Architecture and controls of thick, intensely bioturbated, storm-influenced shallow-marine successions

Abstract

Thick (100 m), highly bioturbated storm-influenced shallow-marine deposits are not common in the stratigraphic record, but some examples have been described in aggradational to retrogradational successions. In these, individual event beds have typically low preservation potential, yet shoreface-offshore depositional settings are still largely characterized based on the inferred frequency or magnitude of storms. Here we present a sedimentological study of a thick, bioturbated exhumed succession deposited during the early post-rift phase of the Neuquen Basin (Argentina). We characterize it and compare its stratigraphic record with examples elsewhere, in order to discuss the potential factors controlling the total overprint of storm-event beds during several million years.