Sedimentology (2005) 52, 253269

doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3091.2004.00695.x

Estimating palaeobathymetry of wave-graded continental shelves from sediment texture

G. B. DUNBAR* and P. J. BARRETT Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand (E-mail: peter.barrett@vuw.ac.nz)
ABSTRACT

The concept of the wave-graded continental shelf, with sea oor sediment coarsening from offshore mud to shoreface sand, has been well known from the time of Johnson (1919). Although most of the modern shelf shows textures unrelated to water depth on account of relict features or sediment starvation, the geological record is more likely to preserve sites where sediment is being fed to a subsiding inner-shelf. These consistently show the landward-coarsening pattern of the wave-graded shelf, recording past water depth history in accumulated sea oor sediment. The landward-coarsening pattern is driven primarily by wave-induced bed shear stress, which increases shoreward exponentially, although it also varies from place to place with wave climate, and can be inuenced by sediment concentration and currents. In this study, the relationship between bed shear stress, sediment texture and water depth has been investigated by comparing per cent mud and wave climate data from shorenormal transects of three modern wave-graded coastal settings: Wellington Harbour (low energy) and the Manawatu coast (moderate energy) in New Zealand, and Monterey Bay in California (moderatehigh energy). Samples from all three locations show a progressive change from poorly sorted mud offshore to well-sorted ne sand nearshore, with the sandmud transition ranging from 3 m (low energy) to 50 m (moderatehigh energy), reecting differences in average bed shear. Repeat measurements of per cent mud on seasonal, annual and decadal time scales along a Manawatu coastal transect showed no measurable change, demonstrating equilibrium between sediment supply, wave energy, water depth and sediment texture. A simple model based on the relationship between wave climate, shear stress and per cent mud, and using data and conditions from the modern Manawatu coast, is applied to two mid-Pliocene cyclothems exposed 50 km inland, giving results comparable with estimates from foraminifera and the deep-sea isotope record. Per cent mud offers more detail for palaeobathymetric trends in shallow water shelf strata than other proxy depth recorders, although it is limited to depths above wave base and requires an independent estimate of wave climate if depths are to be quantied. Keywords Continental shelves, palaeobathymetry, sediment texture, wave grading. INTRODUCTION Estimating depositional water depth for sedimentary sequences in continental shelf settings is
*Present address: G. B. Dunbar, Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
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important in several elds of earth science, notably in palaeoclimatology as a recorder of ice volume changes, in seismic sequence analysis of continental shelf sediments, where cyclic changes in sea-level are considered to have been the main inuence on depositional style, and in determining the subsidence history of shelf 253

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G. B. Dunbar and P. J. Barrett following words Overall, weather-dominated shelves tend to show a general offshore decrease in grain size and Holocene sediment thickness in response to attenuating wave power.. Although much of the present continental shelf contains relict or palimpsest sediments, those parts of the inner-shelf where sediment is accumulating today should be recording this seaward-ning prole, reecting the balance between grain size, water depth and wave energy. Furthermore, it is self-evident that areas of sediment accumulation on the shelf will be preferentially preserved (compared with erosional or non-depositional intervals) in the stratigraphic record. This leads to the likelihood that sedimentation patterns in sedimentary strata deposited on the continental shelf during periods of earth history characterized by cyclic changes in sea-level will reect changes in water depth. The idea of seaward-ning sediment texture is widely used in the stratigraphic literature as the basis for interpreting vertical facies changes in sedimentary sequences. The hydraulic basis for this has been well established in sedimentological and coastal engineering literature dating from the 1940s, and a brief outline of this follows. Development of a seaward-ning textural prole on a prograding coast requires a decrease in bed shear stress proportional to water depth. This condition is generally fullled on wave-dominated coasts where the skin friction shear stress (i.e. that component of the total shear stress responsible for entraining sediment) for any given wave can be expressed as:
2 sw 05qfw Um

basins. Past estimates of water depth or palaeobathymetry of shelf sediments have been based largely on depth-sensitive fossil assemblages preserved in the enclosing sediment, especially foraminifers and molluscs. However these have limited value where diagnostic species abundance is low, stratigraphic intervals are nonfossiliferous, or there is a lack of reliable modern ecological analogues. Stratigraphers have long recognized that variations in particle size can be a useful guide to palaeowater depth in facies analysis of wavedominated shelf sediments (e.g. Clifton, 1986, 1988; Kitamura et al., 1994; Naish & Kamp, 1997a; McIntyre & Kamp, 1998), although to date there have been few attempts to place this on a quantitative footing. There are, however, two outstanding advantages to using sediment texture as a proxy for water depth: (i) it is readily measurable in all clastic sedimentary sequences; (ii) the physical principles on which the size water depth relationship is founded are invariant over time. This approach to palaeobathymetric analysis requires two assumptions: (i) the depositional setting is known to be that of a wave-graded shelf; and (ii) the strength of the wave climate can be estimated. In this paper the relationship between particle size distribution (texture), wave climate and water depth is examined by comparing per cent mud and wave climate data from shore-normal transects of three examples of modern wavegraded coastal settings; Manawatu coast, New Zealand (moderate wave energy), Wellington Harbour, New Zealand (low wave energy); and Monterey Bay, California (moderatehigh wave energy). It is suggested that the observed relationships provide a basis for palaeobathymetric trends to be estimated for sedimentary strata deposited in a nearshore environment, and that numerical values for water depth can be obtained if wave climate (height and period) can be estimated. This approach to palaeobathymetry is then applied to two Pliocene shallow marine cyclothems from the Wanganui Basin, New Zealand, inland from the present-day Manawatu coast, assuming that the present-day wave climate prevailed.

