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During the Early Cretaceous, Australia was flooded by the epicontinental Eromanga Sea, deposits of which occur across the Great Australian Superbasin. However, the mid‐Cretaceous retreat of this shallow sea, and the resultant palaeogeographic and sediment distribution patterns, are poorly understood. This study chronicles the Eromanga Sea's northward regression through the Carpentaria Basin as captured in the sedimentary record of the Normanton Formation. We achieve this by integrating sedimentary facies analysis of cores from across the Carpentaria Basin with palynology, sandstone petrography and U‐Pb detrital zircon geochronology. Results indicate that the Normanton Formation was deposited between ca. 100 and 96 Ma, and that it represents a large, northward‐prograding, likely river‐dominated delta system. The unit's volcanoclastic nature is exhibited through abundant lithic volcanics and devitrified glass, with a prominent, near‐depositional detrital zircon population attributed to a proximal continental magmatic arc‐derived source hypothesised to parallel the eastern seaboard of Australia at this time. The Normanton Formation is temporally correlative with the lower‐middle portions of the similarly volcanoclastic Winton Formation in the Eromanga Basin, which drained southwards into the Cenomanian‐Santonian Ceduna River Delta system. However, Normanton Formation strata display subtly different provenance signatures and drainage patterns, indicating input from similar, but likely more northern source terrains than much of the contemporaneous Winton Formation. These sediments were unlikely recycled southwards into the Ceduna Delta like those of the Winton Formation; rather they drained northward following the retreat of the Eromanga Sea through the Carpentaria Basin, indicating a Cretaceous drainage divide between two river systems, with distinct northern and southern drainage catchments. The mid‐Cretaceous palaeogeography of eastern Australia is analogous to that of the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway of North America, in which the retreat of a shallow epicontinental sea is marked by the rapid deposition and progradation of multiple large, geographically distinct clastic wedges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The Burma Terrane was a Western Pacific-type margin before the late Eocene. • Sediments at the Burmese margin were locally derived in the Cretaceous-Eocene. • Provenance divergence was induced by the tectonic evolution of the Burmese margin. The evolution of large fluvial drainages in SE Tibet and adjacent areas reflects the degree of coupling between tectonics, erosion, and climate. Reconstruction of their spatio-temporal development provides significant constraints for our understanding of the palaeogeographic evolution of numerous blocks in this domain. The Burmese continental margin drained by the Irrawaddy River and its tributaries includes blocks of the Burma Terrane and the Mount Victoria Land (Eastern Belt of the Indo-Burman Ranges). To investigate how was this margin developed from the amalgamation of the two blocks since the mid-Cretaceous, we present seismic profiles, sedimentary budget, sandstone petrography, bulk-rock geochemistry, and detrital apatite U-Pb ages from the margin. Our results show that provenance of the Burmese Forearc and Backarc depressions shifted from the proximal Western Myanmar Arc and equivalents within northern Burma Terrane to the northern Mogok Metamorphic Belt and Dianxi-Burman batholiths within SE Tibet during the late Paleogene. The provenance transition is synchronous with tectonic evolution of the Burma Terrane from an(a) oceanic/continental island arc setting to an active continental margin. We propose an evolved Western Pacific-type margin for the Burma Terrane, which is dominated by typical accretionary wedge, calc-alkaline island arc, and extensional forearc/backarc basins. An increase in sediment accumulation rates (SARs) in the Burmese Forearc indicates that the input from basement rocks within northern Burma Terrane (Tagaung–Myitkyina Belt) became more prominent and the Eastern Belt of the northern Indo-Burman Ranges were totally exposed in the Middle-Late Eocene. This result corroborates the Burma Terrane assembled with SE Asia (Sibumasu Terrane) before the Middle Eocene. The first presence of SE Tibet-like detritus and the diversification of SARs in the Burmese Forearc and Backarc in the Oligocene are compatible with dextral motion on the Sagaing Fault, which may have triggered the birth of the palaeo-Irrawaddy river and fluvial drainage reorganization in its upper reaches. Higher sedimentary fluxes recorded in the Burmese Forearc and