黔南扁平村晚石炭世生物礁生物群落分析

在黔南紫云猴场镇以西约4 km扁平村发现了新的大型生物礁组合。该礁产于马平组Triticites带内,时间上隶属于晚石炭世晚期。通过对该礁组合中生物群落的详细研究,将其自下而上划分为组合面貌不同的6个群落。其中成礁生物群落有两个：珊Ivanoviacfmanchurica,叶状藻Eugonophyllum和菌藻类蓝细菌群落及珊瑚Formitchevella群落。前者各种生物在不同环境中独立发育构成小点礁,彼此平行排列,形成下部点礁层;后者由大型笙柱状排列的Formitchevella构成其上部主礁体。这些群落代表了生物礁的不同发展阶段,显示了在造礁过程中生物种类更替演化的特征,而群落演化与成礁有一致的对应关系,并控制着该生物礁的发育和规模。以特征生物Formitchevella为代表的造礁群落的组成、结构、生态特征和礁体生长发育模式在中国乃至世界上的石炭纪礁体中都是独特的,构成了晚石炭世罕见的非藻造架生物礁。扁平村生物礁的发现,丰富了世界石炭纪造礁生物群落的类型,为研究石炭纪造礁生物群落演化、礁体生长及建立生物礁生长动力学模型提供了新的实例。     

Salt Marsh and Fringing Oyster Reef Transgression in a Shallow Temperate Estuary: Implications for Restoration,Conservation and Blue Carbon

The importance of intertidal estuarine habitats, like salt marsh and oyster reef, has been well established, as has their ubiquitous loss along our coasts with resultant forfeiture of the ecosystem services they provide. Furthering our understanding of how these habitats are evolving in the face of anthropogenic and climate driven changes will help improve management strategies. Previous work has shown that the growth and productivity of both oyster reefs and salt marshes are strongly linked to elevation in the intertidal zone (duration of aerial exposure). We build on that research by examining the growth of marsh-fringing oyster reefs at yearly to decadal time scales and examine movement of the boundary between oyster reef and salt marsh at decadal to centennial time scales. We show that the growth of marsh-fringing reefs is strongly associated to the duration of aerial exposure, with little growth occurring below mean low water and above mean sea level. Marsh-shoreline movement, in the presence or absence of fringing oyster reefs, was reconstructed using transects of sediment cores. Carbonaceous marsh sediments sampled below the modern fringing oyster reefs indicate that marsh shorelines within Back Sound, North Carolina are predominantly in a state of transgression (landward retreat), and modern oyster-reef locations were previously occupied by salt marsh within the past two centuries. Cores fronting transgressive marsh shorelines absent fringing reefs sampled thinner and less extensive carbonaceous marsh sediment than at sites with fringing reefs. This indicates that fringing reefs are preserving carbonaceous marsh sediment from total erosion as they transgress and colonize the exposed marsh shoreline making marsh sediments more resistant to erosion. The amount of marsh sediment preservation underneath the reef scales with the reef’s relief, as reefs with the greatest relief were level with the marsh platform, preserving a maximum amount of carbonaceous sediments during transgression by buffering the marsh from erosional processes. Thus, fringing oyster reefs not only have the capacity to shelter shorelines but, if located at the ideal tidal elevation, they also keep up with accelerating sea-level rise and cap carbonaceous sediments, protecting them from erosion, as reefs develop along the marsh.     

The Fugløy Reef at 70°N; acoustic signature,geologic, geomorphologic and oceanographic setting