where q is uid density, fw a skin friction factor and Um is the maximum near-bed velocity. Um can be calculated from linear wave theory: Um pHsig Tp sinh2ph=L 2

BACKGROUND Leeder (1999, p. 461) succinctly summarizes the conceptual basis for this paper with the

where h, Hsig, Tp and L are water depth, signicant wave height (average of the highest one-third of all waves), peak (spectral) wave period and wavelength respectively (Pickrill & Currie, 1983). This theory does not accurately predict velocities under breaking or drawing waves, but adequately describes deeper water wave velocities that are of interest here. The friction factor, fw, can be calculated using the following equation (Li & Amos, 2001):

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Palaeobathymetry of wave-graded continental shelves fw exp 5213kb =Ab 0194 5977 ; Ab =kb > 17 3 where kb is bed roughness factor (initially equal to 25 mean grain diameter, and solved iteratively using bedform geometry predicted using the routine of Li & Amos, 2001), and Ab is the orbital excursion amplitude of water particles near the bed as a wave passes overhead. Ab is given by the expression: Ab Um =2p=T 4

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Combining these parameters allows computation of bed shear stress at a given depth on the sea bed. This relationship is presumed to hold for timeaveraged bed shear stress, and is reected in the proportion of mud that persists in sea-oor sediment at a given depth. The relationship can be viewed in terms of a simple hydrodynamic model. Because sediment is typically considered to remain in suspension when the critical shear velocity (shear velocity, U*, in m sec)1, is related to shear stress by s U2 q, where q is uid density in kg m)3) for entrainment of a particle (U*) exceeds its settling velocity (W), each combination of wave climate and water depth will

have a threshold grain size below which all sediment remains in suspension. According to theory this threshold should be around 130 lm (Fig. 1A), with ner sediment having lower settling velocities so that once in suspension these grains will increasingly tend to remain there (e.g. Inman, 1949). Coarser grains, with their higher settling velocities, will be preferentially transported as bed load (although at very high shear velocities such material may also be carried in suspension). This different response of differently sized particles to shear stress leads to an effective separation of material carried as bed load or near the bed in intermittent suspension, and suspended load, as long as sediment move-

Fig. 1. Diagrams showing the boundary between suspended load and bed load in theory and practice. (A) Relationship between grain size and critical shear velocity (stress) for movement of spherical quartz density particles in water at 20 C, showing the theoretical coarse limit for particle suspension (see text for discussion). The diagram shows that material ner than 130 lm (294/) should be preferentially transported in suspension, whilst coarser material should be transported as bed load. Movement threshold is based on the Yalin parameter of Miller et al. (1977, their g. 4), a Shields type function derived under unidirectional ow, but also applicable to oscillatory ow (Madsen & Grant, 1975). Settling velocities for glass spheres in seawater from Gibbs et al. (1971, their table 6). (B) Log-probability cumulative size frequency curves for selected water depths from a shore-normal transect off the Manawatu coast (Fig. 2, line of Transect 1, data from Perrett, 1990, appendix 1B). The break or change in slope (see text) shows that the size boundary between two subpopulations lies mostly between 72 and 58 lm (38 and 41/) rather than > 130 lm as might be expected from Fig. 1A. The coarser population is thought to represent sediment transported along the bed or in intermittent suspension and the ner population is derived from material slowly settling from suspension. The boundary between the two populations is approximated in this paper by the sandmud boundary (625 lm or 4/).
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G. B. Dunbar and P. J. Barrett Along-shelf currents are known to move at velocities up to 04 m sec)1, but the extent of their inuence is plainly subordinate to wave-induced shear stress (Perrett, 1990). Diving observations show the sea oor to be covered, during fairweather periods at least, by elds of shore-parallel ripple marks to depths of around 35 m, indicating the predominant inuence of wave-induced shear stress over long-shore currents at these depths. Figure 3 shows a schematic shore-normal prole near the southern limit of the southern Manawatu near-shore sediment prism (Perrett, 1990), described in terms of the model of Elliott (1986). Coastal sediment charts and approximately 200 line-km of 35 kHz seismic data (NIWA Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand) show that sediment supplied to the coast by the six major rivers forms a prograding prism that downlaps onto a post-last glacial maximum (LGM) subbottom reector. This post-LGM sediment prism thins to the west, and pinches out between 7 and 12 km from the coast. Examination of seismic lines 8 and 9, seaward of the Whanganui and Whangaehu Rivers (Fig. 2), shows no recognizable accumulation of Holocene sediment in that region. Instead, the sea oor truncates steeply dipping sub-bottom reectors in places and is characterized by ridge-like features with only a thin, discontinuous sediment cover. Coastal sediment charts for areas north of the Rangitikei River and south of Kapiti Island also show the shelf is starved of modern sediment (with the exception of a small delta at the Whanganui river mouth), resulting in widespread relic and palimpsest facies (Carter, 1975; Lewis, 1979; Lewis & Mitchell, 1980; Gillespie & Nelson, 1996).

