--> ABSTRACT: Sequence Stratigraphic Relationships within the Ferron Sandstone, Central Utah, by M. D. Barton; #91021 (2010)
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Sequence Stratigraphic Relationships within the Ferron Sandstone, Central Utah

BARTON, MARK D.

The Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale is a 200-m-thick eastward-thinning siliciclastic wedge located in central Utah. The Ferron is composed of cyclically interbedded sandstones, mudstones, and coals generally believed to have been deposited by a fluvial-deltaic system under conditions of high sediment supply and high accommodation. Marine flooding surfaces divide the Ferron into a series of regressive-to-transgressive cycles. It has been postulated that these regressive-to-transgressive cycles represent relatively conformable successions of strata, or parasequence sets, that accumulated during a period when relative sea level fluctuated but was always rising. Stratal relationships documented along 20 km of laterally continuous exposure suggest sea level was not always rising during Ferron sedimentation but instead was accompanied by periodic falls in relative sea level.

Detailed mapping of facies and stratal discontinuities indicates regressive-to-transgressive cycles are not conformable successions but instead are divided by an unconformity. The Previous HitunconformitiesNext Hit show evidence of both fluvial incision and subaerial exposure. Coeval shoreline successions display a downstepping and offlapping geometry. These Previous HitunconformitiesNext Hit and associated shoreline successions are interpreted to have formed during a fall in relative sea level. The Previous HitunconformitiesNext Hit are onlapped by multistorey fluvial sandstone bodies, marginal-marine mudstones, and carbonaceous shales interpreted to have been deposited during subsequent periods of relative sea-level rise. This new interpretation suggests that regressive delta-front successions are not conformable. These thick, erosive-based sandstone bodies represent valley-fill deposits rather than distributary-channel deposits, and Previous HitunconformitiesTop can develop in-settings characterized by high accommodation. 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91021©1997 AAPG Annual Convention, Dallas, Texas.