This is the first in-depth study of a cluster of cold-water coral reefs, the Fugløy Reefs, found at 70°N on the Norwegian margin. Combining high-resolution seismic reflection data, side-scan sonar, video-images, and oceanographic measurements reveals the geologic, geomorphologic and oceanographic setting in which the reefs occur. The reefs consist mainly of the scleractinian ahermatypic Lophelia pertusa, and exist below the thermocline at water depths between 140  m and 190 m. The reefs appear as cone-shaped, acoustically transparent features on seismic reflection data, consistently located in places characterized by the availability of hard substrate, high relief, and periodical exposure to high tidal currents (>30 cm/s). These currents transport water of the Norwegian Atlantic Current to the reefs from an area with fluid expulsion-related pockmarks. The spatial relationship between reef, pockmark locations, and current directions suggests that seepage of biogenic gas might be a catalyst to reef growth. With a height of more than 40 m some of the Fugløy reefs are among the highest reported from the Norwegian Margin. This indicates highly favourable growth conditions, and conservative estimates indicate a net growth rate for the reefs of ~5 mm/year. We expect that cold-water reefs will be found further north along the Barents Sea margin as general awareness on the geophysical signature and appearance of the reefs increases, because all known factors involved in reef establishment and growth are within the required intervals also further north.     

川东-鄂西地区二叠纪生物礁成因类型及潜伏礁预测

从相对海平面升降对礁生长发育控制的角度建立新的生物礁成因分类 (进积礁、并进礁和退积礁 ) ,据此描述川东—鄂西地区二叠纪生物礁的属性 ,认为该区进积礁和退积礁并存。根据礁体的进积和退积方向对潜伏礁进行预测 ,指出鄂西地区见天坝礁群的东南侧应该存在层位相当于长兴组三段的潜伏礁带 ,华蓥山—川东成礁带以西可能存在层位相当于长兴组三段顶的潜伏礁带。     

Growth and submarine fossilization of algal cup reefs,Bermuda*

Small charges of explosives were used to section cup-shaped reefs that occur on the margins of the Bermuda Platform. Study of these artificial outcrops, up to 10 m high, and the samples collected from them show how the reef-building community is rapidly converted to well-lithified reef rock in the marine development. The reefs, known locally as boilers and breakers, occur along the wave-swept south shore of the Bermuda Islands and around the northeast and northwest margins of the Platform. They are cup-shaped, up to 30 m in long dimensions, and rise up to the sea surface as much as 12 m above the surrounding sea floor. The reefs are built by an intergrowth of encrusting organisms, principally crustose coralline algae, an encrusting hydrozoan, Millepora sp., and an attached gastropod, Dendropoma irregulare. The growth framework of these algal cup reefs has extensive voids: large and intermediate-sized growth framework and shelter pores; borings of bivalves and sponges; and both intra- and inter-particle pores. A variety of vagile and sessile organisms (coelobites) inhabit these pores: an encrusting Foraminifera, Homotrema rubrum, is the most abundant attached coelobite; the tests of a variety of benthic Foraminifera and ostracods are common: branched coralline algae, barnacles, bivalves, ahermatypic corals, bryozoans, and burrowing crustaceans occur in varying abundance. Beginning millimetres below the living surface, internal sediments accumulate in the extensive voids. Coarse-grained skeletal sand derived from the surface of the reefs is characteristic of the larger voids; lime mud with the tests of planktonic Foraminifera and planktonic algae occurs generally in the smaller voids. Most specimens from the interior of the reefs show multiple generations of internal sediment that vary in grain size, composition, and colour. The sand-sized sediments are pumped into the voids by the frequent and intense wave action; the lime mud settles out in the smaller, less agitated pores. Cementation of internal sediments and surrounding growth frame begins centimetres below the living surface; it is so pervasive that marble-hard reef rock is developed within 1/2 m or less. The cement is principally high-magnesium calcite of micrite size, and subordinately acicular aragonite, but there are locally wide variations in crystal size and morphology. The occurrence of the cement within the reefs well below sea level, the isotope ratios of the cement crystals, the mineralogy, and the age inferred from radiocarbon age determinations of the growth frame all indicate that the cement is submarine and deposited from water of oceanic composition. The algal cup reefs of Bermuda demonstrate the reef-building ability of a community of encrusting organisms that form only crusts in the intertidal zone of the Mediterranean and Northern Brazil. The cup reefs of the northern margins of the Bermuda Platform are true reefs, not merely veneers covering eroded blocks of Pleistocene limestone. In their composition, location, and early diagenesis, the cup reefs closely resemble the algal or lithothamnion ridge of Pacific atolls. Synsedimentary cementation of internal sediments and growth frame makes a major contribution to the rigidity of these ocean-facing reefs and atoll rims. The assemblage of features that characterize the submarine fossilization of the cup reefs is widespread elsewhere in the modern seas: the floors of the Persian Gulf and parts of the Mediterranean; the margins of Pacific atolls; and the reefs off the north coast of Jamaica. This fossilization is characterized by reiterated generations of coelobites, internal sediments, and synsedimentary cements that can in time replace a major part of the original growth framework. Major variations in the sequence of these generations from pore to pore is the signature of this kind of fossilization. The same features of fossilization are described from reefs in the Devonian, Permian, and Triassic.     

