Controls of facies and sediment composition on the diagenetic pathway of shallow-water Heterozoan carbonates: the Oligocene of the Maltese Islands

Relatively few studies have so far addressed diagenetic processes in Heterozoan carbonates and the role that sediment composition and depositional facies exert over diagenetic pathways. This paper presents a study of Oligocene shallow-water, Heterozoan carbonates from the Maltese Islands. We investigate stratigraphic distribution, abundance and timing of diagenetic features and their relationship to sediment composition and depositional facies. The studied carbonate rocks comprise rud- to packstones of the Heterozoan association predominantly containing coralline red algae, bryozoans, echinoids and benthic foraminifers. XRD analyses show that all high-Mg calcite has been transformed to low-Mg calcite and that no aragonite is preserved. Diagenetic processes include dissolution of aragonitic biota, neomorphism of high-Mg calcitic biota to low-Mg calcite and cementation by fibrous, bladed, epitaxial and blocky cements. Stable isotopes on bulk rock integrated with petrographic data suggest that the study interval was not exposed to significant meteoric diagenesis. We interpret early cementation to have taken place in the marine and marine burial environment. The distribution and abundance of early diagenetic features, determining the diagenetic pathway, can be related to the primary sediment composition and depositional texture. Sorting and micrite content are important controls over the abundance of diagenetic features.     

Rates of vadose diagenesis in quaternary dune and shallow marine calcarenites,Warrnambool, Victoria,Australia

Progressively younger cycles of Quaternary dune limestones and shallow marine calcarenites infill a coastal embayment near Warrnambool in southeastern Australia. The formations have been dated using U/Th and C¹⁴ methods or have had their ages estimated by comparison with adjacent deposits. They provide a well-dated framework for the quantification of diagenetic rates in the fresh-water vadose zone.The sequence as a whole shows progressive increase in diagenetic alteration with age, related to increasing duration of subaerial exposure. Diagenesis includes alteration of high-Mg calcite to low-Mg calcite, dissolution of aragonite and precipitation of increasing amounts of void-filling low-Mg calcite spar. These changes are reflected in the progression of bulk-rock isotope values from the youngest to the oldest strata.The rocks at Warrnambool pass through 3 main stages of diagenetic evolution. The end of stage 1 is marked by the disappearance of high-Mg calcite. This occurs in just less than 90,000 years. The end of stage 2 occurs between 400,000 and 700,000 years and is marked by the disappearance of aragonite. The end of stage 3 and the beginning of stage 4 is marked by the complete infilling of all pore space by low-Mg calcite spar. This is not generally seen in this sequence but is restricted to specific diagenetic sites such as immediately below paleosol horizons.     

Sea level and diagenesis: a case study on Pleistocene beaches,Whalebone Bay,Bermuda

Pleistocene fluctuations of sea level have left marine and aeolian limestones intercalated with glacial red soils on the Bermuda Carbonate Platform (Atlantic, 64°50W, 32°20N). Successive eustatic highstands of similar amplitude drowned the tectonically stable platform and piled up similar sets of sediments. Up to three Pleistocene beaches are stacked in shorelines sections. Post-depositional diagenetic histories of these beaches can be linked to repeated changes in sea level and pore waters.This paper presents field evidence and petrographic results (microscope, X-ray, cathodoluminescence, SEMEDAX) for the diagenetic histories of two superimposed Pleistocene beaches in Whalebone Bay, Bermuda North Shore. The younger beach was deposited during isotopic stage 5e, about 120 ka ago. The age of the older beach may be isotopic stage 9 or older.Diagenesis drastically altered the older beach before the stage 5e transgression. Primary high-Mg calcite (HMC) and aragonite were no longer present. Marine skeletal grains were instead leached or recrystallized to low-Mg calcite (LMC). Primary and secondary pore space were largely reduced by LMC cement. Lines of needle relics reminiscent of marine aragonite cement occur as inclusions within syntaxial rim cements around echinoderm grains, indicating that a marine influence had at least once interrupted this period of freshwater alteration. Finally, before the rocks became buried by the sediments of the younger beach, a crust of marine, bladed HMC cement was precipitated throughout the pore space.The younger beach consists of skeletal grains that are, apart from the effects of non-selective dissolution, essentially unaltered. The sediments are only weakly lithified by cryptocrystalline LMC showing an alveolar texture, tangential fibres and other features characteristic of calichification. A younger post-depositional marine influence is not recorded.These results suggest that, under favourable conditions, diagenetic processes can document sea-level fluctuations. The recorded fluctuations, however, are difficult to assess because even major sea-level highstands may not produce a diagenetic imprint. Correspondence to: R. Vollbrecht     

