Depositional Environments

Lec. 4 (part 1) Deltas

DSRG

Dr. EHAB M. ASSAL

Damietta University
 Deltas

The Nile Delta

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 Introduction
 What are deltas and why they are
important?
 Much of the sediment transferred from land to sea is
carried by rivers and deposited at the shoreline in
the form of deltas.
 About 25% of the world’s population live on deltaic
coastlines and wetlands (Syvitski et al., 2005).
 Diverse and prolific ecosystems (Immense decrease
in of freshwater discharge, resulting in enormous
stresses to these coastal ecosystems).
 deltas have been estimated to host close to 30% of
all of the world’s oil, coal, and gas deposits (Tyler
and Finley, 1991).
 Significant fresh-water resources also occur in delta
deposits, and exploitation of these aquifers requires
robust facies models for deltas.
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 Outline

1 Definitions

2 River mouth processes

3 Delta environments

4 Classification of deltas

5 Controls on delta morphology

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 1. Definitions

 Deltas are “discrete shorline protuberances

formed where rivers enter oceans, semi-
enclosed seas, lakes or lagoons and supply
sediment more rapidly than it can be
redistributed by basinal processes” (Elliott,
1986, p.113)

 Sediment supply must be able to overcome:

 slow rise in sea level
 tectonic subsidence
 erosion by tides, waves, currents
 consolidation of sediment accumulating

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 2. River mouth processes

The internal facies distribution and external morphology

of a deltaic deposit depends upon

1. whether the river outflow is more dense (hyperpycnal), equally dense

(homopycnal), or less dense(hypopycnal) than the standing body of water.

2. the interaction of the river plume with marine processes, which can
include waves, tides, storms, and ocean currents, and biogenic reworking

3. the physical position of the delta in the basin, such as the shelf edge

3. the degree to which river derived sediments are reworked by marine

processes

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 2. River mouth processes
Deposition of Sediment at a River Mouth

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 2. River mouth processes
Depositional Environments at a River Mouth

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 2. River mouth processes
• A delta forms when a river of sediment-laden freshwater
enters a standing body of water, loses its competence to
carry sediment, and deposits it. The theory of jets has been
widely applied to explain the dynamics of how river plumes
interact.

• The river flows could be:

Hypopycnal homopycnal hyperpycnal

• The density of the • In fresh-water deltas • In freshwater lakes,

fresh river water plus greater degree of mixing sediment concentrations
suspended sediment between the river and <1 kg/m3 produce
load may be less than standing body of water. hyperpycnal conditions.
that of the sea water, • In marine settings where • Sediment concentrations
causing hypopycnal the amount of bed load is >35 to 45 kg/m3) may be
flow high. required to generate
hyperpycnal flows in
marine settings

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 2. River mouth processes
Distributary mouth bar geometry and distribution controlled
by three major forces

Force Force Force

A B C

Inertial Buoyant Frictional

Is a narrow linear is thin, widespread is bifurcated
sand bodies. coalescing sand channels capped by
bodies. natural levee
deposits.

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 2. River mouth processes

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 2. River mouth processes

Inertial

High flow velocity

Small density contrasts

Effluent spreads as turbulent jet

Distributary bars are linear

Very common in most major river deltas

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 2. River mouth processes

Frictional

Occurs when H2O depths decrease/shallow

seaward of river mouth

Effluence decelerates causing bar

expansion

Formation of a broad arcuate radial bar

Subaqueous levees form

Bifurcating channels develop

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 2. River mouth processes

Buoyant

Fresh H2O density = 1 m/cm3

Salt H2O density = 1.028 gm/cm3

Reduction in turbulent diffusion

Fresh H2O spreads as buoyant layer

Decrease in velocity as spreading occurs

Coarsest sediment deposited first, finer

materials transported farther from mouth

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 3. Delta environments
Deltas comprise three main geomorphic environments of deposition:
3.1 Subaerial delta plain,
3.2 Delta front (the coarser-grained area),
3.3 Prodelta

Where river
Delta processes
Plain dominate

Where river
Delta and basinal
processes
Front interact

Primarily
Prodelta muddy

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 3. Delta environments
Internal Delta Morphology

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 3. Delta 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,

Delta salt-water intrusion) and contains brackish to saline
Plain 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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 3. Delta environments

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 3. Delta environments

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 3. Delta environments

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 3. Delta environments
Delta Front
 Delta Front is defined as the area dominated by
coarser sediment (sand and gravel) that includes
subaqueous topset and foreset beds.

