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Depositional-Episodes: Their Relationship to the Quaternary Stratigraphic Framework in the Northwestern Portion of the Gulf Bas

Abstract
The stratigraphic record yields evidence that each episode of clastic silicate deposition has been of limited duration and that each has been preceded and followed by a significant hiatus. Evidence for alternations of deposition and nondeposition is readily apparent in the landward portions of Pleistocene deposits along the Gulf Coast, due to the glacio-eustatic changes in sea level; evidence of alternations, although elusive, exists also in the basinward portions of these deposits. The concept of depositional-episodes explains the significance and relationship of these alternating conditions throughout the basin. The strata attributed to each depositional episode are a composite of several discrete facies sequences and are referred to in this paper as a depositional-complex. Each facies-sequence represents either a single delta lobe within a deltaic progression, or one of the several repetitive sequences deposited in an interdeltaic environment. Each depositional-complex records and defines a depositional-episode and indicates three phases of development. Deposits of the initial phase record a stillstand of the sea during which each of the several rivers entering the basin prograde a succession of delta lobes and interdeltaic facies sequences across the shelf. The second phase of development (which is penecontemporaneous with the first) is recorded by the intercalation of clastic and organic flood-plain deposits which accumulate on the newly formed coastal plain, and by the deep-water hemipelagc basin sediments which are secondarily derived from unstable sediments deposited in the outermost shelf and uppermost slope environments. The terminal phase is evidenced by sediments deposited during a period of instability when a marine transgression either continuously or intermittently forces estuarine conditions on the rivers entering the basin. Throughout the terminal transgression, the finite zone of active deposition adjacent to the shoreline is shifted landward. Basinward of this active zone of deposition, hiatal conditions are imposed and at the instant of maximum transgression, when the depositional-episode is terminated, all points on the hiatal surface are synchronous. The bounding surfaces of depositional complexes represent natural stratigraphic breaks over the entire basin and are related to hiatal conditions imposed by marine transgressions. Within the Quaternary section, the repetitive alternation of depositional-episodes and significant hiatuses is due to the glacio-eustatic fluctuations of sea level: as a result, worldwide correlations of the Quaternary depositional complexes and hiatal surfaces may be possible.
Authors
David E. Frazier
Citation

Frazier, D. E., 1974, Depositional-Episodes: Their Relationship to the Quaternary Stratigraphic Framework in the Northwestern Portion of the Gulf Basin: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Geological Circular 74-1, 28 p.

DOI
10.23867/gc7401D
ISSN
2475-3637
Number of figures
18
Number of pages
28
Publisher
The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology
Series
Geological Circular
Year
1974

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