Mixing Deposition of Upper Carboniferous in Jiangshan,Zhejiang Province and its Tectonic Significance

The Outangdi Formation in Jiangshan, Zhejiang, is the mixing deposit of terrigenous clastics and carbonates in Weiningian of the late Carboniferous. The mixing deposits include interbeddings, which constitute a series of alternated clastic and carbonate beds and mixing within the same bed which forms ＂hunji rock＂. The Outangdi Formation has the features of intercalated marine and terrestrial deposits with the progradational sequences, which are lower fine and upper coarse sedimentary granularity in the section. Hunji rock is formed in a seashore environment. It is a mixed carbonate sediment found in beaches or tideland facies with quartz sand taken from a bayou or beach by coastwise flow and circumfluence. There are two kinds of hunji sequences： （1） interbeds of sandstone and carbonate rock in seashore environments; and （2） interbeds of clastics in river facies and carbonate rock in ocean facies. It is indicated that mixing depositions belong to ＂facies mixing＂, affected mainly by regional tectonic uplift, rise of the global sea level, and the dynamics of water medium in the basin. Regional sea level periodic changes and progradational sequences probably resulted from the intense uplift of the old land called Cathaysia. The classification and name of mixed sediments are also discussed in the present study. Interbeds and alternated beds of clastic and carbonate beds are named ＂hunji sequence＂, a new genetic term. It is suggested that hunji rock means a special sediment event of mixing terrigenous clastics and carbonates instead of a name of a specific rock.

Mixed Carbonate-Siliciclastic Deposits in a Channel Complex in the Northern South China Sea

New high-resolution 3D seismic data image a submarine channel complex in the northern slope of the South China Sea. The channel complex stretches hundreds of kilometers across the slope and flows into the deepsea from the siliciclastic shelf margin, linking neritic environment to the pelagic plain. The evolution of the channel complex developed two sedimentary stages, stage Ⅰ （19.1-18.5 Ma） and stage Ⅱ （18.5-17.5 Ma）, separated by erosional surfaces. In the first stage, the complex was rifled with pure siliciclastic sediments, forming thick-massive sandstone intercalated by thin layers of mudstone. During the stage Ⅱ, the channel complex was deposited five carbonate-siliciclastic cycles. The unexpected channel-fifl carbonate deposits present allochthonous characteristics, suggesting the siliciclastic channel was surprisingly used to transport carbonate sediment from the adjacent neritic carbonate platform. By analyzing the periodical carbonate sedimentary process in the siliciclastic channel complex, we infer that it was related to the in situ carbonate production of the neritic carbonate platform and was most likely to be controlled by the relative sea-level changes. Unlike line-source carbonate slope aprons or smafl-sized carbonate channels, the large-sized siliciclastic channel complex links directly neritic carbonate platform to deepwater basin and can transport large volumes of neritic carbonates to the pelagic environment in a short period. The new findings help to estimate the contributions of neritie siliciclastic shelf and carbonate platform to deepwater slope more accurately. This study suggests that channel systems are more complex than expected and have significant implications on the conceptual models describing the deepwater sedimentary theory.