Seismogenically induced fluidization of Jurassic erg sands, south‐central Utah

Sedimentology - Tập 49 Số 1 - Trang 65-80 - 2002
Dennis I. Netoff1
1Department of Geography and Geology, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX 77341-2148, USA (E-mail: [email protected])

Tóm tắt

Large bodies of fluidized sandstone occur in the Jurassic Entrada, Carmel, Page and Navajo Formations at several locations in south‐central Utah. They are most abundant in the Entrada Sandstone, where they commonly occur in clusters, have a cylindrical form and have a sharp contact with their cross‐bedded host rock. These clastic pipes are as wide as 75 m and have exposed heights of as much as 100 m. Some of the Entrada pipes extend well into the underlying Carmel redbeds. Other clastic pipes in the Entrada Sandstone are less deformed and display various degrees of brittle‐to‐hydroplastic deformation and liquefaction. Clastic pipes in the Page and Navajo Sandstones are less common, but are similar in size and form to those in the Entrada and Carmel, and probably have a similar origin. Some massive sandstone bodies are irregular in form and have tongue‐like projections into the host rock, implying forcible injection of fluidized sand. Several pipe–host contacts in the Entrada Sandstone display small‐scale ring faults. Where relative displacement can be clearly demonstrated, pipe sandstones are invariably down‐faulted, locally as much as 5 m. At two sites, Carmel host rock is upwarped around the Entrada pipes. Stratified and cross‐bedded breccia blocks occur in many Entrada pipes, and preliminary petrographic analysis indicates that at least some of these breccia blocks are derived from the host rock. Homogeneous pipe sandstones are also petrographically similar to their Entrada host rock, suggesting that some pipes originate through fluidization of the fine‐grained Entrada. Fluidization of the Entrada must have occurred in a water‐saturated environment during early diagenesis but before complete lithification, most probably under considerable porewater pressure. Although there are no known modern analogues to these huge masses of structureless sandstone, they may have a small‐scale modern counterpart in earthquake‐induced sandblows. These features were most probably caused by large‐magnitude seismic events during the Middle Jurassic, although other possibilities cannot be ruled out at this point.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Allen J.R.L., 1961, Sandstone‐plugged pipes in the lower Old Red Sandstone of Shropshire, England, J. Sed. Petrol., 31, 325

10.1016/0037-0738(86)90006-0

10.1130/0091-7613(1998)026<0579:SDITJO>2.3.CO;2

Anderson P.B. Chidsey T.C. Jr Sprinkel D.A.andWillis G.C.(2000)Geology of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Utah–Arizona. In:Geology of Utah's National Parks and Monuments(Eds D.A. Sprinkel T.C. Chidsey and P.B. Anderson) pp. 301–335. Publication 28. Utah Geological Association Salt Lake City UT.

Baars D.L.(1995)Navajo Country: a Geology and Natural History of the Four Corners Region. University of New Mexico Press Albuquerque NM 255 pp.

Baars D.L.(2000)Geology of Canyonlands National Park Utah. In:Geology of Utah's National Parks and Monuments(Eds D.A. Sprinkel T.C. Chidsey and P.B. Anderson) pp. 61–83. Publication 28. Utah Geological Association Salt Lake City UT.

10.2475/ajs.278.5.703

Baker A.A., 1946, Geology of the Green River Desert–Cataract Canyon region, Emery, Wayne, and Garfield Counties, Utah, US Geol. Survey Bull., 951, 122

10.1130/0016-7606(1963)74[1237:CFASPN]2.0.CO;2

Blakey R.andParnell R.A.(1995)Middle Jurassic magmatism: the volcanic record in the eolian Page Sandstone and related Carmel Formation Colorado Plateau. In:Jurassic Magmatism and Tectonics of the North American Cordillera(Eds D.M. Miller and C. Busby) pp. 393–411. Special Paper 299. Geological Society of America Boulder CO.

Blakey R., 1996, Stratigraphic analysis of eolian interactions with marine and fluvial deposits, Middle Jurassic Page Sandstone and Carmel Formation, Colorado Plateau, USA, J. Sed. Res., 66, 324

Chan M.A., 2000, Diagenetic hematite and manganese oxides and fault‐related fluid flow in Jurassic sandstones, southeastern Utah, AAPG Bull., 84, 1281

Collinson J.(1994)Sedimentary deformational structures. In:The Geologic Deformation of Sediments(Ed. A. Maltman) pp. 95–125. Chapman & Hall London.

Crabaugh M.andKocurek G.(1993)Entrada Sandstone: an example of a wet aeolian system. In:The Dynamics and Environmental Context of Aeolian Sedimentary Systems(Ed. K. Pye) pp. 103–126. Special Publication 72. Geological Society London.

Crabaugh M.andKocurek G.(1998)Continental sequence stratigraphy of a wet eolian system: a key to relative sea‐level change. In:Relative Role of Eustasy Climate and Tectonism in Continental Rocks(Eds K. Stanley and P. McCabe) SEPM Spec. Publ. 59 213–228.

