Cenozoic carbonates in Borneo: case studies from northeast Kalimantan

Modern and Tertiary carbonate production is, and was, extensive and diverse in the seas surrounding Borneo, and mirrors the variety of carbonate depositional systems seen in SE Asia. The availability of favourable conditions for carbonate sedimentation around Borneo was related to a combination of factors, including tectonic setting, the formation of large basinal areas, differential subsidence providing shallow marine areas, a tropical climate and a range of local factors, such as currents or limited clastic input. A detailed sedimentological and diagenetic study was undertaken of middle Eocene to Plio–Pleistocene carbonates which developed in the north Kutai Basin and the Mangkalihat Peninsula, northeast Kalimantan. Carbonate sedimentation in this area occurred in a range of depositional environments, from mixed carbonate clastic shelves, localised and transient shoals or reefs, a variety of platform top settings to deep water redeposited carbonates. An understanding of carbonate depositional environments, spatial facies relationships, and diagenesis is essential in order to develop models for these carbonates which can be used as predictive tools in the subsurface. This study also helps to evaluate tropical carbonate development in SE Asia and the evolution of sedimentary environments in Borneo during the Cenozoic.     

Controls on the evolution and demise of Lower Carboniferous carbonate platforms,northern margin of the Dublin Basin,Ireland

Shallow water platform limestones of the Chadian–Asbian Milverton Group are restricted to the north-eastern part of the Lower Carboniferous (Dinantian) Dublin Basin. Here, they are confined to two granite-cored fault blocks, the Kentstown and Balbriggan Blocks, known to have been active during the late Dinantian. Three areas of platform sedimentation are delimited (the Kentstown, Drogheda and Milverton areas), although in reality they probably formed part of a single carbonate platform. Resedimented submarine breccias and calciturbidites (Fingal Group) composed of shallow water allochems and intraclasts sourced from the platform accumulated, along with terrigenous muds, in the surrounding basinal areas. Sedimentological evidence suggests that the Kentstown and Balbriggan Blocks possessed tilt-block geometries and developed during an episode of basin-wide extensional faulting in late Chadian time. Rotation of the blocks during extension resulted in the erosion of previously deposited sequences in footwall areas and concomitant drowning of distal hangingwall sequences. Antithetic faults on the northern part of the Balbriggan Block aided the preferential subsidence of the Drogheda area and accounts for the anomously thick sequence of late Chadian platform sediments present there. Continued subsidence and/or sea-level rise in the late Chadian–early Arundian resulted in transgression of the Kentstown and Balbriggan Blocks; carbonate ramps developed on the hangingwall dip slopes and transgressed southward with time. Subsequent progradation and aggradation of shallow water sediments throughout the Arundian to Asbian led to the development of carbonate shelves. Several coarse conglomeratic intervals within the contemporaneous basinal sequences of the Fingal Group attest to periodic increases of sediment influx associated with the development of the shelves. Sedimentological processes controlled the development of the carbonate platforms on the hangingwall dip slopes of the Kentstown and Balbriggan Blocks, though periodic increases of sediment flux into the basinal areas may have been triggered by eustatic falls in sea level. In contrast, differential subsidence along the bounding faults of these blocks exerted a strong control on the margins of the late Dinantian shelves, maintaining relatively steep slopes and inhibiting the progradation of the shelves into the adjacent basins. Tectonically induced collapse and retreat of the platform margins occurred in the late Asbian–early Brigantian. Platform sediments are overlain by coarse-grained proximal basinal facies which fine upwards before passing into a thick shale sequence, indicating that by the late Brigantian carbonate production had almost stopped as the platforms were drowned.     

Depositional processes of the Zhushadong and Mantou formations (Early to Middle Cambrian), Shandong Province,China: roles of archipelago and mixed carbonate–siliciclastic sedimentation on cycle genesis during initial flooding of the North China Platform