Backarc depressions and the Andaman Sea during the Neogene are compatible with enhanced rock erosion within SE Tibet and thus, can be explained by rapid tectonic uplift and an intensified Asia monsoon in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Fish community composition is shaped by current and historical factors. In recently formed ecosystems, however, as the Quaternary coastal lagoons of South America, the influence of historical factors has less frequently been investigated. The low rate of endemism in these lagoons suggests a limited role for speciation while their dynamic formation history suggests local extinction and dispersal limitation could have affected present species composition. We aimed to assess the influence of past and current factors on the beta diversity of those communities and explore the main processes involved. Location: Atlantic coast of South America. Taxon: Fishes (173 species). Methods: We built a dataset of species occurrence in 129 lagoons across eight freshwater ecoregions of the world (FEOWs) located between latitudes 0° and 36°, and calculated beta diversity (βjac) and its turnover (βjtu) and nestedness (βjne) components. We used a partial Mantel test and multiple regressions on distance matrices to evaluate the importance of past and current factors, and of geographical distance in determining beta diversity. Past variables were those representing the historical freshwater habitat during the last glacial maximum (LGM), and contemporary variables were those related to current habitat. Results: We found high values of βjac within the FEOWs, with βjtu prevailing over βjne. Both past (palaeodrainage) and current (drainage area, salinity and lagoon area) factors affected species dissimilarity (βjac = 46%) and its components (βjtu = 44% and βjne = 20%), although explanation was, in part, shared with geographical distance. Individually, the influence of past factors was prevalent in beta diversity and its components. Main conclusions: The large influence of the past factors on beta diversity suggests that major changes in the availability of freshwater habitats and connectivity since the Pleistocene must have affected the colonization, extinction and recolonization processes of fishes along the eastern coast of South America. We suggest that the high beta diversity values result from limited dispersal after extinctions in the LGM. The dissimilar freshwater fish communities currently seen result from heterogeneous subsets of the regional species pool that persisted in landscape refuges during past sea level increases and then recolonized coastal lagoons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cenozoic geodynamics of the north‐eastern Mediterranean Basin have been dominated by the subduction of the African Plate under Eurasia. A trench‐parallel crustal‐scale thrust system (Misis–Kyrenia Thrust System) dissects the southern margin of the overriding plate and forms the structural grain and surface expression of northern Cyprus. Late Eocene to Miocene flysch of the Kythrea (Değirmenlik) Group is exposed throughout northern Cyprus, both at the hanging‐wall and foot‐wall of the thrust system, permitting access to an extensive Cenozoic sedimentary record of the basin. We report the results of a combined examination of detrital zircon and rutile U–Pb geochronology (572 concordant ages), coupled with Th/U ratios, Hf isotopic data and quantitative assessment of grain morphology of detrital zircon from four formations (5 samples) from the Kythrea flysch. These data provide a line of independent evidence for the existence of two different sediment transportation systems that discharged detritus into the basin between the late Eocene and late Miocene. Unique characteristics of each transport system are defined and a sediment unmixing calculation is demonstrated and explained. The first system transported almost exclusively North Gondwana‐type, Precambrian‐aged detrital zircon sourced from siliciclastic rock units in southern Anatolia. A different drainage system is revealed by the middle to late Miocene flysch sequence that is dominated by Late Cretaceous–Cenozoic‐aged detrital zircon, whose age range is consistent with the magmatic episodicity of southeast Anatolia, along the Arabia–Eurasia suture zone. Deposition of these late Miocene strata took place thereupon closure of the Tethyan Seaway and African–Eurasian faunal exchange, and overlap in time with a pronounced uplift of eastern Anatolia. Our analytical data indicate the onset of prominent suture‐parallel sediment transport from the collision zone of south‐eastern Anatolia into the Kyrenia Range of northern Cyprus, marking the drainage response to the continental collision between Arabia and