B U L L E T I N O F T H E A M E R I C A N A S S O C I A T I O N OF P E T R O L E U M G E O L O G I S T S

VOL. 50, NO. 1 (JANUARY, 1966). PP. 72-107, 30 FIGS., 3 TABLES

S E D I M E N T O L O G Y A N D D I S P E R S A L P A T T E R N OF A C R E T A C E O U S FLWSCH
S E Q U E N C E , P A T A G O N I A N A N D E S , S O U T H E R N CHILE^

KEVIN M, SCOTT'
Sacramento, California

ABSTRACT
The Upper Cretactous Cerro Toro Formation is a flysch-like sequence overlain transitionally
by molasse lithologic types and including conformable detached masses of coarse detritus emplaced
in part as submarine mudflows. Sediment was dispersed in a pattern that reflects both a general
eastward slope, indicated by apparent gravity-controlled structures, and the action of the dominant
south-ilowing currents. Axial trends and overturn directions of synsedimentary folds, trends of slide
channels, overturn directions of flame structures, some clast imbrication, and one example of giant
flutings on conglomerate bed soles suggest west-to-east movement of material. However, most current
structures, including flute casts, current-ripple and convolute lamination, linear channels formed by
current scour, rare large-scale cross-bedding, and some clast imbrication, show north-to-south flow.
Continuous graded bedding in the sequence is rare, and grain orientations show that the sand-
stone beds themselves were deposited or redeposited by currents with the same orientation as those
that cut basal flutings. Current structures, both internal and on bed soles, and perfection of graded
bedding are inversely related. The conglomeratic mudflow deposits are noteworthy for a great variety
of textural types, including pebbly mudstone, conglomerate with a dispersed framework and mud
matrix, and other conglomerate with a sandy matrix or intact framework. The conglomerate beds
are definite lateral equivalents of zones of failure up to 100 feet thick which include large synsedi-
mentary contortions indicating mainly west-to-east slumping. The features of the zones indicate
that they represent sea-floor deformation induced by the catastrophic introduction of the conglom-
eratic mudflows into the flysch environment.
Geographic distribution, bed-thickness changes, and provenance of sandstone and conglomerate
indicate original transverse sediment supply (normal or oblique to tectonic trends) into the flysch
environment. In contrast, nearly all current structures indicate longitudinal distribution (parallel
with tectonic trends). The deflection of gravity-controlled turbidity currents by the axial plunge of
a geosynclinal trough could be indicated. However, the marked discordance between current and
apparent slope directions over a wide area, the results of recent oceanographic research, and a general
consideration of the paleogeography of flysch deposits with longitudinal paleocurrents suggest that
an alternate working hypothesis be considered: downslope lateral supply by gravity-controlled
mechanisms, including turbidity currents, sandflow, mudflow, or sliding, into a regime of marine
bottom currents sufficiently powerful to distribute detritus and produce sedimentary structures.
Sedimentary structures and paleontological evidence indicate that the dominant longitudinal currents
in this example operated in both deep- and shallow-marine environments.
Positive interpretation of either source or slope direction from current structures in flysch and
flysch-like sequences is unwarranted without considerable supporting evidence.

INTRODUCTION Orientations of synsedimentary folds, grains,

The Cerro Toro Formation is a sequence of
Upper Cretaceous flysch-like sediments exposed
in the Andean foothills of Chilean Patagonia,
South America. Paleocurrent directions parallel
tectonic trends, a pattern suggestive of gravity-
controlled, turbidity-current deposition oriented
by a plunging trough of geosynclinal magnitude,
' Manuscript received, January 22, 1965.
'Present address: United States Geological Survey,
650 Capitol Avenue, Sacramento.
The study was submitted as a Ph.D. thesis at the
University of Wisconsin in January, 1964, and was
part of a National Science Foundation project for
geologic studies in South America and West Ant-
arctica. Counsel and encouragement in every phase of
the study by R. H. Dott, Jr., project director, are
deeply appreciated. Excellent field support was sup-
plied by the Empresa Nacional del Petroleo
(E.N.A,P.), the national oil enterprise of Chile. The
writer is indebted to the E.N.A.P. geological staff
72
blasts, and current-produced sedimentary struc-
tures were studied to evaluate such a current sys-
tern. The possible importance of currents which
were not gravity-controlled, suggested by the
geometry of the sandstone and conglomerate
beds, their provenance, and the discordance of
current and apparent slope directions, was not
excluded as a working hypothesis.
Major problems of the study concern the valid-
——
at Punta Arenas for many courtesies and guidance
and assistance in the field. E, Gonzalez, R. Cortes,
and B. Bergman were of special assistance, and con-
sulfation with H. R. Katz, of the E.N.A.P. staff in
Santiago, was helpful. A. Raczynski assisted the
writer throughout most of the field work. The manu-
script benefited from criticism by L, M. Cline, J. C.
Crowell, R. H. Dott, Jr., G. deV. Klein, L. R,
Laudon, and E. K. Walton.
 CRETACEOUS FLYSCH SEQUENCE, CHILE
FIG. 1.- -Index map and generalized stratigraphlc column of Upper Cretaceous
section in area of detailed study.
ity of the apparent discordance between slope
and current directions, the origin of a wide varie-
ty of textural types in the conglomerates in-
terbedded with the flysch succession, and the
question of whether or not currents with an
across-slope orientation could have played a
significant role in flysch sedimentation. Continu-
ous exposures through large areas, few structural
complications, and locally known stratigraphy
make the Cretaceous outcrop belt of Chilean Pat-
agonia an exceptional area for study of ancient
sedimentary environments. Unlike most other
flysch sequences, commonly found in structurally
complex terranes, it is possible to study the Cerro
Toro Formation both laterally and vertically
across an outcrop belt 10-20 miles in width.
GEOLOGIC SETTING AND STRATIGRAPHY
A belt of Upper Cretaceous sediments flanks
the eastern side of the Andean cordillera, dipping
generally eastward under Cenozoic sedimentary
and volcanic rocks (Fig. 1). The core of the Pat-
agonian Andes consists largely of Mesozoic vol-
canic rocks and intrusive masses both older and
younger than the Upper Cretaceous succession.
Drill-hole data (H. R. Katz, personal communica-
tion) indicate that sedimentary units flatten and
thin eastward, rising slightly across the continen-
tal block of the Patagonian plains. Basement is
not exposed in southern Patagonia, but a crystal-
73
Dorotea Fm.
Structures: Rare cross-beddinq, scour channels
Currents: Insutficienl dota
Fauna: Rore; gaping pelecypods, shark leefh, plant f
Tres Pasos Fm.
i///7..'Mas5ive, rust-colored, moderolely indurated sandslone A
with shale interbeds. mud-chip conglomerates '^i
Structures: Flute casts, groove costs in lower part; lorge- ~ I
scale cross-bedding including trough lypes in upper S 11
part, Limy sondslone concretions, rare gravity defer- I \~~
motion structures C Lll
Currents: North-to-south in bosol port, southwest-to-north- Q p
east in upper part W
Fauna: Ammonites, pelecypods, oyster-nch beds near base, p U^
abundant plant fragments, some limb portions L.
0
0
Cerro Toro Fm,
Lith,: Shale with indurated sandstone interbeds and lenticu-
lar conglomerate mosses
Structures: Flule and groove casts, scour channels, convo-
lute lamination, current ripple lominotion, load costs,
limy cloystone concretions, synsedimentory folds ond
other large growily-deformation structures
v
Currents: HoT\h-\0'io\s\^, rare south-to-north direclions in
\ weslernmosl exposures
/-iJi/no; Ammonites, Inoceromus. deep-water foraminifers at
s
\ base, worm tubes, Chondriles
c
^'Lago Sofia" Conglomerates
H
line complex, in part of probable Precambrian
age, the Deseado or Southern Patagonian shield,
is known to underlie central Patagonia. Jurassic
volcanic rocks of types composing large parts of
the Andes, and known from the Deseado massif,
are penetrated in wells below Cretaceous in most
of extra-Andean southern Patagonia.
Northward in Argentina, the Upper Cretaceous
beds are largely non-marine (Harrington, 1962, p.
1801-1802), suggesting to Muiioz Cristi (19S6,
p. 200) that the presence of the marine Creta-
ceous of Patagonia is evidence of a narrow
trough opening southward, the Magellan geosyn-
cline. Although the locus of Late Cretaceous depo-
sition is an elongate north-south body lenticular
in cross section and now forming the Andean
foothills, an original physiographic trough in
southern Patagonia is supposition.
Depositional strikes are predominantly north-
south, and facies changes and grain-size-reduction
directions show that the contributing landmass in
central and southern Patagonia was the Andean
island arc system which shed sediments eastward
onto the Patagonian block. Reconnaissance of
sections south of the studied area shows west-
ward coarsening to be a uniform feature of the
belt. Sporadic thickness data suggest that maxi-
mum thickness of each successively younger unit
in the Cretaceous and Tertiary occupied a posi-
tion farther east than the preceding unit. Total
74 KEVIN M. SCOTT
maximum thicknesses across the belt thus give
the impression in cross sections (e.g., Muiioz
Cristi, 1956, PL 2) of a vast geosynclinal thick-
ness, which actually is composed of a succession
of subparallel lenticular bodies in part spatially
separated.
The Upper Cretaceous section (Fig. 1) general-
ly is a regressive sequence. Fauna, flora, sedimen-
tary structures, and lithologic types indicate over-
all shallowing within the area during Late Creta-
ceous. Flysch and molasse sediments in this area
are transitional facies not separated by any ap-
preciable time break.
The use of the term "flysch" is at present highly
subjective. If one compares descriptions of parts
of the type Alpine flysch with many other se-
quences characterized as flysch, the only sedimen-
tary feature common to all is the alternating na-
ture of the stratification—commonly thin, regu-
lar, indurated sandstone and siltstone beds mo-
notonously interbedded with dark shale. Sujkowski
recognized this fact and defined flysch (1957, p.
544) as a ". . . facies denomination for a marine
deposit composed of innumerable alternations of
sharply divided pelitic and psammitic layers" in
series which ". . . commonly attain thicknesses of
thousands of feet and were deposited in geosyn-
clinal areas." References to the pre-orogenic age,
deep-water origin, and graded bedding of some
flysch deposits are omitted, as is any reference to
depositional mechanism. A case for abolition or
restriction to the Alpine area of this well-en-
trenched term could be made on the basis of the
variability of deposits designated as flysch.
CEEEO TORO FORMATION (FLYSCH)
The Cerro Toro Formation (Figs. 1,2), more
than 6,000 feet of black shale with sporadically
distributed sandstone beds, has been compared
with the type flysch by Cecioni (1957), Zeil
(19S8), and Katz (1963). Stratigraphy of the se-
quence is summarized by Katz (1963). Near the
middle of the formation are found lenticular
masses of the informally named "Lago Sofia"
conglomerate. Stratigraphic control within the se-
quence is obtained by reference to the cHff-
forming conglomerates and to the lower and
upper contacts. Sections are thick and continu-
ously exposed at many localities. Structural com-
plications are minor in the area of detailed study.
Three-dimensional distribution of the sandstone
and conglomerate units can be determined.
A moderately abundant marine fauna of am-
monites, Inoceramus species, and Foraminifera
in the Cerro Toro Formation has permitted age
determination, shown in Figure 1 (Cecioni, 1957;
Ziel, 1958; Canon, 1960; Katz, 1963). The
Cerro Toro Formation is a known segment of a
thick Cretaceous shale sequence extending north
from Tierra del Fuego to a possible marine-non-
marine transition in Argentina. The Lago Sofia
conglomerates are one group of many conglomer-
ate bodies, generally occurring in tongues thick-
ening westward, and found at different levels
within the sequence. Stratigraphic terminology
used here is that evolved by geologists of the
Empresa Nacional del Petroleo (Cecioni, 1957;
Cortes, 1960; and Katz, 1963).
Below the Cerro Toro Formation is the Punta
Barrosa Formation, in which individual sandstone
units, separated by subordinate shale, consist of
multiples of small disconformable beds which to-
gether form a thick, non-graded bed. The Punta
Barrosa Formation was not studied in detail, but
a reconnaissance showed that sedimentary struc-
tures conform to the current pattern of the over-
lying flysch. Contact with the Cerro Toro Forma-
tion is sharp and apparently conformable, but
paleontologic evidence suggests a hiatus. A possi-
ble Cenomanian age is indicated for the Punta
Barrosa Formation (Cafion, 1960; Katz, 1963).
The upper contact of the Cerro Toro Formation
is also conformable and appears to be transi-
tional throughout the area of study.
POST-FLYSCH UNITS ( M O L A S S E )
A section of thick-bedded sandstone with sub-
ordinate shale overlying the Cerro Toro Forma-
tion has been called molasse, a term now applied
to world-wide examples of thick clastic wedges or
associations containing coarse, locally conglomer-
atic sandstone commonly in excess of shale (Eard-
ley and White, 1947; Pettijohn, 1957, p. 618-
620), and in many cases developed post-orogenic-
ally. Sandstone beds are thicker and less indu-
rated than the flysch units; and fauna, coal seams
or beds rich in plant remains, and sedimentary
structures, especially very large-scale cross-bed-
ding and channels, suggest a shallow-water or non-
marine origin.
The basal-molasse Tres Pasos Formation con-
tains banks or groups of tan-weathering, some-
 CRETACEOUS FLYSCH SEQUENCE, CHILE