 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
Delta tend to coarsen upwards
Front  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

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 3. Delta environments
Time Lines and Lithofacies in a Prograding Distributary

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 3. Delta environments
Delta Front Subenvironments

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 3. Delta environments
Prodelta
Prodelta

 Prodelta has been interpreted as the area where

fine mud and silt settle out of suspension.
Prodelta may be more or less burrowed,
depending on sedimentation rate.
 Prodelta muds may merge seaward with fine-
grained hemipelagic and commonly calcareous
sediment of the basin floor.

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 3. Delta environments

Figure - Morphometric subdivisions of the Mahakam delta, Kalimantan,

Indonesia. Note that muddy subaqueous foreset is referred to as the
“delta front” (modified after Roberts and Sydow, 2003).

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 3. Delta environments

 Distributary channels may show a wide range of sizes and

shapes in different positions on the delta (Olariu and
Bhattacharya, 2006).
 Typically, a trunk fluvial system first avulses at the point where
the river becomes unconfined, forming a nodal avulsion point
(e.g., Nelson, 1970; Mackey and Bridge, 1995).
 Delta-plain channels tend to be few in number and are
separated by wide areas of interdistributary bays, swamps,
Distributary marshes, or lakes on the delta plain, although these
Channels interdistributary areas can be replaced by channel deposits,
depending on the avulsion frequency and rate of channel
migration (Bristow and Best, 1993; Mackey and Bridge, 1995;
Holbrook, 1996).
 Distributary channels can show several orders of branching.
The smallest-scale channels are referred to as “terminal
distributary channels” and are intimately associated with mouth
bars that form at the distal delta plain and proximal delta front.

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 3. Delta environments
 Distributary-channel bifurcation occurs at a point where the
channel can no longer cut directly through the distributary
mouth bar, forcing it to split into two smaller channels
flanking the bar crest.
 Channel-bifurcation frequency and branching patterns are
strongly dependent on slope, river discharge, water depth,
and the interaction of the river plume with marine processes.
 River-dominated deltas, where friction is the dominant
process controlling sediment dispersal and deposition,
Distributary multiple bifurcations favored in low-gradient, high-discharge.
Channels  In wave-modified deltas, much of the sediment is carried
away by longshore transport. the progradation rate is
slowed. This allows rivers feeding wave- influenced coasts to
maintain a higher slope, which inhibits avulsion.
 Many tidally influenced deltas show distributary
channels that are stable for hundreds to thousands
of years. This results in the development of elongate
bars and islands that can be tens of kilometers in
length and a few kilometers wide.

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 3. Delta environments
Distributary Channel Patterns

I II III

C. Single
B. Rejoining
A. Bifurcating

Erratic discharge,
High subsidence, low High waves
intermediate wave
waves & offshore energy, high tide High tidal range
slope, small tidal range, steep offshore
range, fine grained slope
sediments

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 3. Delta environments

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 3. Delta environments

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 3. Delta environments

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 3. Delta environments
Distributary Channels

Ganges–
Brahmaputra delta

Figure - River-dominated Lena River delta (Russian Arctic) shows

numerous orders of branching with many tens of terminal distributary
channels.
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 3. Delta environments
Distributary Channels

Ebro delta, Spain

Paraíba do Sul,
Brazilian coast.

Figure - Bifurcation is inhibited in wave-dominated deltas because the

river is unable to prograde into the basin as rapidly. This effectively
allows the river to maintain its grade, which in turn inhibits avulsion.
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 3. Delta environments
Distributary Channels

Ganges–
Brahmaputra delta

Figure - Tide-dominated Ganges–Brahmaputra delta shows

highly elongate channels

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 4. Classification of deltas

Fluvial-dominated deltas
microtidal settings with limited
wave energy Fluvial

Classification
of deltas

Wave-dominated deltas Tide-dominated deltas

high tidal range.
high wave energy, open Wave Tide
coasts, strong longshore
currents.

