https://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/ /manager/Index ${session.getAttribute("locale")} 5 https://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/ /manager/Repository/uon:31492 2 of 3-D seismic data and over 1000 well penetrations from the Cretaceous McMurray Formation in northeastern Alberta, Canada, provides a unique opportunity to characterize an ancient continentalscale river system. Paleochannels ranged from 475 to 1180 m wide and from 35 to 50 m deep, with meander-belt width-to-thickness ratios between 107:1 and 401:1. The data reveal evidence for intra-point-bar erosion and punctuated rotation, counter-point-bar development, and protracted channel cut-off and meander-loop abandonment. Observations enable interpretation of morphodynamic processes that are commonly observed in modern systems, yet rarely described from the rock record. A 3-D geocellular model and reconstructed paleochannel migration patterns reveal the evolutionary history of seventeen individual meander belt-elements, including point bars, counter-point bars, and their associated abandoned channel fills, which have been mapped using core, FMI logs, and seismic data. Results of the study show that intrapoint- bar erosion surfaces bound accretion packages characterized by unique accretion directions, internal stratigraphic architecture, and lithologic properties. We provide evidence for channel-belt-edge confinement and development of a counter-point bar, as well as the deposition of side bars and preservation of a mid-channel bar during meander-bend abandonment. Analysis of changes in meander-belt morphology over time reveal a decrease in channel-belt width/thickness ratio and sinuosity, which we compare with observations from the lower Mississippi River and attribute to the landward migration of the paleo-backwater limit due to transgression of the Cretaceous Boreal Sea into the Alberta foreland basin.]]> Wed 11 Apr 2018 16:16:30 AEST ]]> https://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/ /manager/Repository/uon:32550 Mon 23 Sep 2019 10:47:58 AEST ]]>