To understand the depositional processes and environmental changes during the initial flooding of the North China Platform, this study focuses on the Lower to Middle Cambrian Zhushadong and Mantou formations in Shandong Province, China. The succession in the Jinan and Laiwu areas comprises mixed carbonate and siliciclastic deposits composed of limestone, dolostone, stromatolite, thrombolite, purple and grey mudstone, and sandstone. A detailed sedimentary facies analysis of seven well‐exposed sections suggests that five facies associations are the result of an intercalation of carbonate and siliciclastic depositional environments, including local alluvial fans, shallowing‐upward carbonate–siliciclastic peritidal cycles, oolite dominant shoals, shoreface and lagoonal environments. These facies associations successively show a transition from an initially inundated tide‐dominated carbonate platform to a wave‐dominated shallow marine environment. In particular, the peritidal sediments were deposited during a large number of depositional cycles. These sediments consist of lime mudstone, dolomite, stromatolite and purple and grey mudstones. These shallowing‐upward cycles generally resulted from carbonate production in response to an increase of accommodation during rising sea‐level. The carbonate production was, however, interrupted by frequent siliciclastic input from the adjacent emergent archipelago. The depositional cycles thus formed under the influence of both autogenetic changes, including sediment supply from the archipelago, and allogenic control of relative sea‐level rise in the carbonate factory. A low‐relief archipelago with an active tidal regime allowed the development of tide‐dominated siliciclastic and carbonate environments on the vast platform. Siliciclastic input to these tidal environments terminated when most of the archipelago became submerged due to a rapid rise in sea‐level. This study provides insights on how a vast Cambrian carbonate platform maintained synchronous sedimentation under a tidal regime, forming distinct cycles of mixed carbonates and siliciclastics as the system kept up with rising relative sea‐level during the early stage of basin development in the North China Platform.     

Lithofacies modelling and sequence stratigraphy in microtidal cool-water carbonates: a case study from the Pleistocene of Sicily, Italy

ABSTRACT Quaternary carbonates in SE Sicily were deposited in seamount and short ramp settings during glacio‐eustatically driven highstand conditions. They provide an excellent opportunity to investigate the depositional and erosional aspects of cool‐water carbonate sedimentation in a microtidal marine water body. The derived ramp facies model differs significantly from modern‐day, open‐ocean ramp scenarios in projected facies depth ranges and in the preservation of inshore facies. A sequence stratigraphic study of the carbonates has confirmed many established aspects of carbonate sedimentation (e.g. production usually only occurred during highstands). It has also revealed several new features peculiar to water bodies with little tidal influence, including ‘catch‐up’ surfaces taking the place of transgressive facies, second‐order sequence boundary events being most important as triggers for initiating resedimentation and a virtual absence of sediment shedding to the basin during the terminal lowstand. Production in the carbonate factory lasted for about 0·5 Myr. Despite this, carbonate production was considerable and included both bioconstructional and bioclastic‐dominated facies and the production of abundant lime muds. A model for eustatically controlled cool‐water carbonate production and resedimentation in microtidal marine water bodies is presented. This is considered to be more applicable to Neogene and Quaternary strata in the Mediterranean region than are current open‐ocean models.     

Stratal architecture and platform evolution of an early Frasnian syn‐tectonic carbonate platform,Canning Basin,Australia

Facies architecture and platform evolution of an early Frasnian reef complex in the northern Canning Basin of north‐western Australia were strongly controlled by syn‐depositional faulting during a phase of basin extension. The margin‐attached Hull platform developed on a fault block of Precambrian basement with accommodation largely generated by movement along the Mount Elma Fault Zone. Recognition of major subaerial exposure and flooding surfaces in the Hull platform (from outcrop and drillcore) has enabled comparison of facies associations within a temporal framework and led to identification of three stages of platform evolution. Stage 1 records initial ramp development on the hangingwall dip slope with predominantly deep subtidal conditions that prevented any cyclic facies arrangements. This stage is characterised by basal siliciclastic deposits and a major deepening‐upward facies pattern that is capped by a sequence boundary towards the footwall (north‐west) and a major flooding surface towards the hangingwall. Stage 2 reflects the bulk of platform aggradation, significant platform growth towards the hangingwall and the development of reef margins and cyclic facies arrangements. Thickening of this stage towards the hangingwall indicates that accommodation was generated by rotation of the fault block and overlying platform. Stage 3 records a major flooding and backstep of the platform margin. The Hull platform illustrates important elements of margin‐attached carbonate platforms in a half‐graben setting, including: (i) prominent, but limited, coarse siliciclastic input that does not have a major detrimental effect on carbonate production near the rift margin in arid to semi‐arid settings; (ii) wedge‐shaped accommodation created by syn‐depositional rotation of fault blocks and tilting of the hangingwall dip slope, resulting in shallow‐water facies and subaerial exposure up‐dip of the rotational axis and deeper water facies down‐dip; and (iii) evolution of a ramp to rimmed shelf, coincident with a sequence boundary–flooding surface, that is accelerated by tilting of the hangingwall dip slope during fault‐block rotation.     

