A sedimentary model for early Palaeozoic fluvial fans, Alderney Sandstone Formation (Channel Islands, UK)

Fluvial fans in the rock record are inferred based on critical criteria such as: downstream grain-size fining; evidence for drainage fractionation along bifurcating channels; increasing fluvial-aeolian interaction in the basinward direction; and radial palaeoflow dispersion. Since pre-vegetation fluvial rocks often lack heterolithic alluvium and channelisation at the outcrop scale, the recognition of pre-Silurian fluvial fans has, so far, not been straightforward. This research proposes a sedimentary model for the Alderney Sandstone Formation of Channel Islands (UK), so far considered as a fine record of early Palaeozoic axial-fluvial sedimentation. Here, outcrop-based and remote-sensing analysis of the formation's type-section reveal the interaction of fluvial and aeolian processes, expressed by the alternation of: compound fluvial bars enclosing macroform surfaces, related to phases of perennial discharge; fluvial sandsheets containing antidunal forms and soft-sediment deformations, ...