Reevaluating the process regime in the Sego Sandstone: Sedimentological and ichnological evidence for an underemphasised fluvial signature

Abstract

Rocks of coastal to shallow-marine origin are challenging to interpret owing to the complex interplay of various depositional processes. This study reevaluates the relative roles of fluvial, tidal and wave processes in the Upper Cretaceous Sego Sandstone (and subordinately in the underlying Buck Tongue) of the Book Cliffs, USA, a well-studied ancient coastal to shallow-marine succession. Detailed sedimentological and ichnological analyses were used to interpret a previously underemphasised riverine signature, consisting of centimetre- to decimetre-thick alternations of sandstone and heterolithic beds inferred to represent flood–interflood periods of variable river discharge. Recognition of a widespread fluvial-dominated signature across the studied units better agrees with other sedimentological and regional observations in the study area, such as high sandstone–mudstone ratios, largely unidirectional and seaward-oriented palaeocurrents, and modelled weak tidal conditions in the basin. When considering all of the sedimentological, ichnological and stratigraphic observations together with its regional depositional context, the Sego Sandstone/Buck Tongue system is better explained using a mixed-energy but fluvial-dominated deltaic model. This highlights an historical over-interpretation of tidal processes and subordinate wave processes in the Sego Sandstone and likely in similar units. The widely used approach that emphasises only certain sedimentary features in discerning the process regime from analysis of rocks of inferred coastal to shallow-marine origin is unrefined and may therefore underrepresent the actual complexity of these systems.