@article{KoyanTronickeAllroggen2021, author = {Koyan, Philipp and Tronicke, Jens and Allroggen, Niklas}, title = {3D ground-penetrating radar attributes to generate classified facies models}, series = {Geophysics}, volume = {86}, journal = {Geophysics}, number = {6}, publisher = {Society of Exploration Geophysicists}, address = {Tulsa}, issn = {0016-8033}, doi = {10.1190/GEO2021-0204.1}, pages = {B335 -- B347}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a standard geophysical technique used to image near-surface structures in sedimentary environments. In such environments, GPR data acquisition and processing are increasingly following 3D strategies. However, the processed GPR data volumes are typically still interpreted using selected 2D slices and manual concepts such as GPR facies analyses. In seismic volume interpretation, the application of (semi-)automated and reproducible approaches such as 3D attribute analyses as well as the production of attribute-based facies models are common practices today. In contrast, the field of 3D GPR attribute analyses and corresponding facies models is largely untapped. We have developed and applied a workflow to produce 3D attribute-based GPR facies models comprising the dominant sedimentary reflection patterns in a GPR volume, which images complex sandy structures on the dune island of Spiekeroog (Northern Germany). After presenting our field site and details regarding our data acquisition and processing, we calculate and filter 3D texture attributes to generate a database comprising the dominant texture features of our GPR data. Then, we perform a dimensionality reduction of this database to obtain meta texture attributes, which we analyze and integrate using composite imaging and (also considering additional geometric information) fuzzy c-means cluster analysis resulting in a classified GPR facies model. Considering our facies model and a corresponding GPR facies chart, we interpret our GPR data set in terms of near-surface sedimentary units, the corresponding depositional environments, and the recent formation history at our field site. Thus, we demonstrate the potential of our workflow, which represents a novel and clear strategy to perform a more objective and consistent interpretation of 3D GPR data collected across different sedimentary environments.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Tella2023, author = {Tella, Timothy Oluwatobi}, title = {Exploring the roles of sediment production by Photozoan and Heterozoan biotas on the evolution of carbonate system geometries through forward modelling}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-58225}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-582257}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {xvi, 123}, year = {2023}, abstract = {The role of biogenic carbonate producers in the evolution of the geometries of carbonate systems has been the subject of numerous research projects. Attempts to classify modern and ancient carbonate systems by their biotic components have led to the discrimination of biogenic carbonate producers broadly into Photozoans, which are characterised by an affinity for warm tropical waters and high dependence on light penetration, and Heterozoans which are generally associated with both cool water environments and nutrient-rich settings with little to no light penetration. These broad categories of carbonate sediment producers have also been recognised to dominate in specific carbonate systems. Photozoans are commonly dominant in flat-topped platforms with steep margins, while Heterozoans generally dominate carbonate ramps. However, comparatively little is known on how these two main groups of carbonate producers interact in the same system and impact depositional geometries responding to changes in environmental conditions such as sea level fluctuation, antecedent slope, sediment transport processes, etc. This thesis presents numerical models to investigate the evolution of Miocene carbonate systems in the Mediterranean from two shallow marine domains: 1) a Miocene flat-topped platform dominated by Photozoans, with a significant component of Hetrozoans in the slope and 2) a Heterozoan distally steepened ramp, with seagrass-influenced (Photozoan) inner ramp. The overarching aim of the three articles comprising this cumulative thesis is to provide a numerical study of the role of Photozoans and Heterozoans in the evolution of carbonate system geometries and how these biotas respond to changes in environmental conditions. This aim was achieved using stratigraphic forward modelling, which provides an approach to quantitatively integrate multi-scale datasets to reconstruct sedimentary processes and products during the evolution of a sedimentary system. In a Photozoan-dominated carbonate system, such as the Miocene Llucmajor platform in Western Mediterranean, stratigraphic forward modelling dovetailed with a robust set of sensitivity tests reveal how the geometry of the carbonate system is determined by the complex interaction of Heterozoan and Photozoan biotas in response to variable conditions of sea level fluctuation, substrate configuration, sediment transport processes and the dominance of Photozoan over Heterozoan production. This study provides an enhanced understanding of the different carbonate systems that are possible under different ecological and hydrodynamic conditions. The research also gives insight into the roles of different biotic associations in the evolution of carbonate geometries through time and space. The results further show that the main driver of platform progradation in a Llucmajor-type system is the lowstand production of Heterozoan sediments, which form the necessary substratum for Photozoan production. In Heterozoan systems, sediment production is mainly characterised by high transport deposits, that are prone to redistribution by waves and gravity, thereby precluding the development of steep margins. However, in the Menorca ramp, the occurrence of sediment trapping by seagrass led to the evolution of distal slope steepening. We investigated, through numerical modelling, how such a seagrass-influenced ramp responds to the frequency and amplitude of sea level changes, variable carbonate production between the euphotic and oligophotic zone, and changes in the configuration of the paleoslope. The study reinforces some previous hypotheses and presents alternative scenarios to the established concepts of