Down-channel variations in stratal patterns within a conglomeratic, deepwater fan feeder system (Miocene, Adana Basin, Southern Turkey)

Abstract

Abstract The proximal, channelized section of a deepwater fan in the Adana Basin, southern Turkey, provides an opportunity to study down-channel changes in stratal patterns. This is a multisourced, bypass fan with at least four feeder channels. The downdip changes within one of these channels are described along a 10 km transect. Down-channel changes in grading and organization of clasts are observed for non-grading disorganized facies in the most proximal locations to more organized, inverse-normal and normal graded conglomerates midway down the transect. Bedding style changes from scoured and more sheet-like beds updip into a pattern of small channels and bars midway along the transect, and into thick-bedded and structureless conglomerates in the more distal locations within the channel. These changes in stratal patterns coincide with observed changes in depositional gradient of the channel. The gradient changes are interpreted to be a contributing factor in controlling hydrodynamics within the gravity flows and thus the depositional stratal patterns.