SANDSTONE RESERVOIRS

DAY 2 – Section 3(a) SINUOUS FLUVIAL

Petroskills OGCI, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Honorary Lecturer, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, U.K.

(MSc Petroleum Geology and MSc Hydrocarbon Enterprise)

Honorary Lecturer, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland, U.K.

(MSc Oil and Gas Engineering)

Director, Deep Marine, 9 North Square, Aberdeen, Scotland, U.K.

bryan@deep-marine.com
1
Third type: Anastomosing rivers – braided channels with long-lived braid bars
‘Fourth Type straight rivers – transitional, ‘reach specific’ channel type
• The three patterns were divided along an energy continuum, with braided rivers
occurring in the highest energy situations, straight channels in the lowest energy
situations and meandering channels in intermediate energy locations
Meandering
Channels
Walker Model for sinuous fluvial channels
Drumheller Point Bars (photo courtesy of Prof BPJ Williams)
Point Bar facies
Scroll bars form by the deposition of a ridge of sediment high up a point bar behind an obstacle
to flow, often vegetation or a fallen tree (Nanson, 1981). Sediment is deposited behind the obstacle
which protects the sediment from erosion. With time and the further lateral migration, this ridge becomes
progressively further from the active channel and less subject to possible erosion. It becomes established,
eventually passing on to the floodplain where it is part of ridge and swale topography.
Why?

The channel runs out of energy to erode its banks further – This may occur
because as the bend expands the channel path length between the inflow to the bend
and the outflow increases. This decreases the flow energy of the channel by
decreasing channel slope

A cutoff forms – A cutoff occurs when the channel adopts a new, shorter path. Usually
the old and new sections of channel coexist for a while before the older, longer and less
efficient channel is abandoned and the river reverts to a single channel.
 Causes of neck cut-off and chute cut-off

• Neck cutoffs occur when the channel becomes so sinuous that it

intersects itself, creating a short route bypassing the longer,
preexisting channel path.

• Chute cutoffs occur when the channel cuts a shorter path across a
wide point bar during a flood event. This cutoff mechanism generally
occurs in channels which are less sinuous than those dominated by
neck cutoffs, and which have wider, shallower channels with less
resistant banks (though you can still get chute cutoffs in highly
sinuous rivers)
Neck cutoff: outcrop photo, Wealdon I.O.W. (courtesy of Prof BPJ Williams)
Oxbow lake associated with a sinuous fluvial channel
(note also the chute cut-offs)
Chute Cut-offs, Alaska
 Avulsion may follow
the development of
a crevasse splay

The development from Time 1 to 2

can be viewed as the development
of the splay from Smith et al.
In Time 3 the expansion of the
new channel into the splay can
be seen to greatly influence splay
sediment preservation. Channel
belt deposits of the new channel
rework and replace splay sediments,
reducing the sedimentary record
of crevasse splay occurrence.
Point bars: connectivity?
Point bars –
Connectivity

Note how common

point bars and
oxbow lakes are
on the alluvial
plain
Overturned trough cross-bedding, Northumberland
Alaska Scroll Bars
Spectacular Scroll bar sections in the Middle Jurassic of NE England
Lateral Accretion in Jurassic Scalby Formation cliffs, NE England
Crevasse Splay Photo: note association of sandy splay with non-reservoir facies
Log jams preserved on point bars during high flood stages
Log Jams …