Submarine and vadose cements in Pleistocene Bermuda reef rock

Well-rounded pebbles and cobbles of reef rock, which in bio- and lithofacies closely resembles the Recent algal cup reefs, occur in the basal conglomerate of the Pleistocene Devonshire Formation cropping out along Grape Bay on the south shore of Bermuda. The framebuilders of this rock include coralline red algae, vermetid gastropods, and barnacles. Study by petrographic microscope, electron microprobe, and SEM revealed aragonite-needle and spherulitic cements, high-Mg calcite micrite and palisade cements including calcified algal filaments. Two or three generations of these may occur in a given pore. By analogy with the Recent cup-reef material, on the basis of their composition (high strontium content of aragonite, high magnesium content of calcite) and of circumstantial evidence, these are considered submarine cements.In addition, a vadose blocky low-Mg calcite cement occurs, which never precedes any, but frequently succeedes one, two, or three of the above cements. Its fabrics vary: it may exhibit an increase in crystal size toward the center or not, it may or may not be bounded by the meniscus outline characteristic of the vadose diagenetic environment. The limitation of cement precipitation by a meniscus gives rise to a large diversity of forms determined by respective combinations of solution supply, permeability of the micro-environment, and substrate morphology. To illustrate the diversity, the meniscus cement is shown in relation to sediment particles, aragonite-needle cement, and calcified filaments.From the blocky low-Mg cement, selective neomorphism extends into some aragonitic gastropod shells; it is controlled, in part, by original shell structure. The resulting low-Mg calcite mosaic is characterized by relic structures and plane crystalline boundaries. Aragonite needles between blocky calcite cement and neomorphic calcite were not affected by the process of mineralogic alteration.This study shows that cements recognized earlier in Recent Bermuda cup reefs can be traced into the past and that additions to the diagenetic sequence can be distinguished. Knowledge of these features and their sequences should help decipher the diagenetic history of other fossil reefs.     

西沙石岛生物礁的矿物组成及其环境指示意义

通过对西科1井岩心碳酸盐岩样品进行矿物组成分析, 来研究礁体的发育过程和古海洋环境的变化.初步研究结果表明: 西科1井岩心碳酸盐岩的矿物由低镁方解石、高镁方解石、文石和白云石组成.矿物组成特征表明, 井深35.4 m处为一重要的地层界面或环境变化界面.在岩心(井深0~748 m)中共识别出5个白云岩层, 其中上新统莺歌海组一层(井深: 289.3~312.3 m, 厚约23 m), 上中新统黄流组三层(分别位于井深: 373.3~412.7 m, 厚约39.4 m; 424.7~450.6 m, 厚约26.1 m; 469.70~564.96 m, 厚约95.2 m), 中中新统梅山组一层(井深: 615.20~636.96 m, 厚约21.7 m).各层的白云岩化程度不尽相同, 5层白云岩中白云石矿物含量的最大值在79.3%~100%之间.生物礁的发育主要受控于古海洋环境的变化, 与古气候变化有关的海平面升降间接地控制了岛礁碳酸盐岩的白云岩化作用.石岛西科1井中的5层白云岩应该是在较长时间稳定环境条件下发育而成, 主要应该是蒸发泻湖渗透回流作用下早期形成的方解石类碳酸岩白云岩化的结果, 但并不排除混合水白云岩化作用的可能性.      

