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Basin Evolution and Geochemical Modeling

Sedimentology, third order sequence stratigraphy and controlling factors on facies distribution in the Triassic of North Africa

Defining sequence-boundaries in continental settings that are detached from direct effects of sea-level changes and lacking biostratigraphic markers is complex. While tectonics are thought to affect the long-term stratigraphic evolution of sedimentary basins, the nature of higher frequency sedimentary cycles is more difficult to explain. The influence of climate is increasingly recognised as a control on runoff and sediment input into siliciclastic basins (e.g. Perlmutter & Matthews 1989; Olsen 1990; Clemmensen et al. 1994). In order to verify a climatic control on the cyclicity observed in the main Algerian fields (Berkine

Figure 1: Reconstruction of Pangea Middle/Late Triassic times. Black areas mark the location of the investigated Late Triassic basins in North Africa and North East America. Abbreviations: A=Argana, B=Berkine, F=Fundy and N=Newark (modified after Muttoni et al. 1996).

Basin), sections from three age equivalent (Carnian-Norian) basins that developed around the same palaeolatitude (~10° N) are compared (Fig.1).

Using facies analysis and spectral analysis (frequency analysis) in combination with geochemical parameters, climatic cycles are hoped to be recognised with the ultimate aim to semi-quantify the cyclicity present to acquire relative ages and produce accurate contemporaneous facies maps across the blocks.

References

Clemmens et al. (1994) :Palaeozoic and Mesozoic desert sedimentation: Europe and USA . In: Orbital Forcing and Cyclic Sequences (Ed. De Boer, P.L. & Smith, D.G.). IAS Special Publication, 19: 439-457.

Olsen, H. (1990) : Astronomical forcing of meandering river behavior: Milankovitch cycles in Devonian of East Greenland. Paleogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 79: 99-105.

Perlmutter, M.A. & Matthews, M.D. (1989) : Global cyclostratigraphy-A model. In: Quantitative Dynamic Stratigraphy (Ed. Cross, T.A.). Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey , pp. 451-476.

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