ment is dominated by non-cohesive behaviour. This is known to be the case for sandmud mixtures recently deposited on the sea oor, which are initially non-cohesive because bioturbation and wave disturbance act so as to prevent dewatering and consolidation (Drake & Cacchione, 1986). The log-probability plots of size data from Transect 1 off the Manawatu coast show two curve segments interpreted as grain subpopulations, the coarser population representing material transported primarily along, or close to, the bed in intermittent suspension, and the ner representing material deposited from suspension throughout the water column. Although the break between these lies mostly between 38 and 41/ (Fig. 1B), 4/ (625 lm), the sandmud boundary has been chosen as a practical limit for separating the two subpopulations, and per cent mud as the parameter for estimating the proportion of suspended load accumulating in coastal waters.

STUDY AREAS Three coastal settings, two in New Zealand and one in California, are described below, along with the Wanganui Basin inland from the Manawatu coast. The Wanganui Basin strata were sampled for late Pliocene inner-shelf sediments to show how the results of this study can be applied to ancient sequences.

The Manawatu coast

The Manawatu coast (Fig. 2) lies on the western side of the North Island of New Zealand, and is exposed to westerly winds and swells from across the Tasman Sea (Kibblewhite, 1982; Harris, 1990). The inuence of the long period (> 7 sec) swell decreases to the south as the coast becomes progressively more sheltered by Farewell Spit (Fig. 2A). Wave-rider buoys (Fig. 2) have provided data that show a decrease in average signicant wave height from 24 m at the Maui Oil Production Platform (Kibblewhite, 1982) to 13 m at Wanganui (Macky et al., 1988). Further south, visual observations of the wave climate at Peka Peka (summarized in Perrett, 1990) suggest a further decrease in signicant wave height to  05 m, the value accepted here for this transect location, the most southerly of ve sampled. Mean wave period is 7 sec (Perrett, 1990).

Wellington Harbour
Wellington Harbour, a roughly circular basin with a single entrance leading south to Cook Strait (Fig. 4), provides a low-energy environment for study. Sediment is supplied by the Hutt River, which enters the harbour from the north at the eastern end of Petone Beach. Swell waves enter the harbour from Cook Strait, whilst local wind waves are generated within the harbour during southerlies accounting for approximately 30% of the total wind record. There is little quantitative wave data for Wellington Harbour. Croad (1986) recorded 83 days worth of data from Seaview in the winter of 1985 and found that the average signicant wave height during the period studied was  02 m with zero crossing times from 25 to 4 sec.

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Fig. 2. Map of the Manawatu coast, New Zealand, with inset showing its location with respect to the North Island of New Zealand. The seaward extent of prograding Holocene sediment along the Manawatu coast is denoted by a dashed line and its clinoform geometry illustrated by four representative seismically dened cross-sections (left side of gure) (based on seismic data provided by NIWA Ltd). Beyond this zone and northward along the Wanganui coast, sea-oor sediment is relict or palimpsest in nature. The map also shows grab sample and wave-rider locations, and the principal rivers supplying sediment to the coast. Their annual suspended sediment load is shown in brackets (from Grifths & Glasby, 1985).

Monterey Bay
Monterey Bay is a coastal embayment that is exposed to the west along the central California coast (Fig. 5). Chin (1984) and Chin et al. (1988) undertook a comprehensive sedimentological

study with uniboom seismic proles showing prograding clinoforms within a lobate bulge of Holocene sediments extending from the Salinas River mouth into the Bay. These sediments overlie a regional unconformity thought to represent the Pleistocene surface. Sea-oor samples

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Fig. 3. A schematic diagram of the development of a wave-graded shelf and the normal textural pattern of sea-oor sediment off the Manawatu coast for transect 1 (see Fig. 2 for location). Adapted from Elliott (1986) with eld and wave climate observations from Perrett (1990).

show per cent mud contours lie parallel to the shoreline, except for the extreme south of the study area, in the lee of Monterey Peninsula, where they shoal markedly. The 50% mud contour typically occurs at water depths between 40 and 50 m. Waves have been recorded at Marina (Fig. 5) by the US Army Corps of Engineers and 55 years of these data are repor-

ted by Xu (1999). Average signicant wave height is 12 m, and mean peak wave period is 11 sec.

