Supercritical-flow Deposits (Sfds) and Their Distribution in a Submarine Channel System, Middle Eocene, Ainsa Basin, Spanish Pyrenees

Studies of supercritical-flow deposits (SFDs) and their spatial distribution in ancient deep-water systems should provide an additional tool to improve the understanding of the flow dynamics during deposition and the architecture of sandbodies. Outcrop recognition of SFDs in ancient deep-marine environments remains poorly documented, although their study dates back to the 1970s. This paper focusses on the criteria for recognizing SFDs and their distribution in three selected depositional environments from an ancient mid-lower slope to a proximal-basin floor setting in the middle Eocene Ainsa Basin, Spanish Pyrenees. From field observations, six facies associations interpreted as related to supercritical flow are defined. These facies associations are grouped in two categories. The first group includes facies associations related to erosional coarse-grained supercritical-flow bedforms related to meter and centimeter-scale scours and backfilling structures interpreted as large-scale cyclic steps or small-scale cyclic steps, respectively. Erosional coarse-grained supercritical bedforms are observed mainly in relatively high-gradient slopes and relatively confined settings. The second group of facies associations are related to depositional fine-grained supercritical-flow bedforms associated with upflow-dipping sandstone lenses, upflow-stacked wavy bedforms, upflow-stacked sigmoidal bedforms, and plane beds, interpreted as unstable and stable antidunes and upper-flow-regime plane beds. Depositional fine-grained supercritical-flow bedforms are observed mainly in relatively unconfined settings such as lower-slope, break-of-slope and proximal basin-floor environments. Two main SFD trends were observed in the Ainsa Basin in: (i) an axial-lateral direction, showing a decrease in SFDs from channel axis to channel margin, and (ii) a longitudinal proximal–distal direction, showing an increase in SFDs from the Gerbe System (mid-slope environment), to the Banastón System (proximal basin-floor environment), to the Ainsa System (lower-slope environment). From this study, two parameters are recognized as likely playing an important role on whether a flow is under supercritical or subcritical conditions: (i) confinement of the sandbodies, and (ii) slope gradient

Resonance Raman spectroscopy and quantum chemical modeling studies of protein-astaxanthin interactions in alpha-crustacyanin (major blue carotenoprotein complex in carapace of lobster, Homarus gammarus)

Solid state NMR/Biophysical Organic ChemistryBio-organic Synthesi

Design of a hydraulic riveter

Thesis (B.S.)--University of Illinois, 1910

Carotenoid blues: Structural studies on carotenoproteins

Solid state NMR/Biophysical Organic Chemistr

Supercritical-flow bedforms, facies, geometry and architecture, Middle Eocene, Ainsa and Jaca basins, Spanish Pyrenees

The aim of this PhD is to improve the recognition criteria of supercritical-flow deposits (SFDs) from outcrop and core observations of the Middle Eocene deep-marine sediments of the Ainsa and Jaca basins, to better characterise the architecture of ancient deep-water systems. (1) Based on outcrop observations, six facies associations related to SFDs are defined. These facies associations are binned in two categories. The first group is related to erosional coarse-grained supercritical-flow bedforms, e.g., large- and small-scale cyclic steps. The second group is related to depositional fine-grained supercritical-flow bedforms associated with unstable and stable antidunes and upper-plane beds. (2) Based on 11-months of fieldwork, a hydrodynamic description and interpretation of three contrasting depositional environments in the submarine channel and canyons of the Ainsa Basin is presented, complemented by a hydrodynamic analysis of the correlated submarine lobe-and-related deposits of the Jaca Basin. From this analysis, three parameters are recognised as controlling the distribution of SFDs in a deep-marine system: (i) sandbody confinement, (ii) slope gradient, and (iii) basin geometry. (3) Based on detailed core studies of the Ainsa Basin, three recognition criteria related to SFDs are defined: (i) centimetre-scale scours; (ii) backset lamination, and (iii) planar-parallel lamination. The distribution of SFDs throughout the cores reveals intervals dominated by SFDs separated by intervals with mostly subcritical-flow deposits that can be linked with depositional environments controlled by confinement and slope gradient. This PhD research demonstrates the contribution and value of outcrop and core analyses when linked with observations in modern deep-marine systems, flume-tank experiments and theoretical studies, in understanding flow-processes and deposits, and the evolution of submarine-fan environments. The results of this research should be useful not only for the academic scientific community, but also for the hydrocarbon industry, as it permits the prediction of sedimentological aspects of submarine systems, e.g., the architecture and porosity-permeability relationships