Unlike disarticulated plant remains (e.g. leaves

etc), allochtonous (transported) tree logs are
not compacted at rates we may associate
with peat etc (where compaction rates of 10x
are common). Tree logs in fluvial settings are
in effect petrified (lithified after death,
transportation and burial). They do not go
through rotting or further disarticulation and
therefore ressemble other macrofossil forms
such as fossilised bones, retaining their near
original dimensions
 Sinuous Channel References
• ALEXANDER, J. (1992) 'Nature and origin of a laterally extensive alluvial sandstone body in the Middle
Jurassic Scalby Formation', Journal of the Geological Society, London, 149, 431-441.
• ASSELMAN, N. E. M. and MIDDELKOOP, H. (1995) ‘Floodplain sedimentation: quantities, patterns and
processes’, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 20, 481-499.
• BAKER, V. R. (1978) 'Adjustment of fluvial systems to climate and source terrain in tropical and
subtropical environments', pp. 211-230 in Fluvial Sedimentology, ed. Miall, A. D., Canadian Society of
Petroleum Geologists, Calgary.
• BEGIN, Z. B. (1981a) The relationship between flow-shear stress and stream patterns, Journal of
Hydrology, 52, 307-319.
• BEGIN, Z. B. (1981b) ‘Stream curvature and bank erosion, a model based on the momentum equation’,
Journal of Geology, 89, 497-504.
• BRICE, J. C. (1984) 'Planform properties of meandering rivers', pp. 1-15 in River Meandering, ed. Elliott,
C. M., American Society of Civil Engineers, New Orleans.
• BRIERLEY, G. J., FERGUSON, R. J. and WOOLFE, K. J. (1997) 'What is a fluvial levee?', Sedimentary
Geology, 114, 1-9.
• BRIZGA, S.O. & FINLAYSON, B.L. (1990) 'Channel avulsion and river metamorphosis: the case of the
Thomson River, Victoria, Australia', Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 15, 391-404.
• CARLSTON, C. W. (1965) ‘The relation of free meander geometry to stream discharge and its geomorphic
implications’, American Journal of Science, 263, 864-885.
• CAZANACLI, D. and SMITH, N. D. (1998) ‘A study of the morphology and texture of natural levees -
Cumberland Marshes, Saskatchewan, Canada’, Geomorphology, 25, 43-55.
• DAVIS, T. R. and SUTHERLAND, A. J. (1980) ‘Resistance to flow past deformable boundaries’, Earth
Surface Processes, 5, 175-179.

References from reviews by the AUDRI Research Group, University of Aberdeen

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/audri
 Sinuous Channel References (2)
• FERGUSON, R. I. (1981) ‘Channel form and channel changes’, pp. 90-125 in British Rivers, ed. Lewin, J.,
Allen & Unwin, London.
• GUCCIONE, M. J. (1993) ‘Grain-size distribution of overbank sediments and its use to locate channel
position’, Special Publication of the International Association of Sedimentologists, 17, 185-194.
• HEY, R. D. (1976) ‘Geometry of river meanders’, Nature, 262, 482-484.
• HICKIN, E. J. (1977) ‘The analysis of river-planform responses to changes in discharge’, pp. 249-263 in
River Channel Changes, ed. Gregory, K. J., Wiley, Chichester.
• JONES, L. S. and HARPER, J. T. (1998) ' Channel avulsions and related processes, and large-scale
sedimentation patterns since 1875, Rio Grande, San Luis Valley, Colorado', Geological Society of America
Bulletin, 110, 411-421.
• KESEL, R. H., DUNNE, K. C., MCDONALD, R. C., ALLSION, K. R. and SPICER, B. E. (1974) ‘Lateral
erosion and overbank deposition on the Mississippi River in Louisiana caused by 1973 flooding’, Geology,
2, 461-464.
• LECLERC, R. F. and HICKIN, E. J. (1997) 'The internal structure of scrolled floodplain deposits based on
ground-penetrating radar, North Thompson River, British Columbia', Geomorphology, 21, 17-38.
• LEOPOLD, L. B. and WOLMAN, M. G. (1960) ‘River meanders’, Bulletin of the Geological Society of
America, 84, 1845-1860.
• MIALL, A. D. (1992) 'Alluvial deposits', in Facies models : response to sea level change, ed. WALKER, R.
G., JAMES, N. P., Geological Association of Canada, 119-141.
• MURRAY, A. B. and PAOLA, C. (1994) A cellular model of braided rivers, Nature, 371, 54-57.
• NANSON, G. C. (1981) 'New evidence of scroll-bar formation on the Beatton River', Sedimentology, 28,
889-891.
• PAGE, K. J. and NANSON, G. C. (1982) 'Concave-bank benches and associated floodplain formation',
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 7, 529-543.

