Volume 25 (2019): Issue 2 (August 2019)

The sediments of the Cretaceous Gyeokpori Formation in south-western South Korea accumulated in a lake in which mainly siliciclastic rocks were deposited, with some interbedded volcaniclastics. The nearby volcanic activity resulted in unstable lake margins inducing a dominance of gravity-flow deposits. The high sedimentation rate facilitated soft-sediment deformation on the sloping margin. The deposition of numerous gravity-flow deposits resulted in a vertically heterolithic stratification. The slumps are composed of different lithologies, which is expressed in different types of deformation due to the difference in cohesion between sandy and mussy layers within the slumps. Coarser-grained (cohesionless) slumps tend to show more chaotic deformation of their lamination or layering. The difference in slumping behaviour of the cohesive and non-cohesive examples is explained and modelled.

A unique soft-sediment deformation structure is recognized. This structure has not been described before, and we call it ‘envelope structure’. It consists of a conglomerate mass that has become entirely embedded in fine-grained sediment because slope failure took place and the fine-grained material slumped down with the conglomerate ‘at its back’. The cohesive laminated mudstone formed locally slump folds that embedded the non-cohesive overlying conglomerate unit, possibly partly due to the bulldozing effect of the latter. This structure presumably can develop when the density contrast with the underlying and overlying deposits is exceptionally high. The envelope structure should be regarded as a special – and rare – type of a slumping-induced deformation structure.

The 14-m-thick sandy succession at Ujście in western Poland formed during the Odranian stadial of the Saalian glaciation, is exceptional in being very well sorted, almost mono-fractional (fine-grained sands) and mono-mineral (mainly quartz grains) and in lacking Scandinavian erratics. The lower sequence (5 metres in thickness) consists of three stacked packages of clinoforms (inclined cross-stratified sands) and is interpreted as having been deposited on a subaqueous fan in a shallow lake during two phases of rising water levels. The upper sand (9 metres in thickness) with (sub) horizontal stratification was redeposited on a subaerial alluvial fan. Distinctive distributary channels that occur in the uppermost part of the subaqueous fan and in the lowermost portion of the alluvial fan may indicate a change in sedimentation style from subaqueous to subaerial. Moreover, the subaerial position of the fan supports the presence of ice-wedge casts that developed under periglacial conditions in the upper part of alluvial fan. The results of granulo-metric analysis, rounding and frosting of grains and mineral analysis indicate that the sands are derived from Gorzów Formation of Early Miocene age. The only feasible explanation is that the 14-m-thick unit must have been redeposited during the Saalian glaciation.

The Suchedniów water reservoir is located in the central section of the River Kamionka in the northern part of the Holy Cross Mountains of central Poland. This area once belonged to the Old Polish Industrial District that, during the Middle Ages, was very intensively developed by iron metallurgy. Many forges and mills along the rivers used water power, which led to the construction of an anthropogenic, small-scale water retention system. At the beginning of the twentieth century many of these reservoirs were drained after the collapse of metallurgical activities. The present-day reservoir was built in 1974 and drained in 2017. Research into the drained basin has documented various forms and sediments, some of which record present-day depositional processes (fire proof clay layer, inland fan delta), while others represent the historical period (lacustrine sediments of older reservoirs). Traces of catastrophic events have been preserved as well; an assemblage of megaripples marks the sudden drainage caused by a dam break in 1974.

A chain of carbonate platforms evolved in the northern Neo-Tethys during the Late Jurassic, but current knowledge remains incomplete as long as data from several larger regions, such as the Western Caucasus, are not included. In order to fill this gap, it is here suggested to reconsider the information accumulated chiefly during Soviet times. Although these data are too general, they still matter with regard to some regional characteristics and tentative interpretations. Available data on the spatio-temporal distribution of Bajocian-Callovian sedimentary rocks are summarised in a novel way which permits documentation of depositional trends at six representative localities in the Western Caucasus. The extent of the carbonate platform increased at two localities since the Late Callovian and at a third since the Middle Oxfordian. Three additional sites were characterised either by non-deposition or deep-marine sedimentation. The onset of carbonate platform development marked a remarkable shift from chiefly siliciclastic to carbonate deposition, although this event was not sudden everywhere. The Bathonian pulse of tectonic activity, coupled with the eustatic sea level rise, allowed shelves to expand during the Callovian-Oxfordian, with a reduction in siliciclastic input from islands and sea-water that became well oxygenated and warmer. These conditions were conducive to biogenic carbonate production, allowing the carbonate platform to expand subsequently.

The Futoma Member (Oligocene, Rupelian) of the Menilite Formation is present only in the northern part of the Skole Nappe. Some diatomitic layers of this member in the Nowy Borek section contain coarse-grained detrital material composed of a variety of metamorphic, volcanic and sedimentary rock fragments. The material derives from primary and secondary sources. Most abundant are debris of metamorphic rocks, mostly gneisses and mica schists. The metamorphic origin of these rocks is confirmed by the composition of heavy mineral assemblages and garnet chemistry. These rocks could have been transported from a local source located close to the margin of the Skole Basin or within that basin. The volcanic rocks reflect Paleogene volcanic activity that was widespread in the Carpathian region. Cherts, which could have been subjected to synsedimentary erosion, may have been derived from the older portions of the same formation.