Eurasia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the northwestern sector of the Zagros foreland basin, axial fluvial systems initially delivered fine‐grained sediments from northwestern source regions into a contiguous basin, and later transverse fluvial systems delivered coarse‐grained sediments from northeastern sources into a structurally partitioned basin by fold‐thrust deformation. Here we integrate sedimentologic, stratigraphic, palaeomagnetic and geochronologic data from the northwestern Zagros foreland basin to define the Neogene history of deposition and sediment routing in response to progressive advance of the Zagros fold‐thrust belt. This study constrains the depositional environments, timing of deposition and provenance of nonmarine clastic deposits of the Injana (Upper Fars), Mukdadiya (Lower Bakhtiari) and Bai‐Hasan (Upper Bakhtiari) Formations in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Sediments of the Injana Formation (~12.4–7.75 Ma) were transported axially (orogen‐parallel) from northwest to southeast by meandering and low‐sinuosity channel belt system. In contrast, during deposition of the Mukdadiya Formation (~7.75–5 Ma), sediments were delivered transversely (orogen‐perpendicular) from northeast to southwest by braided and low‐sinuosity channel belt system in distributive fluvial megafans. By ~5 Ma, the northwestern Zagros foreland basin became partitioned by growth of the Mountain Front Flexure and considerable gravel was introduced in localized alluvial fans derived from growing topographic highs. Foredeep accumulation rates during deposition of the Injana, Mukdadiya and Bai‐Hasan Formations averaged 350, 400 and 600 m/Myr respectively, suggesting accelerated accommodation generation in a rapidly subsiding basin governed by flexural subsidence. Detrital zircon U‐Pb age spectra show that in addition to sources of Mesozoic‐Cenozoic cover strata, the Injana Formation was derived chiefly from Palaeozoic‐Precambrian (including Carboniferous and latest Neoproterozoic) strata in an axial position to the northwest, likely from the Bitlis‐Puturge Massif and broader Eastern Anatolia. In contrast, the Mukdadiya and Bai‐Hasan Formations yield distinctive Palaeogene U‐Pb age peaks, particularly in the southeastern sector of the study region, consistent with transverse delivery from the arc‐related terranes of the Walash and Naopurdan volcano‐sedimentary groups (Gaveh‐Rud domain?) and Urumieh‐Dokhtar magmatic arc to the northeast. These temporal and spatial variations in stratigraphic framework, depositional environments, sediment routing and compositional provenance reveal a major drainage reorganization during Neogene shortening in the Zagros fold‐thrust belt. Whereas axial fluvial systems initially dominated the foreland basin during early orogenesis in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, transverse fluvial systems were subsequently established and delivered major sediment volumes to the foreland as a consequence of the abrupt deformation advance and associated topographic growth in the Zagros. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palaeodrainage models for the mixed fluvial‐aeolian systems, which supplied detritus to Triassic basins on and offshore Britain and Ireland are well established. Basins such as those across Northern Ireland are not as well understood. Provenance studies of Triassic sandstones in the Slyne Basin offshore western Ireland and in basins west of Shetland have indicated that sediment supply was through a southward flowing fluvial system. Similar work on Triassic sandstones in the Wessex and East Irish Sea basins on and offshore Britain identified source rocks to the south supporting models, which evoke the northward flowing "Budleighensis" river system. The basins across Northern Ireland are potentially situated along the drainage divide between these two large‐scale drainage systems. K‐feldspar Pb‐isotopic analysis, apatite U–Pb geochronology and trace element geochemistry identify the Hebridean Platform, and the Scottish and Irish massifs to the north and west, respectively, and the remnant Variscan Uplands to the far south of the basins as source areas. The proportion of the northern‐ and southern‐derived detritus fluctuates several times over the sampled intervals, suggesting the dominance of drainage systems supplying sand to the basins "switched" intermittently over time. This may be due to abnormally heavy rains periodically powering the Budleighensis river system farther north or perhaps localised subsidence temporarily disconnecting Triassic basins on and offshore Britain and Ireland. The Triassic basins in Northern Ireland acted as either a major drainage divide between southern and northern