Bioistratigraphical and sedimentological study of Upper Senonian–Lower Eocene sediments of Tripolitza Platform in central Crete (Greece)

The stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental implications of a section in the Upper Senonian to Lower Eocene carbonates of the Tripolitza Platform in central Crete are discussed in this paper. The lower part (upper Campanian–lower Maastrichtian) of the succession consists of about 75 m of thickly bedded, light to dark grey limestones, dolomitic limestones and dolomites that were deposited on an inner carbonate platform. It is characterized by stratified bioclastic rudist facies (shelly limestone) associated with foraminifera and especially with species of the Rhapydioninidae family. These are overlain by 35 m of crystalline light grey dolomites that were deposited on a very restricted internal platform, characterized by intertidal-supratidal facies. The overlying 75-m-thick light grey dolomitic limestones and dolomites are characterized by the presence ofRhapydionina liburnicaStache, and in the uppermost part byNeobalkhania bignotiCherchi, Radoicic & Schroeder, dating it as Late Maastrichtian. The facies, cryptalgal laminites with fenestrae of varying dimensions, suggest relatively extensive subaerial exposure. Possible pedogenic textures are common in this sequence and especially in the uppermost part, which coincides with the K/T boundary. The presence ofPseudonummoloculina heimi(Bonet) at two levels in the Maastrichtian succession suggests transportation of Middle-Late Cenomanian sediments from emergent blocks of the platform during this period. A gap is suspected, for regional stratigraphic reasons, between this horizon and the next which containsSpirolinasp. and “Pseudochrysalidina” sp., dating it as Early-Middle Eocene.     

The response of two Tethyan carbonate platforms to the early Toarcian (Jurassic) oceanic anoxic event: environmental change and differential subsidence

Chemostratigraphic analyses (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, δ¹³C_carb) of limestones from two Jurassic platform‐carbonate sequences in Italy (Trento and Campania–Lucania Platforms) illustrate previously established trends found in pelagic sediments and skeletal carbonates from biostratigraphically well‐calibrated sections elsewhere in Europe. Chemostratigraphic correlations between the platform‐carbonate successions and appropriate intervals from well‐dated reference sections allow the application of high‐resolution stratigraphy to these shallow‐water peritidal carbonates and, furthermore, elucidate the facies response to the Early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE). Lower Jurassic (Toarcian) levels of the western Trento Platform (Southern Alps, Northern Italy) contain spiculitic cherts that appear where rising carbon‐isotope values characterize the onset of the OAE: a palaeoceanographic phenomenon interpreted as driven by increased nutrient levels in near‐surface waters. There is a facies change to more clay‐rich facies at the level of the abrupt negative carbon‐isotope excursion, also characteristic of the OAE, higher in the section. The Campania–Lucania Platform (Southern Apennines, Southern Italy) records a change to more clay‐rich facies where carbon‐isotope values begin to rise at the beginning of the OAE but the negative excursion, higher in the section, occurs within oolitic facies. Although, in both examples, the Early Toarcian OAE can be recognized by a change to more clay‐rich lithologies, this facies development is diachronous and in neither case did the platform drown. Although the Trento Platform, in the south‐west sector studied here, was adversely affected by the OAE, it did not drown definitively until Late Aalenian time; the Campania–Lucania Platform persisted throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Differential subsidence rates, which can be calculated using comparative chemostratigraphy, are identified as a crucial factor in the divergent behaviour of these two carbonate platforms: relatively fast in the case of the Trento Platform; relatively slow in the case of the Campania–Lucania Platform. It is proposed that where water depths remained as shallow as a few metres during the OAE (Campania–Lucania Platform), dissolved oxygen levels remained high, nutrient levels relatively low and conditions for carbonate secretion and precipitation remained relatively favourable, whereas more poorly ventilated and/or more nutrient‐rich waters (Trento Platform) adversely influenced platform growth where depths were in the tens of metres range. The stage was thus set for drowning on the more rapidly subsiding western margin of the Trento Plateau and a pulse of oolite deposition post‐dating the OAE was insufficient to revitalize the carbonate factory.     

Facies and depositional settings of the Middle Eocene-Oligocene carbonates in Kutch

Middle Eocene Fulra Limestone and Oligocene Maniyara Fort Formation represent platform carbonate deposits of Kutch at the north-western margin of India. These carbonates contain larger benthic foraminifera, including Alveolina, Assilina, Discocyclina, Lepidocyclina, Miogypsina, Nummulites and Spiroclypeus. This study presents paleodepositional and paleobathymetric interpretations for both formations using benthic foraminifera in combination with lithological association, sedimentary structures and early diagenetic features. The six carbonate facies comprising the Fulra Limestone indicate a depositional spectrum ranging from bar-lagoon to mid-ramp depositional conditions. It records several shallowing upward cycles, leading to emergence and formation of paleokarst. The four carbonate facies of the Maniyara Fort Formation represents deposition within the inner ramp setting in bar-lagoon and patch-reef environment, while intervening fine siliciclastics correspond to episodes of relative sea level fall. Nummulitic accumulations form low-relief bars within the fair weather wave base in both the formations. The depositional setting of the Paleogene carbonate in Kutch broadly resembles Eocene platformal deposits in the circum-Tethys belt.     

