Argentina (Cerro Bola)
The c. 1000 m thick succession is spectacularly well-exposed, and includes a number of mass transport deposits and megabeds of hybrid and transitional flow types in addition to more conventional turbidites in a continuously exposed turbidite sheet system, on which a recently-completed PhD (co-supervised by Kneller) is serving as the basis for ongoing detailed studies of bed-scale architecture of this loosely confined system (cf Quebrada Grande and Las Lajas)
One well-exposed mass transport deposit of seismic scale (≤180m thick) has served as a case study of strain distribution and substrate interaction. It is characterized by the large
allochthonous sand blocks derived from underlying fluvio-deltaic sediments, and ranging up to 100 of meters length and tens of meters in thickness. The underlying fluvio-deltaic sediments are deformed and grooved along the basal contact of the MTD. The MTDs are overlain by turbidites that are locally ponded in the surface relief.
A time-equivalent succession is exposed in La Peña Canyon, 100 km to the south of Cerro Bola, revealing spectacular sections through a series of mass transport deposits and ponded turbidites. We have studied these remote outcrops since 2006, but they are now accessible new via road cuts.
We are working on kinematics of the mass transport deposits, turbidite and hybrid bed facies and architecture in the ponded units.
