Significance of molluscan shell beds in sequence stratigraphy: an example from the Lower Cretaceous Mannville Group of Canada1

Detailed study of marine shales (the Ostracod zone) within a Cretaceous, third-order transgressive-regressive sequence in the Alberta Foreland Basin reveals a systematic association between shell beds and parasequence-scale flooding surfaces, including surfaces of maximum flooding. The Ostracod zone (a subsurface lithostratigraphic unit known as the Calcareous Member in outcrop) consists of 10-20 m of black shale and bioturbated sandstones with many thin, fossiliferous limestones. Parasequences (shallowing-up cycles 2–3 m thick) were delineated within this transgressive unit based on lithology, sedimentary structures, degree of bioturbation, dinoflagellate diversity, total organic carbon and carbon/sulphur ratios; many flooding surfaces are firmgrounds or hardgrounds. Shell-rich limestones occur in three different positions relative to these flooding surfaces, and each has a distinctive bioclastic fabric and origin. (i) Base-of-parasequence shell beds (BOPs) lie on or just above flooding surfaces in the deepest water part of a parasequence; they are thin (up to a few centimetres), graded or amalgamated skeletal packstones/wackestones composed of well-sorted granular shell, and are interpreted as hydraulic event concentrations of exotic shell debris. (ii) Top-of-parasequence shell beds (TOPs) are capped by flooding surfaces at the top, shallowest water part of a parasequence; they typically are several decimetres thick, are physically amalgamated packstones/grainstones or bioturbated wackestones, and contain abundant whole as well as comminuted shells; these are composite, multiple-event concentrations of local shells. (iii) Mid-sequence shell beds rest on as well as are capped by firmgrounds or hardgrounds, and are intercalated between parasequences in the deepest water part of the larger sequence; they are laterally extensive lime mudstones a few decimetres thick, with sparse shells in various states of dissolution, recrystallization and replacement; these beds are terrigenous-starved hiatal concentrations and record maximum flooding within the Ostracod zone. Offshore sections of the Ostracod zone typically contain several starved mid-sequence shell beds, underscoring the difficulty of identifying a single‘maximum flooding surface’ within a third-order sequence.     

Iron mineralization in the Garagu Formation of Gara Mountain,Duhok Governorate,Kurdistan, NE Iraq: geochemistry,mineralogy and origin

The iron mineralization is hosted in carbonate beds of the Garagu Formation (Early Cretaceous) at Gara Mountain, Duhok Governorate, Kurdistan Region, NE Iraq. The Garagu Formation is composed of a series of limestone and siltstone beds with iron-rich beds in the middle part. The iron-rich limestones are iron-rich oolitic grainstone and bioclastic wackestone with hematite and goethite minerals. Geochemical results drawn from this study indicate that the percentage of iron in these beds reaches 19.73 %. Moreover, petrographical investigation of thin and polished sections reveals the presence of different types of fossils, indicating an open marine interior platform depositional environment. Different iron minerals, including hematite, goethite, siderite, pyrite and magnetite, were identified in the sections, and their geneses were related to syngenetic and diagenetic processes. The geochemical distribution of major and trace elements, as well as the V/Ni, V/(V+Ni), V/Cr and Sr/Ba ratios, indicates a reducing environment during the precipitation of carbonate sediments and a subsequent oxidizing condition during the concentration of iron minerals via diagenesis.     

Physical character of archean felsic volcanism in the vicinity of the Helen iron Mine,Wawa, Ontario,Canada

