Overview of sedimentation and sea level change in campanian (Upper Cretaceous) of Northern Margin, Gulf of Mexico
In the outcrop belt and shallow subsurface, the Selma Group (Campanian) of Alabama consists of intergrading marine marl facies and paralic clastic facies. Correlation among 300 surface sections and 40 shallow water wells demonstrates that the Selma facies are arranged cyclically in five discontinuity-bounded packages, three in the Mooreville-Blufftown interval and two in the overlying Demopolis-Cusseta interval. These packages are related to third-order sea level cycles (recurrence interval of approximately 2 m.y.) on the Selma shelf. The packages are similar in that each has an asymmetrical internal facies arrangement and each has a shelfward gradational petrologic sequence comprised of quartzose sands, glauconitic silts, calcareous clays, and marine marls. In addition, fossiliferous sandy event beds in the latter three facies are more abundant near the top of each package, their preservation is an apparent response to higher end-cycle sedimentation rate. The packages differ in their total thickness and apparent extent of shelfward clastic progradation. Further, the amount of carbonate in the shelf sediments varies widely between and within packages in response to changing paleobathymetry. As a result, chalk beds are developed in the marine mari facies of two cycles and limestone beds are developed in one other cycle.
- OSTI ID:
- 6776184
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-880301-
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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ALABAMA
ATLANTIC OCEAN
BATHYMETRY
CARBONATE ROCKS
CARIBBEAN SEA
CLAYS
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
DOCUMENT TYPES
EXPLORATION
FEDERAL REGION IV
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGY
GULF OF MEXICO
LEVELS
LIMESTONE
MARLSTONE
MESOZOIC ERA
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
NORTH AMERICA
PALEONTOLOGY
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
RESOURCES
REVIEWS
ROCKS
SANDSTONES
SEA LEVEL
SEAS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SEDIMENTATION
SURFACE WATERS
USA