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Watts, Keith F; Varga, L L; Feary, David A (1993): Miocene to Pleistocene sedimentation at ODP Site 133-823 [dataset publication series]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.786922, Supplement to: Watts, KF et al. (1993): Origins, timing, and implications of Miocene to Pleistocene turbidites, debris flows, and slump deposits of the Queensland Trough, northeastern Australia (Site 823). In: McKenzie, JA; Davies, PJ; Palmer-Julson, A; et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, College Station, TX (Ocean Drilling Program), 133, 379-445, https://doi.org/10.2973/odp.proc.sr.133.248.1993

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Abstract:
More than 2000 turbidite, debris-flow, and slump deposits recovered at Site 823 record the history of the Queensland Trough since the middle Miocene and provide new insights about turbidites, debris flow, and slump deposits (herein termed gravity deposits). Changes in the composition and nature of gravity deposits through time can be related to tectonic movements, fluctuations in eustatic sea level, and sedimentological factors. The Queensland Trough is a long, relatively narrow, structural depression that formed as a result of Cretaceous to Tertiary rifting of the northeastern Australia continental margin. Thus, tectonics established the geometry of this marginal basin, and its steep slopes set the stage for repeated slope failures. Seismic data indicate that renewed faulting, subsidence, and associated tectonic tilting occurred during the early late Miocene (continuing into the early Pliocene), resulting in unstable slopes that were prone to slope failures and to generation of gravity deposits. Tectonic subsidence, together with a second-order eustatic highstand, resulted in platform drowning during the late Miocene.
The composition of turbidites reflects their origin and provides insights about the nature of sedimentation on adjacent shelf areas. During relative highstands and times of platform drowning, planktonic foraminifers were reworked from slopes and/or drowned shelves and were redeposited in turbidites. During relative lowstands, quartz and other terrigenous sediment was shed into the basin.
Quartzose turbidites and clay-rich hemipelagic muds also can record increased supply of terrigenous sediment from mainland Australia. Limestone fragments were eroded from carbonate platforms until the drowned platforms were buried under hemipelagic sediments following the late Miocene drowning event. Bioclastic grains and neritic foraminifers were reworked from neritic shelves during relative lowstands. During the late Pliocene (2.6 Ma), the increased abundance of bioclasts and quartz in turbidites signaled the shallowing and rejuvenation of the northeastern Australia continental shelf. However, a one-for-one relationship cannot be recognized between eustatic sea-level fluctuations and any single sedimentologic parameter. Perhaps, tectonism and sedimentological factors along the Queensland Trough played an equally important role in generating gravity deposits.
Turbidites and other gravity deposits (such as those at Site 823) do not necessarily represent submarine fan deposits, particularly if they are composed of hemipelagic sediments reworked from drowned platforms and slopes. When shelves are drowned and terrigenous sediment is not directly supplied by nearby rivers/point sources, muddy terrigenous sediments blanket the entire slope and basin, rather than forming localized fans. Slope failures affect the entire slope, rather than localized submarine canyons. Slopes may become destabilized as a result of tectonic activity, inherent sediment weaknesses, and/or during relative sea-level lowstands. For this reason, sediment deposits in this setting reflect tectonic and eustatic events that caused slope instabilities, rather than migration of different submarine fan facies.
Project(s):
Ocean Drilling Program (ODP)
Coverage:
Median Latitude: -16.616000 * Median Longitude: 146.784110 * South-bound Latitude: -16.616000 * West-bound Longitude: 146.783900 * North-bound Latitude: -16.616000 * East-bound Longitude: 146.784400
Date/Time Start: 1990-09-21T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 1990-09-30T23:42:00
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0)
Size:
4 datasets

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Datasets listed in this publication series

  1. Watts, KF; Varga, LL; Feary, DA (1993): (Table 2) Nannofossil and foraminifer biohorizons with inferred ages and calculated sedimentation rates for ODP Site 133-823. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.786908
  2. Watts, KF; Varga, LL; Feary, DA (1993): (Appendix A) Bedding characteristics, sedimentary structures, and depositional mechanisms at ODP Site 133-823. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.786910
  3. Watts, KF; Varga, LL; Feary, DA (1993): (Table 3) Depths of lower boundaries of lithologic units and two-way traveltime of lower boundaries of seismic sequences of ODP Site 133-823. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.786909
  4. Watts, KF; Varga, LL; Feary, DA (1993): (Appendix B) Petrographic description of ODP Site 133-823. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.786916