Archean felsic volcanic rocks form a 2000 m thick succession stratigraphically below the Helen Iron Formation in the vicinity of the Helen Mine, Wawa, Ontario. Based on relict textures and structures, lateral and vertical facies changes, and fragment type, size and distribution, the felsic volcanic rocks have been subdivided into (a) lava flows and domes (b) hyalotuffs, (c) bedded pyroclastic flows, (d) massive pyroclastic flows, and (e) block and ash flows.Lava flows and domes are flow-banded, massive, and/or brecciated and occur throughout the stratigraphic succession. Dome/flow complexes are believed to mark the end of explosive eruptive cycles. Deposits interpreted as hyalotuffs are finely bedded and composed dominantly of ash-size material and accretionary lapilli. These deposits are interlayered with bedded pyroclastic flow deposits and probably formed from phreatomagmatic eruptions in a shallow subaqueous environment. Such eruptions led to the formation of tuff cones or rings. If these structures emerged they may have restricted the access of seawater to the eruptive vent(s), thus causing a change in eruptive style from short, explosive pulses to the establishment of an eruption column. Collapse of this column would lead to the accumulation of pyroclastic material within and on the flanks of the cone/ring structure, and to flows which move down the structure and into the sea. Bedded pyroclastic deposits in the Wawa area are thought to have formed in this manner, and are now composed of a thicker, more massive basal unit which is overlain by one or more finely bedded ash units. Based on bed thickness, fragment and crystal size, type and abundance, these deposits are further subdivided into central, proximal and distal facies.Central facies units consist of poorly graded, thick (30–80 m) basal beds composed of 23–60% lithic and 1–8% juvenile fragments. These are overlain by 1–4 thinner ash beds (2–25 cm). Proximal facies basal beds range from 2–35 m in thickness and are composed of 15–35% lithic and 4–16% juvenile fragments. Typically, lithic components are normally graded, whereas juvenile fragments are inversely graded. These basal beds are overlain by ash beds (2–14 in number) which range from 12 cm to 6 m in thickness. Distal basal beds, where present, are thin (1–2 m), and composed of 2–8% lithic and 6–21% juvenile fragments. Overlying ash beds range up to 40 in number.The climax of pyroclastic activity is represented by a thick (1000 m) sequence of massive, poorly sorted, pyroclastic flow deposits which are composed of 5–15% lithic fragments and abundant pumice. These deposits are similar to subaerial ash flows and appear to mark the rapid eruption of large volumes of material. They are overlain by felsic lavas and/or domes. Periodic collapse of the growing domes produced abundant coarse volcanic breccia. The overall volcanic environment is suggestive of caldera formation and late stage dome extrusion.     

Were kinetics of Archean calcium carbonate precipitation related to oxygen concentration?

Archean carbonates commonly contain decimetre- to metre-thick beds consisting entirely of fibrous calcite and neomorphosed fibrous aragonite that precipitated in situ on the sea floor. The fact that such thick accumulations of precipitated carbonate are rare in younger marine carbonates suggests an important change in the modes of calcium carbonate precipitation through time. Kinetics of carbonate precipitation depend on the concentration of inhibitors to precipitation that reduce crystallization rates and crystal nuclei formation, leading to kinetic maintenance of supersaturated solutions. Inhibitors also affect carbonate textures by limiting micrite precipitation and promoting growth of older carbonate crystals on the sea floor. Fe2+, a strong calcite-precipitation inhibitor, is thought to have been present at relatively high concentrations in Archean seawater because oxygen concentrations were low. The rise in oxygen concentration at 2.2-1.9 Ga led to the removal of Fe2+ from seawater and resulted in a shift from Archean facies, which commonly include precipitated beds, to Proterozoic facies, which contain more micritic sediment and only rare precipitated beds.     

Stratigraphy and sedimentology of Jurassic bedded chert overlying ophiolites in the North Apennines, Italy

In the North Apennines of Italy, Upper Jurassic bedded chert stratigraphically overlies ophiolitic rocks and is overlain by Lower to Middle Cretaceous pelagic limestone and shale, and Upper Cretaceous flysch. The bedded chert, best exposed in East Liguria and on Elba, is typically 30–80 m thick, but occasionally reaches 150–200 m thickness. It consists of two main alternating lithologïes: siliceous mudstone (SM) and radiolarite (R). Chert sections commonly show characteristic stratigraphic changes. Lower cherts display a striking rhythmic alternation of R and ferruginous SM beds. In middle cherts, SM beds are much less ferruginous and shalier intercalations are locally present. In upper cherts, R beds are less frequent and SM beds are essentially non-ferruginous. R beds are generally 1–4 cm thick, and consist of 80–90% quartz, 5–15% clays and usually < 1% hematite. They are commonly parallel-laminated, and rarely size-graded. In size-graded beds, large radiolaria are more abundant near the bed base (commonly together with ophiolitic or SM clasts) and small radiolaria more abundant near the bed top. Sorting is poor throughout most R beds. R beds are interpreted as turbidites (cf. Nisbet & Price, 1974). Model calculations suggest that typical settling velocities of radiolaria during redeposition are < 1 cm sec^?1, which is low and of restricted range relative to the 1–10 cm sec^?1 settling velocities of clastic grains of comparable size range. Radiolaria therefore should have only a limited tendency to grade and sort during deposition from a turbulent current. SM beds are commonly 1–7 cm thick, although much thicker ones occur near the base of sections, and consist mainly of 50–70% quartz, 15–35% clays and 0–15% hematite. Microscopic clay-silica aggregates and highly corroded remnants of radiolaria are common. SM beds are interpreted as mainly ambient pelagic sediment which accumulated slowly in topographic lows, and which was modified by near-surface dissolution of biogenic silica. In SM beds which contain two texturally different layers, the lower one is interpreted as the top of the underlying radiolarian turbidite. North Apennine cherts represent the first sediment deposited on oceanic crust formed during the opening of the North Apennine part of the Tethys. The ophiolitic basement had a rugged topography which favoured the redeposition of siliceous sediment. Hematite and local Mn enrichments in SM beds in the lower chert sections represent hydrothermal precipitates inferred to have originated at a spreading axis. During seafloor spreading, accumulation of siliceous sediments progressively reduced the topography. Deposition of ophiolitic detritus within the sediments phased out during early chert sedimentation, and the hydrothermal contribution during early-middle chert sedimentation. As local basins filled, during late chert sedimentation, radiolarian turbidites became less frequent. The first limestones at the top of chert sections are calcareous ooze turbidites derived from above the CCD and deposited slightly below it. Gradual descent of the CCD to ocean floor depths at the end of the Jurassic (Bosellini & Winterer, 1975) led to the replacement of siliceous by carbonate sedimentation.     

