2014 GSA Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia (19–22 October 2014)

Paper No. 140-4
Presentation Time: 9:45 AM

DEPOSITIONAL ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS IN TURBIDITE CHANNEL SYSTEMS. GORGOGLIONE FLYSCH FORMATION (BASILICATA, SOUTHERN ITALY)


PITTS, Alan1, CASCIANO, Claudio Ivan1, DI CELMA, Claudio N.1 and MCCAFFREY, William2, (1)Department of Earth Science, University of Camerino, Piazza Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour, 19f, Camerino, 62032, Italy, (2)School of Earth Sciences, Leeds University, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom

The reconstruction of depositional geometries, stratigraphic architecture and channel-substrate incision relationships is critical to understanding turbidite channel evolution in deepwater settings. An outcrop-based study is presented from a key stratigraphic interval in the upper portion of the Gorgoglione Flysch Formation, a Miocene-age syn-orogenic marine clastic succession, outcropping in the Southern Apennine chain in Basilicata, Italy. This unit outcrops in 10-to-100-m-thick coarse-grained amalgamated sandstone bodies incised into tabular heterolithic deposits, with lateral continuity of several kilometers.

The section analyzed in this work is characterized by a ~50 m thick interval consisting of a coarse-grained conglomerate and sandstone, incised into underlying fine-grained tabular sands. The two units are divided by a sharp erosional surface with a composite base showing multiple generations of scour and loading structures indicating a dynamic channel system with several events of erosion, excavation and deposition.

This section has been examined through detailed stratigraphic measurements and facies analysis to create vertical and lateral correlations of key surfaces and sand bodies. Using measurements from multiple basal surfaces with numerous of scour structures, a paleoflow analysis and characterization of channel base has been created. In addition, high-resolution giga-pixel imagery (Gigapans) and 3D photogrammetric models of the outcrop used to complement physical outcrop data enhance the recognition of unobserved bed-scale structures and depositional geometry

This approach reveals a complex and irregular geometry of the basal channel surface, a varied range of paleoflow directions, probably related to an energetic and dynamic depositional process, and transition in depositional regime. The collection of this data will provide useful results for comparative analysis with previous depositional models and interpretation of the evolution of the Gorgoglione Basin.

Session No. 140

T238. Sedimentary Geology: The Now and the Next Generations of Scientists (Posters)
Monday, 20 October 2014: 9:00 AM-6:30 PM
Exhibition Hall C (Vancouver Convention Centre-West)
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 46, No. 6, p.350
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