Insights Into the Stratigraphic Evolution of the Early Pennsylvanian Pocahontas Basin, Virginia
Early Pennsylvanian, coal-bearing, siliciclastic strata of the Breathitt Group within the Pocahontas Basin, southwestern Virginia, define a southeasterly thickening clastic wedge deposited in continental to marginal marine environments influenced by recurring, high-magnitude relative sea-level fluct...
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Virginia Tech
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ftvirginiatec:oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/40424 2024-04-28T08:25:04+00:00 Insights Into the Stratigraphic Evolution of the Early Pennsylvanian Pocahontas Basin, Virginia Grimm, Ryan P. Geosciences Eriksson, Kenneth A. Kowalewski, Michal Greb, Stephen F. Read, James Fredrick Henika, William S. Virginia 2010-12-08 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10919/40424 http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-12152010-225246/ unknown Virginia Tech Grimm_RP_D_2010.pdf etd-12152010-225246 http://hdl.handle.net/10919/40424 http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-12152010-225246/ In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Sequence Stratigraphy Seal Evaluation Appalachian Basin Facies Analysis Pennsylvanian Alleghanian Orogeny Dissertation 2010 ftvirginiatec 2024-04-10T00:17:48Z Early Pennsylvanian, coal-bearing, siliciclastic strata of the Breathitt Group within the Pocahontas Basin, southwestern Virginia, define a southeasterly thickening clastic wedge deposited in continental to marginal marine environments influenced by recurring, high-magnitude relative sea-level fluctuations and low-frequency changes in tectonic loading. A robust dataset of >1200 well logs, cores and numerous outcrops allowed a unique review of the Central Appalachian lithologic record during both the Late Paleozoic Ice Age and onset of the Alleghanian Orogeny. The tropical depositional landscape produced stacked deposits of braided-fluvial channels, broad alluvial plains, tidally-influenced estuaries and small deltas. Trends in facies associations allowed development of a high-resolution sequence stratigraphic architecture based on regional flooding surfaces and bounding discontinuities. Analysis of vertical stacking patterns of lithofacies on regional cross-sections identified 15 widespread, unconformity-bounded depositional sequences with an average duration of ~80 kyr based on available geochronology. Glacioeustatic control on stratigraphic architecture is supported by corresponding sequence duration within the short-eccentricity periodicity of the Milankovitch band, as well as the magnitude and extent of rapid facies shifts, suggesting that far-a-field variations in overall Gondwanan ice-sheet size and volume impacted base-level changes in the tropical basin. The progressive increase in magnitude of transgressions, as indicated by brackish-marine ichnofacies and other faunal indicators within regional high-frequency transgressive system tracts, indicate extrabasinal trends in ice-volume and eustasy. High-frequency eustatic sequences are nested within four asymmetric composite-sequences, attributed to low-frequency variations in tectonic accommodation. Evidence for tectonic forcing on foreland-basin accommodation is based on abrupt facies shifts, angular stratal terminations and wedge-shaped ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Ice Sheet VTechWorks (VirginiaTech) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
VTechWorks (VirginiaTech) |
op_collection_id |
ftvirginiatec |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Sequence Stratigraphy Seal Evaluation Appalachian Basin Facies Analysis Pennsylvanian Alleghanian Orogeny |
spellingShingle |
Sequence Stratigraphy Seal Evaluation Appalachian Basin Facies Analysis Pennsylvanian Alleghanian Orogeny Grimm, Ryan P. Insights Into the Stratigraphic Evolution of the Early Pennsylvanian Pocahontas Basin, Virginia |
topic_facet |
Sequence Stratigraphy Seal Evaluation Appalachian Basin Facies Analysis Pennsylvanian Alleghanian Orogeny |
description |
Early Pennsylvanian, coal-bearing, siliciclastic strata of the Breathitt Group within the Pocahontas Basin, southwestern Virginia, define a southeasterly thickening clastic wedge deposited in continental to marginal marine environments influenced by recurring, high-magnitude relative sea-level fluctuations and low-frequency changes in tectonic loading. A robust dataset of >1200 well logs, cores and numerous outcrops allowed a unique review of the Central Appalachian lithologic record during both the Late Paleozoic Ice Age and onset of the Alleghanian Orogeny. The tropical depositional landscape produced stacked deposits of braided-fluvial channels, broad alluvial plains, tidally-influenced estuaries and small deltas. Trends in facies associations allowed development of a high-resolution sequence stratigraphic architecture based on regional flooding surfaces and bounding discontinuities. Analysis of vertical stacking patterns of lithofacies on regional cross-sections identified 15 widespread, unconformity-bounded depositional sequences with an average duration of ~80 kyr based on available geochronology. Glacioeustatic control on stratigraphic architecture is supported by corresponding sequence duration within the short-eccentricity periodicity of the Milankovitch band, as well as the magnitude and extent of rapid facies shifts, suggesting that far-a-field variations in overall Gondwanan ice-sheet size and volume impacted base-level changes in the tropical basin. The progressive increase in magnitude of transgressions, as indicated by brackish-marine ichnofacies and other faunal indicators within regional high-frequency transgressive system tracts, indicate extrabasinal trends in ice-volume and eustasy. High-frequency eustatic sequences are nested within four asymmetric composite-sequences, attributed to low-frequency variations in tectonic accommodation. Evidence for tectonic forcing on foreland-basin accommodation is based on abrupt facies shifts, angular stratal terminations and wedge-shaped ... |
author2 |
Geosciences Eriksson, Kenneth A. Kowalewski, Michal Greb, Stephen F. Read, James Fredrick Henika, William S. |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Grimm, Ryan P. |
author_facet |
Grimm, Ryan P. |
author_sort |
Grimm, Ryan P. |
title |
Insights Into the Stratigraphic Evolution of the Early Pennsylvanian Pocahontas Basin, Virginia |
title_short |
Insights Into the Stratigraphic Evolution of the Early Pennsylvanian Pocahontas Basin, Virginia |
title_full |
Insights Into the Stratigraphic Evolution of the Early Pennsylvanian Pocahontas Basin, Virginia |
title_fullStr |
Insights Into the Stratigraphic Evolution of the Early Pennsylvanian Pocahontas Basin, Virginia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Insights Into the Stratigraphic Evolution of the Early Pennsylvanian Pocahontas Basin, Virginia |
title_sort |
insights into the stratigraphic evolution of the early pennsylvanian pocahontas basin, virginia |
publisher |
Virginia Tech |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10919/40424 http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-12152010-225246/ |
op_coverage |
Virginia |
genre |
Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
Grimm_RP_D_2010.pdf etd-12152010-225246 http://hdl.handle.net/10919/40424 http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-12152010-225246/ |
op_rights |
In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
_version_ |
1797585015211556864 |