Late Pleistocene mixing zone dolomitization, southeastern Barbados, West Indies

ABSTRACT Field, geochemical, and petrographic data for late Pleistocene dolomites from southeastern Barbados suggest that the dolomite precipitated in the zone of mixing between a coastal meteoric phreatic lens and normal marine waters. The dolomite is localized in packstones and wackestones from the algalAmphistegina fore-reef calcarenite facies. Stable isotopic evidence suggests that meteoric water dominated the diagenetic fluids responsible for dolomitization. Carbon isotopes in pure dolomite phases average about -15%₀ PDB. This light carbon is attributed to the influence of soil gas CO₂, and precludes substantial mixing with seawater. A narrow range of oxygen isotopic compositions coupled with a wide range of carbon compositions attest to the meteoric diagenetic overprint. Dolomitization likely occurred with as little as a five per cent admixture of seawater. Strontium compositions of the dolomites indicate probable replacement dolomitization of original unstable mineralogy. The dolomite is characterized by low sodium values. Low concentrations of divalent manganese and iron suggest oxidizing conditions at the time of dolomitization. A sequence of petrographic features suggests a progression of diagenetic fluids from more marine to more meteoric. Early marine diagenesis was followed by replacement dolomitization of skeletal grains and matrix. Limpid, euhedral dolomite cements precipitated in primary intra- and interparticle porosity subsequent to replacement dolomitization. As waters became progressively less saline, dolomite cements alternated with thin bands of syntaxial calcite cement. The final diagenetic phase precipitated was a blocky calcite spar cement, representing diagenesis in a fresh-water lens. This sequence of diagenetic features arose as the result of a single fall in eustatic sea-level following deposition. A stratigraphic-eustatic-diagenetic model constrains both the timing and rate of dolomitization in southeastern Barbados. Dolomitization initiated as sea-level began to fall immediately following the oxygen isotope stage 7–3 high stand, some 216 000 yr bp . Due to the rapidity of late Pleistocene glacio-eustasy, dolomitization (locally complete) is constrained to have occurred within about 5000 yr.     

Brick-like texture and radial rays in Triassic pisolites of Lombardy,Italy: A clue to distinguish ancient aragonitic pisolites

Triassic pisolites from the Calcare Rosso, Lombardy, Italy, were formed in a hypersaline vadose environment and now show alternating dolomite and calcite laminae. The calcite consists either of microsparite laminae with a brick-like fabric, or of a mass of mosaic crystals with the external form of square-ended rays.These features suggest that the original laminae and rays were aragonitic, like those of the Holocene supratidal pisolites of the Persian Gulf, which consist of alternating laminae of unoriented nannomicrite with Mg-rich mucilaginous material, and aragonitic fibers with radial orientation separated by mucilaginous films. It is suggested that the transformation to brick-like and ray textures passed through the following diagenetic path: (1) original formation of fibrous aragonite laminae; (2) local aggrading recrystallization of aragonite fibers to large square-ended rays during hypersaline phases; (3) dolomitization of Mg-rich mucilaginous nannomicrite laminae during hyposaline phases; (4) inversion of the aragonite fibers and rays to calcite on a piece-by piece basis that preserved the original textural details, when the pH or Mg/Ca ratio dropped.The brick-like and ray fabrics have not been found in laminae of continental freshwater pisolites because these were deposited as equant and stable crystals of low-Mg calcite. These textures consequently make it possible to establish the chemistry of the depositional and early diagenetic milieu for some ancient pisolitic rocks.     

海南岛全新世海滩岩的胶结作用与成岩环境的关系

我国海南岛及南海诸岛沿岸,广泛发育海滩岩。1980年我队赴海南岛考察现代沉积时,对海滩岩的分布、岩性特征及其与周围环境的关系进行了观察和采样。样品采自崖县鹿回头三亚湾水尾岭海蚀崖、西洲岛、小东海、东瑁岛、西瑁岛、天涯海角,乐东县莺歌海,文昌县渔业等地(图1)。有关的地质、地貌及岩性特征等,已有许多描述,对海滩岩的岩石学及成岩作用也有许多研究。本文侧重探讨海滩岩的胶结作用及与成岩环境的关系。     