References from reviews by the AUDRI Research Group, University of Aberdeen

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/audri
 Sinuous Channel References (3)

• PAGE, K. J., NANSON, G. C. and FRAZIER, P. S. (2003) 'Floodplain formation and sediment stratigraphy
resulting from oblique accretion on the Murrumbidgee River, Australia', Journal of Sedimentary Research,
73, 5-14.
• PARKER, G. (1976) 'On the cause and characteristic scale of meandering and braiding in rivers' Journal of
Fluid Mechanics, 76, 457-480.
• PIZZUTO, J. E. (1987) ‘Sediment diffusion during overbank flows’, Sedimentology, 34, 301-317.
• RHOADS, B. L. and WELFORD, M. R. (1991) ‘Initiation of river meandering’, Progress in Physical
Geography, 15, 127-156.
• RICHARDS, K.S. (1982) Rivers: form and process in alluvial channels, Methuen, London.
• SCHUMM, S. A. (1967) 'Meander wavelength of alluvial rivers', Science, 157, 1549-1550.
• SCHUMM, S. A. and KHAN, H. R. (1972) 'Experimental study of channel patterns', Geological Society of
America Bulletin, 83, 1755-1770.
• STØLUM, H-H and FRIEND, P. F. (1997) 'Percolation theory applied to simulated meander belt
sandbodies', Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 153, 265-277.
• SUN, T., MEAKIN, P. and JØSSANG, T. (1996) 'A simulation model for meandering rivers', Water
Resources Research, 32, 2937-2954.
• THOMAS, R. G., SMITH, D. G., WOOD, J. M., VISSER, J., CALVERLY-RANGE, E. A. and KOSTER,
E. H. (1987) 'Inclined heterolithic stratification - terminology, description, interpretation and significance',
Sedimentary Geology, 53, 123-179.
• THORNE, C.R. and HEY, R.D. (1979) 'Direct measurements of secondary currents at a river inflexion
point', Nature, 280(5719), 226-228.
• VANONI, V. A., BENEDICT, P. C., BONDURANT, D. C., MCKEE, J. E. and PIEST, H. F. (1972)
'Sediment control methods, B. Stream channels', Journal of the Hydraulics Division, American Society of
Civil Engineers, 98, 1295-1326.
• WILLIAMS, G. P. (1986) 'River meanders and channel size', Journal of Hydrology, 88, 147-164.
References from reviews by the AUDRI Research Group, University of Aberdeen
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/audri
 Crevasse Splay References
• BRISTOW, C. S., SKELLY, R. L. and ETHRIDGE, F. G. (1999) 'Crevasse splays from the rapidly
aggrading, sand-bed, braided Niobrara River, Nebraska: effect of base-level rise', Sedimentology,
46, 1029-1047.
• FARRELL, K. M. (2001) 'Geomorphology, facies architecture, and high-resolution, non-marine
sequence stratigraphy in avulsion deposits, Cumberland Marshes, Saskatchewan', Sedimentary
Geology, 139, 93-150.
• JOHNSON, E. A. and PIERCE, F. W. (1990) 'Variations in fluvial deposition on an alluvial plain:
an example from the Tongue River Member of the Fort Union Formation (Paleocene),
southeastern Powder River Basin, Wyoming, USA', Sedimentary Geology, 69, 21-36.
• LANG, S. C. (1993) 'Evolution of Devonian alluvial systems in an oblique-slip mobile zone - an
example from the Broken River Province, northeastern Australia', Sedimentary Geology, 85, 501-
535.
• MOROZOVA, G.S. & SMITH, N.D. (2000) 'Holocene avulsion styles and sedimentation patterns of
the Saskatchewan River, Cumberland Marshes, Canada', Sedimentary Geology, 130, 81-105.
• PÉREZ-ARLUCEA, M. & SMITH, N.D. (1999). Depositional patterns following the 1870s avulsion
of the Saskatchewan River (Cumberland Marshes, Saskatchewan, Canada)', Journal of
Sedimentary Research, 69, 62-73.
• SLINGERLAND, R. and SMITH, N. D. (1998) ‘Necessary conditions for a meandering river
avulsion’, Geology, 36, 435-438.
• SMITH, N. D., CROSS, T. A., DUFFICY, J. P. and CLOUGH, S. R. (1989) ‘Anatomy of an
avulsion’, Sedimentology, 36, 1-23.
• SMITH, N.D., SLINGERLAND, R.L., PEREZ-ARLUCEA, M. & MOROZOVA, G.S. (1998) ' The
1870s avulsion of the Saskatchewan River', Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 35, 453-466.
• VAN GELDER, A., VAN DEN BERG, J. H., CHENG, G. and XUE, C. (1994) ‘Overbank and
channel fill deposits of the modern Yellow River delta’, Sedimentary Geology, 90, 293-305.

References from reviews by the AUDRI Research Group, University of Aberdeen

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/audri