FIG. 2.—Geologic map of area of detailed study shown in Figure 1. Flysch outcrop belt
consists of nearly horizontal strata and dips greater than 15° are exceptional. All mapped
terminations of conglomerate beds north of Lago Sofia are stratigraphic pinch-outs. Western
edge of conglomerate bodies capping Cerro Campana, Cerro Ventana, and Cordillera Seiioret
approximates original depositional edge. Limits of intrusive in Cordillera del Paine are after
Katz (1961). Basal contact of Cerro Toro Formation is from Cortes (1960).
 KEVIN I\I. SCC/IT
X=I69° X=I72°
^ CL*:2° ' CL=i5°
TRENDS
FIG. 3.—Orientations of probable gravity-defor-
mation structures versus paleocurrent trends. Polar his-
tograms of: A. Axial trends of synsedimentary folds.
Interpreted slope would be 90°. B. Flute casts from
sandstone beds of Cerro Toro Formation. C. Flute
casts from sandstone beds of lower part of Tres
Pasos Formation. Sample numbers are in center of
each diagram. Confidence limits (CL) at 99 per cent
level are shown with each sample mean (X).
what friable sandstone beds that are massive and
filled with calcareous concretions. The overlying
Dorotea Formation contains little shale, consist-
ing mainly of massive siltstone and sandstone
units without well-developed current structures.
Conglomerate and sandstone of either Cretaceous
or Tertiary age occur, possibly disconformably,
above the Dorotea Formation and are known by
several local names, including Cancha Carrera.
SYNSEDIMENTARY DEFORMATIONS
GENERAL STATEMENT
Large-scale, apparently penecontemporaneous
flexures in a single bed or included in zones of
failure involving many sandstone layers of the
Cerro Toro Formation show a preferred north-
south orientation of a.xes (Fig. 3). If such struc-
tures were formed by gravity-controlled failure
on the sea floor, their orientations should have
been influenced by the paleoslope. The trend of
the slope would be expected to be indicated by
the axial orientations and the direction of dip
shown by the overturn direction of the folds
(Jones, 1939, p. 374). If this is correct, the
Cretaceous paleoslope in the area studied dipped
predominantly eastward.
MORPHOLOGY OF GRAVITY STRUCTURES
Many folds and contortions occur that are de-
tached from their original "root zone" in a strati-
graphic interval consisting of structureless mud-
stone, which also includes many crumpled masses
of .'iandstone forming "slump-ball'' structures
(Kuenen, 1948, p. 369). "Slump overfolds''
(Crowell, 1957, Fig. 5) are present at the bases
of some of the zones. Such zones of failure as
well as individual folds of a single bed are over-
lain by undisturbed strata (Fig. 4). The base of a
contorted zone is commonly regular, but in large
exposures the zones can be seen to change charac-
ter and thickness, losing and gaining beds from
the base. The Cerro Toro zones of failure clearly
are thicker examples of the "slump sheets" of
Kuenen (1948, p. 373-375).
Fold forms range from simple asymmetrical
types to overturned isoclinal series and complex
contortions (Fig. 5). Scale is variable, from hand-
specimen amplitudes to nappe-like structures 80
feet long. Where a series of folds is overturned
toward the east, there is a tendency for upslope-
pointing synforms to be pointed or chevron, in
contrast to the antiforms, which are broadly lo-
bate (Fig. SA), Only overturned folds with
points of attachment to underlying beds clearly
visible actually indicate the direction of move-
ment and possibly of slope. Inclined axial planes
of isolated folds, though potentially useful, were
not used to indicate the slope direction. An east-
ward slope is indicated by 29.7 per cent of the
folds, whereas only 1.5 per cent show forms sug-
gesting a westerly slope.
FIG. 4.—Complex fold in zone of synsedimentary
"slumping" exposed in Chorrillo de los Toros. Note
near horizontality of overlying beds. Zone is approxi-
mately 30 feet thick.
 CRETACEOUS ELYSCH SEQUENCE, CHILE

CVER_YING BEDS

.m

FIG. 5.—Field sketches of complex synsedimentary fold forms. A through D are from
the Cerro Toro Formation. E is from probable Cerro Toro equivalent near Rosa Point
on Seno Skyring, 75 miles south of studied area. Bed thickness variation indicates de-
formation prior to induration. Matrix in each example is structureless mudstone.

Folds are distributed across the outcrop belt
and are most abundant in the northernmost expo-
sures. The most spectacular contortions occur in
the Chorrillo de los Toros, northeast of Cerro La
Laguna (Fig. 2), where two zones of deformation
are exposed continuously. An upper zone 2S-3S
feet thick is separated by 30 feet of undisturbed
flysch from a lower zone ranging from SO to 100
feet in thickness. Several minor contorted zones
occur above and below the main zones.
ORIGIN AND TYPE OF MOVEMENT
The deformation represented by the contorted
zones apparently occurred at the water-sea floor
interface and involved strata as thick as 100 feet.
The zones occupy the stratigraphic interval con-
taining the Lago Sofia conglomerates, and later-
al change from a conglomerate bed to a deformed
zone can be observed in continuous exposure. If
the zones are not actual physical parts of the
same submarine slides, they are lateral equiva-
lents of the same movements, were triggered by
the same forces, and likewise reflect downslope
movement of material.
Movement within the "slump zones" took
place both by plastic deformation and mass
translation, evidenced by decollement detach-
ment of isoclinally folded masses within the
zones. Where the rheological behavior can be de-
termined, Dott (1963, p. I l l ) has suggested re-
striction of sliding and slumping to mass move-
ment of blocks along discrete shear planes, distin-
guishing as slumps those blocks rotated during
movement, as in subaerial landslide terminology.
Subaqueous slumping is considered loosely to in-
clude extensive plastic behavior as well as mass
movement, e.g. "slump bedding" (Pettijohn,
1949, p. 145) and "slump sheets" (Kuenen,
1948). "Slumping" likewise is used here, as in
"slump zones," informally to connote movement
that probably involved both sliding and plastic
mass flow.
The inclination of slope needed for inducement
of movement and the nature of the triggering
force are speculative, but it is clear that a slope
of very small magnitude can induce failure. Ob-
servations of modern deposits suggest that slump-
ing can occur on slopes of less than one per cent
(Shepard, 1955) and the "jigging table effect"
opens the possibility of movement on a nearly
horizontal surface, as in landslides during earth-
quakes (Tazieff, 1964, p. 67).
SLOPE INTERPRETATION AND
ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS
The fold orientations indicate a predominantly
east-dipping slope, a possibility strengthened by
the size of the structures and approximate con-
formity of their trends within the studied area.
Use of synsedimentary fold form to document
paleoslope, though empirically logical, is not a
validated procedure. Whitaker (1962) delineated
submarine channels and canyon heads in part by
slumping directions, and Murphy and Schlanger
78 KEVIN M. SCOTT
(1962) and Scott and Dott (1963) calculated
paleoslope trends, noting that the paleoslope indi-
cated by folds conformed with other general data
indicative of slope.
Interpreted on the basis of their characteristics
and the association with catastrophically em-
placed conglomeratic mudflow deposits, there
would be little doubt that the deformations repre-
sent submarine slumping. However, because the
slope indicated by the contortions is at right an-
gles to the dominant current directions, other ex-
planations must be considered.
There is a possibility that the deformations
were formed by movement of the overlying beds
en masse, shortly after deposition. Ten Haaf
(19S9, p. 49-50) interpreted similar structures as
the result of tectonically induced movement be-
neath an overburden, in part because the slope
indicated by the structures was, as in the Cerro
Toro Formation, at right angles to the paleoslope
assumed from current trends. He noted that the
top of some zones of failure was marked by a
thicker bed which showed rupture. Such an expla-
nation is not probable for the Cerro Toro exam-
ples because of lateral equivalence with the
mudflow deposits, erosional truncation of beds at
the upper contacts of the zones, and the fact that
many zones are sharply overlain by horizontal
shale sequences containing a few thin sandstone
beds. These facts are highly suggestive of defor-
mation before deposition of the overlying beds.
Some zones do, however, occur below conglomer-
ate sequences, in addition to being laterally
equivalent to them. The same objections apply to
other post-depositional modes of formation such
as compaction or overburden loading.
The structures can not be interpreted as longi-
tudinal current deformations to explain axial or-
ientation parallel with current-formed structures.
The folds were probably formed by flow within a
mass of moving mud and bear no similarity to
small-scale structures, such as longitudinal ripples
or convolutions that may form parallel with cur-
rents. Furthermore, the folds clearly have not be-
come detached at one end so that the axis rotated
with respect to the true downslope trend, as
noted in one example by Kuenen (1957).
If the structures do not reflect true submarine
slumping, the most likely possibility is that they
represent deformation induced beneath the con-
glomeratic mudflows moving originally in a west-
to-east direction. The abundance of the structures
in the northern part of the area, into which the
mudflows possibly were introduced from the
west, conforms with this hypothesis. The flows
would then have had to be reoriented in a south-
erly direction, the trend indicated by most cur-
rent structures. Cecioni (1957, p. 556), who in-
terpreted the zones as iceberg deformations,
found pebbles at the upper contact of a zone in
the northern part of the area, conforming with
this mode of formation. Arguments presented
here for lateral supply followed by longitudinal
distribution also apply to this possibility.
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
AND PALEOCURRENTS
GENERAL STATEMENT
A north-to-south current system in the Cerro
Toro and basal Tres Pasos Formations is defined
by sedimentary structures. Current-formed sedi-
mentary structures include sole markings, graded
bedding, current-ripple lamination, ripple marks,
and convolute lamination. The flow direction of
the currents producing the structures generally is
normal to the slope direction inferred from syn-
sedimentary folds (Figs. 3, 5). Cross-bedding in
the younger part of the molasse succession indi-
cates that this current pattern was succeeded by
southwest-to-northeast currents.
CURRENT SOLE MARKINGS
Most sole-marking types common to Alpine
flysch deposits occur on sandstone beds of the
Cerro Toro Formation. Distribution and
confidence limits, graphically determined by using
the methods of Dennison (1962), of mean cur-
rent directions determined from flute-cast orien-
tation (Fig. 7) are shown in Figure 6. A similar
but more dispersed pattern is obtained from
groove casts which indicate only the sense of cur-
rent movement. The dominant direction of cur-
rent flow was north-to-south although some south-
to-north currents occurred in the westernmost
part of the area. The distribution of current di-
rections in Figure 6 is essentially horizontal, only
minor vertical variation in trend being noted.
Groove casts in the Cerro Toro Formation are
best developed on the few beds which were
deposited by south-to-north currents and which
are interbedded with strata exhibiting structures
produced by the normal north-to-south currents.
 CRETACEOUS FLYSCH SEQUENCE, CHILE