Barnacle-dominated limestone with giant cross-beds in a non-tropical, tide-swept, Pliocene forearc seaway, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand

Pliocene, non-tropical, widespread and locally thick (up to 100 m) limestones occur in Hawke's Bay, eastern North Island, where they are intimately associated with very thick ( > 5 km), terrigenous-dominated, Neogene sequences that formed in a tectonically active convergent margin setting. The non-tropical character of the limestones is shown unequivocally by (1) the complete dominance of skeletal calcarenites and calcirudites, (2) the occurrence of oyster banks as the only in situ organic structures, (3) the dominance of barnacles, epifaunal molluscs, bryozoans, echinoderms, foraminifers, brachiopods and calcareous red algae as skeletal components, and (4) the preponderance of calcite over aragonite in the mineralogy of the skeletal grains and cements. The abundance of barnacle fragments in the limestones, and the related exclusive occurrence of only one major organic association, a barnacle-(epifaunal) bivalve-bryozoan assemblage, is striking and unusual given the extent of the limestones. Pecten and oyster valves acted as substrates for barnacle attachment, and their growth was promoted by strong tidal paleocurrents that swept the depositional setting: a long (450 km), narrow (30–50 km) forearc basin seaway, which formed between an actively deforming subduction complex to the east and an uplifting structural ridge to the west. Synsedimentary deformation promoted limestone formation on the margins of the seaway by creating current-swept, clastic-free submarine ridges that acted as the sites of carbonate production. Tidal flows dispersed the carbonate constituents and organised them into a wide spectrum of tide-influenced, cross-bedded and horizontal structures. Most spectacular are occurrences of giant tabular cross-beds, with sets 10–40 m thick and foreset dips of 7–36°, some interpreted as the deposits of major sand bars on carbonate deltas marginal to the mouths of saddles traversing the rising antiforms, and others analogous to modern linear sand ridges. The small- to large-scale planar and trough cross-beds, and the horizontal and lenticular beds that are invariably associated with the giant cross-beds and dominate most sections, represent mainly the deposits of sand waves and sand sheets at inner- to mid-shelf depths in the seaway.     

Sedimentation, fracturing and sliding on a pelagic plateau margin: the Middle Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous succession of Rocca Busambra (Western Sicily, Italy)

The Jurassic succession of Rocca Busambra consists of two lithostratigraphic units: a pile of peritidal limestones several hundreds of metres thick (Inici Formation: Hettangian to Sinemurian) and a 2 to 15 m thick sequence of Rosso Ammonitico‐type pelagic limestones (Toarcian? to lowermost Berriasian). An extensive interval of non‐deposition is evidenced by a thick Fe–Mn oxide crust on the bounding disconformity and is recorded partially in the material contained within a complex network of neptunian dykes and sills. Seven lithofacies are distinguished in the Rosso Ammonitico. These lithofacies show that the Rosso Ammonitico limestones differ from most analogues both in Sicily and elsewhere: sediments are mostly grain‐supported and non‐nodular; obviously bottom currents were important during deposition of these sediments. These currents were pulsating at different frequencies and induced winnowing, intraclast production and early cement precipitation. Other Rosso Ammonitico lithosomes of Late Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous age, usually decimetre thick and discontinuous, overlie the Inici Formation without any Fe–Mn crust; their anomalous stratigraphical and geometrical relationships show that they were deposited on an inclined, stepped, erosional surface incised in the sub‐horizontal Inici Formation. This ancient escarpment is interpreted as the result of a mainly gravitational collapse of the margin of a pelagic plateau. Such mass wasting was probably due to the backstepping of the tectonic plateau–basin margin that is not observable directly, but may be inferred from circumstantial evidence. This observation clearly shows that tectonic activity affected the Rocca Busambra sector of the West Tethys continental margins a few tens of millions of years after the end of the rifting stage. The anomalous Rosso Ammonitico sediments are the only indication of the escarpment and their occurrence in the stratigraphic record is probably more widespread than reported in the literature. More accurate palaeoenvironmental and palaeogeographic reconstructions may depend on the identification of these sediments.     

