Sedimentation processes and sedimentary characteristics of tidal bores along the north bank of the Qiantang Estuary

A tidal bore is a unique Earth surface process, characterized by its highly destructive energy, predictable periodicities and magni-tudes, and the production of characteristic sedimentary features. Tidal bores and associated rapid flood flows are highly turbulent flows of the upper-flow regime with a velocity over several meters per second. Reynolds (Re) and Froude (Fr) numbers, respectively, are larger than 104 and 1.0, making them significantly different from regular tidal flows but analogous to turbidity currents. Until now, understanding of tidal-bore depositional processes and products has been limited because of the difficulty and hazards involved with gauging tidal bores directly. The Qiantang bore is known as the largest breaking bore in the world. Field surveys were carried out in May 2010, along the north bank of the Qiantang Estuary to observe the occurrence of peak bores, including regular observations of current, water level and turbidity at the main channel. Several short cores were sampled on the intertidal flats to study the characteristic sedimentary features of tidal bores. Hydrodynamic and sedimentological studies show that the processes of sediment resuspension, transport and deposition are controlled primarily by the tidal bores, and the subsequent abruptly accelerated and decelerated flood flows, which only account for one tenth of each semidiurnal tidal cycle in the estuary. Tidal-bore deposits are generally poorly sorted because of rapid sedimentation after highly mixed suspension by intense turbulence. This behavior is characteristic of the absence of tractive-current depositional components in a C-M diagram. It also goes along with well-developed massive bedding, graded bedding, basal erosion structures, convolute bedding and dewatering structures. Together, these sedimentary features can constitute fingerprinting of turbidites, widely distributed in the deep-water environment. However, a tidal bore is triggered by intensely deformed tidal waves propagating into a shallow-water environment, which returns to regular tidal flows rapidly after the passage of the bore head. The tidal-bore deposits are usually bounded by the intertidal-flat deposits with typical tidal beddings at the top and on both flanks. The difference between tidal-bore deposits (TBD) and tidal sandy/muddy deposits (TSD/TMD) is evident not only in sedimentary structures, but also in the grain-size composition. They can be clearly distinguished in grain-size bivariate plots, typically the plot of mean grain size vs. standard deviation (or sorting). Some trend variations generally exist in mean grain size with TBD>TSD>TMD, sorting with TMD>TBD>TSD (larger value indicating poorer sorting), and both skewness and kurtosis with TSD>TBD>TMD. These findings will undoubtedly shed new light on our understanding of tidal-bore sedimentology, ancient tidal-bore sedimentary facies and environments, and related oil-and-gas field prospecting.

Osmium isotope of the Co-rich crust from seamount Allison, central Pacific and its use for determination of growth hiatus and growth age

Based on its microstructure, Co-rich crust A1-1 from seamount Allison, central Pacific, was scraped at averaged interval of 1.3 mm to measure osmium isotopic composition, and subsequently to establish the 187Os/188Os profile of scraping section of the crust. By observing the variation of 187Os/188Os under 10Be chronology and matching it to the well-known seawater Os isotope evolution of the past 40 Ma, two growth hiatuses (H1 and H2) occurring in the periods respectively between 13.6 and 29.6 Ma and between 8 and 9.8 Ma in the crust were recognized. According to the two hiatuses, the dating scheme for each scraped layer of the crust was suggested. For the upper layers younger than 6.8Ma, their growth ages were calibrated under 10Be chronology; for the lower layers older than 6.8Ma, their growth ages were obtained from 187Os/188Os evaluation curve by linear interpolation. Hereby, the age for the most inner layer of the crust was determined to be 39.5 Ma. H1 and H2 exactly correspond to the boundary between phosphatization and non-phosphatization and volcanic ash layer in the crust, respectively.