Sedimentological thickness variations within Silurian mudstone-dominated turbidite deposits and the effects on cleavage fanning
(Anglo-Brabant Deformation Belt, Belgium)
Timothy N. Debacker
Jacques Verniers
Lorna J. Strachan
Mathijs Dumon
Marcel Belmans
10.6084/m9.figshare.3453608.v1
https://geolsoc.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Sedimentological_thickness_variations_within_Silurian_mudstone-dominated_turbidite_deposits_and_the_effects_on_cleavage_fanning___Anglo-Brabant_Deformation_Belt_Belgium_/3453608
<p>The effect of vertical changes in lithology on cleavage refraction and cleavage fanning is relatively well understood. In
contrast, the control that lateral changes in bed thickness and related multilayer characteristics have on cleavage fanning
has not been widely documented. Mudstone-dominated Wenlock-age turbidites of the Anglo-Brabant Deformation Belt, Belgium,
exhibit pronounced lateral thickness changes, which we attribute to intraslope flow ponding during foreland basin development.
The mudstone-dominated nature of the turbidites is considered to reflect a particularly fine-grained source area, rather than
a distal origin. Formation boundaries and lateral changes in lithofacies unit thickness are reflected in the amount of cleavage
fanning. The degree of convergent cleavage fanning increases with an increase in thickness of the less competent units and
with a decrease in thickness and number of the more competent units. As such, a detailed analysis of changes in cleavage–bedding
angle aids in the distinction of different lithostratigraphic units of similar appearance, the location of their boundaries
and identification of subtle lateral sedimentological changes. The utilization of cleavage and bedding data to recognize and
describe vertical and lateral changes in a semi-quantitative way allows the linkage of subtle changes in multilayer rheology
to finite strain trajectories.
</p>
2016-06-21 11:32:58
foreland basin development
Sedimentological thickness variations
lithofacies unit thickness
formation boundaries
bedding data
thickness changes
convergent cleavage
sedimentological changes
intraslope flow ponding
source area
cleavage refraction
strain trajectories
turbidite
lithostratigraphic units
bed thickness
Geology