--> Abstract: Characterization of Channel Depositional Settings in a Fine-Grained Submarine Fan, Tanqua Karoo, South Africa, by J. T. Kirkova; #90937 (1998).

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Abstract: Characterization of Channel Depositional Settings in a Fine-Grained Submarine Fan, Tanqua Karoo, South Africa

KIRKOVA, JULITTA T., Louisiana State University

Summary

Studying the Tanqua Karoo fan complex in South Africa provides a better understanding of the depositional setting and reservoir characteristics of the fine-grained deepwater sediments. The exceptional exposure of one of the fans within this complex, Fan 3, allows one to observe the successive basinward changes in external morphology and internal architecture of channelized settings in a fine-grained submarine fan.

The channel depositional environments within Tanqua Karoo submarine Fan 3 are confined to the base-of-slope and mid-fan settings. These environments include nested channel complex, transitional nested channel/channel-levee-overbank, channel-levee-overbank, and transitional channel-levee-overbank/sheet sand lobe facies. The nested channel complex develops in a base-of-slope setting and is characterized by erosive behavior. Within the transitional nested channel/channel-levee-overbank area the channels exhibit both erosive and constructional infill characteristics. Further downdip, the channel-levee-overbank complexes and their transitions to sheet lobes show primarily constructive channel development. Thus, the erosion/construction ratio varies within file fan extent, evolving from erosive to constructional in downdip direction.

An unexpected change from one channel type to the other was observed over a comparatively short distance. Characterization of the channel external morphology and internal architectural changes within Fan 3 of the Tanqua Karoo can provide a better understanding of the responsible sedimentological processes.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90937©1998 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Salt Lake City, Utah