Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

Journal of Sedimentary Research

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (12) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Weissmann, G. S. Articles by Fogg, G. E. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Glacially Driven Cycles in Accumulation Space and Sequence Stratigraphy of a Stream-Dominated Alluvial Fan, San Joaquin Valley, California, U.S.A.

¹ Hydrologic Sciences, University of California, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, California, 95616-8627, U.S.A.; present address: Department of Geological Sciences, Michigan State University, 206 Natural Science Building, East Lansing, Michigan, 48824-1115, U.S.A.
² Department of Geological Sciences, University of California, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, California, 95616, U.S.A.
³ Hydrologic Sciences, University of California, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, California, 95616-8627, U.S.A.; Department of Geological Sciences, University of California, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, California, 95616, U.S.A.

High-resolution sequence stratigraphy provides a framework to interpret unconformity-bounded depositional sequences in the stream-dominated Kings River alluvial fan, located near Fresno, California. Depositional units in the fan are analogous to systems tracts described from marine deposits. Fan sequences reflect changes in accumulation space (Blum and Törnqvist 2000) associated with Pleistocene glacial cycles in the Sierra Nevada and preservation space created by tectonic subsidence in the San Joaquin basin. Adjustments in accumulation space are driven by changes in the ratio of sediment supply to discharge during glacial advances and retreats. At the end of glacial periods and the beginning of interglacial periods, declines in the ratio of sediment supply to discharge led to fan incision, a basinward shift in the fan intersection point, and loss of accumulation space. In mid- and upper-fan settings, incised valleys and laterally extensive, moderately mature paleosols formed, marking the unconformable base of the depositional sequence. Throughout the interglacial period, relatively low accumulation space existed and deposition was confined to the distal areas of the fan. Rapid aggradation and, thus, accumulation space increase, in response to increased sediment supply during the next glacial event initially filled the incised valley with a fining-upward succession of relatively coarse-grained channel and overbank deposits that contain rare, immature paleosols. Upon filling of the incised valley, the intersection point stabilized near the fan apex. This led to unconfined, open-fan deposition, indicating that widespread accumulation space was available across most of the fan surface. These high-accumulation-space units consist of fluvial deposits from multiple, large glacial outwash channels that radiated outward from the proximally located intersection point. Sequence boundaries and units associated with accumulation-space cycles can be used to understand and predict facies distributions and stratigraphic packaging within glacially influenced fans similar to the Kings River alluvial fan.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				F. E. Botros, T. Harter, Y. S. Onsoy, A. Tuli, and J. W. Hopmans Spatial Variability of Hydraulic Properties and Sediment Characteristics in a Deep Alluvial Unsaturated Zone Vadose Zone J., April 14, 2009; 8(2): 276 - 289. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. Strong and C. Paola Valleys That Never Were: Time Surfaces Versus Stratigraphic Surfaces Journal of Sedimentary Research, August 1, 2008; 78(8): 579 - 593. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. G. Ruskin and T. E. Jordan Climate Change Across Continental Sequence Boundaries: Paleopedology and Lithofacies of Iglesia Basin, Northwestern Argentina Journal of Sedimentary Research, September 1, 2007; 77(9): 661 - 679. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. V. Ingersoll and D. J. Eastmond Composition of Modern Sand from the Sierra Nevada, California, U.S.A.: Implications for Actualistic Petrofacies of Continental-Margin Magmatic Arcs Journal of Sedimentary Research, September 1, 2007; 77(9): 784 - 796. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. L. Bennett V, G. S. Weissmann, G. S. Baker, and D. W. Hyndman Regional-scale assessment of a sequence-bounding paleosol on fluvial fans using ground-penetrating radar, eastern San Joaquin Valley, California Geological Society of America Bulletin, May 1, 2006; 118(5-6): 724 - 732. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. P. Rhodes, R. Conejo, T. Benchawan, S. Titus, and R. Lawson Palaeocurrents and provenance of the Mae Rim Formation, Northern Thailand: implications for tectonic evolution of the Chiang Mai basin Journal of the Geological Society, January 1, 2005; 162(1): 51 - 63. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. S.J. Dollar Fluvial geomorphology Progress in Physical Geography, September 1, 2004; 28(3): 405 - 450. [PDF]