The eroded Late Jurassic Kurbnesh carbonate platform in the Mirdita Ophiolite Zone of Albania and its bearing on the Jurassic orogeny of the Neotethys realm

Several Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian?-Tithonian) to Early Cretaceous (Late Berriasian-Valanginian) shallow-water carbonate clasts of different facies are contained in mass-flow deposits in a pelagic sequence in the Kurbnesh area of central Albania. These clasts are used to reconstruct shallow-water carbonate platforms, which formed on top of the radiolaritic-ophiolitic wildflysch (ophiolitic mélange) of the Mirdita Zone. Stratigraphic interpretation of the platform carbonates was compiled on basis of calcareous algae, benthic foraminifera, and calpionellids. From biostratigraphic data and microfacies analysis, the Neocomian clasts can be directly correlated with autochthonous platform carbonates of the western part of the Munella carbonate platform, which at least reaches up to the Late Aptian. A Late Jurassic precursor platform (Kurbnesh carbonate platform; nomen novum) was completely eroded until the Valanginian and is only documented by the clasts described here. It was deposited on top of the Mirdita Ophiolite Zone nappe stack, which formed during the Middle to Late Jurassic Kimmeridian orogeny. Thrusting and imbrications as well as the formation of the syntectonic wildflysch (mélange) therefore occurred much earlier than previously assumed. Our results constrain the Kimmeridian orogeny, which was controlled by the closure of the Neotethys Ocean, and show excellent correlation with the Eastalpine-Dinaric- Hellenic orogenic system.     

Cenozoic temperate and sub‐tropical carbonate sedimentation on an oceanic volcano – Chatham Islands,New Zealand

The Chatham Islands, at the eastern end of the Chatham Rise in the South‐west Pacific, are the emergent part of a Late Cretaceous to Cenozoic stratovolcano complex that is variably covered with limestones and fossiliferous tuffs. Most of these deposits accumulated in relatively shallow, high‐energy, tide‐influenced palaeoenvironments with deposition punctuated by periods of deeper‐water pelagic accumulation. Carbonate components in these neritic deposits are biogenic and dominated by molluscs and bryozoans – a heterozoan assemblage. The widespread Middle to Late Eocene Matanginui Limestone contains local photozoan elements such as large benthonic foraminifera (especially Asterocyclina) and calcareous green algae, reflecting the general Palaeogene sub‐tropical oceanographic setting. More localized Late Eocene to Oligocene deposits (Te One Limestone) as well as Pliocene carbonates (Onoua Limestone) are, however, wholly heterozoan and confirm a generally cooler‐water oceanographic setting, similar to today. Early sea floor diagenesis is interpreted to have removed most aragonite components (infaunal bivalves and epifaunal gastropods). Lack of aragonite resulted in the absence of intergranular calcite cementation during subaerial exposure, such that most carbonates are friable or unlithified. Cementation is, however, present at nodular hardground–firmground caps to metre‐scale cycles. Such cements are microcrystalline or micrometre‐thick isopachous circumgranular rinds with insufficient definitive attributes to pinpoint their environment of formation. The overall palaeoenvironment of deposition is interpreted as mesotrophic, resulting in part from upwelling about the Chatham volcanic massif and in part from nutrient element delivery from the adjacent volcanic terrane and coeval volcanism. Biotic diversity in tuffs is two to three times that in limestones, supporting the notion of especially high nutrient availability during periods of volcanism. These mid‐latitude deposits are strikingly different from their low‐latitude, tropical, photozoan counterparts in the volcanic island–coral reef ecosystem. Ground water seepage and fluvial runoff attenuate coral growth and promote microbial carbonate precipitation in these warm‐water settings. In contrast, nutrients from the same sources feed the system in the Chatham Islands cool‐water setting, promoting active heterozoan carbonate sedimentation.     

