| dc.description.abstract | The main goal of this thesis is to define the origin of the carbonate, hybrid and siliciclastic Albian rocks of the Regência Platform that occur in the offshore portion of the Espírito Santo Basin. To achieve this objective, the following hypotheses were tested: was there any external control on the cyclic arrangement of the carbonate, hybrid and siliciclastic strata and, if so, of which sort? What would have favored the excellent preservation of the cyclicity within a transitional to shallow marine, dynamic and high energy depositional setting? Did the siliciclastic, mixed and carbonate depositional systems co-exist at the high-frequency scale? To explain these questions, it was required to define (1) a depositional/paleoclimate model that properly explain both vertical and lateral facies changes; (2) the origin of the cyclicity; (3) the influence of basement and salt tectonics in the deposition and preservation of the studied interval; and (4) the paleogeographic (regional scale) and stratigraphic (facies scale) setting ascribed to the studied interval. The data set includes 3D seismic and well data (logs, cores and cuttings) from which seismic and stratigraphic sections, lithofacies and paleogeographical maps, and block-diagrams were derived. A reactivation of the Cedro - Rio Doce Fault Zone during the Eo-Albian divided the Regência Platform into a high (to the West) and a low (to the East) block. This event has also caused the partial displacement of the older studied interval (Sequence A) to the basin depocentre due to halokinesis. Based on 180m of cores obtained from distinct stratigraphic intervals within Sequence A, 14 lithofacies were distinguished and organized into 8 facies associations whose superposition confirmed the allocyclic nature of the facies succession. It was presented a depositional model able to explain the vertical succession of lithologies within a high-frequency “ideal sedimentary cycle” as well as the regional arrangement of the main lithologies at the 3 rd order scale. The spectral analysis of the gamma-ray logs previously tied to lithological information from well data confirmed the allocyclic nature (short eccentricity) of the cyclicity as well as has allowed establishing the time interval recorded in the studied interval. This later result demonstrates that this approach can be used as a powerful geochronometer able to quantify the time span of a sedimentary succession in a higher resolution than the traditional paleontological method. It is well known that shelfal and transitional environments are subject to high energy episodes and large sea-level changes that lessen the depositional preservation potential and so the cyclicity record. In this context, the excellent preservation of the cyclicity within the studied succession was ascribed to the high siliciclastic sedimentation rate favoring salt escape and increasing accommodation. | en |