Implications for Neoarchaean ocean chemistry from primary carbonate mineralogy of the Campbellrand-Malmani Platform, South Africa

The precipitation of calcite and aragonite as encrustations directly on the seafloor was an important platform‐building process during deposition of the 2560–2520 Ma Campbellrand‐Malmani carbonate platform, South Africa. Aragonite fans and fibrous coatings are common in unrestricted, shallow subtidal to intertidal facies. They are also present in restricted facies, but are absent from deep subtidal facies. Decimetre‐thick fibrous calcite encrustations are present to abundant in all depositional environments except the deepest slope and basinal facies. The proportion of the rock composed of carbonate that precipitated as encrustations or in primary voids ranges from 0% to > 65% depending on the facies. Subtidal facies commonly contain 20–35%in situ precipitated carbonate, demonstrating that Neoarchaean sea water was supersaturated with respect to aragonite, carbonate crystal growth rates were rapid compared with sediment influx rates, and the dynamics of carbonate precipitation were different from those in younger carbonate platforms. The abundance of aragonite pseudomorphs suggests that sea‐water pH was neutral to alkaline, whereas the paucity of micrite suggests the presence of inhibitors to calcite and aragonite nucleation in the mixed zone of the oceans.     

Basin-wide turbidites in a Miocene, over-supplied deep-sea plain: a geometrical analysis

Eighteen stratigraphic sections, 200 m thick on average, were logged in basin plain deposits of the Marnoso-arenacea Formation (Miocene, northern Apennines) over an area of 123 × 27 km. Turbidites form 80–90% of the facies association, hemipelagites the remainder. Thin and thick-bedded turbidites are separated by an approximate statistical boundary at 40 cm; most prominent beds (> 1 m thick) are qualified as megaturbidites. With reference to the main supply-dispersal system (NW to SE), the basin plain can be axially subdivided into proximal, intermediate and distal segments by means of the following parameters: bulk sand content, sand/shale ratio in turbidites, mean thickness of individual layers and component beds, and frequency of thick layers. Almost 40% of thick-bedded turbidites can be traced over the whole study area. These basin-wide deposits form the bulk of the basin fill. Geometrical reconstruction shows that some sandstone beds taper downcurrent from the proximal plain or the adjacent fan area while others thin upcurrent suggesting sand by pass of the fan. Mudstone beds in general thicken towards the end and the margins of the plain indicating that turbidite mud, besides bypassing the fan as a rule, was affected by ponding in the plain. Thin-bedded turbidites have a low sand/shale ratio or are completely muddy representing either tails of sandier turbidites of the outer fan (lobe and fringe deposits) or sheets extending to a great part of or to the whole plain. Sandstone lobes advanced from fans into the plain for 40–50 km gradually thinning and shaling out over a transitional zone of 10–20 km. Their internal geometry shows simple and complex growth patterns: end members are defined as progradational and aggradational. Estimates of original length, width and volume of individual turbidites strongly suggest that flows were usually confined and deflected by basin slopes regardless of source location. Basinal deposits are thus characterized by great thickness and volume, abundance of mud and fine sand, extremely low lateral gradients of thickness and grain size (but rapid wedging near the sides). The basin plain developed as a part of an elongated, oversupplied basin with a ‘highly efficient’, probably delta-fed, dispersal system.     