The seagrass skeletal assemblage from modern to fossil and from tropical to temperate: Insight from Maldivian and Mediterranean examples

Seagrasses are marine angiosperms that form extensive submarine meadows in the photic zone where carbonate producing biota dwell as epiphytes on the leaves or as infaunal forms, and act as prolific carbonate sediment factories. Because seagrasses have a low preservation potential and records of exceptionally well‐preserved and plant material from marine settings are rare, these palaeoenvironments are difficult to identify in the rock record. Consequently, sedimentological and palaeontological proxies are the main indicators of the presence of seagrass‐dominated ecosystems. This work investigates the skeletal assemblage of Modern (Maldivian and western Mediterranean) and fossil (Eocene; Apula and Oman carbonate platforms and Oligocene; Malta platform) seagrass examples to characterize the skeletal assemblage of modern and fossil seagrasses. Two main types of grains, calcareous algae and foraminifera, constitute around 50% of the bioclastic sediment in both tropical Maldivian and temperate Mediterranean scenarios. However, in the tropical setting they are represented by green algae (Halimeda), while in the Mediterranean they are represented by corallinacean red algae. In contrast, in the Eocene examples, the foraminifera are the most conspicuous group and the green algae are also abundant. The opposite occurs in the Maltese Chattian, which is dominated by coralline algae (mean 42%), although the foraminifera are still abundant. It is suggested to use the term foralgal to identify the seagrass skeletal assemblage. To discriminate between red algae and green algae dominance, the introduction of the prefixes ‘GA’ (green algae) and ‘RA’ (red algae) is proposed. The investigated examples provide evidence that the green algae–foralgal assemblage is typical of tropical, not excessively dense seagrass meadows, characterized by a well‐illuminated substrate to support the development and calcification of the Halimeda thallus. Contrarily, the red algae‐foralgal assemblage is typical of high density tropical to subtropical seagrass meadows which create very dense oligophotic conditions on the sea floor or in temperate settings where Halimeda cannot calcify.     

桂西北晚古生代乐业孤立碳酸盐岩台地沉积特征与演化阶段

桂西北乐业台地是右江盆地北部典型的晚古生代孤立碳酸盐岩台地。从中泥盆统唐家湾组至上二叠统合山组均由碳酸盐岩构成,与北侧陆棚区多样的沉积类型及台地周边泥质-硅质岩深水沉积形成鲜明对比。台地内上古生界主要由台缘生物礁组合和礁后澙湖组合两种浅水碳酸盐沉积类型构成。地层发育与沉积特征主要受基底沉降、海平面波动、气候变化和盆地内生碳酸盐沉积速率控制。研究表明,乐业台地是在右江盆地强烈扩张、沉降过程中由扬子地台南缘破裂的微地块向盆地滑移而形成的孤立台地。它的演化经历了边缘台地（D1-D2）、孤立台地（D3-P2）和淹没台地（P3-T1）3个发展阶段。孤立台地是其最重要的主体特征,反映了右江盆地在晚古生代强烈扩张、沉降,扬子地台边缘拉伸、破裂,微地块向盆地滑移的构造背景。乐业孤立台地的形成及演化模式可能具有普遍性,也适用于右江盆地西北部其他晚古生代孤立碳酸盐岩台地。     

Palaeozoic-Recent geological development and uplift of the Amanos Mountains (S Turkey) in the critically located northwesternmost corner of the Arabian continent

We have carried out a several-year-long study of the Amanos Mountains, on the basis of which we present new sedimentary and structural evidence, which we combine with existing data, to produce the first comprehensive synthesis in the regional geological setting. The ca. N-S-trending Amanos Mountains are located at the northwesternmost edge of the Arabian plate, near the intersection of the African and Eurasian plates. Mixed siliciclastic-carbonate sediments accumulated on the north-Gondwana margin during the Palaeozoic. Triassic rift-related sedimentation was followed by platform carbonate deposition during Jurassic-Cretaceous. Late Cretaceous was characterised by platform collapse and southward emplacement of melanges and a supra-subduction zone ophiolite. Latest Cretaceous transgressive shallow-water carbonates gave way to deeper-water deposits during Palaeocene-Eocene. Eocene southward compression, reflecting initial collision, resulted in open folding, reverse faulting and duplexing. Fluvial, lagoonal and shallow-marine carbonates accumulated during Late Oligocene(?)-Early Miocene, associated with basaltic magmatism. Intensifying collision during Mid-Miocene initiated a foreland basin that then infilled with deep-water siliciclastic gravity flows. Late Miocene-Early Pliocene compression created mountain-sized folds and thrusts, verging E in the north but SE in the south. The resulting surface uplift triggered deposition of huge alluvial outwash fans in the west. Smaller alluvial fans formed along both mountain flanks during the Pleistocene after major surface uplift ended. Pliocene-Pleistocene alluvium was tilted towards the mountain front in the west. Strike-slip/transtension along the East Anatolian Transform Fault and localised sub-horizontal Quaternary basaltic volcanism in the region reflect regional transtension during Late Pliocene-Pleistocene (<4 Ma).     