Davidson E.S., 1967, Geology of the Circle Cliffs area, Garfield and Kane Counties, Utah, US Geol. Survey Bull., 1229, 140

Decker P.L., 1990, Structural style and mechanics of liquefaction‐related deformation in the Lower Absaroka Volcanic Supergroup (Eocene), east‐central Absaroka Range, Wyoming, Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Paper, 240, 80

Eschner T.B., 1986, Marine destruction of eolian sand seas: origin of mass flows, J. Sed. Petrol., 56, 401

10.1086/626251

10.1016/S0040-1951(00)00118-9

10.1016/0037-0738(83)90069-6

Hackman R.J.andWyant D.G.(1973)Geology structure and uranium deposits of the Escalante Quadrangle Utah and Arizona.US Geol. Survey Misc. Geol. Invest. MapI‐744(scale 1:250 000).

Hannum C., 1980, Sandstone and conglomerate‐breccia pipes and dikes of the Kodachrome Basin area, Kane County, Utah, Brigham Young Univ. Geol. Studies, 27, 31

Harshbarger J.W., 1957, Stratigraphy of the uppermost Triassic and Jurassic rocks of the Navajo Country, US Geol. Survey Prof. Paper, 291, 74

10.1130/GSAB-45-1017

10.1111/j.1365-3091.1982.tb01717.x

Hunter R.E., 1992, Clastic pipes of probable solution‐collapse origin in Jurassic rocks of the southern San Juan Basin, New Mexico, US Geol. Survey Bull., 1808, 1

Huntoon P.W.(2000)Upheaval Dome Canyonlands Utah: strain indicators that reveal an impact origin. In:Geology of Utah's Parks and Monuments(Eds D.A. Sprinkel T.C. Chidsey and P.B. Anderson) Utah Geol. Assoc. Publ. 28 619–628.

10.1130/0016-7606(1998)110<1547:SAEOUD>2.3.CO;2

Jones B.G., 1972, Deformation structures in siltstone resulting from the migration of an Upper Devonian aeolian dune, J. Sed. Petrol., 42, 935

10.1016/0031-0182(81)90054-7

Kocurek G.(1996)Desert eolian systems. In:Sedimentary Environments: Processes Facies and Stratigraphy(Ed. H.G. Reading) pp. 125–153. Blackwell Science Oxford.

10.1111/j.1365-3091.1975.tb00290.x

McKee E.D., 1972, Deformational structures in Brazilian coastal dunes, J. Sed. Petrol., 42, 670

Maltman A.(1994)Introduction and overview. In:The Geological Deformation of Sediments(Ed. A. Maltman) pp. 1–35. Chapman & Hall London.

10.1130/0016-7606(1965)76[1347:AOSPLN]2.0.CO;2

Moench R.H., 1967, Geology and uranium deposits of the Laguna district, New Mexico, US Geol. Survey Prof. Paper, 519, 117

10.1111/j.1365-3091.1993.tb01378.x

10.1016/S0169-555X(00)00096-9

Netoff D. Cooper B.andShroba R.(1995)Giant sandstone weathering pits near Cookie Jar Butte southeastern Utah. In:Proceedings of the Second Biennial Conference on Research in Colorado Plateau National Parks 25–28 October 1993 (Ed. C. van Riper III) pp. 25–53. National Park Transactions and Proceedings Series NPS/NRNAU/NRTP‐95‐11. Colorado Plateau Research Station Flagstaff AZ.

10.1111/j.1365-3091.1976.tb00060.x

10.1111/j.1365-3091.1988.tb00949.x

10.1086/624003

Peterson F.(1988)A synthesis of the Jurassic system in the southern Rocky Mountain region. In:The Geology of North America Vol. D‐2.Sedimentary Cover – North American Craton US(Ed. L.L. Sloss) pp. 65–76. Geological Society of America Boulder CO.

Peterson F.andBarnum B.(1973)Geologic map and coal resources of the northwest quarter of the Cummings Mesa Quadrangle Kane County Utah.US Geol. Survey Coal Invest. MapC‐64 1:24 000.

Peterson F., 1979, Stratigraphic relations of the Navajo Sandstone to Middle Jurassic formations, southern Utah and northern Arizona, US Geol. Survey Prof. Paper, 1035, 43

Phoenix D.A.(1958)Sandstone cylinders as possible guides to paleomovement of ground water. In:New Mexico Geological Society Ninth Field Conference pp. 194–196. New Mexico Geological Society Socorro NM.

Sargent K.A. Hansen D.andE.(1982)Bedrock geologic map of the Kaiparowits coal‐basin area. Utah.US Geol. Survey Misc. Geol. Invest. MapI‐1033‐I(scale 1:250 000).

Schlee J.S., 1963, Sandstone pipes of the Laguna area, New Mexico, J. Sed. Petrol., 33, 112

10.1130/0016-7606(1999)111<0590:XEFPCE>2.3.CO;2

Weart W., 1998, The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Geotimes, 43, 14

Weir G.W., 1961, Collapse structures of southern Spanish Valley, southeastern Utah, US Geol. Survey Prof. Paper, 424, B173

10.2113/gsecongeo.80.6.1722

Wenrich K.J., 1992, The potential of breccia pipes in the Mohawk Canyon area, Hualapai Indian Reservation, Arizona, US Geol. Survey Bull., 1683, D1

Wills C., 1996, Liquefaction in the California desert; an unexpected geologic hazard, Calif. Geol., 49, 31

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Sedimentology

Tập 49 Số 1

65-80

Thông tin tác giả