FIG. 6.—Paleocurrent trends from flute casts of Cerro Toro and lower Tres Pasos Formations.
Note general parallelism of currents across outcrop belt. Most readings are from the medial part
of the Cerro Toro Formation.
80 KEVIN M. SCOTT
FIG. 7.—Flute casts on sandstone beds. Cerro Tore
Formation near Lago Pehoe.
Small flute casts on the same soles as the groove
casts indicate direction. Paleoslope interpretation
suggests that the south-to-north directions oc-
curred in the shallowest part of the depositional
area. Possible variation in sediment-transport di-
rection with depth is also reflected in the upper
part of the molasse section, where the north-to-
south current system was succeeded by a south-
west-to-northeast regime as the basin shallowed.
The possibility of a time lag between sole-mark
cutting and bed deposition is discussed by Dzu-
lynski and Radomski (19SS), Crowell (1958),
and Kuenen and ten Haaf (1958). The sandstone
beds of the Cerro Toro Formation were deposited
by the same currents that produced the markings
on their bases. Continuity of eroding and aggrad-
ing currents is proved by (1) general, but far-
from-perfect, correlation between amplitude of
flute casts and bed thickness; (2) general, but
again far-from-perfect, correlation between ampli-
tude of flute casts and grain size of bed; (3) ex-
posure in rare instances of intra-bed laminations
which show three-dimensional, similarly oriented
mirror images of small flute casts present on the
sole of the bed; (4) correspondence of substratal
lineation and bedding-plane lineation trends; and
(S) correspondence of grain elongation and im-
brication directions with sole-marking directions.
Grain imbrication in the rare beds with south-to-
north current markings proves that the grains of
the beds themselves were deposited from south-
to-north currents. Were there a time lag between
cutting of sole markings and deposition of the
beds, it would be highly fortuitous for the same
rare south-to-north currents which produced the
markings also to deposit the beds at a later time.
The beds with south-to-north currents are in-
terbedded with abundant strata deposited from
north-to-south currents and with grain orienta-
tions conforming with that direction.
Turbidity-current flow is the accepted explana-
tion of most current-produced sole markings but,
unfortunately, such markings have in turn be-
come the hallmark of turbidity currents and an
implied deep-water origin. The structures clearly
form in part by other means, as evidenced by
flute casts occurring in probable shallow-marine
deposits, such as Muschelkalk sandstones (Rijck-
lin, 1938), cyclothemic Pennsylvanian deposits
(Shrock, 1948, p. 131), and associated with foot-
prints (Cummins, 1958) and bird tracks (Man-
gin, 1962a). Murphy and Schlanger (1962) docu-
mented the occurrence of sole markings in a del-
taic sequence formed by currents apparently di-
rected across-slope. Scott and Dott (1963)
showed that a marine, flysch-like facies contained
sole markings cut by probable across-slope cur-
rents. Present knowledge does not permit restric-
tion of sole-marking formation to any current
type, as emphasized by Dzulynski and Sanders
(1962), or to any particular subaqueous environ-
ment.
GRADED BEDDING
The Cerro Toro Formation is a flysch deposit
in which many of the sandstone layers are grad-
ed. Consequently, beds were observed in detail by
megascopic comparison of a chip from the base
with successive parts of the layer and an attempt
was made to divide the graded bedding present
into descriptive types.
Type 1.—^No visible grading in most of bed; upper
contact may be less sharp than lower. Beds may be
laminated throughout.
Type 2.—Approximately lower three-fourths of
bed with uniform grain size, poorly laminated. Finer-
grained, commonly strongly laminated and ripple
laminated, upper part may appear gradational to
overlying shale. A few coarse grains may be present
at base. Same as "delayed grading" of Walton (19S6,
p. 263) and E of Figure 1 in Kuenen (19S3a).
Type 3.—Consisting of multiple graded or non-
graded units forming a bed with little or no over-all
grading.
Type 4.—Indistinct but detectable grading in lami-
nated lower part of bed. Upper part may be well
laminated.
Type 5.—Ideal continuous grading; poorly lami-
nated.
Type 6.—Reverse grading; average grain size in-
creases toward top of bed; rarely present (not seen
in sampled sections).
 CRETACEOUS FLYSCH SEQUENCE, CHILE 81

TABLE I. FREQUENCY OF OCCURRENCE OF GRADED BEDDING TYPES IN CERRO TORO FORMATION

Section
Lago Pehoe Sierra del Toro HI Chingue Bluffs All Beds
Tyl>e
No. Of No. No. No.
/(I
of Beds /o of Beds /o of Beds of Beds /o
1 95 33.1 SO 47.6 43 32.6 188 35.9
2 78 27.2 24 22.9 63 47.7 165 31.5
3 44 15.3 14 13.3 16 12.1 74 14.1
4 36 12.6 10 9.5 6 4.5 52 9.9
5 34 11.8 7 6.7 4 3.0 45 8.6
Totals 287 100.0 105 100.0 132 99.9 524 100.0

Only Type 5 conforms with most definitions of
graded bedding as a continuous or gradational
upward decrease in either median or maximum
grain diameter throughout a sedimentation unit.
Frequency of occurrence of each type in three
detailed sections is shown in Table I. The sec-
tions represent positions on a west-to-east tran-
sect of the flysch outcrop belt (Fig. 2) and closely
approximate the same stratigraphic level. The
Lago Pehoe section is westernmost, including
sandstone beds associated with Lago Sofia con-
glomerate lenses. The Sierra del Toro section in-
cludes part of the Cerro Toro type section where
the eastern wedge-edge of the conglomerate beds
is seen; and the El Chingue section, farther east,
contains lateral extensions of the same layers.
Kuenen and Migliorini (IPSO) demonstrated
that lateral flow and settling from a single turbid-
ity current are conditions that produce a bed
showing an upward decrease in grain size. How-
ever, description of the perfection and prevalance
of graded bedding has since been somewhat
vague, and assumption of such an origin for all
units described as "graded beds" need not follow.
Many sandstone beds in flysch sequences appear
graded, an impression created in part by a gener-
ally sharp basal contact and by a transitional or
less distinct upper contact; detailed examination
of the bulk of the bed may show grading to be
highly imperfect if present at all. Walton (1QS6,
p. 262-263) notes that few examples of perfect
or continuous grading have been found and that
variants of the structure are usual, as in the
Cerro Toro Formation.
Dott and Howard (1962, p. 120), Dott (1963
p. 118), and Murphy and Schlanger (1962, p. 473-
474) concluded that the only valid non-paleonto-
logic evidence of turbidity-current action is grad-
ed bedding. Because of the present ambiguity
surrounding the prevalence and significance of
imperfect graded bedding, no definite conclusions
can be drawn from the fact that the Cerro Toro
Formation is a sequence of poorly or irregularly
graded beds. Several possibilities exist. (1) Only
rigorously defined, continuous graded bedding is
evidence of turbidity currents, with poorly graded
or non-graded beds resulting from other processes
such as bottom-current reworking. (2) Turbidity
currents can deposit non-graded beds, as postulat-
ed by Kuenen and Menard (1952). (3) Or, grad-
ing can be produced by normal currents (King-
ma, 1958; Brush, 1965; Klein, 1965).
RELATION BETWEEN GRADED BEDDING
AND SOLE MARKINGS
Observations in other flysch-like deposits sug-
gested to the writer that a possible dichotomy ex-
ists between graded beds showing good continu-
ous grading but lacking sole markings, and sole-
marked layers with poor or irregular grading.
The concept of a sole-marked, graded turbidite
combines structures which occur in flysch sand-
stone layers but which in very few instances are
well developed in the same bed. The most perfectly
graded beds seem to have loaded or flat bases com-
monly lacking a distinct parting with the underly-
ing shale but which, even when excavated, do not
show well-developed basal current marks. Hsu
1960, p. 581) also has noted that flute casts are
more common in poorly graded or non-graded de-
posits, and the Late Mississippian-Early Pennsyl-
vanian sequence of the Ouachita Mountains is an
example of dominantly longitudinal flysch deposi-
tion (Cline, 1960; Briggs and Cline, 1963) in
which continuous graded bedding apparently is
82 KEVIN M. SCOTT
FIG. 8.—Current directions shown as confidence
intervals at 99 per cent level of: A. Normals to
axial trends of convolutional folds in El Chingue
section. B, Groove casts of El Chingue section. C.
Current-ripple lamination dip directions in El Chin-
gue section. D. All flute casts in the Cerro Toro
Formation. Groove casts and convolution axes in-
dicate only current sense but are assumed to repre-
sent north-to-south currents as documented by as-
sociated current-ripple lamination and flute casts.
rare (Cline, 1960, p. 88), but sole markings are
well developed.
Graded bedding and sole markings are not mu-
tually exclusive in the Cerro Toro Formation.
The number and percentage of beds in Table I
with measurable sole markings associated with
each type of grading were summarized, and the
chi-square significance test was applied to a con-
tingency table containing the data. The distribu-
tion of sole markings was found to be significantly
dependent on the type of grading or some other
variable related to grading. Empirically, the more
perfect and continuous the grading of a layer,
and the greater the differential grain size between
bottom and top, the poorer the development of
sole markings. It is possible that grading is most
obvious in the more coarsely grained layers and
that grain size actually determines the presence and
type of marking, grain size being a function of
current velocity.
CURRENT-RIPPLE LAMINATION
AND RIPPLE MARKS
Current-ripple lamination or micro-cross-lami-
nation is common in the upper parts of sandstone
and siltstone beds in the Cerro Toro Formation.
Multiple sets of foreset laminae are confined to
one or several co-set intervals (McKee and Wier,
1953, Fig. 1) within a bed or, in a few instances,
form an entire stratum. The structures are ac-
curately measurable only in calcareous beds
where laminations weather out in three dimen-
sions. Measurements of dip directions of foreset
laminae in the El Chingue Bluff section show-
that the structures were formed, like the other
current structures, by the north-to-south current
regime (Fig. 8). Scattered measurements from
the entire area of study suggest that such an or-
ientation is general. Exposed rippled surfaces are
uncommon and consist of irregular periclinal
forms without obvious trends.
Tractional movement in dilute turbidity cur-
rents or by the slow tail of a turbidity current
has been invoked to explain small cross-lamina-
tions in the tops of probable turbidites. Hsu
(1964) interpreted some small-scale cross-lamina-
tions as structures in turbidites formed through
reworking by later currents. In the case of the
Cerro Toro Formation, all structures were
formed by currents with approximately the same
orientation (Fig. 8). Kuenen (19S3a, p. 1052),
Kopstein (1954, p. 51, Fig. 45), Crowell (1955,
p. 1364), Wood and Smith (1958, Fig. 9), and
Hsu (1960, p. 581) cite general parallelism of
current trends taken from cross-laminations and
linear structures on sandstone soles. Prentice
(1960, Fig. 7) and Craig and Walton (1962, Fig.
1) measured large divergences between sole-mark-
ing currents and rippling currents.
CONVOLUTE LAMINATION
Many fine-grained sandstone or siltstone beds
of the Cerro Toro Formation exhibit low-ampli-
tude convolute lamination. Scattered measure-
ments of apparent trends of the internal contor-
tions proved them to be random. When the upper
surface of a convolute layer has weathered out,
an irregular pattern of nodose crests is visible
(Fig. 9). The effect of three-dimensional weather-
ing of a bed cross section suggests linear folds
with axes normal to the section, resulting in mis-
FIG. 9.—Diagrammatic sketch of the surface of
convoluted bed. Nodose pattern suggests elongate
folds if only bed cross section is visible.
 CRETACEOUS FLYSCH SEQUENCE, CHILE
leading measurements. Most upper surfaces of
convoluted beds showed little or no preferred or-
ientation of the nodes.
Readings of actual convolutional fold axes were
taken from fine-grained sandstone and calcareous
siltstone beds exposed in the El Chingue Bluff
section, a sequence including many beds with
highly contorted, overturned convolutional folds.
Assuming the structures to be a rippling phenom-
enon and to trend at right angles to the flow di-
rection, one concludes that current direction de-
rived from the convolutions is the same as that
indicated by the current-ripple lamination (Fig.
8). Although many internal folds were overturned
in an upcurrent direction, the majority of over-
turn directions coincide with the north-to-south
current evidence. Agreement of current directions
from convolute lamination and current-ripple
lamination supports a mode of formation men-
tioned by Kuenen (19S3b) and refined by ten
Haaf (1956), Sanders (1960), and Dzulynski and
Smith (1963), in which most of the structures
are explained as the response of a semi-plastic
bed to current-drag effects.
VERTICAL SEQUENCE OF
INTERNAL STRUCTURES
The vertical sequence of structures, upward
from graded to laminated to ripple-bedded and
again to fine laminations (Bouma, 1962, p. 49),
in some flysch sandstone suggests that the deposi-
tion was from a generally decelerating or waning
current, if analogy with the sequence of bedforms
noted with varying velocity in alluvial channels
(Simons and Richardson, 1961) is correct. Ripple
and dune phases pass into a plane-bed
configuration as velocity is increased in flumes
and alluvial channels. Such a sequence and its
truncated variations apply to the more thinly
bedded Cerro Toro sandstone beds, but multiple
and irregular sequences occur in the thick-bedded
units. The grading present is found in association
with lamination rather than in separated inter-
vals. The dune phase is recorded in the conglom-
erate and associated sandstone.
LOAD DEFORMATION STRUCTURES
Some sandstone soles, 3.6 per cent of more
than 1,200 beds examined in detail, were de-
formed by load-casting during or immediately
83
after deposition of the bulk of the bed. Transi-
tional forms show that at least a few load casts
developed from current-produced sole markings,
mainly flute casts, and retain a preferred orienta-
tion. Others are irregular ropy, bulbous forms
that are randomly oriented. Hydroplastic defor-
mation of the bed base may have occurred during
or prior to deposition of the upper part of the
bed which does not participate in the deforma-
tion. Flame structures (Walton, 1956, p. 267) or
load waves (Sullwold, 19S9), tongue-like protu-
berances of underlying mudstone into a sandstone
unit, are present in a few places.
ORGANIC AND PROBLEMATICAL MARKINGS
A variety of undecipherable "fucoidal" mark-
ings occurs as casts and molds on the bottom of
sandstone beds. Such Problematica are common-
est on soles with abundant worm trails and bur-
row fillings and without well-developed current
markings. Worm burrows filled with laminated
sediment digested by an advancing worm, the
laminations, curved to the creature's terminal
configuration, were seen in several Cerro Toro
beds and are abundant in the underlying Punta
Barrosa sandstone beds. A characteristic feature
of Cerro Toro shale is the presence of Chon-
drites, branching, flattened, light-colored burrow-
like patterns confined mainly to one lamination
plane but seen to extend vertically in non-lamina-
tion partings. They apparently represent plant-
like dwelling or feeding burrows (Hantzschel,
1962, p. 187). Branch size is constant within any
one group and ranges from 54 to 5 millimeters.
MOLASSE PALEOCURRENTS
The basal 1,500 feet of the molasse section, of
probable shallow-water origin, shows exact paleo-
current continuity with the supposedly deep-water
flysch (Fig. 3). This north-to-south current pat-
tern is succeeded in younger beds by southwest-
to-northeast directions. Trough cross-bedding
measurements in the upper part of the Tres
Pasos Formation suggest a northeast dip of the
troughs and consequent current direction (Fig.
10 A). Cross-bedding from Cancha Carrera strata
shows dominant south-to-north trends (Fig. 10
B) that also may be part of a bimodal group of
orientations indicating easterly trough-forming
currents.
84 KEVIN M. SCOTT
SloN
A X=5°
^ X = 60°
CL=i25°
NWtoSE
^ 5 X=I30°
= NtoS
<i%
CL=tl2''
CL'tlZ"
FIG. 10.—Current directions from molasse cross-
bedding. A. Trough cross-bedding in upper part of
Tres PESOS Formation, south of Sierra Contreras. B.
Large-scale cross-bedding in Cancha Carrera Forma-
tion, south of Sierra Cazador.
GRAIN ORIENTATION
The sandstone beds of the Cerro Toro Forma-
tion were deposited by currents with the same
orientation as those which cut the sole markings.
Schwarzacher (19S1) and Rusnak (19S7) have
noted that the most stable orientation of elongate
particles is parallel with fluid motion, with a
small upcurrent dip. Elongate grains theoretically
should indicate the direction of the depositing
current. All sand-size grains with an apparent
length-to-width ratio of approximately 2:1 or
greater were measured in 18 thin sections cut
from oriented specimens, most soled by flute
casts from which a current direction could be
measured. Sections cut perpendicular to bedding
FIG. 11.—Grain orientations measured in planes parallel with bedding. Arrows represent fluting
directions on base of each bed.
are from the lowermost part of each bed. Sec-
tions cut parallel with bedding are from a level 2
-3 centimeters above the base.
Each of the seven sections cut parallel with
sole markings and perpendicular to bedding shows
definite upcurrent imbrication. Small deviations
of the elongate grains from current directions are
found in most of the sections cut parallel with
bedding. Sections included seven showing slight
westward deviation (Fig. 11; A, C, G), two with
current direction and average elongation nearly
coincident (Fig. 11; B, F), and one with easterly
deviation (Fig. 11 E ) . In no case did the approx-
imate mean of the elongate grain directions differ
more than 35° from the current trend shown by
sole markings. Present knowledge of fabric anisot-
ropy in possible turbidite sandstone bodies is not
systematic. Kopstein (954), Dzulynski and
Slaczka (1958), and McBride (1962) reported a
preferred orientation of long grains or pebbles
parallel with the flow directions of sole mark-
ings; Spotts (1964) measured grain divergences
of 40°-60°; and Bouma (1962) showed large
grain divergences, some at right angles to the in-
dicated current directions.
Grain orientations approximately coincident
with sole markings show that the markings were
not cut by across-slope currents and then filled at
a later time by detritus settling from a turbidity
current moving downslope. Two examples of the
rare beds with sole markings indicating south-to-
north current directions have a grain imbrication
and orientation corresponding with that current
orientation.
 CRETACEOUS FLYSCH SEQUENCE, CHILE
Most of the beds from which the measured
thin sections were taken showed poor or irregular
graded bedding. Two had continuous grading
(type 5) and had poorly developed but measura-
ble sole markings, indicating that at least part of
the graded bedding formed from the north-to-
south current system that cut the markings (Fig.
II F). Figure 11 D is one of several thin (2-10
cm.) beds exhibiting strikingly perfect grading
but no sole markings. Random grain orientation
is seen in this one example. No evidence of grain
response to unidirectional flow is present, corre-
sponding with the previously mentioned observa-
tions on the possible inverse relation between
grading and current structures.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF
BED THICKNESSES
The Cerro Toro Formation displays most of
the bedding characteristics of other flysch
deposits. The most definitive character of a
flysch sequence is the sand-shale alternation (Fig.
12). Consequently, detailed, bed-by-bed stratigra-
phic logs were made of parts of the Cerro Toro
Formation. The three longest, containing a total
of 1,878 units, are from the same stratigraphic
interval, the medial part of the Cerro Toro For-
mation. Eastward decrease in bed thickness, in-
crease in regularity of bedding, and changes in dis-
persion of bed thicknesses can be recognized.
Prevalence of graded bedding in sandstone beds
from the same intervals is presented in Table I.
Statistical methods have been applied to thick-
ness data of a flysch sequence (Nederlof, 1959)
and the results interpreted on the assumption
that the sandstones are turbidites. In order that
the Cerro Toro Formation can be compared with
other flysch deposits, several standard statistics
are applied to the three logged sections (Table
II). Frequency distributions of the sandstone and
shale thicknesses of all described sections from
the Cerro Toro Formation are markedly skewed
when grouped on an arithmetic scale. Kolmogo-
rov (1951, p. 7-8) interpreted the typical
skewed form of such thickness distributions to be
the result of complete destruction by penecon-
temporaneous erosion of thinner beds forming the
tail of what would approximate a normal dis-
tribution were all beds preserved. However, a
skewed shape of thickness distributions (Bokman,
85
FIG. 12.—Upper sandstone succession of El Chin-
gue Bluff section in easternmost part of Cerro Toro
Formation outcrop belt. This group of sandstone
beds is equivalent to upper conglomerate sequence
in Sierra del Toro, 5 miles west.
1953, 1957; Potter and Siever, 1955) is common
and may suggest only that sedimentary processes
tend to form more thin beds than thick. Such
factors as erosion, size of histogram classes, and
sampling difficulties in observing the thinner beds
may explain displacement of the mode from the
thinner classes. The normalizing effect of a loga-
rithmic probability plot is seen in Figure 13. A
log-normal relation, illustrated by conformance of
the plot to a straight line, is established for sand-
stone and shale units in flysch or flysch-like
deposits (Bokman, 1953; Nederlof, 1959;
McBride, 1962), and specifically for examples of
graded beds (Dott, 1963).
Deviation from log normality in the thicker
beds is typical of the Cerro Toro sections. The
shale units show a systematic deviation in the
same sense of the data from the Martinsburg
Formation (McBride, 1962, Fig. 3), but in the
reverse of those from the Carboniferous flysch of
northern Spain (Nederlof, 1959, p. 641-642).
Deviation of sandstone thicknesses is not system-
atic in the three Cerro Toro sections and results
in part from differing sample sizes. The Cerro
Toro thickness data show the deviations at a
lower cumulative percentage than in other report-
ed examples.
Additional data included in Table II are the
reciprocal of the mean bed thickness in feet, or
stratification index (Kelley, 1956), sand-shale
ratio, and shale percentages, calculated from the
proportion of shale in each couplet of sandstone
bed with overlying shale unit. "Sandstone" in the
El Chingue Bluff section, for purposes of thick-
86 KEVIN M. SCOTT