事件地层学在生物礁研究中的应用

事件地层学不但在地层划分和对比中成为重要手段,而且在沉积学领域中的运用,也猛烈冲击了一些传统的沉积学观念,给沉积学研究领域注入了活力。人们越来越认识到,在地质历史中,沉积作用常常伴有突发的、不连续的地质事件。如众所周知的浊流、风暴、洪水、海啸等沉积。这些事件沉积无疑给沉积学研究方面开辟了新的思路和方法。本文想结合近几     

Lower Cambrian patch reefs and associated sediments: southern Labrador, Canada

The complex pattern of biological accretion, internal sedimentation, early lithification, and biological destruction, that characterizes modern reefs and many fossil reefs has been recognized in archaeocyathid-rich patch reefs of Lower Cambrian age in the Forteau Formation, southern Labrador. Patch reefs occur as isolated masses or complex associations of many discrete masses of archaeocyathid-rich limestone and skeletal lime sands, surrounded by well-bedded skeletal limestones and shales. Each reef is composed of many loafshaped mounds stacked on top of one another. The limestone of each mound comprises archaeocyathids and Renalcis or Renalcis-like structures in a matrix of argillaceous lime mud rich in sponge spicules, trilobite and salterellid skeletons. Numerous growth cavities roofed by pendant Renalcis-like organisms and Renalcis are partially to completely filled with geopetal sediment indicating that much of the matrix was deposited as internal sediment. Two stages of diagenetic alteration are recognized: (1) syn-depositional, which affected only the reefs, and (2) post-depositional, which affected both reefs and inter-reef sediments. On the sea floor reef sediments were pervasively cemented and fibrous carbonate was precipitated in intraskeletal and growth cavities. These limestones and cements as well as archaeocyathid skeletons, were subsequently bored by endolithic organisms. Later post-depositional subaerial diagenesis resulted first in dissolution of certain skeletons and precipitation of calcite cement above the water table, followed by extensive precipitation of pore-filling calcite below the water table. These carbonate reefs are similar in structure to the basal pioneer accumulations of much younger lower and middle Palaeozoic reefs. They did not develop into massive ‘ecologic’ reefs because archaeocyathids never developed the necessary large, massive, hemispherical skeletons. This occurrence indicates that reefs developed more or less coincident with, and not long after, the appearance of skeletal metazoans in the Lower Cambrian.     

海南岛鹿回头现代珊瑚岸礁发育史

海南岛南部鹿回头现代珊瑚岸礁发育很好, 是我国久负盛名的岸礁研究区。礁区南北两侧是基岩组成的山岭, 中央为宽约2km的连岛砂洲, 砂洲由礁块和生物碎屑堆积而成。连岛砂洲两侧为海湾, 西北侧称三亚湾, 东南侧为小东海, 海湾中发育有现代珊瑚岸礁。     

Paleoecology of Early Ordovician Reefs in the Yichang Area, Hubei: a Correlation of Organic Reefs Between Early Ordovician and Jurassic

