Coupled ‘storm-flood’ depositional model: application to the Miocene–Modern Baram Delta Province, north-west Borneo
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Published version
Author(s)
Collins, D
Johnson, HD
Allison, PA
Guilpain, P
Razak Damit, A
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The Miocene to Modern Baram Delta Province is a highly efficient source to sink system that has accumulated 9 to 12 km of coastal-deltaic to shelf sediments over the past 15 Myr. Facies analysis based on ca 1 km of total vertical outcrop stratigraphy, combined with subsurface geology and sedimentary processes in the present-day Baram Delta Province, suggests a ‘storm-flood’ depositional model comprising two distinct periods: (i) fair-weather periods are dominated by alongshore sediment reworking and coastal sand accumulation; and (ii) monsoon-driven storm periods are characterised by increased wave energy and offshore-directed downwelling storm flow that occur simultaneously with peak fluvial discharge caused by storm-precipitation (‘storm-floods’). The modern equivalent environment has the following characteristics: (i) humid-tropical monsoonal climate; (ii) narrow (ca <100 km) and steep (ca 1°), densely vegetated, coastal plain; (iii) deep tropical weathering of a mudstone-dominated hinterland; (iv) multiple independent, small to moderate-sized (102 to 105 km2) drainage basins; (v) predominance of river-mouth bypassing; and (vi) supply-dominated shelf. The ancient, proximal part of this system (the onshore Belait Formation) is dominated by strongly cyclical sandier-upward successions (metre to decametre-scale) comprising (from bottom to top): (i) finely laminated mudstone with millimetre-scale silty laminae; (ii) heterolithic sandstone-mudstone alternations (centimetre to metre-scale); and (iii) sharp-based, swaley cross-stratified sandstone beds and bedsets (metre to decimetre-scale). Gutter casts (decimetre to metre-scale) are widespread, they are filled with swaley cross-stratified sandstone and their long-axes are oriented perpendicular to the palaeo-shoreline. The gutter casts and other associated waning-flow event beds suggest that erosion and deposition was controlled by high-energy, offshore-directed, oscillatory-dominated, sediment-laden combined flows within a shoreface to delta front setting. The presence of multiple river mouths and exceptionally high rates of accommodation creation (characteristic of the Neogene to Recent Baram Delta Province; up to 3000 m/Ma), in a ‘storm-flood’ dominated environment, resulted in a highly efficient and effective offshore-directed sediment transport system.
Date Issued
2017-08-01
Date Acceptance
2016-08-01
Citation
Sedimentology, 2017, 64 (5), pp.1203-1235
ISSN
0037-0746
Publisher
Wiley
Start Page
1203
End Page
1235
Journal / Book Title
Sedimentology
Volume
64
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© 2016 The Authors. Sedimentology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Association of Sedimentologists.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Sponsor
Shell International Exploration & Production Inc.
Identifier
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/sed.12316
Grant Number
PO 4550080818
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Geology
Baram Delta Province
combined flow
delta front
gutter cast
humid-tropical
Miocene
shoreface
storm-flood
HUMMOCKY CROSS-STRATIFICATION
SEDIMENT GRAVITY FLOWS
SHOREFACE-SHELF PARASEQUENCES
TURONIAN KASKAPAU FORMATION
COAST TIDAL FLAT
BOOK CLIFFS
BLACKHAWK FORMATION
TURBIDITY CURRENTS
DISCONTINUITY SURFACES
FACIES ARCHITECTURE
0403 Geology
Geology
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2016-08-04