TABLE II. THICKNESS DATA FROM SELECTED SECTIONS OE CERRO TORO FORMATION
(See Figure 2 for locations)

Section
Lago Pekoe Sierra del Toro El Chingue Bln_ffs
Mean thickness; sandstone beds 49.0 cm. 20.8 cm. 8.9 cm.
Standard deviation 93.0 20.3 7.6
Mean thickness; shale beds 87.0 cm. 52.1 cm. 20.0 cm.
Standard deviation 126.0 62.9 19.9
Mean shale % in each couplet 59.3% 56.9% 66.6%
Standard deviation 26.7 26.6 19.5
Sand-shale ratio .56 .40 .42
Stratification index; sandstone beds 62.3 146.3 342.4
Stratification index; shale beds 35.0 58.4 145.5
Stratification index; all beds 44.8 83.5 204.2
r, sandstone-shale thicknesses 0.094 0.078 0.089
r, sandstone thickness-shale % -0.398 -0.264 -0.582
K, sandstone beds -7.30 -1.16 -1.04
K, shale beds -3.04 -2.22 -4.70
Total thickness 368.4 m. 65.7 m. 172.S m.
1,209 ft. 215 ft. 566 ft.
Total beds 542 180 1,156

ness analysis, includes many siltstone units lated for each section, by using the thickness of
similar in morphology and structure to the sand- each sandstone bed versus thickness of the overly-
stone beds, ing shale unit and shale percentage in each cou-
The linear correlation coefficient, r, was calcu- plet as variables. No trend correction was made.

£L CHINOU^ BLUfTS

y ) •

E 80 (* .^ *^
0^
,* _^^ o
M; *]/ J ^ o

/ /
y "
?
^ ^ /o
o
•

>/ /
/ /
/'
^
A ^^
/ yf
/
/' •
•

'/ ^ ) u\ y

/./ ' r- -^ / ^
/ / r
/
N = 271 N = 90 / H=^ 578
i L
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 BO 90 95 98 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 95 98 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 BO 90 95 95
Cumulotive percentages

FIG. 13.—Logarithmic probability plots of thickness of sedimentation units. Sand-

stone beds are shaded circles, shale intervals open circles. Both lithologic units progres-
sively thin from westernmost Lago Pehoe section to El Chingue section at eastern edge
of Cerro Toro outcrop belt.
 CRETACEOUS FLYSCH SEQUENCE, CHILE
The low positive values of sandstone-shale thick-
ness correlations (Table II) indicate that shale
thickness is only slightly related to that of the
underlying sandstone bed. By using shale percent-
age as a variable, a negative coefficient is found.
A stronger sandstone-shale thickness association is
described by Nederlof (1959, p. 646), who inter-
preted each shale unit as consisting both of fine
deposits settled from the same turbidity current
which deposited the underlying sandstone, and
shale deposited by normal agents. Nederlof (p.
64Q-650) also reported a negative correlation be-
tween sandstone thickness and shale percentage,
ascribed by him to compositional variation of
turbidity flows.
Each set of thicknesses of Cerro Toro sand-
stone and shale was treated as a time series to
determine degree of randomness and presence of
trends. The non-parametric "runs test" (Wallis
and Roberts, 1956, p. 569-571; Miller and
Kahn, 1962, p. 351-355) consists of calculation
of a statistic, K, from the observed number of
runs of plus and minus signs, determined by
whether each value is greater or less than the
median. K indicates the departure, in standard
deviations, of the observed number of runs from
the number expected according to the hypothesis
of randomness. Values (Table II) show that none
of the sequences is exceptionally random (Fig.
12).
The thickness and bedding changes described
here are significant because they occur at right
angles to the dominant north-to-south current re-
gime, indicating that pronounced facies changes
are independent of the current direction pre-
served in the sedimentary structures of the
sandstone beds. Less obvious changes in bedding
characters occur in a north-south direction, the
most definite being a diminution in amount and a
general thinning of sandstone beds throughout the
formation toward the north, the upcurrent direc-
tion.
SANDSTONE PETROGRAPHY
MODAL ANALYSIS OF FLVSCH
SANDSTONE BEDS
Samples of the Cerro Toro Formation and
overlying molasse were examined petrographically
and modal compositions determined. Thin sec-
tions (37) cut perpendicular to bedding were
stained to determine potassium-feldspar content,
87
and composition was taken from 300 points per
section (Table I I I ) .
Most of the sandstone is graywacke, regardless
of the definition used. Poor sorting, high indura-
tion, and partial recrystallization of the matrix
are characteristic. It is necessary with the Cerro
Toro sandstones to make an informal distinction
between ordinary bedded graywacke units, with
as much as 34 per cent matrix, and sandstone
beds with a dispersed grain framework and com-
monly containing more than 40 per cent matrix,
which occur as thick, structureless zones up to 30
feet thick. The latter deposits may be described
as sandy mudstone and have an origin involving
highly viscous flow, which is discussed with the
pebbly mudstone of the Lago Sofia conglomer-
ate beds. The 40-per-cent boundary is based on
this empirical distinction in mode of occurrence
and the fact that normal, closed-work sandstone
beds have a maximum void space of 30-35 per
cent (Fettijohn, 1957, p. 284).
Relative amounts of the major framework con-
stituents are shown in the upper ternary diagram
of Figure 14, similar to the wacke classification
diagram of Gilbert (1954). Stable silicified vol-
canic fragments, abundant in the Cerro Toro
sandstones, are included as rock fragments in
Figure 14. Gilbert's subdivision separates quartz,
chert, and quartzite from all other mineral and
rock types which are characterized as unstable,
and is therefore comparable with Figure 14 for
composition but not for relative maturity.
Megascopically there are two major tjrpes of
sandstone in the Cerro Toro Formation: more
highly indurated, dark-colored sandstone interbed-
ded with shale, the typical flysch type of lithol-
ogy; and slightly less indurated, light gray- to
almost white-weathering sandstone, interbedded
with the Lago Sofia conglomerate beds, and in
some cases occurring as lateral equivalents of
them, but exhibiting typical flysch sedimentary
structures where not interbedded with conglomer-
ate. A significantly greater plagioclase feldspar
content (Fig. 14) is visible in thin section and
explains the difference in consistency and color.
Quartz occurs in both sandstone types as angu-
lar grains with serrate boundaries resulting from
matrix recrystallization. Intergrown visible grains
of quartz not sufficiently fine-grained to be clas-
sified as chert are described as mosaic quartz.
These may be silicified volcanic types, vein
88 KEVIN M. SCOTT