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 4. Classification of deltas
Framework Facies in Major Delta Types

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 Fluvial dominated delta
Characteristics:
 The unidirectional fluvial current at the mouth of the river continues into the sea
or lake as a subaqueous flow. The channel form is maintained, with well-
defined subaqueous levees and overbank areas.
 channel instability due to the very low gradient on the delta plain, resulting in
frequent avulsion of the major and minor channels.
 The course of the river changes as one route to the sea becomes abandoned
and a new channel is formed, leaving the former channel, its levees and
overbank deposits abandoned.
 The deposits of river-dominated deltas have well developed delta-top facies,
consisting of channel and overbank sediments.
 The channels build out to form the ‘toes’ of the ‘bird’s foot’, between which
there are large interdistributary bays. These bays are relatively sheltered and
are sites of fine-grained, subaqueous sedimentation.
 The filling of interdistributary bays results in small scale (a few metres thick)
coarsening-up successions.
 In front of the channels, mouth bars form and are localised to areas in front of
the individual delta lobes.

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 Fluvial dominated delta
occur in microtidal settings with limited wave energy,
where delta-lobe progradation is significant and
redistribution of mouth bars is limited

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 Fluvial dominated delta
High wave energy, open coasts, strong longshore currents
• 4
• 1

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 Wave dominated delta
Characteristics:
 wind- driven waves agitate surface
 rework sediments in shallow water
 affects mouth bars in basin and mouth of river
 modifies river –dominated delta
Morphology limits progradation
 can’t form sub-aqueous levees
 bedload is immediately reworked
 if waves hit obliquely (and usually do), get lateral
migration of sediments and development of spits
 beach and mouth bars form // to coast
 waves sort grains
 mouth bar is better sorted sediments

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 Wave dominated delta
High wave energy, open coasts, strong longshore currents
• Non-marine, swamp to eolian dunes
• Arcuate to strand-parallel sand dominated
facies, barrier island sequences

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 Tide dominated delta
Characteristics:

 onshore/offshore currents move bedload/ suspended

load back and forth
 very different features delta plain
 tidal currents are bidirectional
 Herringbone cross-bedding
 Mud lenses as suspended sediments settles out in slack
tide
 lots of sediment in surface in form of tidal flats
 lobate shape to mouth bars; perpendicular to shore
 look for bi-directional flow indicators
 can confuse with estuarine systems
 look at over all sequences
 delta is progradational; estuary often retogradational

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 Tide dominated delta
High Tidal Range
• Extensive lower delta plain/tidal mudflats
• Shore perpendicular, elongate sand
dominated facies, tidal channel deposits

Ganges–
Brahmaputra delta

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 Coarse-grained deltas
 Coarse-grained deltas, also referred to as fan deltas, are fed by pebbly braided
rivers or alluvial fans.
 They form adjacent to areas of steep relief, where streams in the catchment
areas of the rivers flow down steep slopes carrying coarse material into rivers
or on to alluvial fans that prograde into a lake or the sea. Settings such as the
faulted margins of rift basins are typical sites for coarse-grained deltas to form.
 The delta-top environment and hence the facies deposited are those of a
coarse braided river or an alluvial fan. Gravelly material is transported by fluvial
or alluvial fan processes into the lake or sea.
 Progradation of a coarse-grained delta across a shallow lake or sea floor
results in a coarsening-up succession from finer sands deposited furthest
offshore through coarser sands, granules, pebbles and even cobbles or
boulders at the top of the delta-front succession, which is then overlain by
coarse fluvial or alluvial fan facies of the delta top.

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 Gilbert-type deltas

Depositional model of the Gilbert-type deltas observed within the study succession.
The model shows the three main geometric components (topset, foreset and
bottomset) that comprise the different depositional zones. (From Longhitano, 2008)

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 Gilbert-type delta

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 Gilbert-type delta

From Longhitano (2008)

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 5. Controls on Delta Morphology

• Hinterland Characteristics
• Slope
Tectonics • Relief
• Discharge
Controls

Delta Delta Delta

Climate Regime Morphology Facies

• Basin Characteristics
Sea-level • Subsidence
changes • Depth Control
• Discharge

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 5. Controls on delta morphology
A. Climate
B. Water discharge
C. Sediment yield
D. River-mouth processes
E. Wave power
F. Tidal processes
G. Aeolian processes
H. Nearshore currents
I. Shelf slope
J. Tectonics of receiving basin
K. Receiving basin geometry

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 5. Controls on delta morphology

A. Climate

• Controls sediment-water yield.