Fig. 4. Map of Wellington Harbour, showing the location of Petone Beach and the grain size transects. Bathymetric contours are in 10 m increments.

Fig. 5. Map of Monterey Bay, California, a high-energy wave-dominated coast, showing the location of the three shore-normal transects of Chin (1984), and their exposure to the swell from the Pacic Ocean. The lled triangle indicates the location of the wave recorder (Xu, 1999). Bathymetric contours are in 10 m increments. Contours for depths > 100 m are not shown.

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Palaeobathymetry of wave-graded continental shelves METHODS The Manawatu coast was sampled along ve normal transects (Fig. 2) on the 24th and 26th of July 2001 aboard the Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) research vessel Raukawa Challenger (see Supplementary material, Table S1). A total of 53 samples were collected at 5 m water depth intervals between 5 and 50 m water depth, as determined by the vessels echo sounder. The top 34 cm of material in the grab was scooped off using a plastic mug and placed in a 500 ml plastic screw top jar. As the samples were collected soon after (12 days) a signicant rainfall event in Manawatu, some stratication was observed in samples recovered between 20 and 40 m below sea-level (bsl). A thin (23 mm) layer of mud was draped over thicker (5 mm) sandy layer in this region. In spite of the short amount of time following the rain event, benthic organisms (in particular tubeworms) were already beginning to bioturbate this material. In order to provide an estimate of the long-term average size distribution this process is completed by vigorously homogenizing the whole sample prior to analysis. The beach samples were collected separately where Transects 14 intersected the coast from 40 m seaward of the high tide mark (i.e. from the lower shore face) on 10 August 2002. The Petone Beach transect was sampled by divers in August and November of 1994 (Dunbar et al., 1997). A total of 51 samples was collected and mixed, subsampled and processed in the same way as the Manawatu samples. The Monterey Bay samples were collected from three shore-normal transects with a SmithMcIntyre grab and analyses presented by Chin (1984). The Wanganui Basin samples were collected from outcrops on the banks of the Rangatikei River using a hammer and plastic bag, from sections measured with a Jacobs staff through cycle R6 (Naish & Kamp, 1997a). Samples from R3 were provided by T. Naish. All VUW grain-size analyses were carried out using sieves and a SediGraph (Micromeritics Instrument Corp., Norcross, GA, USA). Consolidated (i.e. outcrop) samples were gently disaggregated by crushing between wooden blocks into aggregates ne enough (typically < 2 mm) to be further broken down by ultrasound. Between 18 and 30 g (dry weight) of sample was then treated with 27% H2O2 to remove organic matter. Abnormally large carbonate fragments were also removed prior to analysis. The sample was then wet-sieved at 63 lm into coarse and ne fractions,

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and both fractions dried and weighed. The coarse fraction was then dry-sieved at 1/2/ intervals and a 12 g sub-sample of the ne fraction analysed by SediGraph 5100. As wet sieving invariably retains some coarse silt, dry sieving was extended to catch 45 and 50/ fractions. The weights retained were then merged with the SediGraph results.

RESULTS Analytical results for 108 modern beach and sea-oor samples from the Manawatu coast and Petone foreshore are included in Sedimentologys electronic archive (see Supplementary material, Table S2). Data are reported as frequency per cent in 05/ intervals for the range )1 to 10/ (2000 1 lm) and the per cent ner than 10/. Folk graphic statistics are used in describing the sediments in the following sections.

Manawatu Coast
Transects 14, off the Manawatu Coast, all show similar textural trends with increasing water depth (Fig. 6A). The beach face itself is characterized by very well-sorted ne sand [mean 2527/, standard deviation (s.d.) 027039/] and < 03% mud, whereas between 5 and 20 m bsl sediment is well-sorted, unimodal, nevery ne sand (mean 3034/, s.d. mostly 0307/ and mud content mostly from 3 to 10%). Modal size shows little variation alongshore but a consistent decline offshore from the beach face. However, between 25 and 40 m bsl a rapid change in texture occurs. Although modal size remains relatively constant (2535/) mean size decreases from 33 to 55/, sorting becomes poorer (by between 1 and 2/) and per cent mud increases signicantly to between 50 and 70%, resulting in positively skewed frequency distributions. For depths below 40 m the sediment is a sandy mud with an indistinct mode between 30 and 35/, a mean size of between 52 and 76/, very poor sorting (2445/) and a mud content between 60 and 85%. Although the overall pattern of increasing mud with increasing water depth is the same for each transect, the amount of mud is slightly lower for equivalent water depths in the more exposed northerly transects 3 and 4. The northernmost transect (5), however, shows textural changes for depths > 20 m that are very different from the lines to the south (Fig. 6A). Here, the sea oor comprises moderately poorly