fO
^ quartz, rrtetamorphic quartz, or quartzite. Fea-
So tures of recrystallized quartzite such as quartz
00
overgrowths and minor accessories of sedimenta-
^ ry origin are absent from most of the mosaic
quartz. The interlocking grains are equant with
o ^
10\0
smooth boundaries and show little metamorphic
is -=; i i^ distortion. Chert includes cryptocrystalline or
(M rD
very fine-grained siliceous aggregates, commonly
j ^ ,-^ showing fibrous structure. Rock fragments clas-
O "O >0 TtH o'o sified as "other rocks" consist of siliceous volcan-
I O
id ic types, andesite, basalt, schist, and minor
0\ >o
^ amounts of mudstone or argillite. A grain of

o
o ^

i
00 t-^
O t - Quartz, Mosaic Quartz, Chert
1 ^O
^-^ i «
1 •

ro
•^ '^
Q
< o m t—
^u-. •^ C^
M
O t— TH " 5 r»5 O P^
o
< H '"'
W

W («i
^ o
O
^6 S" S-' sic 1^ r -
ci,0 1 .-J f^ oc
Ste. "<*' ^d 00

o
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Mosaic Quartz 50% Chert

,-^
w • Cerro Toro, flysch (t,b= top and bottom of groded bed)
E O Cerro Toro, interbedded witti Logo Sofia Conglofnerates
X Molasse
1o
o Fio. 14.—Relative amounts of major framework
• bo •§1 Q constituents in flysch and molasse sandstone beds.
Lower diagram represents subdivision of siliceous

o
•S-5

J5'S li -2
So
component in upper plot. Constituents have been
recalculated to equal 100 per cent.
 CRETACEOUS FLVSCH SEQUENCE, CHILE
mosaic quartz with one feldspar microlite or
other evidence of a volcanic origin is classed as a
rock fragment in Figure 14. Primary feldspar is
(lominantly plagiociase, exceeding potash feldspar
liy a ratio of about 6:1. Hornblende, biotite, and
muscovite are minor primary framework constit-
uents.
Matrix consists of secondary chlorite, sericite,
and carbonate. Any size boundary to separate the
continuous series of grain sizes forming frame-
work and matrix is artificial, as emphasized by
Gilbert (1954, p. 278, 297). Upper size limit of
matrix components used in preparing Table H I
and Figure IS was 20 microns.
Chlorite occurs as detrital grains, as replace-
ments of detrital biotite, and as a low-grade
metamorphic alteration of the argillaceous ma-
trix. Chlorite thought to have replaced matrix
was included in the count of total matrix in an
attempt to estimate the original matrix percent-
age. Chlorite replacing biotite consists in part of
the variety penninite. The carbonate is mainly
authigenic and likewise replaces both framework
and matrix; again only that part which was inter-
preted as having replaced matrix was included in
the matrix total. Determined on this realistic but
in part subjective basis, the approximate average
matrix content of the Cerro Toro sandstone beds
is 18.3 per cent, a low value relative to most
graywackes occurring in flysch-like sequences.
However, because of the high degree of subjec-
tivity in determining matrix content of gray-
wackes, the low values do not necessarily reflect
better sorting resulting from a different mode of
formation relative to that of accepted turbidites.
Significant variation in sandstone composition
with grain size has been noted by Shiki (1961)
and Allen (1962a, p. 674). To keep this effect at
a minimum, exceptionally coarse or fine sand-
stone was not studied. Difference in composition
between the upper and lower part of the same
graded bed is shown in Figure 14.
COMPARISON WITH MOLASSE COMPOSITION
Several samples from the overlying molasse
(Table III, Fig. 14) were described for compari-
son with the Cerro Toro flysch sandstone. Speci-
mens from the massive, light-colored, moderately
well-consolidated sandstone units of the Tres
Pasos Formation are remarkably similar in tex-
ture and composition to Cerro Toro sandstone.
89
The north-to-south flysch current regime con-
tinued during deposition of the molasse sand-
stone, associated with evidence of a shallow-water
origin. Thus the depositional processes resulting
in poor sorting and fragment angularity operated
during sedimentation both of the shallow-water
molasse and the deeper-water flysch. Data from
the Dorotea Formation, a sandy siltstone section,
and the Cancha Carrera Formation, coarse-
grained sandstone and granule conglomerate, are
not comparable because of difference in grain
size.
PROVENANCE
The flysch sandstone is compositionally and
texturally immature. Provenance was a dominant-
ly volcanic terrane with areas of plutonic and
metasedimentary rocks including probable bedded
chert. Lateral supply to the basin from a source
on the west, the Cretaceous proto-Andes, is indi-
cated, although composition alone can not rule
out lateral supply to the basin north of the
studied area, followed by southerly longitudinal
transportation. Lateral supply of sediment, indi-
cated by sandstone petrology, into a flysch
deposit showing dominantly longitudinal currents
is documented by Klein (1066) in the Ouachita
fold belt.
The proto-Andean range was the site of exten-
sive pre-Cretaceous volcanic activity and ac-
cumulation of thick sections of andesite and ker-
atophyre flows and agglomerate. The range was
an island arc system throughout Late Cretaceous
time and was continuously emergent from Tierra
del Fuego northward, beyond the area of study.
Sediment volumes indicate sizeable tectonic lands
that may have extended west of the site of the
present high Andes.
LAGO SOFIA CONGLOMERATES
GENERAL STATEMENT
Interbedded approximately in the middle of the
Cerro Toro Formation are the several lenses of
Lago Sofia conglomerate. A wide variety of tex-
tural types, from mud-matrix units with a few
dispersed clasts to beds with an intact frame-
work, is present. Figure IS illustrates columnar
sections of the conglomerate bodies at nearly
every major locality of exposure. Where thick
sections occur, only the basal 500 feet, the part
best exposed and richest in sedimentary struc-
90 KEVIN M. SCOTT

CORDILLERA CHORRILLO
CERRO BENITE?'
SENORET LA VENTANA
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FIG. 15.—Stratigraphic columns of Lago Sofia conglomerates at major localities <

 CRETACEOUS FLYSCH SEQUENCE, CHILE 91

CERRO CASTILLO SIERRA DEL TORO SYMBOLS

TOP 650' NOT SHOWN

CONGLOMERATE; NON-IMBRICATED/IMBRICATED

Chorrillo Zapata
0 h
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MUDSTONE-SHALE; BEDDED/CONTORTED BLOCKS
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exposure. Kote pronounced decrease in proportion of pebbly mudstone from north to south.
92 KEVIN M. SCOTT

nels up to 10 feet wide occur. These are regular

in cross section but are scoop-shaped, with a flat
bottom and coarse, parallel striations on the sides.
Relief below the bed sole is as much as 2 feet.
The structures have an east-west orientation and
are associated with flutings indicating north-to-
south currents on the same conglomerate sole.
The channels could have been formed by east-
ward downslope displacement of detritus, possi-
bly a sliding block, and later filled with material
moving in a north-to-south direction. The charac-
ter of the conglomerate filling the channels is
identical with that composing the bed.
FIG. 16.—Flute casts on base of a Lago Sofia
^ • •nglomerate bed in Laguna Amarga area. This sole The current-produced sole markings are
shows west-to-east current flow, from lower left to confined largely to the lowest beds in each con-
upper right in photograph. Some modification of
structures by loading is seen. Height of outcrop glomerate section (Fig. IS) and are best de-
illustrated is approximately 4 feet. veloped where cut in shale. A basal contact of a
conglomerate bed in the Laguna Amarga section
tures, is portrayed. Maximum measured thickness (Fig. IS) cuts down from shale to conglomerate,
of any conglomerate section is 1,150 feet; this and flute casts cut in the shale disappear on that
thickness was measured at the summit of Cerro part of the contact which overlies conglomerate.
Castillo. Inspection of continuously exposed con- Shale underlying conglomerate soles was
tacts reveals that the conglomerate beds are es- sufficiently consolidated to prevent extensive de-
sentially conformable within the flysch section. formation of the current markings by loading.
The conglomerates have been interpreted recently Load casts are present, however, and may form
to be normal, shallow-marine elastics (Zeil, 1958) large flame structures overturned toward the east,
and glacial tillites (Cecioni, 1957). Sanders cor- suggesting slight post-depositional movement of
rectly deduced from the descriptions of Cecioni the overlying bed in that direction.
that subaqueous flow was a possibility (Sanders
and Cecioni, 1957). IMBRICATION AND INTERNAL STRUCTURES

Imbrication of conglomerate clasts character-

SOLE MARKINGS izes some conglomerate units. Clast imbrication
Large, flute-like scour fillings are found on occurs in poorly or non-graded beds and is rela-
soles of many of the conglomerate lenses (Figs. tively uniform throughout the bed. Figure 21 il-
16, 17). Orientation of these giant sole markings, lustrates the directions of clast dip with reference
up to 5 feet in width, is identical with that of the
sole markings on associated sandstone beds (Figs.
18, 19). The morphology of the large flutings is
strikingly similar to that of flute casts of the
sandstone beds. Large "groove casts" (Fig. 20)
are scour structures, not tool marks, and may be
classed as scour channels. Orientations of the
scour channels likewise are nearly identical with
those of the sandstone sole markings (Fig. 19).
Smaller fluted scour structures are reported from
bases of cyclothemic conglomerate beds of the
lower Old Red Sandstone (Allen, 1962b, p. 8), of ••<.•»

probable fluvial origin, and conglomerate beds of

the Schlieren flysch (Hsu, 1960, p. 592). FIG. 17.—Unmodified flutings on base of Lago
In the Laguna Amarga area, at the northern Sofia conglomerate bed at same locality as in Figure
16. Structures are up to S feet wide. Height of
limit of the conglomerate outcrops, several chan- outcrop illustrated is approximately 4 feet.
 CRETACEOUS FLYSCH SEQUENCE, CHILE 93

to the horizontal, each value representing direction

of downward inclination of a plane of imbrication,
the approximate average imbrication within a sin-
gle sedimentation unit. Perfection of the imbrica-
tion and three-dimensional weathering of tabular
clasts justify this kind of rapid but generalized
observation which was checked in three instances
by measurement of 50-100 individual clasts.
The east-west imbrication does not conform
with the north-to-south current structures which,
however, are most abundant in the conglomerate
units with a more intact framework and sandier
matrix. The fact that imbrication planes dip both

Laguna Amarga FIG. 19.—Summary current histograms from con-

O-^ largest glomerate structures. A. Current sense shown by
scour channels. B. Current directions measured from
flutings.

east and west does not indicate whether the clast

imbrication formed in response to primary down-
slope flow of the mud-matrixed beds, in which
case an upcurrent or westerly dip might be ex-
pected, or post-depositional slumping. Kopstein
(1954, p. 76) and Ksiazkiewicz (1958, p. 129)
describe both up- and down-current imbrication in
conglomerate of flysch or flysch-like sections. The
small number of imbrication readings permits
only substantiation of the presence of both east- ,
west-, and north-dipping imbrication. No firm
conclusion regarding relative abundance can be
made.

