Principles Of Tidal Sedimentology

This book presents a comprehensive, contemporary review of tidal environments and deposits. Individual chapters, each written by world-class experts, cover the full spectrum of coastal, shallow-marine and even deep-marine settings where tidal action influences or controls sediment movement and deposition. Both siliciclastic and carbonate deposits are covered. Various chapters examine the dynamics of sediment transport by tides, and the morphodynamics of tidal systems. Several chapters explore the occurrence of tidal deposits in the stratigraphic context of entire sedimentary basins. This book is essential reading for both coastal geologists and managers, and geologists interested in extracting hydrocarbons from complex tidal successions.

Fluvial-Tidal Sedimentology provides information on the ‘Tidal-Fluvial Transition', the transition zone between river and tidal environments, and includes contributions that address some of the most fundamental research questions, including how the morphology of the tidal-fluvial transition zone evolves over short (days) and long (decadal) time periods and for different tidal and fluvial regimes, the structure of the river flow as it varies in its magnitude over tidal currents and how this changes at the mixing interface between fresh and saline water and at the turbidity maximum, the role of suspended sediment in controlling bathymetric change and bar growth and the role of fine-grained sediment (muds and flocs), whether it is possible to differentiate between ‘fluvial’ and ‘tidally’ influenced bedforms as preserved in bars and within the adjacent floodplain and what are the diagnostic sedimentary facies of tidal-fluvial deposits and how are these different from ‘pure’ fluvial and tidal deposits, amongst other topics. The book presents the latest research on the processes and deposits of the tidal-fluvial transition, documenting recent major field programs that have quantified the flow, sediment transport, and bed morphology in tidal-fluvial zones. It uses description of contemporary environments and ancient outcrop analogues to characterize the facies change through the tidal-fluvial transition. Presents the latest outcomes from recent, large, integrated field programs in estuaries around the world Gives detailed field descriptions (outcrop, borehole, core, contemporary sediments) of tidal-fluvial deposits Accesses new models and validation datasets for estuarine processes and deposits Presents descriptions of contemporary environments and ancient outcrop analogues to characterize the facies change through the tidal-fluvial transition

Tidal deposits have been a specific research topic for about 40 years, and whilst this has resulted in a proliferation of papers in scientific journals, there have only been a few book-length syntheses. Over the years, tidal sedimentology has been reinforced by fluid mechanics and numerical modelling but has remained rooted in facies and stratigraphic studies. Recent developments in tidal sedimentology lean toward a more quantitative assessment of the imprint of tides in the facies record of intertidal and shallow subtidal areas. They highlight the increasing relevance of tidal deposits studies, from high resolution subsurface reservoir geology to climate change and sea-level rise. This volume gathers 17 contributions to the Tidalites 2012 congress held in Caen, France. It reflects current advances in the sedimentology and stratigraphy of tidal deposits, in both ancient and modern environments. It shows the current diversity of this field of research, through a wide spectrum of methods including remote sensing, in-situ hydrodynamical measurements, and ichnology, in addition to classic field studies and petrography.

Paralic reservoirs reflect a range of depositional environments including deltas, shoreline–shelf systems and estuaries. They provide the backbone of production in many mature basins, and contribute significantly to global conventional hydrocarbon production. However, the range of environments, together with relative sea-level and sediment supply changes, result in significant variability in their stratigraphic architecture and sedimentological heterogeneity, which translates into complex patterns of reservoir distribution and production that are challenging to predict, optimize and manage. This volume presents new research and developments in established approaches to the exploration and production of paralic reservoirs. The 13 papers in the volume are grouped into three thematic sections, which address: the sedimentological characterization of paralic reservoirs using subsurface data; lithological heterogeneity in paralic depositional systems arising from the influence of tidal currents; and paralic reservoir analogue studies of modern sediments and ancient outcrops. The volume demonstrates that heterogeneity in paralic reservoirs is increasingly well understood at all scales, but highlights gaps in our knowledge and areas of current research.

This textbook shows all the existing knowledge about coastal geology and its implications for coastal management. In the last decades, the geological sciences have been supplying exciting information about the coastal systems, not only from its dynamics but also providing a sedimentary concept to understand and interpret the preserved coastal stratigraphical record. Furthermore, recent investigations have been focused on the prevention of coastal hazards like storms, tsunamis, or sea-level fluctuation. This discipline has an increasing interest after the expanding human activities around the coasts worldwide. The present trend is that many of the problems raised by the coast–human interaction must be resolved by using the Integrated Coastal Zone Management. The chapters of this book have a double-level structure. The first part of each chapter contains the necessary information for undergraduate courses studying coastal geology. The second part includes advanced information and examples to be used by graduate students and novel professionals.

Straits and seaways represent key connections of oceans and seas between emerged landmasses, regulating water, sediment and biota exchanges, and influencing local and global climate. A good understanding of the dynamic evolution of straits and seaways is therefore fundamental to accurately reconstruct the paleoecology, sedimentology and stratigraphy of interconnected basins, to reconstruct past Earth’s system climate dynamics, and to exploit different types of resources. This book provides a comprehensive collection of articles dealing with both ancient and modern case studies, bringing together different but complementary disciplines, such as marine geology and process sedimentology and stratigraphy. With the contents covering the evolution, geomorphology, stratigraphy, sedimentology, oceanography, paleogeography and influence on climate of straits and seaways, the book is of interest to earth scientists in many fields.

The Tide-Dominated Han River Delta provides a thorough analysis of a river delta in which tidal currents have reworked the river-borne sediment, generating characteristic geomorphological and sedimentological signatures in the process. Such "tide-dominated" deltas are common in the modern ocean, forming the substrate upon which entire populations are built. Furthermore, ancient examples contain enormous volumes of hydrocarbon. Despite this, tide-dominated deltas remain less well understood than their wave- and river-dominated counterparts, largely because processes within them are inherently more complex and fewer modern examples have been investigated in detail. This multi-year study by a team of experts in coastal geoscience represents the most complete documentation of a tide-dominated delta to date. Results help advance, and are applicable to, a broad range of fields within sedimentary geology, including clastic sedimentology, seismic and sequence stratigraphy, and coastal geomorphology, in addition to petroleum geology and reservoir engineering. Offers new access to results of a multi-year hydrocarbon-reservoir analogue study not available elsewhere Features 75 full-color figures and illustrations to emphasize critical aspects of the delta’s sedimentology, geomorphology, and stratigraphy Provides basic data that better define what tide-dominated deltas are, how these complex systems behave over time, and why this is so Aids petroleum geologists and reservoir engineers in predicting the distribution of baffles and barriers in tide-dominated sediment bodies, helping in the successful development of reservoirs