• Controls in-situ delta deposits.

1. Tropical = large thick accumulations of peat.

2. Temperate = thin, high continuous peat layers.

3. Arid = complex interfingering of supratuidal and evaporite

deposits.

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 5. Controls on delta morphology

B. Water discharge

1. Erratic Discharge = braided channels with wide lateral

continuity.

2. Nonerratic Discharge = stable meandering channels

(shoe stringing sands).

3. Erratic Discharge = numerous interfingering, fining upward

sequences showing highly variable porosity-permeability
relationships.
v. irregular sedimentation rates.

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 5. Controls on delta morphology

C. Sediment yield

 Primarily function of basin area and discharge.

 High fine grained sediment loads = expansive sub-

aqueous deltas with high H2O content and unstable clays.
 Content
SlumpingTitle
 Deformational features
 Local diapirism

 Compaction is high.
Content Title

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 5. Controls on delta morphology

D. River-mouth processes

See 2. River Mouth Processes Slide 6-14

Content Title

Content Title

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 5. Controls on delta morphology

E. Wave processes

 Most important in reshaping deltas.

 Volume sediment delivered/wave energy.
 Depositional units = beaches, barriers, etc.
 Low energy = low profile beaches often overwash
dominated.
Content Title
 High energy = higher profiles with high quartz deposits.
 Subaqueous slope - attenuation capacity.
 Low energy @ 1 x 107 ergs/second
 High energy @ 20 x 107 ergs/second
Content Title

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 5. Controls on delta morphology

F. Tidal processes

 Reduction in vertical density stratification, therefore

buoyancy insignificant.

 Bidirectional sediment transport (flood and ebb).

Content Title
 Marine and fluvial mixing zone is expansive (vertical and
horizontal).
 Linear tidal ridges common.
 Upstream tidal asymmetry resulting in significant bedload
transport
Content Titleinto system

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 5. Controls on delta morphology

G. Winds

 Can create wind set-up at coast giving rise to current and littoral
circulation.

 Can create significant increases in nearshore wave energy.

Content
 Offshore Titlecan cause set-down and therefore reduce wave
winds
action significantly.

 Parallel-to-coast winds can drive longshore currents resulting in

significant mud deposits downdrift of delta.
Content Title

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 5. Controls on delta morphology

H. Nearshore currents

 Driven by:
 Deep oceanic currents impinging on shelf.
 Tidal propagation.
 Wind and water.
 Density currents.
Content Title
 Offshore sandbodies sub-parallel/parallel to depositional strike.

 Sand bodies located significant distances offshore or downdrift

form active lobe.
Content Title

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 5. Controls on delta morphology

I. Shelf Slope

 High rates of sediment accumulation and rapid progradation

resulting in low angle slopes.
• Frictional attenuation of surface gravity waves.

 Slopes may be actively prograding during modern time.

Content Title
 Submarine canyons = net loss of sediment (Congo, Ganges-
Brahmaputra).

Content Title

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 5. Controls on delta morphology
Types of Delta Switching Patterns

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 5. Controls on delta morphology

J. Tectonics of Receiving Basins

 Rapidly subsiding basins result in overthickening of deltaic

bodies.

 Relatively stable result in continuous, widespread, laterally

continuous bodies.
Content Title
 Localized differential weighting and dewatering of sediments =
•Subaqueous mass movement.
•Displaced sediments.
•Complex slumping.
Content Title

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 5. Controls on delta morphology

K. Major Configurations of Receiving Basins

I. Skewed deltas due to high current (Sea of Japan).

II.Input of sediment from closed end (Gulf of California).
III. Downwarped area-sediment movement inland (Niger).
IV.Active subsidence seaward of shoreline (Senegal River).
V.Semi-enclosed (Gulf of Mexico).
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