The Early Ordovician System is composed mainly of a series of carbonate platform deposits interbedded with shale and is especially characterized by a large number of organic reefs or buildups that occur widely in the research area. The reefs have different thicknesses ranging from 0.5 m to 11.5 m and lengths varying from 1 m to 130 m. The reef-building organisms include Archaeoscyphia, Recepthaculitids, Batostoma, Cyanobacteria and Pulchrilamina. Through the research of characteristics of the reef-bearing strata of the Early Ordovician in the Yichang area, four sorts of biofacies are recognized, which are (1) shelly biofacies: containing Tritoechia-Pelmatozans community and Tritoechia-Pomatotrema community; (2) reef biofacies: including the Batostoma, Calathium-Archaeoscyphia, Pelmatozoa-Batostoma, Archeoscyphia and Calathium-Cyanobacteria communities; (3) standing-water biofacies: including the Acanthograptus-Dendrogptus and Yichangopora communities; and (4) allochthonous biofacies: containing Nanorthis-Psilocephlina taphocoense community. The analysis of sea-level changes indicates that there are four cycles of sea-level changes during the period when reef-bearing strata were formed in this area, and the development of reefs is obviously controlled by the velocity of sea-level changes and the growth of accommodation space. The authors hold that reefs were mostly formed in the high sea level periods. Because of the development of several subordinate cycles during the sea-level rising, the reefs are characterized by great quantity, wide distribution, thin thickness and small scale, which are similar to that of Juassic reefs in northern Tibet. The research on the evolution of communities shows that succession and replacement are the main forms. The former is favorable to the development of reefs and the latter indicates the disappearance of reefs.     

Early-Middle Permian Reef Frameworks and Reef-building Models in the Eastern Kunlun Mountains

Reef frameworks and building models of the Early-Middle Permian in the eastern Kunlun Mountains have been verified through studies of reef-building communities, palaeoecology and carbonate facies. The eastern Kunlun reefs are built mainly by 6 reef-building communities, which include 11 major categories of frame-building organisms and 6 categories of reef-associated organisms. Eight types of reef-frames have been distinguished and eleven kinds of rocks identified to belong to 6 reef facies. Three sorts of reefs classified by previous researchers, namely mudmounds, knoll reefs and walled reefs, are well developed in the study area. Such reef-facies association and reef distribution show that there are 4 models of reef growth and development, i.e. the tidal-bank knoll-reef model, the plateau-margin wall-reef model, the composite wall-reef model and the deep-water mudmound model. The reefs are mainly constructed by calcareous sponge and calcareous algae, which are similar to all Permian reefs in other area     

Epitaxial salt reefs and mushrooms in the southern Dead Sea

Salt usually accumulates in shallow ephemeral brines as simple flat beds. However, in permanent brines deepening in solar evaporation ponds in the southern Dead Sea, salt accumulation is complicated by the growth of isolated vegetable-like salt structures and networks of polygonal salt walls. These walls divide large salt ponds, which are easily homogenized by wind, into thousands of small compartments that are less easy to mix. Instead, brines in the compartments stratify when a surficial layer about 10 cm thick supersaturates and floats above the cumulate floors on brines that are merely saturated. Salt reef growth in the southern Dead Sea has previously been attributed to mixing of ions common to brines already in the ponds and those pumped in from the northern basin (with or without subsurface brines rising through the pond floors). A new factor is emphasized here that, whatever the origins of the brines, salt reefs remain emergent by epitaxis, the in situ growth of crystalline substrates already in the surficial supersaturated layer. Epitaxis can be invisible in crystal clear brines and prolongs the obvious crystallization season by replacing sedimentation of grains nucleated and grown on the brine surface as the dominant mechanism of deposition. Salt reefs develop botryoidal overhangs that can merge into salt platforms that roof over deep brines. Salt shallows on the reef platforms and around the pond shores are both characterized by the deposition of the thin flat beds with vertical palisade textures well known from other ephemeral brines. Salt reefs are interpreted as tepee structures which have grown by epitaxis as fast as saturated brines have deepened around them. Epitaxis may also account for the rapid deposition of thick beds of pure salt in rifts that open to oceans. Local histories of salt reef compartmentalization can be read from the shapes of reefs that record their relative rates of growth and drowning. Rather than diminish evaporation area, damp emergent salt reefs act as giant transpirative pumps that accelerate salt crystallization and reconfigure the evaporation ponds into areas smaller than thought necessary by chemical engineers. The natural end of reef formation may be when shallow brines on hollow reef platforms become ephemeral on solid salt flats. Former salt reefs are likely to be distinguishable in the undeformed geological record by their botryoidal layers of nonvertical chevron crystals.     

