Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T15:36:09.736Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Anatomy of a channel-bank collapse structure in Tertiary fluvio-lacustrine sediments of the Lower Rhine Basin, Germany

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

H. Williams  and
S. Flint
H. Williams
Affiliation:
Koninklijke/Shell Exploratie en Produktie Laboratorium, Postbus 60, 2280AB Rijswijk Z-H, The Netherlands
S. Flint
Affiliation:
Koninklijke/Shell Exploratie en Produktie Laboratorium, Postbus 60, 2280AB Rijswijk Z-H, The Netherlands
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An exceptionally well-preserved synsedimentary deformation feature is described from uppermost Miocene fluvio-lacustrine coastal plain sediments, exposed in lignite mines of the Lower Rhine Basin, Germany. The feature is interpreted as a complex, multi-stage channel-bank collapse structure. Rotational slumping of bank material into the channel along two failure surfaces extending below the channel toe generated a series ofminor compressional ‘thrust/backthrust’ structures within the muddy channel-fill sediments. A reconstruction of the failure event is proposed which is linked toa lowering of river stage and subsequent channel abandonment. The accurate description of this unusually well-preserved channel-bank collapse structure may have general application in the interpretation of similar, but less-well-exposed-preserved phenomena elsewhere.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 127 , Issue 5 , September 1990 , pp. 445 - 451
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Fisk, H. N. 1944. Geological Investigation of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi River Commission, Vicks-burg, Mississippi.Google Scholar
Fisk, H. N. 1947. Fine-grained Alluvial Deposits and Their Effects on Mississippi River Activity. Mississippi River Commission, Vicksburg, Mississippi.Google Scholar
Gliese, J. & Hager, H. 1978. On brown coal resources in the Lower Rhine Embayment (West Germany). Geologic en Mijnbouw 57, 517–25.Google Scholar
Guion, P. D. 1987. Palaeochannels in mine workings in the High Hazles Coal (Westphalian B), Nottinghamshire Coalfield, England. Journal of the Geological Society of London 144, 471–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hager, H. 1981. Das Tertiar des Rheinischen Braunkohlenreviers Ergebnisse und probleme. Fortschrift Geologic Rheinland und Westfallia 29, 529–63.Google Scholar
Hager, H. 1986. Peat accumulation and syngenetic clastic sedimentation in the Tertiary of the Lower Rhine basin (F.R. Germany). Memoir de la Société Géologique de France 149, 51–6.Google Scholar
Hagerty, D. J., Spoor, M. F. & Ullrich, C. R. 1981. Bank failure and erosion on the Ohio River. Engineering Geology 17, 141–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamel, J. V. 1988. Geotechnical failure mechanisms in alluvial banks. In Mechanics of Alluvial Channels (eds Mahmood, K. Haque, M. I. and Choudri, A. M.), pp. 369–86. Littleton, Colorado: Water Resources Publications.Google Scholar
Laury, R. L. 1971. Stream bank failure and rotational slumping: preservation and significance for the geological record. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 82, 1251–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCabe, P. J. 1984. Depositional environments of coal and coal-bearing strata. In Sedimentology of Coal and Coal-Bearing Sequences (ed. Rahmani, R. A. and Flores, R. M.), pp. 13–42). International Association of Sedimentologists Special Publication no. 7.Google Scholar
Morgenstern, N. R. 1963. Stability charts for earth slopes duringrapid drawdown. Géotechnique 13, 121–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plint, A. G. 1986. Slump blocks, intraformational conglomerates and associated erosional structures in Pennsylvanian fluvial strata of eastern Canada. Sedimentology 33, 387–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quitzow, H. W. 1975. Das Rheintal und seine Entstehung, Bestandsaufnahme und Versuch einer Synthese. In L'évolulion quaternaire des bassins fluviaux de la mer du nord méridionale (ed. Macar, P.), pp. 53–104. Centeniale Société Géologique du Belgique.Google Scholar
Schumm, S. A. & Thorne, C. R. 1989. Geologic and Geomorphic Controls on Bank Erosion. Paper presented at the Third National Conference of Hydraulic Engineering and International Symposium of Sedimentary Transport Modeling,14–18 August,Hydraulics Division ASCE,New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.Google Scholar
Stanley, D. J., Krinitzsky, E. L. & Compton, J. R. 1966. Mississippi river bank failure. Fort Jackson, Louisiana. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 77, 859–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Terzaghi, K. V. & Peck, R. B. 1967. Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice, 2nd ed. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Thorne, C. R. 1982. Processes and mechanisms of river bank erosion. In Gravel-Bed Rivers (ed. Hey, R. D., Bathurst, J. C. and Thorne, C. R.), pp. 227–71. Chichester, England: Wiley.Google Scholar
Thorne, C. R. & Tovey, N. K. 1981. Stability of composite river banks. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 6, 469–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorne, C. R. & Osman, M. A. 1988. Riverbank stability analysis. II. Applications. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, ASCE 114, 151–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torrey, V. H., III. 1988. Retrogressive failures in sand deposits of the Mississippi River. Report 2. Empirical evidence in support of the hypothesized failure mechanism and development of the levee safety flow slide monitoring system. U.S. Corps of Engineers Technical Report no. GL-88–9, Vicksburg, Mississippi.Google Scholar
Turnbull, W. J., Krinitzsky, E. L. & Weaver, F. S. 1966. Bank erosion in soils of the lower Mississippi valley. Proceedings ofthe American Society of Civil Engineers, Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division 92, 4632.Google Scholar
Ullrich, C. R., Hagerty, D. J. & Holmberg, R. W. 1986. Surficial failures of alluvial stream banks. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 23, 304–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, E. G., Guber, A. L. & Johnson, A. M. 1965. Rotational slumping and disconformities. Journal of Geology 72, 534–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar