding structures, sandstone, Sedimentary rocks, sedimentary structures, streams, Western Canada, Yukon Territory

Abstract:

Mid-Cretaceous strata within the Tintina Trench, 3 km west of the community of Ross River, contain evidence of deposition in two distinct, alternating, fluvial settings. Coal-bearing, mud-dominated strata are commonly associated with high-constructive sandy channel systems, with extensive overbank, levee and splay deposits. Channels are between 3 and 30 m wide and 0.4-7 m thick. They show repetitive development of side and in-channel bar-forms, as well as up-channel widening of the rivers by selective erosion of associated overbank and levee deposits. Levees extended for several hundred metres away from the channels. In this setting low-angle inclined stratification and epsilon cross stratification may reflect lateral migration of crevasse channels or small streams. The paucity of exposure prevents recognition of the channels as products of multiple channel anastomosed systems or single channel high-constructive systems. Gravel-dominated strata, inter-bedded with, and overlying coal-bearing units, are interpreted as deposits of wandering gravel-bed rivers, with sinuosity approaching 1.4. In most exposures they appear to be dominated by massive and thin planar-bedded granule to small pebble conglomerates, which would traditionally be interpreted as sheet-flood or longitudinal bar deposits of a high-gradient braided stream or alluvial fan. Architectural analysis of exposures in an open-pit shows that the predominance of flat bedding is an artefact of the geometry of the roadside exposures. In the pit the conglomerates are dominated by large scale cross stratification on a scale of 1-5.5 m. These appear to have developed as downstream and lateral accretion elements on side-bars and on in-channel bars in water depths of 2-12 m. Stacking of strata on domed 3rd order surfaces suggests development of longitudinal in-channel bar complexes similar to those observed in parts of the modern Rhone River system. Mudstone preserved in some of the channels reflects intervals of channel abandonment or avulsion. Minimum channel width is from 70 to 450 m.

Notes:

GeoRef, Copyright 2018, American Geological Institute.<br/>2012-087375<br/>Ross River