Carbonate platform evolution: from a bioconstructed platform margin to a sand-shoal system (Devonian, Guilin, South China)

ABSTRACT The depositional organization and architecture of the middle–late Devonian Yangdi rimmed carbonate platform margin in the Guilin area of South China were related to oblique, extensional faulting in a strike‐slip setting. The platform margin shows two main stages of construction in the late Givetian to Frasnian, with a bioconstructed margin evolving into a sand‐shoal system. In the late Givetian, the platform margin was rimmed with microbial buildups composed mainly of cyanobacterial colonies (mostly Renalcis and Epiphyton). These grew upwards and produced an aggradational (locally slightly retrogradational) architecture with steep foreslope clinoforms. Three depositional sequences (S3–S5) are recognized in the upper Givetian strata, which are dominated by extensive microbialites. Metre‐scale depositional cyclicity occurs in most facies associations, except in the platform‐margin buildups and upper foreslope facies. In the latest Givetian (at the top of sequence S5), relative platform uplift (± subaerial exposure) and associated rapid basin subsidence (probably a block‐tilting effect) caused large‐scale platform collapse and slope erosion to give local scalloped embayments along the platform margin and the synchronous demise of microbial buildups. Subsequently, sand shoals and banks composed of ooids and peloids and, a little later, stromatoporoid buildups on the palaeohighs, developed along the platform margin, from which abundant loose sediment was transported downslope to form gravity‐flow deposits. Another strong tectonic episode caused further platform collapse in the early Frasnian (at the top of sequence S6), leading to large‐scale breccia release and the death of the stromatoporoid buildups. Siliceous facies (banded cherts and siliceous shales) were then deposited extensively in the basin centre as a result of the influx of hydrothermal fluids. The platform‐margin sand‐shoal/bank system, possibly with gullies on the slope, persisted into the latest Frasnian until the restoration of microbial buildups. Four sequences (S6–S9), characterized by abundant sand‐shoal deposits on the margin and gravity‐flow and hemipelagic deposits on the slope, are distinguished in the Frasnian strata. Smaller‐scale depositional cyclicity is evident in all facies associations across the platform–slope–basin transect. The distinctive depositional architecture and evolution of this Yangdi Platform are interpreted as having been controlled mainly by regional tectonics with contributions from eustasy, environmental factors, oceanographic setting, biotic and sedimentary fabrics.     

Sequence stratigraphy of a Mesozoic carbonate platform-to-basin system in western Sicily

Sequence stratigraphic studies of the Triassic through Paleogene carbonate successions of platform, slope and basin in western Sicily (Palermo and Termini Imerese Mountains) have identified a sedimentary cyclicity mostly caused by relative oscillations of sea level. The stratigraphic successions of the Imerese and Panormide palaeogeographic domains of the southern Tethyan continental margin were studied with physical-stratigraphy and facies analysis to reconstruct the sedimentary evolution of this platform-to-basin system. The Imerese Basin is characterized by a carbonate and siliceous-calcareous succession, 1200–1400m thick, Late Triassic to Eocene in age. The strata display a typical example of a carbonate platform margin, characterized by resedimented facies with progradational stacking patterns. The Panormide Carbonate Platform is characterized by a carbonate succession, 1000–1200 m thick, Late Triassic to Late Eocene, mostly consisting of shallow-water facies with periodic subaerial exposure. The cyclic arrangement has been obtained by the study of the stratigraphic signatures (unconformities, facies sequences, erosional surfaces and stratal geometries) found in the slope successions. The recognized pattern has been compared with coeval facies of the shelf. This correlation provided evidence of sedimentary evolution, influenced by progradation and backstepping of the shelf deposits. The stratigraphic architecture of the platform-to-basin system is characterized by four major transgressive/regressive cycles during the late Triassic to late Eocene. These cycles, framed in a chronostratigraphic chart, allows the correlation of the investigated shelf-to-basin system with the geological evolution of the African continental margin during the Mesozoic, showing tectono-eustatic cycles. The first cycle, encompassing the late Triassic to early Jurassic, appears to be related to the late syn-rift stage of the continental margin evolution. The following three cycles, spanning from the Jurassic to Eocene, can be related to the post-rift evolution and to thermal subsidence changes.     

