ABSTRACT: Sandstone sheets associated with deep-water channels: three analogue candidates for HARPS in Turkish Eocene exposures with different origin, external geometry and connectivity

Cronin, Bryan T., and Andrew Hurst , University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom

HARPS, or high amplitude reflection packages (sensu Flood et al., 1995), are thick, sand-rich turbidite successions associated with leveed deep-water channels on modern systems. They have been interpreted as crevasse splays or channel-mouth lobes. 3D seismic timeslices from many basins of sinuous leveed channels, show sandy sheets associated with the channels in specific timeslices. Outcrop analogues have not yet been described.

The Eocene Kirkgecit Basin in eastern Turkey is a superbly exposed. The Hasret Mountain sections, contain five large sand and gravel-filled, leveed deep-water channel complexes. The complexes extend 5-7 kms downdip, with unvegetated dip and strike sections allowing examination of channel-fill, levee and overbank relationships. The channels form a tributary network in platform.

Three sandstone bodies are found in association with the channel complexes. Type (1) comprises 20-35 m thick sheet sandstones interpreted as channel mouth lobe sheets; Type (2) comprises thick sandstones interpreted as crevasse splays; Type (3) comprises 15-25 m thick sheet sandstones interpreted as the final stages of channel fill. All three bodies have intimate association with the channels but correspond genetically to very different phases of the channel history of filling, yet in 3D timeslices would not be distinguishable.

Cronin, B.T., Hurst, A., Celik, H. and Turkmen, I. (in press). Superb exposure of a channel levee and overbank complex in an ancient deep-water slope environment. Sedimentary Geology.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90913©2000 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Bali, Indonesia