Depositional controls on tidally influenced fluvial successions, Neslen Formation, Utah, USA

Abstract The stratigraphic architecture of marginal marine successions records the interplay of autogenic and allogenic processes, and discerning their relative role in governing the morphology of the palaeoenvironment and the architecture of the preserved sedimentary succession is not straightforward. The Campanian Neslen Formation, Mesaverde Group, Utah, is a tidally influenced fluvial succession sourced from the Sevier Orogen, which prograded eastwards into the Western Interior Seaway. Detailed mapping in three dimensions of architectural relationships between sandstone bodies has enabled documentation of lateral and vertical changes in the style of channel-body stacking and analysis of the distribution of sedimentary evidence for tidal influence. Upwards, through the succession, sandstone channel bodies become larger and more amalgamated. Laterally, the dominant style of channel bodies changes such that ribbon channel-fills are restricted to the east of the study area whereas lateral accretion deposits dominate to the west. Combined allogenic and autogenic controls gave rise to the observed stratigraphy. A temporal decrease in the rate of accommodation generation resulted in an upward increase in amalgamation of sand-bodies. Autogenic processes likely played a significant role in moderating the preserved succession: up-succession changes in the style of stacking of channelized bodies could have arisen either from progradation of a distributive fluvial system or from an upstream nodal avulsion of a major trunk channel; accumulation of tide influenced, wave dominated units likely record episodes of delta-lobe abandonment, subsidence and submergence to allow accumulation of near shore sand bars with associated washover complexes.