\\
PALEOCURRENT
PATTERN

flute costs '^~VJ-ago Sofia

on
Logo Sofia Conglonnerates
r
26 localities
0 5
km.
10
5 FIG. 20.—Scour channels modified by loading on
sole of Lago Sofia conglomerate bed. No fluting
seen. Orientation is same as that of sole markings
in adjacent sandstone beds. View looking southeast,
FIG. 18.—Current directions shown by flutings south of Laguna Amarga. Note eastward overturn
on conglomerate soles. of flame structures on extreme right.
94 KEVIX M. SCOTT

sandstone interbedded with conglomerate. Large-

scale cross-bedding is non-existent in the sand-
stone of the Cerro Toro Formation but is de-
Laguna Amarga
veloped in the conglomerate and associated sand-
stone in a few places. Several beds of sandy gran-
ule or sandy pebbly conglomerate in the western-
most conglomerate exposures consist of one perfect
set of cross-beds (nearly tabular with non-tangen-
tial foresets) and are soled with flute casts, both
indicating north-to-south currents. The beds are
up to 3 feet in thickness. Similar cross-bedding is
present but not common in the light-colored sand-
stone interbedded with the conglomerate. Such
cross-bedding represents the dune phase of trans-
port in the lower flow regime (Simons and Rich-
ardson, 1961).

GRADED BEDDING

Well-developed graded bedding is present in

many conglomerate units. The grading may be
either normal or reversed, in which the maximum
clast diameter is attained from %o to % the thick-
ness of the bed above the base (Fig. 22). Nor-
mal, continuous grading is most common in peb-
bly mudstone units in which sufficient fluidity
was attained to allow settling of clasts to the
base (Fig. 23). "Floating" clasts are present
above the graded bases of such units but become
IMBRICATION PLANE
DIP DIRECTIONS rare near the top, showing that the settling pro-
4 4 readings cess was "frozen" by cessation of movement. Re-
verse graded bedding, most common in sandy
conglomerate beds, begins with a basal sheet of
coarse sandstone, an initial sand pavement that
apparently is an integral part of the bed. Many
of the layers with reverse grading at the base

FIG. 21.—Dip directions of clast imbrication

planes. Normal upcurrent dip would be in northerly
direction in response to dominant north-to-south
current pattern.

The north-dipping imbrication clearly is an up-

current imbrication formed by the north-to-south
current system. The possibility of reworking by
north-to-south currents of mudflows derived from
the west is evident from the fabric and clast size
of the beds with this clast orientation. The beds
have an intact framework, are generally formed of
smaller clasts relative to the beds with east-west
imbrication, and some show cross-bedding. The
matrix has a high sand content and the beds are FIG. 22.—Reverse graded bedding at base of Lago
Sofia conglomerate bed. Northern flank of Sierra
transitional with the Jight-colored, plagioclase-rich del Toro.
 CRET.^CEOUS FLYSCH SEQUENCE, CHILE
have current-produced sole markings which may
show this outer "skin" of sandstone. Such beds
may be graded but are more commonly not grad-
ed above the reversely graded part. Less pro-
nounced reverse grading is seen at the bases of a
few units of graded pebbly mudstone.
PEBBLY MUDSTONE
A pebbly mudstone (Crowell, 1957) is a
unique, strongly bimodal lithologic type consist-
ing of scattered pebbles in a mudstone matrix.
Such deposits are common in the Lago Sofia
conglomerate sequences and are part of a variety
of mud-matrix textural types ranging from sandy
mudstone to boulder-bearing units. The sandy
mudstone is identical in origin with pebbly mud-
stone, and occurs in uniform, structureless zones
4-30 feet thick. In thin section, dispersed fine
sand grains "float" in a mud matrix composing
approximately 40 per cent (the ratio at which the
dispersion becomes noticeable) to 85 per cent of
the rock. Framework composition of several sam-
ples is presented in Table III. The matrix of
many of the pebbly mudstone beds is this sandy
mudstone, resulting in a tri-modal textural type.
The pebbly mudstone is also part of a series of
textural types grading to conglomerate with a dis-
persed texture where clasts form more than 25
per cent of the deposit, which possibly in turn
grades continuously to the conglomerate with an
intact framework or sandy matrix. The origin de-
scribed by Crowell (1957), that of slumping and
mixing of gravel and mud, but without sufficient
fluidity for settling of the pebbles, essentially ap-
plies to Lago Sofia examples. Dott (1963, p.
114) describes pebbly mudstone as a mass which
has slightly exceeded its liquid limit, allowing
churning to destroy original structures, but whose
movement is arrested before transition to turbidi-
ty flow can occur. Inclusion in the pebbly mud-
stone of weak masses of shale (Fig. 23) indicates
that movement was relatively slow.
CLASTIC DIKES
A large conglomeratic clastic dike is exposed on
the bluffs south of Lago Sofia. Originating from
what is apparently a lenticular channel filling, 120
feet thick, the dike intrudes more than 300 feet
of overlying flysch sediments and is as much as
45 feet thick where it abuts against the basal
strata of the conglomerate section exposed on
95
FIG. 23.—Graded pebbly mudstone units including
large incompetent blocks of shale. Approximately
60 feet of section on summit of Cerro Castillo.
Cerro Campana in background.
Cerro Benitez. The volume of the dike suggests
that what is now morphologically a channel filHng
may have been a more extensive bed and that lo-
cally nearly the entire mass was squeezed up-
ward. Upward termination of the dike is the re-
sult either of erosion or of its inability to intrude
the overlying conglomerate. The dike definitely
did not originate from the upper beds. The dike
is uniform, structureless conglomerate with 35-
90 per cent clasts. The matrix consists of sand
grains dispersed in a mudstone "groundmass,"
similar to the sandy mudstone occurring as dis-
crete beds. Mobility of conglomeratic material
after a considerable post-depositional interval, il-
lustrated by the dike, raises the possibihty of
creation or modification of structures within the
beds by post-burial flow.
CLAST SIZE
Diameters of Lago Sofia conglomerate clasts
were measured throughout the outcrop area to
determine whether or not clast size indicates the
direction of transport. Pelletier (1958, p. 1053-
1054) plotted average diameters of the 10 largest
quartz pebbles at Pocono Sandstone localities to
show transportation direction and regional slope.
Figure 24 illustrates distribution of the average
of the 10 largest Lago Sofia clast diameters seen
at each locality. Composition was not used to dis-
criminate in the measurements. Lago Sofia clasts
do not show a distribution in accord with Stern-
berg's law, expressing downcurrent decrease in
size as proportional to original size and distance
of transport in fluvial deposits. No systematic
change is seen, although restriction of measure-
96 KEVIN M. SCOTT
MAXIMUM PEBBLE SIZE
28 localities
Logo Sofia
64 128 256
SCALE OF DIAMETERS IN MM.
P 5 10
km.
5 10
miles
FIG. 24.—Distribution of mean diameter of 10
largest clasts at each locality. Dotted line is approxi-
mate wedge-out perimeter of conglomerates.
ments to units with an intact framework or sandy
matrix might have shown a pattern. Instead, clast
size is related only to the thickness of conglomer-
ate present in any one section and, as such, the
distribution reflects only the lenticular nature of
the conglomerate bodies. Primary distribution of
the largest clasts in a medium or state in which
size-reduction processes and selective transporta-
tion did not operate effectively, such as a
mudflow, may be concluded. No clue regarding
source direction of the flows can be obtained
from areal clast-size variation.
CLAST SHAPE AND ROUNDNESS
Unlike the Alpine wildfly.sch, coarse deposits
with large angular clasts locally intercalated with
flysch, the Lago Sofia conglomerates are com-
posed of highly rounded clasts. A random sam-
ple of 100 weathered-out clasts was measured for
shape and roundness using techniques described
by Krumbein (1941). Mean values are .73 for
sphericity and .67 for roundness, within the well-
rounded category of Pettijohn (1957, p. 59). Ac-
cording to Zingg's classification (1935, p. 53-56)
of clast shapes, 38 per cent are disks, 37 per cent
are spherical, 16 per cent are rod-shaped, and 9
per cent are blades. The conglomerates clearly
are not analogous with the rubbly accumulations
of large subangular blocks found in some other
flysch deposits. Such blocks probably originated
directly from nearby scarps and then were trans-
ported varying distances by submarine rolling and
sliding. Large masses of shale found in the Lago
Sofia pebbly mudstone beds could have been
moved only within a dense medium by plastic
flow.
Roundness is not a good relative index of ma-
turity in coarse elastics. However, the generally
good rounding of Lago Sofia clasts, regardless of
size, suggests an appreciable history in a fluvial
or beach situation prior to emplacement in the
flysch environment.
CLASTS AND MATRIX COMPOSITION
Framework constituents of the conglomerates
are predominantly volcanic and plutonic rock
types which compose the main Andean cordillera
west of the Upper Cretaceous outcrop belt. Vol-
canics are most abundant and include acid and
basic porphyries, propylitized andesite, trachyte,
non-porphyritic felsite, and breccia and agglomer-
ate, commonly andesitic. Intrusive types include
examples of most of the acid-to-basic varieties of
the Andean cordillera, inclusion-filled quartz dior-
ite and granodiorite being common. Black and
green chert, some of which may be silicified, fine-
grained volcanic rock, composes as much as 5 per
cent of the clasts. Sandstone and shale clasts
from the Cerro Toro Formation and the underly-
ing Punta Barrosa Formation are present. Phyl-
lite, slate, argillite, and scarce higher-grade meta-
morphic rocks are minor constituents. Cecioni
(1957, p. 553) and Zeil (1958, p. 435) report
pebble-count determinations, and Zeil concluded
 CRETACEOUS FLYSCH SEQUENCE, CHILE
that the clast types correspond proportionally
with types now exposed in the cordillera on the
west.
Conglomerate matrix consists of mudstone,
sandstone, or sandy mudstone. Types with a rela-
tively intact framework most commonly have a
sandy matrix similar in appearance to the light-
colored, plagioclase-rich sandstone bodies which
form lenses and interbeds in the conglomerate
sections (Fig. 25).
TERMINATIONS
The lensing-out of the conglomerate beds to-
ward the west, the source direction indicated by
the apparent regional paleoslope, and toward the
north, the source direction deduced from the
paleocurrents, can be documented. Tracing of in-
dividual beds in continuous exposure on Cordil-
lera Senoret, Cerro Ventana, and Cerro Campana
(Fig. 2) shows that the thick units forming east-
ern escarpments of the hills abruptly thin west-
ward. A single conglomerate bed 25 feet thick on
western Cerro Campana is the lateral equivalent
of more than 1,000 feet of conglomerate forming
the eastern escarpment of the peak (Fig. 26).
The overlying Cerro Toro sediments are not pres-
ent on Cerro Ventana and Cerro Campana; but
abrupt changes in thickness of individual beds
and lateral changes from sandstone and shale to
conglomerate with a few clasts, and then to mas-
sive, clast-choked zones, are visible on the hills
themselves.
Conglomerate beds can be seen to thin and
FIG. 25.—Interbedding of light-colored, plagio-
clase-rich sandstone with conglomerate. Unit with
dispersed texture is at base, beds with more intact
framework above. Thickness of sandstone bed with
concretions is approximately S feet. North side of
Cerro Ventana.
97
\ - - ^
.-•/-
FIG. 26.—Westward pinch-out of Lago Sofia con-
glomerates. Photograph taken looking west on south-
ern side of Cerro Campana, Note several graded
pebbly mudstone units and thick-bedded sandstone
at right.
pinch out northward and probably northwestward
in the area between Lago Sarmiento and Laguna
Azul (Fig. 2). Eastward termination of the con-
glomerate zones is established in the Sierra del
Toro where both major conglomerate zones visi-
bly end (Fig. 27). Farther south, the conglomer-
ate section capping Cerro Castillo probably is
equivalent eastward to the sandstone cropping
out at the western end of Cerro Solitario, and
northeastward termination can be seen at the
eastern foot of Cerro Campana.
The Lago Sofia conglomerate bodies may
WesI
o^rj^cg^
FIG. 27.—Examples of conglomerate terminations
from field sketches. A. East of Lago Pehoe, show-
ing abrupt change from conglomerate to structure-
less mudstone. B. Northern side of Cerro Toro,
almost complete wedge-out of upper conglomerate
interval of Sierra del Toro. Lithologic symbols same
as those of Figure 15.
98 KEVIN M. SCOTT
wedge out toward the south. The most southerly
exposures in the studied area consist of an un-
known thickness of pebbly mudstone. From the
area of study south to Tierra del Fuego, tongues
of "Lago Sofia-type" conglomerate occur wedg-
ing into the Upper Cretaceous section. Sections
of conglomerate examined by the writer at Cabo
Leon on Seno Skyring and along the Straits of
Magellan are not rich in slump or current struc-
tures, although north-south scour channels were
observed. These conglomerate beds apparently
are the shoreward phase of a simple conglomer-
ate-sandstone-shale facies sequence extending
eastward from the Andes. The Lago Sofia con-
glomerate units are a small part of this coarse
detritus now occurring in lenticular masses de-
tached from the source area because of move-
ment in large part by submarine mudflow.
FACIES CHANGES
The sequences of conglomerate in the studied
area commonly change laterally to sections of
thick-bedded sandstone and zones of deformation
containing many of the synsedimentary folds pre-
viously described. The intervals of sandstone thin
continuously away from the conglomerate, be-
come more thinly bedded, and eventually grade
into a "bundle" of sandstone beds within the
flysch sequence. In the westernmost part of the
outcrop belt, near Lago Pehoe, a section of con-
glomerate more than 400 feet thick visibly
wedges out in a section of sandstone approxi-
mately 140 feet thick within a distance of a quar-
ter of a mile. Likewise, in the eastern part of the
belt, the "bundles" of sandstone in the El
Chingue section are lateral equivalents of con-
glomerate zones in the Sierra del Toro, where the
conglomerate-to-sandstone change is completely
exposed.
Figure 27 illustrates an abrupt change from
conglomerate to pebbly mudstone and a "slump
zone." Change is more gradual in other places.
Lateral change from a unit consisting of graded
conglomerate in the lower part and pebbly mud-
stone at the top to a bed consisting only of peb-
bly mudstone is common (Fig. 28). If traced fur-
ther, one pebbly mudstone may lose all clasts, be-
coming a structureless bed of mudstone or sandy
mudstone containing contorted layers of sand-
stone. Change in the same stratigraphic interval
from conglomerate to a "slump zone" exhibiting
only gravity deformation shows that the intro-
duction of the conglomeratic mudflows and the
sea-floor deformation were .synchronous, related
events.
LAGO PEHOE AREA
The northwesternmost exposures of Lago Sofia
conglomerate are in a synchne near Lago Pehoe
and Lago Nordenskjold (Fig. 2). This area was
mapped in detail to determine thickness and fa-
cies changes in the area nearest the probable
source (Figs. 28, 29). Beds in the syncline are
nearly 100 per cent exposed and are undisturbed
by faulting. Lineaments mapped by Katz (1962,
Fig. 3) lack any complicating offsets in the re-
gion of the syncline. The conglomerate beds are
here exposed in five lenticular zones, each of
which decreases in thickness toward the east and
northeast. However, the thickest zone, third from
the base (Fig. 29), is seen to change from a
wedge-edge on the northeast to a zone more than
400 feet thick; this same zone decreases in thick-
ness toward the west and southwest. Columnar
sections at intervals along the major bed (Fig.
28) show that the thickness change took place in
large part by the addition of new units. The
changes are very subtle and a conglomerate bed
appears grossly to change thickness as a single
lenticular mass.
No conglomerate occurs in exposures of the
Cerro Toro Formation west of Lago Pehoe (Raiil
Cortes, personal communication). Therefore,
the westward thinning noted in the thickest bed
exposed in the Lago Pehoe syncline apparently
was completed in the vicinity of that lake. No
conglomerate is reported and none is visible in
Cerro Toro exposures north and northwest of
Lago Nordenskjold, on strike with the synclinal
trend. Conglomerate, possibly part of the Cerro
Toro Formation, has been reported in contact
with the granite of the Cordillera del Paine
(Katz, 1961, p. 2). Thus, complete disappearance
of the conglomerate zones toward the northwest
is not certain.
An inspection of Figure 29 reveals that isopa-
chous lines would trend north-northwest to north-
west in this area. Thickness changes in the thick-
est zone of conglomerate indicate the possibility
of a channel-like irregularity with this trend
that trapped an abnormally thick mass of gravel.
A parallel series of such channels, down which
detritus was introduced from the north and
 CRETACEOUS FLYSCH SEQUENCE, CHILE 99

