Conglomeratic Shoreface Deposits from the Cretaceous Cardium Formation, Alberta, Canada

by Bruce S. Hart, Pacific Geoscience Cent, Sidney, Canada,
A. Guy Plint, Pacific Geoscience Cent, Sidney, Canada,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Coastal Sediments

Abstract:

Conglomeratic shoreface deposits of the Upper Cretaceous Cardium Formation are well exposed at an outcrop in northwestern Alberta. The conglomerates there compose over 80% of the total thickness, are dominantly clast-supported and have a well-developed horizontal stratification. Most appear to have been the deposits of gravel bedload sheets, although some were produced by the migration of gravel bedforms at least 60 cm high. Sediment transport, as deduced from paleocurrent indicators, was in a longshore direction. Grain-size trends suggest an up-shoreface coarsening and downdrift fining. The lack of documentation concerning sediment transport processes on modern gravel-dominated shorefaces is an impediment to understanding the processes responsible for the deposition of ancient conglomeratic shoreface deposits.

Subject Headings: Sediment transport | Gravels | Littoral drift | Coastal processes | Water supply systems | Geology | Bed forms | Canada | Alberta

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