贵州紫云石炭纪叶状藻礁:藻类繁盛的标志

紫云晚石炭世叶状藻礁发育在碳酸盐台地边缘。叶状藻礁体具有多样性，有叶状藻点礁、多层迭置叶状藻礁和大型叶状藻礁体。叶状藻礁体的建造过程是由叶状藻群落的发展和沉积环境所决定的，叶状藻具有主动建造礁体的能力，构成骨架礁灰岩。礁体建造过程大体上分为三个阶段:①生物碎屑滩的形成；②叶状藻生长及礁体建造；③造礁结束。多层迭置叶状藻礁为以上三个阶段的多次重复；大型叶状藻礁是在礁体发育过程的第二阶段由连续生长的叶状藻五次集中发育建造而成。     

全球海平面变化与中国珊瑚礁

本文以政府间气候变化专业委员会（IPCC）于2001年专门报告中关于21世纪内全球气候变化的温度和海平面变化的预估为前提。简要介绍了中国珊瑚礁的定位、类型和分布,对其进行了成熟度分类,评估了全球海平面变化对中国珊瑚礁的影响。据预测,21世纪我国各海域海平面上升以南海最大,为32 ~ 98cm,其平均上升速率为0.32 ~ 0.98cm/a。从海平面上升速率与珊瑚礁生长速率的理论对比分析,中国珊瑚礁基本上能与前者同步生长,即使海平面以预估高值上升,也不会威胁其生存。从中国珊瑚礁成熟度较高、其生长趋势以侧向生长为主的现实状况出发,未来全球海平面上升能为其创造向上生长的有利条件。从古地理学“将古论今”观点出发,自全新世6000aBP以来曾存在过的高海平面和较高表层海水温度的历史,也可以佐证,21世纪的全球海平面上升不会对中国珊瑚礁的存在和发育造成威胁。现存的珊瑚礁岛应对于全球海平面上升,可以做到“水涨岛高”,它们能够屹立于上升了的未来海平面之上;但对于岛上的人工建筑物则会被浸、被淹,或被淘蚀和破坏,因此必须根据海平面上升的幅度和速率,采取相应的防御措施。     

Mesoproterozoic deep-water reefs from Borden Peninsula, Arctic Canada

A superbly exposed stromatolite reef complex occurs in the Victor Bay Formation near Strathcona River on northern Baffin Island. Individual reefs are up to 130 m thick and nearly 1 km in length, and their development was clearly related to their position in the facies spectrum and to sea-level dynamics. In the first sea-level cycle, metre-scale reefs grew amongst mid-ramp calcarenites and outer-ramp shales during slow sea-level rise; a 25-m-thick oblate reef tract, separating mid-ramp and outer-ramp facies, formed during the highstand. The greatest period of reef growth was during the second sea-level cycle. Pinnacle reefs nucleated on the karsted upper surface of the oblate reef tract and aggraded rapidly in response to rising sea-level, producing structures with more than 75 m of depositional relief. A gradual symmetrical succession of stromatolite growth forms, from stratiform to cylindrical columns to conical columns and then back through cylindrical columns to stratiform, is mirrored by evidence in offreef deposits for deepening to a maximum flooding surface and then shallowing. The tops of these high-standing reefs were karsted during the following regression, while dolomite ‘cryptodomes’ grew as sheets on their submerged flanks and as progradational tongues extending basinward of the reefs. Continued sea-level fall resulted in subaerial exposure of the entire reef complex and the extensive formation of surface and subsurface karst. These Proterozoic slope buildups are similar to Phanerozoic deep-water reefs in size, shape, prevalence of synsedimentary lithification, presence of Neptunian dykes and in their well-developed vertical zonation of reefbuilders. However, they differ in being constructed exclusively by stromatolites rather than being mud mounds with small skeletal elements, and in lacking halos of perireefal sand- and gravel-sized calcareous debris. Their responses to changes in sea-level were strikingly similar to those shown by their younger counterparts, and suggest that sequence-stratigraphic concepts derived from studies of Phanerozoic reefs can also be applied to the Proterozoic.     