/W^ii^^^ pebbly mudstone

pebbly mudstone

channels S36E

pebbly mudstone

FIG. 28.—Measured columns of beds exposed in Lago Pehoe syncllne at localities shown in Figure
29. Note change in character of basal bed as it fills up with clasts toward right (south). Lithologic
symbols same as in Figure 15.

northwest, could partly explain the apparent
slope-current discordance. The channels would
have controlled southerly movement of mudflows
and density currents, yet possibly could have in-
duced slumping down their sides, the slumping
reflecting only the slope of the channel side.
However, the only suggestion of a channel is in
this one area. Consequently, using the same line
of reasoning, it is necessary to interpret the re-
gional slope-current discordance as a reflection of
a regional trough with the same kinematics.
ORIGIN AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
OF CONGLOMERATES
The Lago Sofia conglomerate beds are lenticu-
lar, detached masses of coarse detritus conform-
able within the marine flysch sequence. Textures
and structures show that each mass is composed
of individual mudflows which represent current-
influx episodes that followed each other closely in
time. A picture of gradual supply and concentra-
tion by fluvial and beach processes at the margin
of a rugged coastal area, followed by catastrophic
removal of the deltaic or shallow-marine con-
glomerates in a series of submarine flows, is
probable. Although reported at one locality by
Katz (1963, p. S16), general lack of plant debris
suggests that the flows were not marine continua-
tions of subaerial mudflows.
The pebbly mudstone beds and the conglomer-
ate units with a dispersed texture and mud matrix
clearly originated as mudflows that moved by
plastic flow. Although continuous grading is pres-
ent, commonly in the bases of such units, com-
100 KEVIN M. SCOTT

deposits of such currents. The conglomerate units

with a more intact framework, sandy matrix, and
without marked grading represent either part of a
continuous series of gravity-induced flow condi-
tions, in which velocity and density differences
produce the better sorting and sedimentary struc-
tures associated with such units, or they consist
of material reworked or distributed by normal
marine currents.
The conglomerate is distributed in an area,
elongate in a north-south direction (Figs. 24, 30),
that closely approximates the original distribution
of conglomerate on the Cretaceous sea floor.
Sandstone beds in the flysch section show a close
association with the conglomerate units in time
and space, being most abundant in the medial
part of the formation and also thinning to the
north and east. Spacing between the "contour"
lines in Figure 30 is subjective. If a slope reversal