海南岛南部一地全新世生物屑灰岩的成岩作用

引言研究标本由我所碳酸岩组采自海南岛南部的一个地点。在那里,沿岸覆于原生礁之上有一套由生物骨屑(主要是珊瑚)砂、砾所组成的、已被碳酸盐胶结的岩层,其厚约3米左右(图1)。此岩层一般称为“次生礁”。它是由当时原生礁盘上的生物被海浪击碎并冲带到礁盘上沉积下来的,这里属连岛砂堤沉积,它现已完全暴露地表。次生礁在它抬升过程中,下部被海蚀形成海蚀龛。     

Dolomitization of Quaternary reef limestone, Aitutaki, Cook Islands

Six holes were drilled to depths of 30–69 m in the shallow lagoon of Aitutaki in the southern Cook Islands. One hole encountered pervasively dolomitized reef limestones at 36 m subbottom depth, which extended to the base of the drilled section at 69·3 m. This hole was drilled near the inner edge of the present barrier reef flat on the flank of a seismically defined subsurface ridge. Both the morphology and biofacies indicate that this ridge may represent an outer reef crest. Mineralogy, porosity and cementation change in concert downhole through three zones. Zone 1, 0–9 m, is composed of primary skeletal aragonite and calcite with minor void-filling aragonite and magnesian calcite cement of marine phreatic origin. Zone 2, 9–36 m, is composed of replacement calcite and calcite cement infilling intergranular, intragranular, mouldic and vuggy porosity. Stable isotopes (mean δ¹⁸O=—5·4‰ PDB for carbonate; δD =—50‰ SMOW for fluid inclusions) support the petrographic evidence indicating that sparry calcite cements formed in predominantly freshwater. Carbon isotope values of —4·0 to —11·0‰ for calcite indicate that organic matter and seawater were the sources of carbon. Zone 3, 36–69·3 m, is composed of replacement dolostone, consisting of protodolomite with, on average, 7 mol% excess CaCO₃ and broad and weak ordering X-ray reflections at 2·41 and 2·54 A. The fine-scale replacement of skeletal grains and freshwater void-filling cements by dolomite did not significantly reduce porosity. Stable isotopes (mean δ¹⁸O=+2·6‰₀ PDB for dolomite; maximum δD =—27‰ SMOW for fluid inclusions) and chemical composition indicate that the dolomite probably formed from seawater, although formation in the lower part of a mixed freshwater-seawater zone, with up to 40% freshwater contribution, cannot be completely ruled out. The carbon (δ¹³C=2·7‰) and magnesium were derived from seawater. Low-temperature hydrothermal iron hydroxides and associated transition metals occur in void space in several narrow stratigraphic intervals in the limestone section that was replaced by dolomite. The entire section of dolomite is also enriched in these transition metals. The metals dispersed throughout the dolostone section were introduced at the time of dolomitization by a different and later episode of hydrothermal circulation than the one(s) that produced the localized deposits near the base of the section. The primary reef framework is considered to have been deposited during several highstands of sea level. Following partial to local recrystallization of the limestone, a single episode of dolomitization occurred. Both tidal and thermal pumping drove large quantities of seawater through the porous rocks and perhaps maintained a wide mixing zone. However, the isotopic, geochemical and petrographic data do not clearly indicate the extent of seawater mixing.     