鄂尔多斯盆地西缘奥陶纪生物礁基本特征、分布规律及成礁模式

鄂尔多斯盆地西缘奥陶纪发育有生物礁。本文通过对鄂尔多斯盆地西缘野外及钻井岩心生物礁调查及室内鉴定分析,认为在乌海桌子山地区、棋探1井地区、彭阳石节子沟等地发育了较为典型的生物礁,主要造礁生物为珊瑚、层孔虫和海绵。三处生物礁发育特征有差异,北段礁体生长发育2～3期,中段发育2期生长,南段生长发育可达4期;北端及南端生物礁造礁生物个体较大,生长的水体环境相对较浅,而中段生物礁造礁生物个体较小,生长的水体相对较深。这些典型生物礁的生长、发展和消亡呈现了不同的发育特征和时空分布规律,北段生物礁体发育层位早,中、南段发育层位晚,这种分布变化规律与华北板块在早古生代处于赤道附近发生了北漂右旋的旋转漂移规律有关。通过对不同地段生物礁基本特征分析,结合δ13C和δ18O同位素分析结果,认为盆地西缘生物礁成礁模式为中央古隆起西部陆缘海背景下的开阔台地边缘带点礁-滩体组合模式,分布较为局限,认为该地区生物礁死亡原因系海平面快速上升事件导致礁体被淹死所致,也进一步推测生物礁之上存在一次海平面快速上升事件。     

生物礁内部地震反射特征的地质解读及以体系域为单元的层序地层学认识——以珠江口盆地生物礁为例

通过分析珠江口盆地东沙隆起生物礁生长方式对海平面变化的响应,归纳出不同时期礁体生长的几种可能的几何形态和相应的地震响应特征,并对生物礁内部地震反射特征进行地质解读,建立了成礁模式,获得以体系域为单元的生物礁层序地层认识,为层序划分和层位对比解释提供了较可靠的参考.     

Late Miocene Halimeda alga-microbial segment reefs in the marginal Mediterranean Sorbas Basin, Spain

A ～6 Ma Messinian (late Miocene) Bioherm Unit on the southern slope of the Sorbas Basin, SE Spain, contains numerous biotically diverse lensoid patch reefs that formed on a shelf to basin slope during a cycle of relative sea-level change. Halimeda reefs are the largest and most complex of the patch reefs and are divisible into core, cap, and flank facies. On the upper and midslope they are up to 40 m thick and 400 m long. They become smaller downslope. The core consists of jumbled Halimeda segments, released by spontaneous disaggregation of the alga. The segments were stabilized close to their sites of growth and rapidly lithified by micritic and peloidal microbial crusts. Residual cavities were further veneered by isopachous marine cements. Flank facies, consisting of bedded packstones to rudstones, form wedge-shaped units lateral to the mounds. Cap facies consist of bioclastic calcarenites/calcirudites and microbial carbonates. Synsedimentary lithification assisted rapid accretion and inhibited off-mound export of sediment. Allochthonous reef-derived blocks on the mid-slope reflect penecontemporaneous rigidity of the Halimeda bioherms. Proximal Porites coral frame patch reefs associated with calcarenites were located near the shelf margin during the initial lowstand stage. Halimeda segment reefs associated with calcarenites and silty marls developed on the midslope and bivalve-bryozoan-serpulid reefs formed on the lower slope in silty marls with occasional turbidites. During the transgressive stage, coral patch reefs near the shelfbreak were overgrown by Halimeda. During highstand progradation, cap facies spread basinward as a sheet connecting many of the midslope patch reefs. These ancient analogues differ from most modern Halimeda reefs in being discrete laterally restricted patch reefs, surrounded by marly sediment, and located on a slope. They are, however, broadly comparable in biota, thickness, and depositional depth. Intense early lithification by microbial crusts and marine cements is an important feature of these Messinian segment reefs. It has not been reported from modern examples.     