'••• \ \ \\ \ \
1 ••••> \ \ \ ••••• ^ \

FIG. 29.—Map of conglomerate outcrops in Lago

Pehoe syndine (see Fig. 2). Unit thickness closely
corresponds with outcrop width, dips being relatively
constant at about 15° e.xcept in northwestern corner
of area where abrupt steepening to near vertical oc- QUALITATIVE BATHYMETRIC CONTOUR MAP
curs. Numbers of measured sections correspond
with Figure 28.
^
mojor current directions
plete transformation to a turbidity current, with
the extreme velocity needed to move cobbles in
wedge edge of conqlomerote section
fluid suspension, in most cases probably did not
0 5 10
occur. The graded mudflows presumably attained
just sufficient fluidity to permit clasts to settle.
However, Inman (1963, p. 138-140) has noted
that turbidity currents of high velocity are theo- FIG. 30.—Bathymetric "contours" sketched parallel
retically possible, and continuously graded units with probable slope configuration, as interpreted
from means of synsedimentary fold axes In northern
with a more intact framework could represent half of area of study.
 CRETACEOUS FLYSCH SEQUENCE, CHILE
was involved, the conglomerate beds probably oc-
curred in the axial region and the "contour" lines
show the trend of the trough.
A localized source on the west or northwest is
suggested by the distribution shown in Figure 30.
The conglomeratic mudflows entered the deposi-
tional area from this source and further distribu-
tion occurred by channeling of the flows south-
ward and (or) by reworking of the flows by
north-to-south currents. There is considerable fa-
des change from north to south within the main
conglomerate section. Pebbly mudstone is abun-
dant in the northern part of the area (Fig. 15),
and sandy conglomerate and interbedded sand-
stone are much more abundant in the southern
exposures, particularly in the upper part of the
section.
If movement was initially lateral, downslope
into a trough, and then longitudinal down an axis,
representing a turning or deflection of the same
currents, the change in direction was sharp and
the initial lateral flow left almost no trace in cur-
rent-formed structures. Currents in the northern-
most exposures are north-to-south (Figs. 6, 18).
The largest example of conglomerate flutings
shows a west-to-east current direction, but this
orientation, strangely, is found at the eastern
margin of the area of conglomerate beds. Cur-
rents evidenced by sandstone beds also show no
trough-oriented convergence, and currents at the
easternmost locality show the most eastward
deflection.
DEPOSITIONAL DYNAMICS AND CONCLUSIONS
THE PROBLEM
The present state of knowledge of submarine
processes appears to limit possible mechanisms
for deposition of the bulk of the clastic material
in the Cerro Toro Formation, a typical flysch or
"turbidite" sequence, to turbidity currents. How-
ever, some features of the sandstone and con-
glomerate beds suggest either that currents which
were not gravity controlled were wholly or in part
involved, or that modification of some aspects of
turbidity-current theory is necessary. Features of
the Cerro Toro Formation in part anomalous to a
uniform picture of deposition from slope-con-
trolled suspension currents include the following.
1. Lateral supply of sediment is indicated by
gravity-controlled structures, provenance, sedi-
ment distribution, and thickness changes, but
101
sedimentary structures show dominantly longitu-
dinal currents over the same area.
2. The slope direction, indicated by probable
"slumps" and overturned flame structures, is nor-
mal to the dominant current directions. If valid,
this slope-current discordance suggests that the
currents producing the sedimentary structures
had at least a local across-slope orientation.
3. The orientation of several "slide-channel"
fillings on conglomerate soles is at right angles to
current markings seen on bases of the same bed.
Such a relation lends confirmation to the slope-
current discordance.
4. Imbrication of conglomerate clasts in some
places reflects the slope direction interpreted
from the "slumps" and in other places the cur-
rent direction normal to it.
5. Current directions remained constant at the
transition from flysch deposition to molasse depo-
sition, indicating that the same current pattern
probably operated during shallowing of the area.
Only during deposition of the youngest molasse
sediments, of possible fluvial origin, did a change
in current direction occur.
6. Cerro Toro sandstone beds have little pro-
nounced graded bedding.
7. Much of the transportation was by traction.
A high proportion of the sandstone is laminated
or current-ripple laminated, and the dune phase of
bedforms is represented by large-scale cross-bed-
ding.
8. Marked changes in facias and thickness
occur in a direction normal to the dominant cur-
rent direction.
Unusual features of the sequence which
strengthen an assumption of entirely gravity-con-
trolled sedimentation include the following.
1. The general but far-from-linear correlation
between the hydraulics of the current, evidenced
by size and type of erosional sole structures, and
the nature of the sediment load, shown by grain
and clast size, suggests for some beds a hydraulic
process in which flow conditions are controlled by
the sediment load.
2. Current markings with a north-to-south or-
ientation, the apparent general across-slope direc-
tion, are present on Lago Sofia conglomerate
soles. A few beds with such basal current orienta-
tions show upward change to a dispersed-textured
conglomeratic mudflow unit that could reflect
only downslope movement. If the sole markings,
102 KEVIN M. SCOTT
as well as the entire bed, in such cases resulted
from one emplacement episode, the basal scours
and the lower intact-framework part of the bed
reflect a turbulent fluid "front" to the mudflow
represented by the upper part of the bed. Such a
bed would undergo downslope transport in a
north-to-south direction, at right angles to the
eastward slope suggested by most deformation
structures. Unfortunately, formation of the upper
part of such beds by post-depositional slumping
can not be ruled out.
3. The presence of north-to-south current
structures, within conglomerate beds as well as
on bed soles, otherwise requires normal marine
currents sufficiently powerful to move gravel.
However, such movement by suspension currents
also is theoretical.
DIFFICULTIES IN RECOGNIZING
TURBIDITY CURRENT DEPOSITS
The arguments for turbidity current deposition
of sandstone beds in flysch sequences need not be
detailed here (Kuenen, 1964; and Kuenen and
Humbert, 1964). As the variabihty of flysch
deposits has become evident, the list of unique,
positive criteria for turbidites has diminished
until possibly only graded bedding remains, and
the difficulty in defining that feature is illustrated
in this paper. It is a combination of features,
such as sole markings, grading, and thin, regular
bedding in a marine sequence, nearly all of which
are known individually from fluvial and shallow-
water-deposits in which turbidity currents proba-
bly did not operate, that forms the evidence fa-
voring turbidity current sedimentation in flysch
sequences.
If turbidity currents emplaced the sand and
gravel in the Cerro Toro Formation, they pro-
duced a wide variety of structures and they
transported extensively by traction just prior to
deposition. Thus, many structures produced by
ordinary currents might also be produced by tur-
bidity currents with the result that it becomes
difficult to distinguish between the two. Many ex-
planations of textures, structures, and lateral and
vertical sequences of structures in turbidite
successions are, of necessity, speculative. For ex-
ample, the presence of lamination in flysch sand-
stone has been interpreted to represent slow, low-
density, or waning turbidity currents, laminar
flow, or fractional movement at the base of a
flow. A more pragmatic general viewpoint would
be to consider that currents indicated by the vari-
ety of sedimentary structures in flysch-like se-
quences could represent the variable resolution of
energies supplied by both the fluid, in which flow
is commonly across the slope in modern oceans,
and by the downslope force of gravity on sus-
pended sediment.
Although the initiation and self-maintenance
(Bagnold, 1963, p. 519-522) of turbidity cur-
rents capable of carrying material greater than
silt-size (Buffiington, 1961; Kuenen, 1964, p. 8, 24-
26) are not clearly established theoretically or
empirically, the existence of such currents re-
mains an intriguing possibility. It is hoped that
the features of the Cerro Toro Formation will
help in evolving a theory of turbidity current
sedimentation that can be applied confidently to
the increasingly apparent diversities of flysch
successions. A necessary corollary to the hypothe-
sis of turbidity current transport in the Cerro
Toro Formation is that large-scale cross-bedding
also must be producible in a regime of turbidity
currents. However, because of present difficulties
in recognizing turbidity current deposits, other
possibihties should not be excluded.
LONGITUDINAL FLYSCH SEDIMENTATION
Currents strikingly parallel with tectonic trends
generally are the rule in flysch deposits, as in the
Cerro Toro Formation. It follows that such cur-
rent patterns, if gravity controlled, suggest depo-
sition in plunging topographic troughs. Most of
the longitudinal sedimentary structures observed
could have been formed at or near the axes of
the postulated trough. The trough may have been
broad and flat-bottomed in order to produce the
approximate parallelism of currents over wide
areas seen in some flysch deposits. Examples of
such wide areas include the northern Apennines
(ten Haaf, 1959, inset map) and the Ouachita fold
belt (Briggs and Cline, 1963). Areas with longitu-
dinal, transverse, and intermediate current direc-
tions are attributed to lateral current supply and
turning of currents down the trough axis (Kuen-
en, 1958; Dzulynski et al, 1959; McBride,
1962). Longitudinal currents may be constant in
direction for distances up to several hundred
miles, suggesting that large depth changes occurred
along the trough axis, if even a minimal slope for
turbidity current movement is assumed.
 CRETACEOUS FLYSCH SEQUENCE, CHILE
In general, the lack of convergence in currents
expected within a trough, the parallelism of cur-
rents over wide areas, and the common longitudi-
nal orientation parallel with tectonic strike over
long distances appear to the writer to detract se-
riously from the validity of existing ideas of rig-
orous slope-current relationships and the resultant
paleogeography.
The principal hypotheses concerning the origin
and paleogeography of longitudinal flysch deposits
include the following.
Possibility 1.—Turbidity current flow was ori-
ented by a trough plunging parallel with tectonic
trends, producing longitudinal current directions.
Possibility 2.—Turbidity currents had a local
across-slope orientation on the sides of a trough
because the depression was partly filled by each
turbid flow. Scour and deposition would thus
occur on the trough sides, an idea implicit from
Cummins (1959, p. 177).
Possibility 3.—The sedimentary structures in-
dicative of longitudinally directed currents may
be produced through resediraentation by currents
that are not gravity controlled after or in con-
junction with downslope supply by gravity pro-
cesses (Scott, 1964a, 1964b). Strong, moderately
deep marine currents would be necessary.
Additional hypotheses that must be considered
are the following. (1) Sandstone beds in flysch
sequences are distributed entirely by marine cur-
rents not oriented by gravity. Although flysch
sedimentation generally is thought to have oc-
curred in deep water, the fact that some Euro-
pean workers consider flysch to be in part a shal-
low-water facies makes this possibility more cred-
ible. The longitudinal currents might then be
longshore shelf currents with an across-slope or-
ientation. (2) Sole markings are cut by currents
moving across-slope, and later filled by sand
deposited from turbidity currents moving down-
slope (Klein, 1964), producing longitudinal sole
markings but laterally deposited beds.
A slope-current discordance is possible with all
but Possibility 1 of the five hypotheses. The last
hypothesis is untenable where beds show similar
current trends from sole markings and grain or-
ientations, as in the Cerro Toro Formation, but
should be considered where such orientations are
at right angles, as in the study by Bouma (1962,
p. 84-87).
An apparent slope-current discordance is not
103
unique to the Cerro Toro Formation. Birkenma-
jor (1958, p. 144-146), Nederlof (1959, p. 679).
Prentice (I960, p. 224), and Murphy and Schlan-
ger (1962) show marked discrepancies between
the downslope direction indicated by gravity-con-
trolled structures and the associated current
structures in fiysch-like sequences. Ksiazkiewicz
(1958, p. 129-144) described general similarity
of slumping and current directions in Carpathian
flysch, and Marschalko (1964, Fig. 5) observed
both parallel and discordant directions. Cummins
(1959, p. 177) notes that, in the Welsh Silurian,
slumps moved at right angles to the tectonic
trends but that assumed turbidity currents were
parallel with the trends. Cummins considered the
situation analogous with a flowing river with
caving sides. Dzulynski and Slaczka (1958, p.
239) explain inconsistencies of slide and fluting
directions by turbidity current undercutting of
trough sides. Because of the wide area across
which the apparent slope-current discordance is
found in the Cerro Toro Formation, the latter
explanations are not readily, if at all, appHcable.
Reasoning only from the assumed validity of the
slope-current discordance, the Cerro Toro cur-
rents were not rigorously slope controlled, or the
latter two ideas, the concept of a flowing river
or turbidity current "undercutting," apply on a
geosyncHnal magnitude.
WATER DEPTH
The probability of a deep-water origin of flysch
deposits lends strength to the turbidity current
hypothesis, if no other type of deep currents ex-
ists. Evidence of a deep-water origin comes from
foraminiferal data, most convincingly from the
classic Phocene section near Santa Paula, Califor-
nia, where sedimentary structures characteristic
of flysch sequences occur with deep-water foramin-
ifers (Natland and Kuenen, 1951; Crowell et
al., 1964). Additional support for a deep-water
origin has been the analogy made by some work-
ers between deep-sea sand beds and flysch sand-
stone units and the general scarcity of fossils
(displaced faunas prove that the detritus origi-
nated in shallow water but do not reveal the
mechanism of emplacement in the final deeper
environment). Some recent work, however, has
stressed the possibility of a shallow-water origin
for some flysch-like deposits (Mangin, 1962a,
1962b; Rech-Frollo, 1964). The analogy between
104 KEVIN M. SCOTT
flysch graywackes and deep-sea sands also proves
less than perfect, some studies emphasizing the
relatively clay-free character of certain deep-sea
sands (Hubert, 1964; Hand and Emery, 1964, p.
532).
The north-to-south currents of the Cerro Torn
flysch and the basal molasse apparently operated
in both shallow and moderately deep water.
Foraminifera from what is interpreted to be the
basal part of the Cerro Toro Formation and a
shale equivalent of the underlying Punta Barrosa
Formation (Katz, 1963, p. 519) "suggest an
upper bathyal depositional environment, perhaps
in the depth range of 600 to 1,000 meters"
(M. L. Natland, personal communication). This
interval is more than 2,000 feet stratigraphically
below the medial part of the Cerro Toro Forma-
tion containing most of the sandstone and con-
glomerate interbeds. However, sandstone beds in
this basal part of the formation show north-to-
south currents and, stratigraphically upward,
identical current directions are found in the basal
molasse, indicating preservation of the current
pattern as the region shallowed. It is possible that
the part of the Cerro Toro Formation containing
most of the sandstone and conglomerate beds was
deposited at shelf depths.
DEEP-MARINE CURRENTS
If Cerro Toro deposition was at relatively shal-
low depths, an across-slope orientation for the
currents is seemingly more likely than if deep-
water sedimentation occurred. Movement of con-
glomerate clasts at depth apparently demands im-
probable marine currents of great competency.
However, recent measurements of deep-marine
currents have shown velocities up to 42 centime-
ters per second (Swallow, in press, noted in Volk-
mann, 1963, p. 300-301). A river with this aver-
age velocity can erode particles with a diameter
of 2 millimeters and transport those with a diam-
eter of 5 miUimeters (Hjulstrom, 1939, Fig. 1).
However, flow sufficiently powerful to move
particles larger than small pebbles has not been
documented. Large current ripples and scour
marks, showing that deep-ocean currents can
erode and transport at depth, have been recorded
by bottom photography (Heezen et al., 1959, p.
59, Fig. 3; Heezen, 1959, p. 153; Shepard, 1963,
Fig. 50).
Such normal currents, related to the deep-ocean
circulation (Heezen et al., 1959; Steele et al.,
1962; Volkmann, 1963), in many places flow par-
allel with bathymetric contours (across the
slope). Heezen et al. (1959, p. 50) note that
deep-ocean currents probably sort and transport
much sediment parallel with the continental
slope). Heezen et al. (1959, p. 50) noted that
mechanism for transport down the continental
margin. Thus longitudinal paleocurrent trends
could indicate current movement and some sedi-
ment transportation parallel with the shore,
across a more-or-less continuous slope inclined
away from the provenance area, following down-
slope supply of sediment by gravity-controlled
processes. Cerro Toro currents were at least lo-
cally parallel with bottom contours if the paleo-
slope interpretation is correct.
Interbedding of sandstone and shale implies
that the sand-introducing currents were uncom-
mon events. If non-turbidity currents acted, ei-
ther to introduce or rework the sand, they must
have been sufficiently intermittent to allow con-
siderable mud accumulation. High cohesiveness of
deposited mud could explain why only sand
would be moved or reworked and how the cur-
rents could be active intermittently through a pe-
riod of mud deposition, transporting and
depositing only when sand was supplied to the
current system.
DISPERSAL PATTERN AND AN ALTERNATE
DISPERSAL SYSTEM
Lateral, gravity-controlled movement from the
west or possibly the northwest, normal or oblique
to tectonic trends, is indicated in the Cerro Toro
Formation by the synsedimentary fold trends,
slide channels, overturn direction of flame struc-
tures, some clast imbrication, and one example of
the giant conglomerate flutings. However, the va-
riety of current structures shows almost exclu-
sively north-to-south, longitudinal current flow,
parallel with tectonic trends, in the same area.
This relation, combined with evidence from the
spatial distribution and provenance of the sand-
stone and conglomerate, thickness changes in the
sandstone beds, and the probable paleogeography,
proves that supply of sediment was lateral but
that distribution and formation of sedimentary
structures were by longitudinal currents.
Explanation of such a pattern by turbidity cur-
rent theory would involve the following: trans-
 CRETACEOUS FLYSCH SEQUENCE, CHILE
port initially down the side of a geosynchnal
trough by turbidity currents which do not
deposit; rotation of currents, apparently sharp in
this case, and flow down the plunging axis of the
trough; and commencement of deposition and
formation of sedimentary structures. The general
parallelism of currents across the width of the
trough suggests that either the trough had a wide
plunging bottom (Possibility 1, above), the pale-
oslope evidence to the contrary, or that the con-
cept of vast, deep turbidity currents which can
erode and deposit on trough sides should be in-
troduced (Possibility 2 ) . The presence of a large
variety of current structures but a nearly unidi-
rectional flow system conflicts with the idea of
lobate, glacier-like flow or deposition cones in
turbidity currents (discussed by Bouma, 1Q62, p.
98-100; and Potter and Pettijohn, 1963, p. 130-
134).
The purpose of this discussion is to show that
an alternate hypothesis exists that need not in-
volve turbidity currents. Initial lateral supply of
detritus is by sandflow (Dill, 1964), mudflow,
sliding, or turbidity currents. T h e material is then
dispersed by longitudinal currents which are not
necessarily slope-controlled, possibly flowing par-
allel with slope, and derive their energy from
flow of the entraining fluid. T h e apparent slope-
current discordance indicates that a trough of the
nature suggested by the interpretation of the cur-
rent structures as gravity controlled was not pres-
ent, but the interpretation is not invalidated by
the presence of a trough.
Possibility 3 involves a suggested process and
agent, sandflow and deep marine currents, neither
of which was known at the time that turbidity
current concepts were being developed. T h e fact
that both the suggested process and agent are rel-
atively new concepts illustrates clearly that, be-
cause of the rapid development of research into
submarine processes, cautious objectivity certain-
ly would seem to be a highly desirable approach
in the interpretation of flysch deposits.
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