Subtropical to temperate facies from a transition zone, mixed carbonate–siliciclastic system, Palaeogene, North Carolina, USA

Palaeogene passive margin sediments on the US mid‐Atlantic coastal plain provide valuable insight into facies interaction and distribution on mixed carbonate–siliciclastic shelves. This study utilizes well cuttings, outcrop, core, and seismic data to document temporal and spatial variations in admixed bryozoan‐rich skeletal carbonates and sandy siliciclastic units that were deposited on a humid passive margin located in the vicinity of a major marine transition zone. This zone was situated between north‐flowing, warm waters of the ancestral Gulf Stream (carbonate dominated settings) and south‐flowing, cold waters of the ancestral Labrador Current (siliciclastic dominated settings). Some degree of mixing of carbonates and siliciclastics occurs in all facies; however, siliciclastic‐prone sediments predominate in nearshore settings, while carbonate‐prone sediments are more common in more open marine settings of the inner shelf break and deep shelf. A distinctive dual‐break shelf depositional profile originated following a major Late Cretaceous to Palaeocene transgression that drowned the earlier shallow platform. This profile was characterized by prominent mid‐shelf break dividing the shallow shelf from the deep shelf and a major continental shelf/slope break. Incomplete filling of available accommodation space during successive buildup of the shallow shelf preserved the topographic break on this passive margin. Storm wave base also contributed to the preservation of the dual‐break shelf geometry by beveling shallow shelf sediments and transporting them onto and seaward of the mid‐shelf break. Sediment fines in deep shelf facies were produced in place, transported downdip from the shallow shelf by storm ebb currents and boundary currents, and reworked from adjacent areas of the deep shelf by strike‐parallel boundary currents. Regional climate and boundary currents controlled whether carbonate or siliciclastic material was deposited on the shelf, with warmer waters and more humid climates favouring carbonate deposition and cooler, more arid conditions favouring glaucony and siliciclastic dominated deposition. Continuous wave and current sweeping of the shallow shelf favoured deposition of mud‐lean facies across much of the shallow shelf. Skeletal components in much of the carbonate‐rich strata formed in warm, nutrient‐rich subtropical waters, as indicated by widespread occurrences of larger benthic foraminifera and molluscan assemblages. These indicators of warm water deposition within the bryozoan‐mollusk‐rich carbonate assemblage on this shelf provide an example of a warm water bryomol assemblage; such facies generally are associated with cooler water depositional settings.     

Oligo–Miocene seagrass‐influenced carbonate sedimentation along a temperate marine palaeoarchipelago,Padthaway Ridge,South Australia

Oligo–Miocene carbonates associated with the Padthaway Ridge form the southern margin of the Murray Basin, South Australia. The carbonates are a thin, somewhat condensed succession of echinoid and bryozoan‐rich limestones that record accumulation in the complex of islands and seaways and progressive burial of the Ridge through time. The rocks are grainy to muddy bioclastic packstones, grainstones and floatstones, composed of infaunal echinoderms, bryozoans, coralline algae and benthic foraminifera, with lesser contributions from molluscs and serpulid worms. Locally as much as half of these skeletal components are Fe‐stained, relict grains that imbue the lithologies with a conspicuous yellow to orange hue. This variably lithified succession is partitioned into metre‐scale, firmground‐bounded and hardground‐bounded beds textured by extensive Thalassinoides burrows. Dominant lithologies are interpreted as temperate seagrass facies. Limestones contain attributes indicative of both seagrass‐dominated palaeoenvironments and carbonate production and accumulation on unconsolidated, barren sandflat palaeoenvironments. Together these two depositional systems are thought to have generated a single multigenerational, amalgamated facies recording sedimentation within a complex temperate seagrass environment. Limestones overlying the Padthaway Ridge reflect a gradually warming climate, increasing water temperature and decreasing nutrient content, within the framework of a ridge gradually being buried in sediment. This succession from cool–temperate to warm–temperate to subtropical through time permits recognition of the relative influence of changing oceanography on a seagrass‐dominated shallow inter‐island sea floor. Criteria are proposed herein to enable future recognition of similar temperate seagrass facies in Cenozoic limestones elsewhere.     

