Holocene stratigraphy of the Alabama inner continental shelf: Influence of shelf sand ridges on determining lithofacies architecture
- Geological Survey of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL (United States). Energy and Coastal Geology Div.
Surface and subsurface distribution of lithofacies from Holocene sediments of the AL inner continental shelf was determined from a series of 59 vibracores and associated surface sediment grab sediments. Five Holocene lithofacies composed of 12 discrete microfacies were delineated based on grain size, color, sedimentary structures, shell content, and fabric of samples. These lithofacies include: (1) Graded Shelly Sand Lithofacies; (2) Clean Sand Lithofacies; (3) Dirty Sand Lithofacies; (4) Biogenic Sediment Lithofacies; and (5) Muddy Sediment Lithofacies. These represent four major depositional environments: The Shelf Sand Sheet Environment (lithofacies 1 and 2); the Sand Ridge Environment (lithofacies 1, 2, and 3); the Bay/Lagoon Environment (lithofacies 3, 4 and 5); and the Muddy Shelf Environment (lithofacies 5). East of the Main Pass of Mobile Bay, the seafloor is composed of a clean Shelf Sand Sheet with oblique shelf sand ridges; Clean Sand and Graded Shelly Sand are the dominant surface sediment types. Coarse shell beds that grade up to quartz sand units (total thickness 0.1 to 3+m) interpreted as tempestites comprise most of the upper portion of the ridges. West of the Pass, the muddier lithofacies (3 and 5) dominate surface samples. Microfacies at depth represent the early Holocene transgressive systems tract; these include the Muddy Shelf Depositional Environment and the filled estuaries and bays of the flooded Pleistocene fluvial valleys represented by the Bay/Lagoon Depositional Environment. The AL inner shelf provides an excellent model of the variability of sedimentation mode in time and space during deposition of a transgressive systems tract. Development of the palimpsest sand sheet/ridge complex progressed on the eastern shelf due to shut off of sediment influx, westward longshore currents, and episodic incidence of major hurricanes. On the western shelf a patchy distribution of muddier sediments developed from input of floodwaters from Mobile Bay.
- OSTI ID:
- 6112725
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9304188-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 25:4; Conference: 42. annual Geological Society of America (GSA) Southeastern Section meeting, Tallahassee, FL (United States), 1-2 Apr 1993; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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