贵州紫云上石炭统叶状藻礁灰岩胶结物特征

贵州紫云县猴场镇扁平村的上石炭统叶状藻礁及其周边灰岩中广泛发育大量的各类胶结物。通过对胶结物的形态、结构和阴极发光特征以及胶结物间的接触关系的研究,可以确定成岩作用的先后并识别成岩环境。浅海海底同生成岩阶段大的孔隙中形成等厚环边针状胶结物、葡萄状胶结物,小的孔隙里形成微晶胶结物。早成岩阶段形成微亮晶和斑块状亮晶方解石胶结物和放射纤维扇状胶结物,表生成岩阶段的溶蚀作用和胶结作用强烈,胶结物类型有斑块状或等粒的方解石胶结物和等厚环壁柱状胶结物,等厚环壁柱状胶结物在所有胶结物中体积是较大的。早期胶结作用使叶状藻礁灰岩孔隙度大为降低。中、晚成岩阶段,孔隙被等厚环壁刃状胶结物和晶簇或斑块状亮晶方解石所充填,有些先成的胶结物被热液改造。后生作用阶段发生的主要是构造破裂作用,其中少数裂隙被红褐色含Fe2O3微晶层和晶体粉砂及渗流豆粒充填。叶状藻礁灰岩的孔隙在晚成岩阶段前或中被胶结而之后没有创造出大且连通的孔隙,是它没能成为油气储集层的原因之一。     

贵州紫云二叠纪生物礁的胶结作用

应用岩石学和地球化学方法研究了中国西南地区发育最好的紫云二叠纪生物礁组合的胶结作用,识别出七种胶结物类型,详细描述了它们的岩石学及地球化学特征,探讨了礁组合的胶结作用史。     

Diagenetisch gebildeter Magnesit und Dolomit in den Grödener Schichten des Dobratsch im Gailtal,Kärnten — österreich

Dolomite, magnesite, calcite and aragonite are described from sandstones and conglomerates of the Grödener Schichten of the Dobratsch in the Gailtal Alps, Carinthia — Austria. The carbonates occur as early and late diagenetic cements, as recrystallized matrix of more or less laminated carbonate layers (up to 0.5 m thick), as concretions, as fillings of early diagenetic shrinkage cracks and late diagenetic fissures and as crystals in open cavities and clefts. The formation of dolomite and magnesite may have been caused by pore solutions highly enriched in magnesium, which are likely to have formed by evaporation in a hypersaline environment. Magnesite and dolomite most probably have been formed diagenetically from aragonite and/or calcite during progressive evaporation cycles. Because of magnesite is a common constituent in Permo-Scythian sediments of the Eastern Alps, its presence is of importance for the evaluation of the environment. Additionally the wide-spread occurrence of magnesite within these post variscian sediments has important implications regarding the paleogeographical reconstruction and the evaluation of diagenetic processes.     

Geochemical,and stable and radiogenic isotope records in Devonian and Early Carboniferous carbonates from Valle de Tena,central Pyrenees (Spain): evidence for their diagenetic environments

Mineralogical, textural and geochemical investigations were made to determine the post-depositional evolution of Devonian and Early Carboniferous carbonates from Valle de Tena. The carbonate association is made up of low-Mg calcite, which occurs as micrite, spar cements, neomorphic patches and spar filling veinlets. Non-stoichiometric dolomite and ankerite occur as cements (dolomite also as replacements) in the Middle Devonian, post-dating calcite types. All these phases pre-date tectonic stylolites, indicating compaction after stabilization of the carbonate minerals. Strontium concentrations indicate that Early Devonian and Early Carboniferous micrites initially precipitated as aragonite; Middle and Late Devonian micrites precipitated as high-Mg calcites. Both precursors were diagenetically stabilized to low-Mg calcites through interaction with meteoric waters in phreatic environments. Trace elements in dolomite and ankerite indicate precipitation from Sr-enriched meteoric water. All studied carbonates, except Middle Devonian limestones, precipitated in reducing environments, which favoured incorporation of Fe and Mn. Late calcite generations precipitated from more saline waters than micrites. Light ¹⁸O values in micrites suggest alteration mainly in meteoric-phreatic environments. The dolomites and ankerites precipitated from more ¹⁸O-depleted fluids than the calcites, suggesting a greater contribution from meteoric waters. Variations in ¹³C of micrites represent primary secular trends, according to published ¹³C variations. The ¹³C oscillations within each succession probably relate to sea-level oscillations. Strontium isotopes also point to a meteoric origin of diagenetic fluids. Model calculations suggest that O and Sr isotopes equilibrated between calcites and fluid at relatively low water/rock ratios, whereas C isotopic signatures are inherited from limestones.     