river systems or as a regional sink for sediment preventing further expansion of either system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the tectonics that gave rise to the formation of Tibet is critical to our understanding of crustal deformation processes. The unusual geomorphology of the drainage basins of East Asia's major rivers has been proposed to be the result of either (1) distortion and attenuation of antecedent drainages as India indents into Asia, which can therefore be used as passive strain markers of horizontal shear, or (2) due to fragmentation by river captures and flow reversals of an originally continental-scale drainage, in which the major East Asian rivers once flowed into the palaeo-Red River. If the latter hypothesis is correct, then it has been proposed that dating the drainage fragmentation constrains the timing of uplift of Tibet. A number of sedimentary provenance studies have been undertaken in order to determine whether the palaeo-Red River was once a river of continental proportions into which the upper reaches of the Yangtze, Salween, Mekong, Irrawaddy, and Yarlung drained. We have assessed the evidence that the Yarlung originally flowed into the palaeo-Red river, and then sequentially into the Irrawaddy and Brahmaputra, connecting to the latter first via the Lohit and then the Siang. For this river system, we have integrated our new data from the Paleogene-Recent Irrawaddy drainage basin (detrital zircon U-Pb with Hf and fission track, rutile U-Pb, mica Ar-Ar, bulk rock Sr-Nd, and petrography) with previously published data, to produce a palaeodrainage model that is consistent with all datasets. In our model, the Yarlung never flowed into the Irrawaddy drainage: during the Paleogene, the Yarlung suture zone was an internally drained basin, and from Neogene times onwards the Yarlung drained into the Brahmaputra in the Bengal Basin. The Central Myanmar Basin, through which the Irrawaddy River flows today, received predominantly locally-derived detritus until the Middle Eocene, the Irrawaddy initiated as a through-going river draining the Mogok Metamorphic Belt and Bomi-Chayu granites to the north sometime in the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene, and the river was dominated by a stable MMB-dominated drainage throughout the Neogene to present day. Existing evidence does not support any connection between the Yarlung and the Red River in the past, but there is a paucity of suitable palaeo-Red River deposits with which to make a robust comparison. We argue that this limitation also precludes a robust assessment of a palaeo-connection between the Yangtze/Salween/Mekong and the Red River; it is difficult to unequivocally interpret the recorded provenance changes as the result of specific drainage reorganisations. We highlight the palaeo-Red River deposits of the Hanoi Basin as a potential location for future research focus in view of the near-complete Cenozoic record of palaeo-Red River deposits at this location. A majority of previous studies consider that if a major continental-scale drainage ever existed at all, it fragmented early in the Cenozoic. Such a viewpoint would agree with the growing body of evidence from palaeoaltitude studies that large parts of SE Tibet were uplifted by this period. This then leads towards the intriguing question as to the mechanisms which caused the major period of river incision in the Miocene in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detailed study of subsurface deposits in the Polish Sudeten Foreland, particularly with reference to provenance data, has revealed that an extensive preglacial drainage system developed there in the Pliocene–Early Pleistocene, with both similarities and differences in comparison with the present-day Odra (Oder) system. This foreland is at the northern edge of an intensely deformed upland, metamorphosed during the Variscan orogeny, with faulted horsts and grabens reactivated in the Late Cenozoic. The main arm of preglacial drainage of this area, at least until the early Middle Pleistocene, was the Palaeo–Nysa Kłodzka, precursor of the Odra left-bank tributary of that name. Significant preglacial evolution of this drainage system can be demonstrated, including incision into the landscape, prior to its disruption by glaciation in the Elsterian (Sanian) and again in the early Saalian (Odranian), which resulted in burial of the preglacial fluvial archives by glacial and fluvioglacial deposits. No later ice sheets reached the area, in which the modern drainage pattern became established, the rivers incising afresh into the landscape and forming post-Saalian terrace systems. Issues of compatibility of this record with the progressive uplift implicit in the