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Fig. 6. Per cent mud for shore-normal transects off three wave-dominated coasts of differing energy levels. (A) Five transects off the Manawatu coast, New Zealand (Fig. 2). Transects 14 were taken across an accreting near-shore sedimentary wedge and show increasing per cent mud with water depth. In contrast, transect 5 was taken from the edge of a region of net erosion with relic and palimpsest residual sediment, and the sediment remains coarse along the transect length. One sample (circled) does not t the trend. (B) Transects off three coastlines with low-, moderateand high-energy wave climates: (i) Wellington Harbour (Petone Beach). The original transect by Petone Wharf (Fig. 4) sampled in August 1993, was replicated in November 1994; (ii) Manawatu coast. The original transect off Peka Peka and sampled in June, 1988, was replicated in March 1989, July 1989 (Perrett, 19990) and July 2001 (this paper); (iii) Monterey Bay. Data from three adjacent transects reported by Chin (1984), and located in Fig. 5. The proles show that the same textural pattern persists on time scales greater than 12 months (Wellington Harbour and Manawatu coast) and spatial scales of tens of kilometres alongshore (Manawatu coast and Monterey Bay). Two samples (circled) do not t the trend.

sorted sand with abundant shell fragments, notably disarticulated valves of the scallop Pecten novozealandiae, which occur between 20 and 34 m bsl. Examination under binocular microscope also shows that these samples contain signicant amounts of black, titanomagnetite sand. This sand records the southern extension of shore-parallel black sand ribbons derived from the erosion of Mt Taranaki andesite, interpreted as relict features formed during transgression ca 912 ka, although the surface sediment may still move a little during storms (Lewis, 1979). Sizefrequency distributions of sea-oor sediments along Transect 1 have previously been determined by Perrett (1990), who collected samples in the winter of 1988 and the late summer and winter of 1989, and found no measurable seasonal change in texture. Compared with the data presented in this study differences are small, everywhere along this transect being < 12%, and typically < 5% (Fig. 6A).

Wellington Harbour
Three sample collections (one in August and two in November, 1994) taken along the same transect off Petone Beach, Wellington Harbour, show grain-size trends similar to those observed off the Manawatu Coast, except that the shift from sand to mud takes place at much shallower water depths around 4 m bsl. In this low-energy wave climate, the change from wellsorted ne sand in the lower beach face (mean 225/; s.d. 0204/) to a poorly sorted mud (mean 68/; s.d. 2535/) occurs over a water depth of < 6 m. Data from these three sample sets show that this pattern has also remained stable on a seasonal timescale (Fig. 6B).

Monterey Bay
For Monterey Bay, the higher-energy coast, samples from three transects were analysed by settling tube for the sand fraction and

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Palaeobathymetry of wave-graded continental shelves spectrophotometer for the mud fraction (Chin, 1984). However the mud per cent values were determined directly by sieving, and hence are directly comparable with those analysed at VUW from the Manawatu coast. The same seawardning trend is evident, with a gradation from well-sorted ne sand nearshore to moderately sorted very ne sandy mud at between 50 and 50 m bsl and with mud exceeding 80% beyond 7080 m bsl (Fig. 6B).

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A simple sedimentation model for offshore ning of sediment texture

Results presented here and those of Perrett (1990) show that the textural prole off Peka Peka is stable between seasons, and on decadal time scales (Fig. 6A). The persistence of these trends over time demonstrates a long-term equilibrium between sediment supply, bioturbation, wave energy and water depth. Furthermore, observations of the sea oor off the Manawatu coast, as well as the grain-size results, allow it to be divided into three broad zones: 1 a shallow-water high-energy zone where bed shear consistently exceeds the threshold of erosion for mud; 2 an intermediate moderate-energy zone where the mud erosion threshold is periodically exceeded; and 3 a deep-water low-energy zone, below the mud erosion threshold, and dominated by mud deposition. Grain-size analyses of shallow-water sediments on each transect are well-sorted ne sand typical of transportation along the bed and in intermittent suspension, whereas those in deep water are mud typical of deposition from suspension, with

Comparison between the three modern coastal settings

Figure 7 provides a visual comparison of three sets of histograms representing transects from moderatehigh-, moderate- and low-energy coasts. The pattern of change in each set of histograms, from well-sorted beach sand to slightly sandy very poorly sorted offshore mud, along with an offshore decline in modal sand size, is similar, and can be illustrated for all three proles with the same lithological log (Fig. 7D). Figure 8 compares the bed shear stress based on average wave parameters for each of the three coastal settings, showing how larger waves keep mud in suspension to greater water depths in a predictable fashion.

