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Preservation and grain-size trends of Holocene wave-dominated facies successions in eastern Japan; implications for high-resolution sequence stratigraphic analysis

Toru Tamura
Preservation and grain-size trends of Holocene wave-dominated facies successions in eastern Japan; implications for high-resolution sequence stratigraphic analysis
Journal of Sedimentary Research (September 2004) 74 (5): 718-729

Abstract

Vertical grain-size trends provide significant information for the sequence stratigraphic analysis of siliciclastic wave-dominated facies successions. This paper discusses the relationships between the preservation timing and the grain-size trends of Holocene wave-dominated successions in two contrasting coastal plains: the Kujukuri and Sendai, using high-resolution AMS (super 14) C dating, depositional facies, and grain size. Modal grain size is proposed as a good criterion for evaluating qualitative changes of depositional depth. The Kujukuri and Sendai successions are both fining-upward to coarsening-upward wave-dominated successions that have developed upon ravinement surfaces. The fining-upward part of the Kujukuri succession formed in regressive deposits during a highstand period, whereas that of the Sendai formed during transgression. A difference in the timing of the generation of upward fining is due to the varying preservation potential of transgressive shoreface deposits on the ravinement surface. In the Sendai area, the potential was much higher than in the Kujukuri area, because the Sendai ravinement surface had received greater sediment supply from the adjacent rivers during transgression. A differing rate of tectonic uplift between the areas was not critical to the preservation potential because of the short time scale. The successions show bimodal grain-size distributions in the basal parts and unimodal distributions elsewhere. The bimodality is considered to be the result of mixing of a coarse transgressive lag with finer sediment derived from external sources. The finer mode forms a consistent trend with unimodal grain sizes in overlying deposits. The trend is of a simple upward coarsening in the Kujukuri and an upward fining to coarsening in the Sendai, showing distinctive correlation with changes of depositional depth. Thus, the vertical trend of the modal grain size (and not mean or median) is best for evaluating changes of de-positional depth in ancient wave-dominated facies successions.


ISSN: 1527-1404
EISSN: 1938-3681
Serial Title: Journal of Sedimentary Research
Serial Volume: 74
Serial Issue: 5
Title: Preservation and grain-size trends of Holocene wave-dominated facies successions in eastern Japan; implications for high-resolution sequence stratigraphic analysis
Author(s): Tamura, Toru
Affiliation: Geological Survey of Japan, IGG, Ibaraki, Japan
Pages: 718-729
Published: 200409
Text Language: English
Publisher: Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Tulsa, OK, United States
References: 40
Accession Number: 2004-071080
Categories: Quaternary geology
Document Type: Serial
Bibliographic Level: Analytic
Illustration Description: illus. incl. charts, sects., sketch map
N38°16'00" - N38°16'00", E140°52'00" - E140°52'00"
Country of Publication: United States
Secondary Affiliation: GeoRef, Copyright 2018, American Geosciences Institute. Reference includes data supplied by SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology), Tulsa, OK, United States
Update Code: 200421

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