Contents

Sea-level change
Introduction
Sequence stratigraphy concepts
Sedimentology concepts Marine sequence stratigraphy
Nonmarine sequence stratigraphy
Fluvial environments
Basin and reservoir modeling
Deltaic environments
Reflection
Coastal environments
Offshore marine environments

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Deltaic environments
Deltaic environments are gradational to both fluvial and coastal
environments
The density relationship between sediment-laden inflowing
water and the receiving, standing water body varies
Hyperpycnal: inflowing water has a higher density than basin
water, leading to inertia-dominated density currents
Hypopycnal: inflowing water has a lower density than basin water
(buoyancy), leading to separation of bed load and suspended load

Deltas consist of a subaerial delta plain, and a subaqueous

delta front and prodelta
The delta slope is commonly 1-2 and consists of finer (usually
silty) facies; the most distal prodelta is dominated by even finer
sediment
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Deltaic environments
Delta plain
Delta plains are commonly characterized by distributaries and
interdistributary areas
The upper delta plain is gradational with floodplains, lacks
marine influence and typically has large flood basins, commonly
with freshwater peats and lacustrine deposits
The lower delta plain is marine influenced (e.g., tides, salt-water
intrusion) and contains brackish to saline interdistributary bays
(e.g., shallow lagoons, salt marshes, mangroves, tidal flats)

Interdistributary areas commonly change from freshwater

through brackish to saline environments in a downdip direction
(e.g., transition from swamps to marshes)
Minor (secondary) deltas commonly form when distributaries
enter lakes or lagoons
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Deltaic environments
Delta plain
Delta plains are commonly characterized by distributaries and
interdistributary areas
The upper delta plain is gradational with floodplains, lacks
marine influence and typically has large flood basins, commonly
with freshwater peats and lacustrine deposits
The lower delta plain is marine influenced (e.g., tides, salt-water
intrusion) and contains brackish to saline interdistributary bays
(e.g., shallow lagoons, salt marshes, mangroves, tidal flats)

Interdistributary areas commonly change from freshwater

through brackish to saline environments in a downdip direction
(e.g., transition from swamps to marshes)
Minor (secondary) deltas commonly form when distributaries
enter lakes or lagoons
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Deltaic environments
Delta plain
Distributaries are to a large extent comparable to fluvial
channels, but are commonly at the low-energy end of the
spectrum (meandering to straight/anastomosing)
Delta plain distributaries are usually characterized by narrow
natural levees and numerous crevasse splays
Avulsion (i.e., delta-lobe switching) is frequent due to high
subsidence rates, as well as rapid gradient reduction associated
with channel progradation

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Deltaic environments
Delta plain
In humid climates, delta plains may have an important organic
component (peat that ultimately forms coal)
Hydrosere: vertical succession of organic deposits due to the
transition from a limnic, through a telmatic, to a terrestrial
environment
Terrestrialization (= hydrosere): gyttja --> fen peat --> wood
peat --> moss peat (commonly a transition from a
minerotrophic to an ombrotrophic environment)
Paludification (= reversed hydrosere) is caused by a rise of
the (ground)water table
Peats are essentially the downdip cousins of paleosols,
representing prolonged periods of limited clastic sediment influx
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Deltaic environments
Delta plain
In humid climates, delta plains may have an important organic
component (peat that ultimately forms coal)
Hydrosere: vertical succession of organic deposits due to the
transition from a limnic, through a telmatic, to a terrestrial
environment
Terrestrialization (= hydrosere): gyttja --> fen peat --> wood
peat --> moss peat (commonly a transition from a
minerotrophic to an ombrotrophic environment)
Paludification (= reversed hydrosere) is caused by a rise of
the (ground)water table
Peats are essentially the downdip cousins of paleosols,
representing prolonged periods of limited clastic sediment influx
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Deltaic environments
Delta front and prodelta
Mouth bars form at the upper edge of the delta front, at the
mouth of distributaries (particularly in hypopycnal flows); they
are mostly sandy and tend to coarsen upwards
Wave action can play an important role in winnowing and
reworking of mouth-bar deposits; this may lead to merging with
prograding beach ridges and if wave action is very important
mouth bars are entirely transformed
The prodelta is the distal end outside wave or tide influence
where muds accumulate, commonly with limited bioturbation

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Deltaic environments
Delta morphology reflects the relative importance of fluvial,
tidal, and wave processes, as well as gradient and sediment
supply
River-dominated deltas occur in microtidal settings with limited
wave energy, where delta-lobe progradation is significant and
redistribution of mouth bars is limited
Wave-dominated deltas are characterized by mouth bars
reworked into shore-parallel sand bodies and beaches
Tide-dominated deltas exhibit tidal mudflats and mouth bars
that are reworked into elongate sand bodies perpendicular to the
shoreline

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Deltaic environments
The typical progradational delta succession exhibits a
transition from prodelta offshore muds through silty to sandy
(mouth bar) deposits (coarsening-upward succession), the latter
commonly with small-scale (climbing) cross stratification and
overlain by:
Distributary channel deposits (sometimes tidal channel deposits)
with larger scale sedimentary structures
Subaqueous levees grading upward into interdistributary sediments

Transgression occurs upon delta-lobe switching, leading to:

Intense wave reworking and transformation of mouth bar/beach
ridge sands into barrier islands
Drowning of barrier islands leading to offshore sand shoals
Increasing salinity and eventual drowning of (part of) the delta
plain
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Deltaic environments
The typical progradational delta succession exhibits a
transition from prodelta offshore muds through silty to sandy
(mouth bar) deposits (coarsening-upward succession), the latter
commonly with small-scale (climbing) cross stratification and
overlain by:
Distributary channel deposits (sometimes tidal channel deposits)
with larger scale sedimentary structures
Subaqueous levees grading upward into interdistributary sediments

Transgression occurs upon delta-lobe switching, leading to:

Intense wave reworking and transformation of mouth bar/beach
ridge sands into barrier islands
Drowning of barrier islands leading to offshore sand shoals
Increasing salinity and eventual drowning of (part of) the delta
plain
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Deltaic environments
Shallow-water deltas are thinner but larger in area than their
deep-water counterparts
Deformation processes are very common in deltas due to the
high sediment rates and associated high pore-fluid pressures
Growth faults result from downdip increasing sedimentation
rates; they develop contemporaneously with sedimentation
Mud diapirs may form when thick prodelta deposits are covered
by mouth-bar sands
Slumping can lead to the anomalous occurrence of shallow-water
facies in prodelta deposits

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Other projects at NAFSIG

Evolution of Western Ganges-Brahmaputra delta plain

Sarkar et al., QSR, 2009