Fig. 7. Histograms of transects from Monterey Bay (Trackline 13, A), Manawatu coast (Transect 1, B) and Wellington Harbour (Transect 7a, C), showing the similarity in textural pattern, leading to the same conceptual lithologic log, despite their differences in the depth of the sandmud transition. Depositional water depths in bold type. Note that the size frequency data from Monterey Bay were determined using a settling tube for sand and spectrophotometer for mud (Chin, 1984), the latter underestimating clay percentage.
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G. B. Dunbar and P. J. Barrett erosion of mud-sized material is exceeded and the rate of biological mixing. This process provides an explanation for the continuous variation in the per cent mud (itself an approximation of accumulation from suspended load), from the beach face to offshore deep water, and a direct relationship between the per cent mud and water depth for a particular wave climate. This relationship is quantied in the next section.

Quantifying the relationship between wave climate and sediment texture

The textural data for transects 14 off the Manawatu coast are translated to a per cent mud versus depth curve by tting a fourth-order polynomial curve through a cross-plot (Fig. 10). As noted earlier, inspection of the data reveals slightly lower per cent mud at similar water depths for Transects 3 and 4 (see Supplementary material, Table S2), perhaps reecting the slightly higher wave energy expected for this section of the coast, but in the absence of a means of verifying differences in wave energy the data from all four transects have been used. The following empirical equation relates water depth to per cent mud: D 000000303 m4 000073 m3 00576 m2 2173 m 08265 5

Fig. 8. Calculated values of bed shear stress derived from average wave statistics of signicant wave height (Hsig) and peak period (Tp) under a range of wave climates (Petone data from Croad, 1986; Peka Peka data from Perrett, 1990; Monterey Bay data from Xu, 1999 and Chin, 1984) according to the method of Li & Amos (2001). Values are calculated for discrete points and joined by linear interpolation. The re-suspension threshold of sediment ner than 4/ (63 lm), the approximate boundary between grain-size subpopulations, occurs at a bed shear stress of 008 N m)2.

mixtures of these two size populations at intermediate depths (Fig. 9). Both mud and sand are delivered to the coast by rivers, primarily at ood stage where the mud moves offshore in two ways: (i) it remains in suspension in the fresh (and thus low density) river ood water that oats out over the denser sea water; and (ii) it is maintained in suspension near the shore by wave action. In contrast, sand settles out quickly nearshore, and is dispersed alongshore in the littoral zone, where wave-induced bed shear is sufciently high to sort and transport it. The resulting gradational shore-normal textural prole from well-sorted sand to poorly sorted mud develops from mixing (by bioturbation) of these two populations. The sizefrequency curves for individual samples are therefore a reection of the relative abundance of each population (e.g. Jago & Barusseau, 1981; Sheridan et al., 1987), which depends on the frequency at which the critical shear stress for the

The 95% prediction band gives an uncertainty of 10 m for this data set, consistent over the sampled depth range (Fig. 10). However for depths beyond 60 m (80% mud), where shear stresses are consistently low (and mud consistently high), all that can be estimated is the minimum water depth. Uncertainties related to variations in wave climate and sediment supply over time may potentially be estimated by computer modelling but this is not attempted here.

APPLICATION TO AN ANCIENT EXAMPLE: PLIOCENE CYCLES OF THE WANGANUI BASIN The Wanganui Basin (Fig. 2) contains a 4 km thick sequence of Plio-Pleistocene shallow marine strata that is exposed to the north and east of the Manawatu coast. They were deposited in a setting and a climatic regime not too different from todays inner-shelf sediments, and provide a test for the concept and the model developed in previous sections. The strata also record numerous eustatic sea-level changes in the form of

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Fig. 9. Model to explain the relative abundance of sediment modes attributed to transport as (1) bed load/intermittently suspended load and (2) suspended load for shallow-, mid-depth- and deep-water samples. Grain-size data from Manawatu coast transect 1. Modal distributions and statistics were determined using the SFT software from http://www.ees1.lanl.gov/Wohletz/SFT.htm (procedure explained in Sheridan et al., 1987; Wohletz et al., 1989).

lithologically and faunally dened shallow marine sedimentary cycles of 41 and 100 kyr duration (Abbott & Carter, 1994; Abbott, 1997; Naish & Kamp, 1997a,b; Saul et al., 1999). The Rangitikei

River section within the Wanganui Basin contains 1100 m of Late Pliocene to Pleistocene (2617 Ma) strata divided into 20 sedimentary cyclothems. These cycles correlate with marine isotope stages 5899 (Naish & Kamp, 1997a), where uctuations in d18O indicate sea-level changes within each cycle of approximately 70 m. Published semi-quantitative estimates of palaeobathymetry for these strata are based on a statistical comparison between the depth associations of extant foraminifera and their distribution across the modern New Zealand continental shelf (Naish, 1997; Naish & Kamp, 1997a,b). This treatment has yielded 13 water depth-related foraminiferal associations dening palaeo-shoreface, innermost shelf, inner-shelf, mid-shelf and outer-shelf environments.