formation of conventional terrace systems are examined, with particular reference to crustal properties, which are shown to have had an important influence on landscape and drainage evolution in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Downcutting and infill of incised valley systems is mostly controlled by relative sea-level changes, and studies on valley-fill successions accumulated independently from relative sea-level or lake-level oscillations are limited. This study focuses on the Plio-Pleistocene evolution of a fluvial drainage system developed in Southern Tuscany (Italy) following a regional marine forced regression at the end of Piacentian. Subsequent in-valley aggradation was not influenced by any relative sea-level rise, and valley morphological and depositional history mainly resulted from interaction between sediment supply and tectonic activity, which caused segmentation of the major valley trunk into localized subsiding depocenters separated by upwarping blocks. Fluvial sedimentation occurred until late Calabrian time, when the major river abandoned that valley, where minor fluvio-lacustrine depocenters allowed accumulation of siliciclastic and carbonate deposits. The present study demonstrates that the infill of the valley was not controlled by the forcing that caused its incision. Accumulation of the fluvial succession is discussed here in relation with localized, tectonic-controlled base levels, which commonly prevent from establishing of a clear downdip stratigraphic correlations. Chronological reconstruction of the study depositional dynamics provides solid constrains to frame them in the tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Northern Apennines.

The Congo Basin in central Africa is one of the largest intracratonic sedimentary basins in the world. The geological knowledge of Congo Basin is mainly based on studies from the central part of the basin (“Cuvette Centrale”). We present the results of sedimentary provenance investigations of the Jurassic–Cretaceous strata from the southwestern part of the basin, called the Kasai region. This study combines sandstone petrography with U-Pb and Lu-Hf analyses of detrital zircons to assess the stratigraphy, sedimentary provenance and drainage history of the Upper Jurassic-Cretaceous strata in the Kasai region. The stratigraphy is subdivided into a single Upper Jurassic unit (J1) and four Cretaceous units (C1–C4). Petrographically, sandstones from all units except the conglomeratic C3 are texturally and compositionally mature, dominated by quartzarenite and subarkosic compositions. These characteristics can be attributed to considerable recycling of older sedimentary strata and crustal sources, along with long distance fluvial and aeolian processes. The analyses of fifteen detrital zircon samples from the Upper Jurassic–Cretaceous strata yielded mainly Archean and Proterozoic zircons. This result suggests that sandstones are likely sourced from the underlying Archean-Paleoproterozoic Congo–Kasai Craton and from nearby Proterozoic mobile belts, particularly the Irumide and Lufilian Belts to the south of the basin. The dominance of Archean and Proterozoic detrital zircons in Upper Jurassic–Cretaceous strata suggests that the Kasai portion of the Congo Basin experienced exhumation and erosion, which is possibly associated with far-field reactivation of Archean and Proterozoic structures during and following Gondwana rifting in the late Mesozoic. A large fluvial drainage network sourced from the south of the basin, is interpreted to have developed across central Africa during the Late Jurassic–Cretaceous. This fluvial system is believed to have flowed northward across the Congo Basin and ultimately drained into a wrench fault system called the Central African Shear Zone, which extends in an ENE direction from the Gulf of Guinea through Cameroon into Sudan and Kenya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Google Earth imagery is used here in conjunction with a Geographic Information System to identify transverse drainages and recreate palaeodrainage in an internally draining region in Iran. At least 35 water gaps and 34 wind gaps are shown to exist in the region, as well as evidence for an integrated palaeodrainage that originated north of the internally draining region and emptied into the Mand watershed to the west. The topographic characteristics of the transverse drainages suggest a strong control by local topography, and support formation of the internally draining region by basin filling and overflow. Both climatic and tectonic factors may have controlled the loss of external connectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Waimumu Quartz Gravels, 8 km southwest of Gore, New