南京汤山“白垩纪古溶洞岩层”的年代和成因新认识

一些研究者将南京汤山葫芦洞的形成时代上溯到了白垩纪 ,认为洞内所见的红色、黄色岩层可与宁镇地区白垩纪的地层单元 ,如赤山组、葛村组或浦口组对比 ,是与赤山组同期异相的洞穴沉积物。通过对这套岩层在洞内外的产出状况、与围岩接触关系的进一步观察 ,并结合岩石学微相、重矿物、硼当量以及碳同位素的分析结果 ,它们的时代应是奥陶纪 ,由于受燕山期的构造和岩浆活动的影响 ,因而与汤山一带常见的奥陶纪地层在产状和岩性上有所差别 ,蚀变的程度也有所不同 ,局部较深的蚀变作用使原岩铁化或硅化     

Diagenetically enhanced bedding in argillaceous platform limestones: stratified cementation and selective compaction

A field and petrographic study has been made of 34 massive beds in argillaceous limestones of open marine platform facies in the U.K. Lithologies include grainstones, packstones, wackestones and lime mudstones. The rocks are of Silurian, Carboniferous and Jurassic ages. Additional information was obtained from other limestones in the U.K., the U.S.A., Canada and continental Europe. The beds are parts of sequences composed of couplets of strata, fissile limestones alternating with hard limestones. In the fissile limestones the effects of mechanical compaction and pressure-dissolution have been concentrated, whereas in the hard limestones they are minimal or absent. Bedding planes visible in outcrop are diagenetic in origin and lie in the middle parts of the fissile limestones where compaction has been most severe. The features produced by pressure-dissolution are dissolution seams and fitted fabric: there are no stylolites. The original carbonate sediments were bioturbated and any structures produced by flowing water were destroyed. The vertical distribution of the bedding planes bears no relation to primary depositional bedding planes which are rare or absent. It is inferred that the strata which were to become the hard limestones were selectively cemented before mechanical compaction had been completed. Thenceforth, mechanical compaction and then pressure-dissolution were concentrated in the less cemented strata: these became the fissile limestones. Pressure-dissolution acted late in the diagenetic history and provided only an insignificant part, if any, of the carbonate for cementation. It is concluded that the orientation of beds (couplets) is parallel to successive sea floors and that the sediments that eventually became single beds accumulated synchronously. Similar couplets in platform limestones of the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian of the U.S.A. extend over thousands of square kilometres. The signal that controlled the initial selective cementation must have been widespread and synchronous and also syndepositional in its timing but otherwise cannot be further defined on the basis of the data so far collected. The presumed order of events was (1) accumulation of carbonate sediment, terrigenous clay and organic matter, (2) hydrodynamic reworking and bioturbation. the latter finally overprinting the former, (3) selective cementation of the more carbonate-rich strata yielding couplets, each consisting of a relatively well-cemented stratum and a poorly cemented stratum, (4) mechanical compaction concentrated in the less cemented strata, (5) pressure-dissolution concentrated in the same strata.     

Solution-collapse breccias of the Minkinfjellet and Wordiekammen Formations, Central Spitsbergen, Svalbard: a large gypsum palaeokarst system

Large volumes of carbonate breccia occur in the late syn-rift and early post-rift deposits of the Billefjorden Trough, Central Spitsbergen. Breccias are developed throughout the Moscovian Minkinfjellet Formation and in basal parts of the Kazimovian Wordiekammen Formation. Breccias can be divided into two categories: (i) thick, cross-cutting breccia-bodies up to 200 m thick that are associated with breccia pipes and large V-structures, and (ii) horizontal stratabound breccia beds interbedded with undeformed carbonate and siliciclastic rocks. The thick breccias occur in the central part of the basin, whereas the stratabound breccia beds have a much wider areal extent towards the basin margins. The breccias were formed by gravitational collapse into cavities formed by dissolution of gypsum and anhydrite beds in the Minkinfjellet Formation. Several dissolution fronts have been discovered, demonstrating the genetic relationship between dissolution of gypsum and brecciation. Textures and structures typical of collapse breccias such as inverse grading, a sharp flat base, breccia pipes (collapse dolines) and V-structures (cave roof collapse) are also observed. The breccias are cemented by calcite cements of pre-compaction, shallow burial origin. Primary fluid inclusions in the calcite are dominantly single phase containing fresh water (final melting points are ca 0 °C), suggesting that breccia diagenesis occurred in meteoric waters. Cathodoluminescence (CL) zoning of the cements shows a consistent pattern of three cement stages, but the abundance of each stage varies stratigraphically and laterally. δ¹⁸O values of breccia cements are more negative relative to marine limestones and meteoric cements developed in unbrecciated Minkinfjellet limestones. There is a clear relationship between δ¹⁸O values and the abundance of the different cement generations detected by CL. Paragenetically, later cements have lower δ¹⁸O values recording increased temperatures during their precipitation. Carbon isotope values of the cements are primarily rock-buffered although a weak trend towards more negative values with increasing burial depth is observed. The timing of gypsum dissolution and brecciation was most likely related to major intervals of exposure of the carbonate platform during Gzhelian and/or Asselian/Sakmarian times. These intervals of exposure occurred shortly after deposition of the brecciated units and before deep burial of the sediments.     