Methods and results

The 49 outcrop samples collected from two sediment cycles within the Rangitikei Basin show similar patterns in stratigraphic section (Fig. 11) to those identiable in the modern Wanganui Bight (Fig. 7D). The base of each section is a thin limestone bed that rests on the transgressive surface of erosion, having been winnowed during the deposition of the transgressive systems tract

Fig. 10. Interpolated fourth-order polynomial curve relating per cent mud to water depth for samples from transects 1 to 4 off the Manawatu coast. The 95% prediction band (i.e. 95% of any additional data would be expected to lie within this band) is also shown.

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Fig. 11. Lithologic logs and histograms of Pliocene cycles from the Wanganui Basin, showing the similarity in pattern to modern shore-normal transects.

(TST) as sea-level rose from its lowstand position. Above this and forming the bulk of the cycle lies the highstand systems tract (HST), which comprises poorly sorted slightly sandy mud (more than 90% mud, mean 558/; s.d. 2140/). The pattern for each cycle is not identical though. R6 has a sandy interval from 24 to 36 m above the base, with as little as 30% mud at 30 m. Such a mid-highstand sandy interval is not evident in the equivalent position in R3. The HST sandy mud grades up over a few metres into well-sorted ne sand (mean 2335/; s.d. 0411/), which forms the uppermost sediment of each cycle.

Interpretation
To interpret sediment texture in terms of water depth an assumption must be made about the prevailing wave climate at the time the sediments were deposited. For the cycles described here a palaeogeographical reconstruction of the region by Lewis et al. (1994) shows the geographical setting to have been a broad south-west-facing embayment like that of today. Wave climate is also assumed to be similar to that of today (Hsig 05 m, Tp 7 sec), based on similar palaeogeographical setting and the knowledge that most of the cycle was deposited in a highstand

(interglacial climate) setting. During glacial periods, when global wind strengths are thought to be higher, this approach will probably underestimate depositional water depth. However it should also be noted that Hesse & McTainsh (1999), on the basis of particle size analysis of wind blown dust in the Tasman Sea, found no evidence that LGM westerly winds were any stronger than winds (and by implication, wave climate) during the present interglacial period. Palaeobathymetry based on sediment texture, and using modern Manawatu wave climate parameters, has been calculated for cycles R3 and R6 (marine isotope stages 9694 at 243 Ma and 90 88 at 230 Ma respectively) in the Rangitikei River section of the Wanganui Basin (Naish & Kamp, 1997a; Fig. 12). The cycles include sediments deposited in a continental shelf environment throughout transgressive, highstand and regressive phases of eustatic sea-level. The transgressive phase of sea-level in both cycles is typically characterized by thin fossiliferous deposits that have been interpreted as zones of stratigraphic condensation (a situation comparable with the modern northern Wanganui shelf, as seen in transect 5; Figs 2 and 6A). These reect very low terrigenous accumulation or erosion, and correspondingly higher carbonate productiv-

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Fig. 12. Lithology and inferred palaeobathymetry of two Pliocene sediment cycles from the Rangitikei River, Wanganui Basin, New Zealand (Naish & Kamp, 1997a). The textural estimates of palaeobathymetry were made assuming sediments were deposited in a wave climate like that experienced off the present-day Manawatu Coast. Palaeobathymetry based on foraminifera are shown for comparison.

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G. B. Dunbar and P. J. Barrett Independent estimates of glacioeustatic sealevel change can be made by comparing the glacial and interglacial vales of d18O from foraminifera collected from equatorial or deep ocean regions where the effects of temperature changes on isotopic fractionation are minimized (Chappell & Shackleton, 1986; Shackleton, 1987). While several additional factors (vital and salinity effects) can inuence the relationship between d18O and sea-level, an accepted approximation is 01& per 10 m of sea-level change (Chappell et al., 1996). On this basis, the eustatic sea-level range for cycles R3 and R6 would be 50 and 70 m (05 and 07& respectively), similar to the estimates made from grain size and foraminifera. Within cycle 3, a muddy interval 35365 m above the base lying between inferred shallow water sediments, could be interpreted as representing a 2030 m increase in relative sea-level, but the context indicates ne-grained sedimentation in a sheltered tidal mud at environment. No foraminifer data were available for this interval. This feature illustrates the importance of recognizing that the model can only be valid where wave climate can be reliably estimated, or at least presumed to be constant (for gauging relative sealevel change).

ity (Naish & Kamp, 1997a), and because of this their sediment texture may not be in equilibrium with wave climate. Sediments above this are characterized by massive, sparsely fossiliferous, siltstones and mudstones deposited in the highstand phase. These have inferred water depths of more than 50 m, apart from a signicant shallowing between 24 and 36 m in R6. These are followed by regressive sediments, typically moderate to wellsorted sands, inferred to have been deposited in depths of < 10 m. Interestingly, regressive sands and highstand muds are separated by a prominent regressive surface of erosion (RSE), an intrasequence surface formed by wave erosion of underlying sediments in response to a rapid lowering of sea-level implying a sharp dislocation of facies from silty inner-shelf depths to a shoreface environment (Hunt & Tucker, 1992; Nummedal et al., 1993; Naish & Kamp, 1997a; Fig. 9). Comparison of the foraminiferal palaeodepth estimates (Naish, 1997; Naish & Kamp, 1997a; Figs 12 and 13) and grain-size estimates show they produce similar results, with an overall pattern of decreasing water depth up cycle, including an abrupt shallowing associated with the RSE. The most notable difference between the two is the 50 m shallowing centred on a point 30 m above the base of cycle R6, which is not clearly recognized from the foraminiferal data, and an inability to resolve depths where the percentage of mud exceeds 80% (i.e. outer-shelf depths).

