Storm Deposits of the Sinian Zhangqu Formation in Northern Anhui——An Upward Shallowing Carbonate Sequence

This paper studies. for the first time, the storm deposits of a carbonate sequence in the Sinian ZhangquFormation in northern Anhui. In the formation. a great number of calcareous trider sponge spicules were dis-covered in a distal storm turbidity sequence, which have provided further evidence for the correlation of theSinian Systems in North and South China from a view point of palaeontology.

End-Triassic storm deposits in the lacustrine Sichuan Basin and their driving mechanisms

Storm deposits or tempestites are event sequences formed by storms,requiring at least a water temperature of 26.5℃.While inland lakes are unlikely to form storm deposits because of their limited width and water temperature.The Upper Triassic Xujiahe Formation in the Sichuan Basin is a set of coal-bearing,clastic sequences with dominant sedimentary facies varying from braided river delta to lacustrine settings,with storm deposits widely reported.In the Zilanba of Guanyuan area,in situ tree trunks on a palaeosol surface in Member Vof the Xujiahe Formation provide new evidence of a storm event.Six fallen-down directions of nine in situ tree trunks were predominant in the NW direction,contrary to the palaeocurrent direction of the underlying strata,suggesting that the southeasterlies prevailed during the end-Triassic in the northern Sichuan Basin.Massive mud clasts were frequently recorded in sandstones of the Xujiahe Formation,as well as in the Xindianzi section.These mud clasts showed a rip-up or a plastic deformation with upside-down V-shapes,were capped on an erosional surface,showed no transport traces and were therefore interpreted as a storm lag deposit.The megamonsoonal climate prevailed during the Late Triassic,although the megamonsoons themselves could not generate a storm deposition in the Xujiahe Formation due to its low maximum surface wind speed.The driving mechanism for generating storm deposits in the Xujiahe Formation is suggested to be tropical cyclones over the Tethys Ocean moving eastward,further landfalling on the western margin of the Sichuan Basin.Statistics of storm events in the circum-Tethys region show a widespread storm surge in low latitudes during the end-Triassic.The storm deposits at the top of the Xujiahe Formation represent a sedimentary response to the end-Triassic hyperthermal event.

Tracking historical storm records from high-barrier lagoon deposits on the southeastern coast of Hainan Island,China

The relationship between storm activity and global warming remains uncertain.To better understand storm–climate relationships,coastal lagoon deposits are increasingly being investigated because they could provide high-resolution storm records long enough to cover past climate changes.However,site-specific sediment dynamics and high barriers may bias storm reconstructions.Here,we aimed to investigate these factors through the reconstruction of five distinct storm records(XCL-01,XC-03,XC-06,XC-07,XC-08)from different water depths in a lagoon with a high barrier(i.e.,Xincun Lagoon of Hainan Island).Sediment cores were characterized using high-resolution grain size and XRF measurements,to identify storm events.These data were coupled with a numerical simulation to obtain bed shear stress data with high-spatial resolution to better understand storm-induced sediment transport mechanisms.^(210) Pb dating and Pb pollution chronostratigraphic markers indicated that the chronology of the storm deposit sequences of the cores span the period between 117 a and 348 a.The grain size and XRF results indicated numerous,highly variable and short-duration fluctuations,suggesting that storm-induced coarse-grained sediments were deposited at these core sites.The inconsistent storm events recorded in these cores suggest that these sites have different preservation potentials for storm deposits.However,the consistence between storm sediment records and historical documents for Core XCL-01 indicates that high-barrier lagoons could provide long-term storm event records with high preservation potential.

Sedimentary record of a late Holocene storm event in Laizhou Bay,Bohai Sea,China

The Bohai Sea is influenced by numerous extreme oceanic wave events in history.However,it is often difficult to determine the types of these events due to the lack of detailed historical records,causing uncertainty in the reconstruction of historical coastal disasters.We investigated an anomalous sand layer in the Xiliyu Village by the coast of Laizhou Bay,Shandong,from which an extreme event deposit was identified using a multi-proxy approach including grain size distribution,geochemistry,and magnetic susceptibility.This event was dated 2700–3100 a bp,and caused inundation of a large coastal area of Laizhou Bay.By comparing historical records with instrumental data,we believe that the event deposit was generated by a severe storm surge with wind speed of>34.9 m/s.

Characteristics and origin of a new type of polyhalite potassium ore in the Lower Triassic Jialingjiang Formation, Puguang area, northeastern Sichuan Basin, SW China

A new type of polyhalite potassium ore(NTPPO) was found in the Lower Triassic Jialingjiang Formation, NE Sichuan Basin, SW China. It is water soluble, therefore can be exploited using the water-solution method, and is of great potential of economic value and research significance. Based on cores, thin sections, energy spectrum and SEM analyses, its microfeatures, macrofeatures and origin are discussed, and a genetic model is established to provide a scientific basis for future evaluation, prediction and exploration of potassium ore in the Sichuan Basin. It is proposed that the NTPPO was caused by storm activities:(1) the storm broke the original sedimentary polyhalite–gypsum beds, whose fragments were transported into the salt basin with high content of K+ and Mg2+;(2) in the basin, the polyhalite continued to be formed from gypsum by metasomatism with K-and Mg-rich brine;(3) during diagenesis, under high temperature and high pressure, K–Mg-rich brine from halite continued to replace anhydrite(or gypsum) to form polyhalite.