Stratigraphy of upper Viséan carbonate platform rocks in the Carlow area,southeast Ireland

The stratigraphy of the upper Viséan (Asbian to Brigantian) carbonate succession in southeast Ireland is revised on the basis of seven quarry and two borehole sections. Six lithological units have been distinguished, two units (units 1 and 2) in the upper Asbian Ballyadams Formation, and four units (units 4 to 6) in the Brigantian Clogrenan Formation (both formations are dated precisely using foraminiferans, calcareous algae and rugose corals). The boundary between the Ballyadams and Clogrenan formations is redefined 19 m below the horizon proposed by the Geological Survey of Ireland, and thus, lithological characteristics of both formations are redescribed. The upper part of the Ballyadams Formation is characterized by well‐developed large‐scale cyclicity, with common subaerial exposure surfaces. Fine‐ to medium‐grained thin‐bedded limestones with thin shales occur in the lower part of cycles, passing up into medium‐grained pale grey massive limestones in the upper part. The Clogrenan Formation is composed mainly of medium‐ to coarse‐grained thick limestone beds with variable presence of shales; but no large‐scale cyclicity. There is a decrease in the number of subaerial exposure surfaces towards the top of the formation and common chert nodules; macrofauna occurs mostly concentrated in bands. The six units recognized in the Carlow area are comparable with other units described for the same time interval (Asbian–Brigantian) from south and southwest Ireland, demonstrating the existence of a stable platform for most parts of southern Ireland, controlled principally by glacioeustatics. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

塔里木盆地塔中32井中上奥陶统内潮汐沉积

塔里木盆地塔中32井的中、上奥陶统钻遇厚度为1 462 m。它是一套巨厚的深灰色泥岩、页岩与灰色砂岩、粉砂岩互层夹少量灰岩的地层。其中深灰色泥岩、页岩最多；砂岩和粉砂岩主要分布于上部和下部，中部砂岩和粉砂岩较少；鲕粒灰岩数量少，主要夹于深灰色泥页岩中。这些砂岩和鲕粒灰岩既可单独成层，但更常见它们与深灰色泥页岩组合成薄互层。薄互层中发育脉状、波状和透镜状层理，并普遍发育交错层理和双向交错纹理。这些特征表明砂岩和鲕粒灰岩为深水斜坡上的内潮汐沉积的产物。这些内潮汐沉积进一步划分为4种类型：双向交错纹理细砂岩型、单向交错层和双向交错纹理中-细砂岩型、韵律性砂泥岩薄互层型和鲕粒灰岩型。它们具有5种垂向沉积层序，在剖面上常形成多旋回韵律性沉积组合。     

‘Isolated base-of-slope aprons’: An oxymoron for shallow-marine fan-shaped,temperate-water,carbonate bodies along the south-east Salento escarpment (Pleistocene,Apulia, southern Italy)

This paper regards the lower Pleistocene temperate-water carbonate deposits disconformably overlying an escarpment made up of faulted Cretaceous to Miocene limestones of the Apulia Foreland (southern Italy). Study deposits discontinuously crop out along the present-day eastern Salento sea cliff, and form isolated fan-shaped bodies, up to 1 km wide and up to 40 to 50 m thick, each of them covering an area of a few square kilometres. The internal arrangement of beds is represented by up to 25° to 30° lobate, seaward dipping clinobeds thinning and onlapping onto a rocky foreslope in the proximal sector and passing to gently inclined to sub-horizontal strata in the distal sector. Seven facies were distinguished, mainly composed of coarse-grained skeletal carbonates made up of a heterozoan association including coralline algae, large and small benthic foraminifera, echinoids, molluscs, bryozoans and serpulids. Since clinobeds were formed thanks to hyperconcentrated density flows (grain flows) bypassing the upper part of the inherited escarpment, these skeletal grains represent ex situ deposits whose shallow-marine factory was located upward (landward) with respect to the bypassed zone, likely in the almost flat area on top of the Salento Peninsula. Clinobeds are often affected by tens of metres wide and long channel-like structures interpreted as landslide scars. Inside these gullies, contorted beds (slumps) or matrix-supported intra-bioclastic floatstone/rudstone (massive deposits) are present. The occurrence of supercritical-flow structures (for example, backset-bedded beds) indicates the development of hydraulic jumps along the steep slope of gullies. Since these clinostratified, fan-shaped carbonate bodies represent carbonate slopes, and that the latter are known as aprons, normally related to linear sourced sediments, an acceptable oxymoron for studied fan-shaped carbonate bodies is suggested: ‘isolated base-of-slope aprons’.     