DISCUSSION The formulations that underpin the model presented here form the basis of many shelf-scale sediment transport algorithms (e.g. Harris & Coleman, 1998; Orpin et al., 1999; Li & Amos, 2001) and represent a simple way of relating modern facies to those observed in the rock record. Whilst recognizing that they do not represent the full current state of knowledge on sediment transport dynamics, especially in the nearshore and shoreface zones, the model proposed here appears more realistic than, for example, the widely cited Swift and Thorne model (Swift et al., 1972; Swift & Thorne, 1991). Swift and Thorne invoke a progressive sorting mechanism (a Markov chain process), whereby a single population of grains is progressively worked and reworked across the continental shelf, leading to a decrease in mean size and to better sorting with distance from shore. However in the coastal settings reported here, mean size decreases and sorting becomes poorer as the proportion of mud increases, a predictable outcome of the mixing of two subpopulations, but inconsistent with the Swift and Thorne model.

Fig. 13. Scatter plot of palaeowater depth estimated using foraminiferal biofacies ranges and per cent mud. The data are from cycles R3 and R6 (Fig. 12) where grain size and foraminiferal assemblages were measured at the same, or similar (with two vertical metres), stratigraphic depth.

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Palaeobathymetry of wave-graded continental shelves Deviations from the landward-coarsening textural pattern described here may occur where sediment supply is extremely low and sea-oor sediment contains relict material or has become palimpsest, reecting sedimentation during previous lower stands of sea-level. Much of the modern continental shelf around New Zealand falls into this category (Carter, 1975) and such sediments can be recognized in the rock record as condensed sections, typically containing relatively high proportions of biogenic carbonate and outsized clasts. At the other extreme, in areas of extremely high sediment input, wave power may be insufcient to completely rework sediment into an equilibrium textural prole (e.g. McCave, 1971; Nittrouer & Sternberg, 1981; Drake & Cacchione, 1985). Further complications may arise where non-oscillatory currents (rip currents, tidally forced longshore currents) are a signicant source of bed shear stress, and these are not taken into account in the model presented here. However, the key question for the geological community is what is the preservation potential for these situations compared with those described, for example, by Pickrill (1983) in his review of wavebuilt shelves on low-energy coasts where he concludes The prole form, shelf sediments and nearshore dissipation of wave energy suggest that the shelf evolves as an equilibrium form in response to contemporary wave processes. The geological record does include many thick sequences of continental shelf strata, and for over two decades sequence stratigraphic analysis has made use of both glacioeustatic and tectonically induced variations in past sea-level to explain lithologic changes within these records. Indeed, the case for a strong relationship between lithology and eustatic sea-level has been conrmed at a sequence level for Plio-Pleistocene strata through correlation with the marine oxygen isotope curve (Abbott & Carter, 1994; Kitamura et al., 1994; Naish & Kamp, 1997a). The model proposed here allows sea-level variations recorded by these strata to be estimated through individual sequences in relative terms, and in numerical terms also, where wave climate can be estimated from present-day patterns or from wind elds taken from regional palaeoclimate models.

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Initial research on this topic was undertaken in 1989/90 by T. Perrett with nancial support from the Victoria University of Wellington Internal Research Committee, and technical assistance from Alex Pyne. PJB also thanks the GEOL 202/ 221 class for keeping the topic alive each year since Perretts work through discussions of a class exercise on this topic. We thank Robert Williamson for his assistance in collecting samples from the Manawatu coast, Scott Nodder and Geoffroy Lamarche at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd (NIWA) provided access to an extensive collection of unpublished seismic data. We also thank Mike Millar for making available the results of his BSc Hons project on Rangitikei River Cycle 6, and for his technical assistance in carrying out the grain-size analyses for the modern Wanganui Bight sediments. Tim Naish provided sample material from Rangitikei River Cycle 3. This manuscript has beneted from numerous discussions with colleagues, especially Alan Orpin (NIWA), Tim Naish (GNS) and reviews by Paul Komar and an anonymous reviewer.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL The following material is available from http:// www.blackwellpublishing.com/products/journals/ suppmat/SED/SED695/SED695sm.htm. Table S1. Sample locations off the Manawatu coast. Table S2. Grain-size frequency data and statistics (Manawatu transects T1T5 and Petone transects 79).

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Manuscript received 10 March 2004; revision accepted 8 November 2004

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