Sand body geometry in a sand-rich, deep-water clastic system, Miocene Cingoz Formation of southern Turkey

Three types of sandstone bodies, canyon-fill, tongues and lobes are recognized, and their geometry and spatial organization described within an elongate, W-E trending deep-water elastic system. The canyon-fill comprises sheet-like, fining upward packages that pinch-out rapidly (over 20 m laterally) where they onlap against the basin margin slope to the north. To the south, bed packages pinch-out more gradually over 400-500 m where they are confined by basin floor topography that forms one margin to the canyon. Down-system from the canyon, tongues form narrow and elongate (0.5-1 km wide and 25 km long) sandstone bodies. They are non-erosive, and are thus not channels, but sedimentation is focused within palaeotopographic lows formed by basement structure and differential compaction. Lobes occur close to the mouth of the canyon, overlying the tongues. Packages of lobes (net sandstone similar to 80%) and interlobe deposits (net sandstone similar to 40%) are cut by distributary channels that allow sediment to bypass the lobes. The overall asymmetric geometry and elongate nature of this sand-rich deep-water elastic system, and consequently sandstone distribution and architecture, are controlled by the basin margin slope and basin floor palaeotopography. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.