High-resolution stratigraphy and depositional model of wind- and water-laid deposits in the ordovician Guaritas rift (Southernmost Brazil)

Abstract: The upper portion of the Pedra Pintada Alloformation includes about 100 m of mostly eolian deposits. This paper emphasizes the vertical succession and lateral association of sedimentary facies, based on analysis of outcrop data and aerial photographs, as well as the hierarchy and origin of bounding surfaces. It aims to propose a high-resolution stratigraphic and depositional model that may be useful to exploitation of eolian reservoirs. The succession has been preserved due to basin subsidence, and is described in terms of four facies associations that constitute three dominantly eolian units. These units are sharply bounded by major flooding surfaces (super surfaces) that, in turn, are overlain by 1 to 2 m thick, dominantly water-laid facies (lacustrine, fluvial, deltaic and eolian). Both their internal organization and boundaries were controlled by changes in the base level rise rate. The basal Eolian Unit is composed of crescentic eolian dunes and damp interdune deposits ascribed to a wet eolian system. On the other hand, eolian units II and III, also characterized by crescentic eolian dunes (simple and compound) deposits, were related to dry eolian systems, since they comprise dry (eventually wet) interdune facies. Eolian Unit III is truncated by basinwide unconformity, which is then overlain by the ephemeral fluvial deposits (Varzinha Alloformation). This second type of super surface is related to climate-induced wind erosion (deflation) down to the water table level (regional Stokes surface) followed by fluvial incision linked to tectonic activity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]