Zealand, were deposited in Pliocene river channels, and were derived by recycling of older sediments on nearby uplifting mountain ranges. The high proportion of quartz pebbles (>90%) is a result of the decomposition of clay-altered lithic clasts during sedimentary recycling. Most of the quartz was derived from the Otago Schist Belt to the north, including upper greenschist facies metachert clasts with spessartine and piemontite. The quartz gravels at Waimumu Stream mine contain abundant Mn-rich garnet clasts that were derived from Otago Schist. In addition, chromite clasts constitute >10% of the heavy mineral sand fraction, and this may have been derived from the Dun Mountain Ophiolite Belt although the exact source is unknown. Most detrital gold occurs as flakes that have undergone long-distance transport. Rare grains of crystalline gold occur, some of which are in association with prismatic quartz crystals. Gold flakes have minor evidence for authigenic gold overgrowths in association with authigenic marcasite, and gold mobility may have been enhanced by marcasite precipitation and/or oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: This paper contributes to the concept that during the late Tortonian, Messinian and early Pliocene (c. 7.5–4.6Ma) in addition to the Nile the Sahabi rivers also crossed the Sahara, having originated from tropical Neogene Lake Chad. Examination of two hamadas lying just to the north of the Libya–Chad border using Landsat images and SRTM topographic data enables one of them, Hamada Ibn Battutah West, to be recognised as an uplifted palaeosurface which preserves late Miocene/early Pliocene fluvial activity. This surface is referred to as the Yangara Palaeosurface. Of particular interest on the hamada are two long (c. 50km), wide (c. 4km) channels, a 50km2 relic landscape and a short well defined 5km channel about 1km wide. The location of Hamada Ibn Battutah West is significant because the hamada provides evidence of extensive fluvial activity part way between the place of origin of the Sahabi rivers and their preserved record at the Gulf of Sirt. The Yangara Palaeosurface is considered to extend southwards to the adjacent hamada in northeastern Chad. The total palaeosurface extends 165km in an approximate north–south direction and averages 45km in width. It lies in the central part of an area of complex post-Miocene uplift involving four hamadas at the Libya–Chad border. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Detailed studies on the status of Saraswati Nadi of northern Haryana have been carried out using multi date and multi resolution satellite images, GIS techniques and ground data. Palaeochannels have been delineated using remote sensing techniques and validated using discovered archaeological sites, sedimentological data from drilled wells and water quality data. Detailed analysis of hydrological data (rainfall and stream discharge), catchment area and petrographic analysis of rock samples have been done to decipher the dwindling state of Saraswati Nadi. Likelihood of Adi Badri as the place of origin of Saraswati Nadi and its possible linkage with the Vedic Saraswati River is discussed. Suggestions have been given for safeguarding and revival of Saraswati Nadi as a national heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River capture is a geomorphological process through which stream sections are displaced from one catchment to another, and it may represent a dominant facilitator of interdrainage transfer and cladogenesis in freshwater-limited taxa. However, few studies have been conducted in a manner to explicitly test the biological significance of river capture. Here we present a multispecies phylogeographical analysis to test whether the nonmigratory fish fauna of the Von River (South Island, New Zealand) is the product of a well-documented, Late Quaternary capture of a section of the Oreti River (Southland drainage). Specifically, we predict that nonmigratory fishes of the Von River will exhibit closer genetic affinities with those of Southland, rather than those of the Clutha system, into which the Von River presently drains. Mitochondrial DNA phylogeography (control region and cytochrome b sequence data) and analysis of nuclear orthologues of mtDNA sequences indicate that ‘flathead’ Galaxias of the Von River ( n = 31, three sites) have greatest genetic affinities with those of Southland ( Galaxias ‘southern’, n = 216, 38 sites), rather than with those of the Clutha River ( Galaxias sp. ‘ D’, n = 73, 32 sites). Likewise, Von River ‘roundhead’ Galaxias ( n = 52, four sites) have greatest genetic affinities with those of Southland drainages ( Galaxias gollumoides, n = 223, 58 sites), rather than with those of the Clutha River ( Galaxias pullus, Galaxias anomalus, Galaxias gollumoides of the Nevis tributary; n = 68, 32 sites). These findings are consistent with our predictions that genetic affinities of the nonmigratory fish fauna in the Von River would reflect past, rather than present, drainage connections. Consequently, river capture is responsible for the nonmigratory fish fauna of the Von River. In a broader context, river capture has frequently influenced the distribution of genetic lineages among catchments in New Zealand freshwater-limited fish, and its biogeographical significance may have been underestimated in other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Radar-revealed palaeodrainage systems are analyzed using Radarsat-1 data covering the Kufra Oasis and parts of southeastern Libya and northern Chad. The analysis shows that two mega fluvial systems exist to the south of the Kufra Oasis. Along the western one, a mappable polygonal fluvial unit covers 13,628km2 in area, with the entire watershed extending north beyond the borders of the present 347,160km2 study area. The eastern system covers 4321km2 in area and is morphologically similar to the Amazon’s Rio Negro, although the African channel is four times wider. The enormity of these features provides some explanation as to why continuous extraction of groundwater in the oasis and nearby circular irrigation farms is possible. Clearly, these mega fluvial systems formed at some time in the past when rain was plentiful over a protracted time period. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Ten parallel stratigraphic sections (1500–1800 m thick) spread over an area of >400 km2 in Dehra Dun sub-basin (DSB) of the Himalayan Foreland Belt (HFB) were studied to understand the anatomy of one of the largest (900–1200 m thick) fluviatile Multistorey Sandstone Complexes (MSC) of the world using fluvial geometry, compositional data and magnetic fabrics over a magnetostratigraphically controlled master section. The multistorey sandstone complex, between 10–5 Ma representing the Middle Siwalik sub-Group, comprises of grey, medium- to fine-grained lithic arenites to lithic greywacke and records tectonic and/or climatic episodes. Three main facies associations are recognised: sandstone–mudstone, sandstone, and conglomerate-sandstone that represent fluvial fan deposit. Palaeocurrent data show radial palaeoflow pattern with major palaeodrainage towards the southern quadrant. The magnetic fabric studies suggest three major tectonic pulses. The first pulse at ∼8.7 Ma resulted in the development of major depocenter for the MSC, the second pulse at ∼7.65 Ma enhanced the sedimentation and progradation, while the third pulse at ∼6.5 Ma records overlapping earlier fluvial fan by another coarse grained piedmont alluvial fan. Thrust movement in the northern fold belt, basement lineaments and rate of basin subsidence controlled the lateral and vertical facies distribution and palaeodrainage. The sedimentation pattern of the multistorey complex is characterised by mainly sheet flood deposits of laterally avulsing unconfined braided rivers and resembles to the modern megafan sedimentation in the Ganga Basin to the south. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Downcutting and infill of incised valley systems is mostly controlled by relative sea-level changes, and studies on valley-fill successions accumulated independently from relative sea-level or lake-level oscillations are limited. This study focuses on the Plio-Pleistocene evolution of a fluvial drainage system developed in Southern Tuscany (Italy) following a regional marine forced regression at the end of Piacentian. Subsequent in-valley aggradation was not influenced by any relative sea-level rise, and valley morphological and depositional history mainly resulted from interaction between sediment supply and tectonic activity, which caused segmentation of the major valley trunk into localized subsiding depocenters separated by upwarping blocks. Fluvial sedimentation occurred until late Calabrian time, when the major river abandoned that valley, where minor fluvio-lacustrine depocenters allowed accumulation of siliciclastic and carbonate deposits. The present study demonstrates that the infill of the valley was not controlled by the forcing that caused its incision. Accumulation of the fluvial succession is discussed here in relation with localized, tectonic-controlled base levels, which commonly prevent from establishing of a clear downdip stratigraphic correlations. Chronological reconstruction of the study depositional dynamics provides solid constrains to frame them in the tectono-sedimentary evolution of the Northern Apennines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]