上扬子地区震旦纪沉积古地理

通过整理大量的钻井、测井、地震和其他综合研究资料,系统编制了上扬子地区震旦系各层段的岩相古地理图,进行了较为系统的沉积储集层研究。该研究显示震旦纪上扬子台地是一个半孤立的台地。震旦系沉积可以划分为前台地沉积、碳酸盐岩台地沉积和局限海盆沉积。紧邻上扬子台地西部边缘发育的川滇大裂谷对上扬子台地的演化、沉积古地理格局的形成及沉积相带的展布有着重要影响。灯影期,上扬子台地曾经有过一次由裂谷活动导致的快速沉降,经历了一次短暂的由台地到海盆的变化。岩相古地理的演变控制着四川盆地震旦系沉积储集层的形成与分布,也控制着该区常规油气及页岩气的形成与分布。     

Sedimentation rates, basin analysis and regional correlations of three Neoarchaean and Palaeoproterozoic sub-basins of the Kaapvaal craton as inferred from precise U–Pb zircon ages from volcaniclastic sediments

Calculation of sedimentation rates of Neoarchaean and Palaeoproterozoic siliciclastic and chemical sediments covering the Kaapvaal craton imply sedimentation rates comparable to their modern facies equivalents. Zircons from tuff beds in carbonate facies of the Campbellrand Subgroup in the Ghaap Plateau region of the Griqualand West basin, Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa were dated using the Perth Consortium Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe II (SHRIMP II). Dates of Ma and Ma for the middle and the upper part of the Nauga Formation indicate that the decompacted sedimentation rate for the peritidal flat to subtidal below-wave-base Stratifera and clastic carbonate facies, southwest of the Ghaap Plateau at Prieska, was of up to 10 m/Ma, when not corrected for times of erosion and non-deposition. Dates of Ma for the upper Gamohaan Formation and for the upper Monteville Formation, indicate that some 2000 m of carbonate and subordinate shale sedimentation occurred during 16 Ma to 62 Ma on the Ghaap Plateau. For these predominantly peritidal stromatolitic carbonates, decompacted sedimentation rates were of 40 m/Ma to over 150 m/Ma (Bubnoff units). The mixed siliciclastic and carbonate shelf facies of the Schmidtsdrif Subgroup and Monteville Formation accumulated with decompacted sedimentation rates of around 20 B. For the Kuruman Banded Iron Formation a decompacted sedimentation rate of up to 60 B can be calculated. Thus, for the entire examined deep shelf to tidal facies range, Archaean and Phanerozoic chemical and clastic sedimentation rates are comparable. Four major transgressive phases over the Kaapvaal craton, followed by shallowing-upward sedimentation, can be recognized in the Prieska and Ghaap Plateau sub-basins, in Griqualand West, and partly also in the Transvaal basin, and are attributed to second-order cycles of crustal evolution. First-order cycles of duration longer than 50 Ma can also be identified. The calculated sedimentation rates reflect the rate of subsidence of a rift-related basin and can be ascribed to tectonic and thermal subsidence. Comparison of the calculated sedimentation rates to published data from other Archaean and Proterozoic basins allows discussion of general Precambrian basin development. Siliciclastic and carbonate sedimentation rates of Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic basins equivalent to those of younger systems suggest that similar mechanical, chemical and biological processes were active in the Precambrian as found for the Phanerozoic. Particularly for stromatolitic carbonates, matching modern and Neoarchaean sedimentation rates are interpreted as a strong hint of a similar evolutionary stage of stromatolite-building microbiota. The new data also allow for improved regional correlations across the Griqualand West basin and with the Malmani Subgroup carbonates in the Transvaal basin. The Nauga Formation carbonates in the southwest of the Griqualand West basin are significantly older than the Gamohaan Formation in the Ghaap Plateau region of this basin, but are in part, correlatives of the Oaktree Formation in the Transvaal and of parts of the Monteville Formation on the Ghaap Plateau.     

Paleogene stratigraphy of Kutch,India: an update about progress in foraminiferal biostratigraphy

The Paleogene sections of Kutch are the reference for the regional chronostratigraphic units of India. The ages of these dominantly shallow marine carbonates are mainly based on larger benthic foraminifera (LBF). The taxonomic revisions of the LBF and the progressively refined shallow benthic zonations (SBZ) have necessitated the present study on updating the stratigraphy of the area. The sedimentation in Kutch commenced with the deposition of volcaniclastics in terrestrial environments in the Paleocene. The marine transgression in SBZ 5/6 deposited finer clastics and carbonates, designated as Naredi Formation, in early Eocene. There is no evidence of marine Paleocene in Kutch. A major hiatus spanning SBZ 12 to SBZ 16 was followed by the development of a carbonate platform and deposition of Harudi Formation – Fulra Limestone during the Bartonian, SBZ 17. The hiatus corresponds to a widespread stratigraphic break in Pakistan and India to Australia, referred as the ‘Lutetian Gap.’ The Maniyara Fort Formation is assigned to SBZ 22 B and SBZ 23, and its age is revised to Chattian. Climate played a major role in building up of the Paleogene stratigraphic succession of Kutch, the carbonates formed during the warming intervals and the stratigraphic gaps were in the intervening cooling periods.