Shelf margins represent a crucial area along source-to-sink systems where sediments are partitioned from the shelf to slope and basin-floor areas. Reconstructing the evolution of these depositional systems is key for interpreting the interplay between past accommodation and sediment supply, and sediment dispersal mechanisms into deep water. In the Bight Basin, on the southern margin of Australia, the Hammerhead shelf margin prograded during the Late Cretaceous following break-up between Australia and Antarctica. This understudied interval offers important insights into source-to-sink processes in a post-rift, greenhouse, high sediment supply setting. A dynamic stratigraphic approach using high-resolution 3D seismic data across the Hammerhead shelf margin has been used to quantitatively characterise 28 clinothems developed over ∼ 1.9 Myrs each with an average duration of ∼ 67,000 years. By applying a shallow-marine process-based classification to shorelines, alongside quantitative analysis of the architecture of their coeval deep-water deposits downdip, statistical relationships and clear links between shallow-marine processes, stratigraphic architecture, and deep-water sand delivery are revealed. A statistically significant relationship between fluvial dominated shorelines, high slope gradients, and mass-transport deposit development is demonstrated, as is a requirement for fluvial influence at the shoreline for the initiation of long run-out turbidite systems. These long run-out turbidite systems are interpreted to have been formed by repeated density flows which lead to greater sediment transfer efficiency and increased sediment supply. This research has direct application to improve prediction of reservoir locations within the Bight Basin for resource exploration and/or carbon sequestration and may also be applied to improve deep-water sediment predictability in other basins worldwide developed in similar tectonic and climatic settings.

中文翻译：

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研究海岸线过程机制、陆架边缘结构和深水输沙之间的关系：来自早期裂谷后锤头鲨陆架边缘（澳大利亚南部 Bight 盆地）的见解


陆架边缘代表了源-汇系统中的一个关键区域，其中沉积物从陆架划分为斜坡和盆底区域。重建这些沉积系统的演化是解释过去的住宿和沉积物供应之间相互作用以及沉积物扩散到深水中的机制的关键。在澳大利亚南缘的海湾盆地，晚白垩世澳大利亚和南极洲分裂后，锤头鲨陆架边缘发生了前移。这个未被充分研究的区间为裂谷后、温室、高沉积物供应环境中的源-汇过程提供了重要的见解。使用跨越 Hammerhead 陆架边缘的高分辨率 3D 地震数据的动态地层学方法已被用来定量描述 28 个历时约 1.9 Myrs 形成的斜层，每个斜层的平均持续时间为约 67,000 年。通过对海岸线应用基于浅海过程的分类，同时对其同时期深水沉积物下倾的结构进行定量分析，揭示了浅海过程、地层结构和深水输沙之间的统计关系和明确联系。证明了河流主导的海岸线、高坡度和物质运输沉积物发育之间存在统计学上显着的关系，这也是河流影响海岸线以启动长流出浊积岩系统的必要条件。这些长期流出的浊积岩系统被解释为是由重复的密度流形成的，这导致了更大的沉积物转移效率和增加的沉积物供应。 这项研究可直接应用于改善海湾盆地内储层位置的预测，以进行资源勘探和/或碳封存，也可用于改善全球在类似构造和气候环境下开发的其他盆地的深水沉积物可预测性。