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Pre-vegetation alluvium: Geological evidence for river behaviour in the absence of land plants

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cam.restrictionthesis_access_embargoed
cam.supervisorDavies, Neil
cam.supervisor.orcidDavies, Neil [0000-0002-0910-8283]
cam.thesis.fundingfalse
dc.contributor.authorMcMahon, William
dc.contributor.orcidMcMahon, William [0000-0003-2174-1695]
dc.date.accessioned2018-05-29T14:37:15Z
dc.date.available2018-05-29T14:37:15Z
dc.date.submitted2018-02-07
dc.date.updated2018-05-29T11:05:51Z
dc.description.abstractPre-vegetation alluvium is unique; at the present day, plants affect multiple aspects of river functioning and deposition and so those rivers that operated before the evolution of land plants largely lack modern sedimentological analogue. However, such rivers were the norm for the first 90% of Earth history and so a better understanding of their sedimentary product enables insight into both the fundamental underlying mechanisms of river behaviour and the ways in which fluvial processes operated on ancient Earth and other rocky planets. This study presents five original fieldwork based case studies and an analysis of a holistic database of all of Earth’s pre-vegetation alluvium. Together these research strands offer perspectives on the sedimentological characteristics and stratigraphic trends of pre-vegetation alluvium and the behaviour and functioning of pre-vegetation rivers. Results show that, in pre-vegetation alluvial settings: 1) a variety of fluvial styles are represented, but diminished in comparison with syn-vegetation alluvium; 2) ‘sheet-braided’ architectures are common but may record a variety of fluvial planforms; 3) meandering planforms were less frequent, particularly in small- to moderate-sized river systems; 4) mudrock is on average 1.4 orders of magnitude less common than it is in syn-vegetation alluvium; and 5) microbial matgrounds were present, but had negligible effect on preserved architecture and facies. This thesis demonstrates that whilst the physical laws governing fluvial fluid-sediment interaction have not changed, the theatre in which they operated irrevocably evolved with the greening of the continents.
dc.description.sponsorshipThis work was supported by Shell International Exploration and Production B.V. under Research Framework agreement PT38181.
dc.identifier.doi10.17863/CAM.23566
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/276277
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisher.collegeHughes Hall
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Earth Sciences
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cambridge
dc.rightsAll rights reserved
dc.rightsAll Rights Reserveden
dc.rights.urihttps://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/en
dc.subjectPre-vegetation
dc.subjectalluvium
dc.subjectTorridonian
dc.subjectTorridon
dc.subjectSeries Rouge
dc.subjectMudrock
dc.subjectPrecambrian
dc.subjectApplecross
dc.subjectMeall Dearg
dc.subjectMicrobial
dc.subjectMars
dc.subjectSheet-braided
dc.titlePre-vegetation alluvium: Geological evidence for river behaviour in the absence of land plants
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
dc.type.qualificationtitleDoctor of Philosophy

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