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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
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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

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