Microvertebrates from the Rhaetian basal bone bed of Saltford,near Bath,SW England

The famous Rhaetian bone bed (Late Triassic, 205 Ma) is well known because it marks a major switch in depositional environment from terrestrial red beds to fully marine conditions throughout the UK and much of Europe. The bone bed is generally cemented and less than 10 cm thick. However, we report here an unusual case from Saltford, near Bath, S.W. England where the bone bed is unconsolidated and up to nearly 1 m thick. The exposure of the basal beds of the Westbury Formation, Penarth Group includes a bone bed containing a diverse Rhaetian marine microvertebrate fauna dominated by sharks, actinopterygian fishes and reptiles. Despite the unusual sedimentary character of the bone bed, we find similar proportions of taxa as in other basal Rhaetian bone beds (55–59 % Lissodus teeth, 13–16 % Rhomphaiodon teeth, 12–14 % Severnichthys teeth, 6–9% Gyrolepis teeth, 3–4% undetermined sharks’ teeth, 1–3% undetermined bony fish teeth, and < 1% of each of Hybodus, Parascylloides, and Sargodon), the only differences being in the proportions of Rhomphaiodon teeth, which can represent 30–40 % of specimens elsewhere. This suggests that taphonomic bias of varying Rhaetian bone beds may be comparable despite different sedimentary settings, and that the proportions of taxa say something about their original proportions in the ecosystem.     

Platform and off-platform carbonates of the Upper Cambrian of western Maryland, U.S.A.

Upper Cambrian carbonates in western Maryland are comprised of platform facies (Conococheague Limestone) west of South Mountain and basin facies (Frederick Limestone) east of South Mountain. Conocheague platform carbonates contain interbedded non-cyclic and cyclic facies. Non-cyclic facies consist of cross-stratified grainstones, thrombolitic bioherms, and graded, thin-bedded dolostones. These were deposited in shallow, subtidal shelf lagoons. Cyclic facies are composed of repeated sequences of cross-stratified grainstone; ribbon-rock; wavy, prism-cracked laminite; and planar laminated dolostone. The cyclic facies are shallowing-upward cycles produced by lateral progradation of tidal flats over shallow, nearshore subtidal environments. Cyclic and non-cyclic facies are interbedded in the Conococheague in a layer cake fashion, but no higher-order cyclicity can be found. The Frederick Limestone is dominated by monotonously thick sequences of graded, thin-bedded limestones, interbedded with massive peloidal grainstones and beds of breccia up to 10 m thick in the lower Frederick. The breccias contain transported megaclasts of Epiphyton-Girvanella boundstones. The basal Frederick was deposited in a slope-to-basinal setting east of a rimmed shelf. An Epiphyton-Girvanella marginal reef along the shelf edge was the source of the blocks in the breccias. The upper Frederick Limestone formed on a carbonate ramp.     

A sequence stratigraphic model for an intensely bioturbated shallow-marine sandstone: the Bridport Sand Formation, Wessex Basin, UK

The Bridport Sand Formation is an intensely bioturbated sandstone that represents part of a mixed siliciclastic‐carbonate shallow‐marine depositional system. At outcrop and in subsurface cores, conventional facies analysis was combined with ichnofabric analysis to identify facies successions bounded by a hierarchy of key stratigraphic surfaces. The geometry of these surfaces and the lateral relationships between the facies successions that they bound have been constrained locally using 3D seismic data. Facies analysis suggests that the Bridport Sand Formation represents progradation of a low‐energy, siliciclastic shoreface dominated by storm‐event beds reworked by bioturbation. The shoreface sandstones form the upper part of a thick (up to 200 m), steep (2–3°), mud‐dominated slope that extends into the underlying Down Cliff Clay. Clinoform surfaces representing the shoreface‐slope system are grouped into progradational sets. Each set contains clinoform surfaces arranged in a downstepping, offlapping manner that indicates forced‐regressive progradation, which was punctuated by flooding surfaces that are expressed in core and well‐log data. In proximal locations, progradational shoreface sandstones (corresponding to a clinoform set) are truncated by conglomerate lags containing clasts of bored, reworked shoreface sandstones, which are interpreted as marking sequence boundaries. In medial locations, progradational clinoform sets are overlain across an erosion surface by thin (<5 m) bioclastic limestones that record siliciclastic‐sediment starvation during transgression. Near the basin margins, these limestones are locally thick (>10 m) and overlie conglomerate lags at sequence boundaries. Sequence boundaries are thus interpreted as being amalgamated with overlying transgressive surfaces, to form composite erosion surfaces. In distal locations, oolitic ironstones that formed under conditions of extended physical reworking overlie composite sequence boundaries and transgressive surfaces. Over most of the Wessex Basin, clinoform sets (corresponding to high‐frequency sequences) are laterally offset, thus defining a low‐frequency sequence architecture characterized by high net siliciclastic sediment input and low net accommodation. Aggradational stacking of high‐frequency sequences occurs in fault‐bounded depocentres which had higher rates of localized tectonic subsidence.     

Microbial deposits in the aftermath of the end‐Permian mass extinction: A diverging case from the Mineral Mountains (Utah,USA)

The Lower Triassic Mineral Mountains area (Utah, USA) preserves diversified Smithian and Spathian reefs and bioaccumulations that contain fenestral‐microbialites and various benthic and pelagic organisms. Ecological and environmental changes during the Early Triassic are commonly assumed to be associated with numerous perturbations (productivity changes, acidifica‐tion, redox changes, hypercapnia, eustatism and temperature changes) post‐dating the Permian–Triassic mass extinction. New data acquired in the Mineral Mountains sediments provide evidence to decipher the relationships between depositional environments and the growth and distribution of microbial structures. These data also help to understand better the controlling factors acting upon sedimentation and community turnovers through the Smithian–early Spathian. The studied section records a large‐scale depositional sequence during the Dienerian(?)–Spathian interval. During the transgression, depositional environments evolved from a coastal bay with continental deposits to intertidal fenestral–microbial limestones, shallow subtidal marine sponge–microbial reefs to deep subtidal mud‐dominated limestones. Storm‐induced deposits, microbialite–sponge reefs and shallow subtidal deposits indicate the regression. Three microbialite associations occur in ascending order: (i) a red beds microbialite association deposited in low‐energy hypersaline supratidal conditions where microbialites consist of microbial mats and poorly preserved microbially induced sedimentary structure; (ii) a Smithian microbialite association formed in moderate to high‐energy, tidal conditions where microbialites include stromatolites and associated carbonate grains (oncoids, ooids and peloids); and (iii) a Spathian microbialite association developed in low‐energy offshore conditions that is preserved as multiple decimetre thick isolated domes and coalescent domes. Data indicate that the morphologies of the three microbialite associations are controlled primarily by accommodation, hydrodynamics, bathymetry and grain supply. This study suggests that microbial constructions are controlled by changes between trapping and binding versus precipitation processes in variable hydrodynamic conditions. Due to the presence of numerous metazoans associated with microbialites throughout the Smithian increase in accommodation and Spathian decrease in accommodation, the commonly assumed anachronistic character of the Early Triassic microbialites and the traditional view of prolonged deleterious conditions during the Early Triassic time interval is questioned.     

Contained (reflected) turbidity currents from the Middle Ordovician Cloridorme Formation, Quebec, Canada: an alternative to the antidune hypothesis

The parautochthonous Cloridorme Formation is a syn-orogenic flysch succession that was deposited in an elongate foredeep basin as mainly lower middle-fan, outer-fan, and basin-floor deposits. The basin-floor deposits (about 1.5 km thick) are confined to members β1, β2 and γ1, and are characterized by graded, thick (1–10 m) mud-rich calcareous greywacke beds previously interpreted as deposits of concentrated, muddy, unidirectional turbidity currents that locally generated backset (antidune) lamination in internally stratified flows. The dominant flow directions were from east to west, but west to east transport also occurred, as seen in the orientation of ripples, climbing ripples, flutes, consistently overturned flames, and grain imbrication. We believe that the flows that deposited these thick calcareous greywacke beds reversed by roughly 180° one or more times during deposition of the lower sandy part of the beds. Flow reversals are consistent with the sharp grain-size breaks and mud partings within sandy divisions. Measurement of grain fabric relative to stratification in the most celebrated ‘antidune’ bedforms indicates flow from west to east; thus, the bedforms were produced by west-to-east migration of megaripples, not by the upcurrent migration of antidunes. The thick muddy beds were deposited by large-volume, muddy flows that were deflected and reflected from the side slopes and internal topographic highs of a confined basin floor, much like the ‘Contessa’ and similar beds of the Italian Apennines. Large quantities of suspended mud were ponded above the irregular basin floor and settled to produce the thick silty mudstone caps seen on each bed. Because of their mode of emplacement, we propose that these beds be called contained turbidites.