high-transport ramp evolution. The results of sensitivity experiments show that steep slopes are favoured in ramps that develop in high-frequency sea level fluctuation with amplitudes between 20 m and 40 m. We also show that ramp profiles are significantly impacted by the paleoslope inclination, such that an optimal antecedent slope of about 0.15 degrees is required for the Menorca distally steepened ramp to develop. The third part presents an experimental case to argue for the existence of a Photozoan sediment threshold required for the development of steep margins in carbonate platforms. This was carried out by developing sensitivity tests on the forward models of the flat-topped (Llucmajor) platform and the distally steepened (Menorca) platform. The results show that models with Photozoan sediment proportion below a threshold of about 40\% are incapable of forming steep slopes. The study also demonstrates that though it is possible to develop steep margins by seagrass sediment trapping, such slopes can only be stabilized by the appropriate sediment fabric and/or microbial binding. In the Photozoan-dominated system, the magnitude of slope steepness depends on the proportion of Photozoan sediments in the system. Therefore, this study presents a novel tool for characterizing carbonate systems based on their biogenic components.}, language = {en} } @article{BlayneyDupontNivetNajmanetal.2019, author = {Blayney, Tamsin and Dupont-Nivet, Guillaume and Najman, Yani and Proust, Jean-Noel and Meijer, Niels and Roperch, Pierrick and Sobel, Edward and Millar, Ian and Guo, Zhaojie}, title = {Tectonic Evolution of the Pamir Recorded in the Western Tarim Basin (China)}, series = {Tectonics}, volume = {38}, journal = {Tectonics}, number = {2}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0278-7407}, doi = {10.1029/2018TC005146}, pages = {492 -- 515}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The northward indentation of the Pamir salient into the Tarim basin at the western syntaxis of the India-Asia collision zone is the focus of controversial models linking lithospheric to surface and atmospheric processes. Here we report on tectonic events recorded in the most complete and best-dated sedimentary sequences from the western Tarim basin flanking the eastern Pamir (the Aertashi section), based on sedimentologic, provenance, and magnetostratigraphic analyses. Increased tectonic subsidence and a shift from marine to continental fluvio-deltaic deposition at 41Ma indicate that far-field deformation from the south started to affect the Tarim region. A sediment accumulation hiatus from 24.3 to 21.6Ma followed by deposition of proximal conglomerates is linked to fault propagation into the Tarim basin. From 21.6 to 15.0Ma, increasing accumulation rates of fining upward clastics is interpreted as the expression of a major dextral transtensional system linking the Kunlun to the Tian Shan ahead of the northward Pamir indentation. At 15.0Ma, the appearance of North Pamir-sourced conglomerates followed at 11Ma by Central Pamir-sourced volcanics coincides with a shift to E-W compression, clockwise vertical-axis rotations and the onset of growth strata associated with the activation of the local east vergent Qimugen thrust wedge. Together, this enables us to interpret that Pamir indentation into Tarim had started by 24.3Ma, reached the study location by 15.0Ma and had passed it by 11Ma, providing kinematic constraints on proposed tectonic models involving intracontinental subduction and delamination.}, language = {en} } @article{SchefflerImmenhauserPourteauetal.2019, author = {Scheffler, Franziska and Immenhauser, Adrian and Pourteau, Amaury and Natalicchio, Marcello and Candan, Osman and Oberh{\"a}nsli, Roland}, title = {A lost Tethyan evaporitic basin}, series = {Sedimentology : the journal of the International Association of Sedimentologists}, volume = {66}, journal = {Sedimentology : the journal of the International Association of Sedimentologists}, number = {7}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0037-0746}, doi = {10.1111/sed.12606}, pages = {2627 -- 2660}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Ancient evaporite deposits are geological archives of depositional environments characterized by a long-term negative precipitation balance and bear evidence for global ocean element mass balance calculations. Here, Cretaceous selenite pseudomorphs from western Anatolia ('Rosetta Marble') — characterized by their exceptional morphological preservation — and their 'marine' geochemical signatures are described and interpreted in a process-oriented context. These rocks recorded Late Cretaceous high-pressure/low-temperature, subduction-related metamorphism with peak conditions of 1·0 to 1·2 GPa and 300 to 400°C. Metre-scale, rock-forming radiating rods, now present as fibrous calcite marble, clearly point to selenitic gypsum as the precursor mineral. Stratigraphic successions are recorded along a reconstructed proximal to distal transect. The cyclical alternation of selenite beds and radiolarian ribbon-bedded cherts in the distal portions are interpreted as a two type of seawater system. During arid intervals, shallow marine brines cascaded downward into basinal settings and induced precipitation. During more humid times, upwelling-induced radiolarian blooms caused the deposition of radiolarite facies. Interestingly, there is no comparable depositional setting known from the Cenozoic world. Meta-selenite geochemical data (δ13C, δ18O and 87Sr/86Sr) plot within the range of reconstructed middle Cretaceous seawater signatures. Possible sources for the 13C-enriched (mean 2·2 per mille) values include methanogenesis, gas hydrates and cold seep fluid exhalation. Spatially resolved component-specific analysis of a rock slab displays isotopic variances between meta-selenite crystals (mean δ13C 2·2 per mille) and host matrix (mean δ13C 1·3 per mille). The Cretaceous evaporite-pseudomorphs of Anatolia represent a basin wide event coeval with the Aptian evaporites of the Proto-Atlantic and the pseudomorphs share many attributes, including lateral distribution of 600 km and stratigraphic thickness of 1·5 to 2·0 km, with the evaporites formed during the younger Messinian salinity crisis. The Rosetta Marble of Anatolia may represent the best-preserved selenite pseudomorphs worldwide and have a clear potential to act as a template for the study of meta-selenite in deep time.}, language = {en} }