Sediment Suspension and Deposition Across Restored Oyster Reefs of Varying Orientation to Flow: Implications for Restoration

The eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, is a prominent ecosystem engineer, whose reefs exhibit strikingly consistent morphologies at multiple spatial scales throughout its North American range. These distinct morphologies are thought to form by interactions of nascent reef structures with hydrodynamics. We carried out two field studies to determine if historical reef configurations applied in a restoration context would improve reef persistence and restoration outcomes. We collected seabed and water column observations across constructed reefs of three orientations representative of those found historically throughout the oyster’s range: parallel or perpendicular to tidal currents or circular. Areas adjacent to reefs were sites of fine sediment trapping, with lower flow velocities, evidence of particle settling, and more fine sediments on the seabed relative to off-reef reference sites. The water column above the reef crest exhibited higher acoustic backscatter, higher flow velocities, and larger particles in suspension, consistent with local erosion of flocculated fine sediment from the reef crest. Perpendicular reefs produced conditions that were more conducive to reef persistence and improved oyster performance, including high flow velocities and enhanced resuspension of sediments from the reef, compared to parallel or circular reefs. Particle trapping in areas between reefs has the potential to inhibit reef growth between existing reef structures, providing support for hypotheses of landscape-scale reef pattern formation. Oyster reef restoration efforts can benefit from this improved understanding of biophysical interactions arising from reef orientation that contribute to sediment dynamics on constructed oyster reefs.     

Sedimentary characteristics,formation mechanisms and geological significance of the Shiniulan Formation reefs (lower Silurian) in the Upper Yangtze Platform

The lower Silurian Shiniulan Formation of the Upper Yangtze Platform contains small-scale coral–stromatoporoid reefs, generally from less than 10?km long and from 10 to 30?m in thickness, especially in the middle–upper parts. The reef-building organisms were dominantly tabulate and rugose corals, with fewer stromatoporoids. Reef-inserted organisms include bryozoans, brachiopods, cephalopods, algae, crinoids and bivalves. The Shiniulan Formation is characterised by biohermal limestone, bioclastic limestone, sandstone and mudstone, and is divided into four members according to lithological characteristics. The reefs generally occur in the middle–upper layer, which corresponds to four growth stages: stabilisation, colonisation, diversification and domination. In the reefs, the argillaceous and sandy contents decrease, and the carbonates increase from the base to the top. The growth characteristics, evolution, scale and size of the reefs in the Shiniulan Formation were influenced by three factors: agitation of terrigenous debris, fluctuation of sea level and seawater temperature. The Upper Yangtze region was mainly a shallow marine environment with a warm or torrid tropical and subtropical climate and high salinity in the late Aeronian. However, the Shiniulan Formation has significant differences in growth, evolution and extension scale compared with corresponding reefs in Laurentia and the Siberia and Kazakhstan blocks. Analysis of the geological factors of the Shiniulan Formation and the Menier Formation of Anticosti Island, which has revealed that the two sections have similar reef types, lithology and biology, aims to explain the under-development of large-scale reefs in the Upper Yangtze Platform during the middle–upper Silurian.     

鄂西二叠系生物礁的基本特征及其发育规律

鄂西二叠系生物礁分布于利川县境,它是由海绵、水螅等造架生物组成的典型的生物礁,其层位属晚二叠世长兴组,出露于见天坝、黄泥塘等地(图1)。此生物礁从出露之完整、化石之丰富、结构之清楚来看,是我国最发育的生物礁之一。