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Tove Nielsen, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) (Denmark)
Paul Knutz, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) (Denmark)
Antoon Kuijpers, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) (Denmark)
J. C. Faugères, GEUS (Denmark)
D. A. V. Stow, GEUS (Denmark)
P. Imbert, GEUS (Denmark)
A. Viana, GEUS (Denmark)
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Since the early days of recognition of contourites in the marine sedimentary record, reflection seismics has been used to identify and map these deposits, and is now considered as a standard method in most contourite studies. In 1999, Faugères et al. introduced a triple-scale approach that involved a set of key attributes to be used in seismic definition of contourite drifts. With the intention to place the definition scheme into a seismic scale context, we have slightly modified these key attributes and correlated them to a hierarchic descriptive term named "seismic elements". Further we suggest the subdivision of seismic elements into "orders of seismic elements" where increasing order-numbers refer to an increasing level of seismic interpretation details:
First-order seismic elements (large-scale features)
The overall architecture of the drift focusing on the gross geometry and large-scale depositional units
Second-order seismic elements (medium-scale features)
The internal architecture (drift structure) resolving the sub-units that build up the large-scale depositional units
Third-order seismic elements (small-scale features)
The seismic attributes and seismic facies configuration of the depositional sub-units the seismic attribute
In conclusion, we propose a conceptual model that illustrates the break-down of a contourite system into orders of seismic elements, and present the relation between this model and different seismic methods normally used in contourite investigations.
References:
Faugères J.-C., Stow, D.A.V., Imbert, P., Viana, A., 1999. Seismic features diagnostic of contourite drifts. Mararine Geology, 162, 1-38.
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