Autogenic and allogenic controls on turbidite lobe stacking pattern and architecture: The case of the Turonian to Coniacian deep‐water turbidite lobe complexes (Dønna Terrace, offshore Mid‐Norway)

Abstract

ABSTRACT The mechanisms controlling the stacking patterns of deep‐water turbidite lobes are currently open to a wide range of interpretations. A study of Turonian to Coniacian turbidite lobe complexes in the greater Marulk area (Dønna Terrace, Norwegian Sea) was undertaken to examine the balance and respective influences of various controlling factors using a large sediment core, well‐log and seismic dataset. A four‐tiered lobe hierarchy is described based on a detailed sedimentological study of three Cretaceous turbidite lobe systems, involving a variety of sedimentary processes and flow regimes. The inferred depositional stacking patterns were then used to identify autogenic and allogenic forcings on the large‐scale depositional architecture of turbidite lobes. Autogenic processes (best observed in core data) control the self‐regulation of sediment dispersal and the broad evolution of lobe sub‐environments. Conversely, allogenic forcings (best observed in well‐log data) regulate axial migration within the turbidite lobe succession, and control sediment pulses and ultimately the general evolutionary trend of the turbidite lobe complex. Beyond this, an updated approach is proposed here aiming at deciphering autogenic‐dominant and allogenic‐dominant processes at different hierarchical levels in both confined and unconfined turbidite lobe deposits, which may help with assigning appropriate inputs for geomodels for an improved understanding of the internal and external controls on lobe depositional architecture. It is advocated that this approach may eventually be used in other depositional systems, such as in deltaic complexes from coastal settings, both in actual and ancient sediments.