Earth Science Research Seminar: Dr. Joris Eggenhuisen (Utrecht University)

Earth Science Research Seminar: Dr. Joris Eggenhuisen (Utrecht University)
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This is a past event

Please join us for a research seminar given by Dr. Joris Eggenhuisen of Utrecht University on “Eurotank Studies of Experimental Deepwater Sedimentology”. All are welcome to attend.

Abstract:

After 70 years of intensifying attention, the link between turbidite sandstones and turbidity currents remains a fascinating puzzle from an academic perspective, and of immense importance for petroleum geology.

Descriptive studies of turbidite facies successions and architecture have become increasingly more detailed and sophisticated. Valuable contributions have organized empirically recognized system styles in classifications based on conceptual forcing mechanisms. Considering these observational and conceptual advances, our quantitative understanding of the link with the flow dynamics of turbidity currents has lagged behind.

EuroSEDS is operated on the conviction that the consistency and robustness of the geological observational framework points towards the operation of a limited set of physical governing mechanisms. These mechanisms can be understood from iterative studies on process sedimentology through experimentation, numerical modelling, field measurements, and theoretical considerations. And this understanding can be shaped into a predictive capability. Here we show how new scaling considerations, which we term Shields scaling, have opened up new avenues of investigation in the physical modelling of deepwater depositional systems. We demonstrate the added value of the new approach with two examples: A) Channel-levee development. B) Depositional patterns in a break-of-slope setting. The flow dynamics results of the experiments are consistent with the extensive body of previously published physical modelling results in both examples.

The sediment distribution, however, shows a clear departure from the draping depositional behavior encountered predominantly in previous work.

In contrast, the experimental deposits presented here display a subtle interplay between erosion, transport, and deposition of sediment by turbidity currents, which results in a morphodynamic evolution that is a much better analogue for deepwater system development.

 

Speaker
Dr. Joris Eggenhuisen
Venue
St Mary's Building, room 105