The geological record preserved by Amazon shelf sedimentation

• Published in: Continental shelf research 1996, Vol.16 (5), p.817-841
• Main Authors: Nittrouer, Charles A., Kuehl, Steven A., Figueiredo, Alberto G., Allison, Mead A., Sommerfield, Christopher K., Rine, James M., Faria, L. Ercilio C., Silveira, Odete M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Brackish; Coastal plains; Deltas; Deposition; Deposits; Freshwater; Marine; Sand; Sediments; Shelves; Strata
• ISSN: 0278-4343; 1873-6955
• DOI: 10.1016/0278-4343(95)00053-4

A recent study of the subaqueous delta and coastal plain near the mouth of the Amazon River provides insight to the geological record created there and elsewhere. A compound clinoform structure is forming across the Amazon shelf. The uppermost portion is the shoreline, whose aggradation brings the modern sedimentary deposit to sea level and produces a deposit 5–10 m thick. It contains sediments accumulating primarily in shallow subtidal areas, intertidal mudflats and mangrove forests, and progradation occurs by overlapping of northward-extending mudcapes. Through these processes, the coastal plain has been widened by 10–100 km during the Holocene. The shoreline deposits are prograding across topset strata of the modern subaqueous delta, which is the lowermost and dominant portion of the compound clinoform structure. The subaqueous delta extends to a water depth of 70 m, with a depositional break between topset and foreset strata at 30–40 m. Advective sediment input to the foreset region causes high accumulation rates, which control the geometry and progradation of the clinoform structure. On time scales of 10 2−10 3 y, physical processes (e.g. waves, currents) have changed and the upper portions of the coastal plain and subaqueous delta have been eroded. One expression of this is a widespread unconformity recorded within late Holocene strata on the inner shelf. Over longer time scales (10 3−10 4 y) sea-level changes have led to more extensive erosion and only the lower 20 m of the compound clinoform structure is preserved, overlain by a transgressive sand layer. On other continental margins with different regional characteristics (e.g. more rapid subsidence) larger fractions of the clinoform structures could be preserved.