Continental sedimentary systems

Here you will find an overview of all projects of the continental sedimentary systems category:

Response of continental clastic systems on global environmental perturbations at the Permian-Triassic boundary

The Permian-Triassic Boundary (PTB) is known for the severest mass extinction in earth history. In recent time, the driving environmental perturbation have been increasingly considered, however, mostly for marine systems. We shift the focus to clastic, continental systems.

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Triassic and Jurassic sedimentary sequences in NW China

Tarim and Junggar basins in central Asia (NW-China) are long-lasting intracontinental basins whose margins were repeatedly affected by tectonic events. In Upper Carboniferous to upper Permian times both basins were separated by the formation of an ancestral Tien Shan orogen. As literature data suggest, sedimentation became entirely continental after this event showing lacustrine, deltaic and fluvial depositional patterns.

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Sedimentology of the Paleozoic Wajid Group in Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia several large aquifers exist from which fossil groundwaters are withdrawn especially for irrigation purposes. One of these aquifers is the palaeozoic Wajid sandstone in SW Saud Arabia. To get a better estimate of water resources in this hyperarid area, we study the reservoir properties using sedimentology, palynology, and sequence stratigraphy in cooperation with the GTZ, Eschborn, Dornier consult, and the Saudi Ministry of Water and Energy.

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Switzerland SedyMONT – IP3 Project

Alluvial fans represent deposit areas in the mountains in the immediate vicinity of the delivery areas. They contain information about short-term as well as long-term sediment deliveries and environmental conditions (e.g. climate, vegetation). The use of these alluvial fan deposits as an archive is difficult, however, as the sediment bodies usually have a heterogeneous structure and are only rarely naturally exposed. Therefore, most studies are based on surface observations and there are hardly any studies that characterize the internal structure of an alluvial fan.

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Miocene volcanoclastics Mexico

In the Miocene, a fundamental volcanic-tectonic change took place in Mexico, which was caused by a plate reorganization in the western Pacific. The Transmexican volcanic belt, which is still active today, has developed since the Middle Miocene, the formation of which is still controversial and little is known about its initial phase. The aim of the project, together with Mexican partners, is to develop a stratigraphic framework for this transition on the southern edge of the central Transmexican volcanic belt and thus to close a significant gap in knowledge of this area.

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Sediment budget Upper Rhine Graben

The Pliocene and Quaternary unconsolidated rocks of the Alpenrhein valley/Bodensee amphitheatre, Hochrhein, Swabian terrace landscape, Swiss Midlands, and the Upper Rhine Graben together with its Alpine drainage areas represent an almost closed denudation-accumulation system.

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Global sediment flux by rivers

Major objective of this project was to apply new methods in order to improve the prediction of global sediment yield. We compiled a data base of 1523 different river basins with a size of 90 000 km2 on average. Based on a global and regional (USA) GIS the data were analysed with respect to controlling factors. The following new strategies have been pursuit.

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Alluvial fans in the Death Valley

Alluvial fans are the most prominent landform type in the Death Valley. They play a major role of buffering or coupling between the mountain catchments and downstream drainages. The western and eastern basin margins are flanked by alluvial fans which appear either coalescent and elongated on the western side or distinct and pie-shaped on the eastern side. Due to lack of vegetation alluvial fans are easily accessible as well for detailed outcrop analysis as for the use of ground penetrating radar.

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