Reef margin collapse, gully formation and filling within the Permian Capitan Reef: Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, USA

An area of reef margin collapse, gully formation and gully fill sedimentation has been identified and mapped within Left Hand Tunnel, Carlsbad Caverns. It demonstrates that the Capitan Reef did not, at all times, form an unbroken border to the Delaware Basin. Geopetally arranged sediments within cavities from sponge–algal framestones of the reef show that the in situ reef today has a 10° basinwards structural dip. Similar dips in adjacent back-reef sediments, previously considered depositional, probably also have a structural origin. Reoriented geopetal structures have also allowed the identification of a 200-m-wide, 25-m-deep gully within the reef, which has been filled by large (some  >15 m), randomly orientated and, in places, overturned blocks and boulders, surrounded by finer reef rubble, breccias and grainstones. Block supply continued throughout gully filling, implying that spalling of reef blocks was a longer term process and was not a by-product of the formation of the gully. Gully initiation was probably the result of a reef front collapse, with a continued instability of the gully bordering reef facies demonstrated by their incipient brecciation and by faults containing synsedimentary fills. Gully filling probably occurred during reef growth, and younger reef has prograded over the gully fill. Blocks contain truncated former aragonite botryoidal cements, indicating early aragonite growth within the in situ reef. In contrast, former high-magnesian calcite rind cements post-date sedimentation within the gully. The morphology of cavern passages is controlled by reef facies variation, with narrower passages cut into the in situ reef and wider passages within the gully fill. Gully fills may also constitute more permeable zones in the subsurface.     

川西中泥盆统观雾山组白云岩储层储集空间类型、成因及演化

川西地区观雾山组白云岩储层储集空间主要为孔洞和裂缝两类.为弄清观雾山组白云岩储层孔洞成因、孔洞充填期次及演化,首先,通过对孔洞型白云岩储层发育规律与沉积相、层序关系的分析,结合第一期白云石胶结物形成与围岩白云石化的先后顺序,认为川西地区观雾山组白云岩储层孔洞为相控准同生岩溶形成;针对孔洞内不同期次白云石和方解石胶结物的包裹体均一温度、碳氧同位素、激光原位U-Pb同位素定年、锶同位素、稀土元素等分析,认为孔洞内胶结物形成于封闭的成岩环境,成岩流体为受下伏碎屑岩地层水加入改造的中泥盆世海水.观雾山组白云岩储层储集空间经历了三个演化阶段:沉积期-白云石化之前的孔洞及裂缝形成阶段、白云石化期间的围岩白云石化及第一期白云石胶结物形成阶段和中—深埋藏成岩期的孔隙定型阶段,其中中—深埋藏阶段是孔隙减少的主要阶段,造成约250的孔隙损失.     

巴布亚新几内亚合恩半岛晚第四纪上升珊瑚礁造礁珊瑚的成岩历史

更新世以来,剧烈的构造运动已将巴布亚新几内亚合恩半岛东北海岸的晚第四纪珊瑚礁阶地抬升上千米.阶地中造礁珊瑚的成岩变化和成岩产物的组构特征反映了该礁的成岩历史,充分体现该区快速构造上升的影响.海水潜流带和淡水渗流带为上升礁的主要成岩环境.生物钻孔、生物碎屑填隙、珊瑚文石针粗化、珊瑚骨骼的溶解和新生变形转化,以及其不同矿物成分和组构的种种胶结物的胶结作用是造礁珊瑚经历的主要成岩作用.地球化学资料表明其成岩变化发生于开放的化学体系之中.     

湘南泥盆系碳酸盐岩中锶的分布特点及其环境意义

湘南泥盆系碳酸盐沉积环境,可分为台地和台盆两大类和六种相类型.250块岩样的分析结果表明,Sr和Sr/Ca×1000的含量比值变化与沉积环境密切相关,即由浅水台地相到深水台盆相,其比值从0.27增至2.37.其原因是由于不同沉积环境中碳酸盐矿物组份不同.影响了锶的分布.因此锶的含量可作为相分析的工具.     

西沙群岛晚第四纪碳酸盐岩淡水成岩作用

基于西沙永兴岛上最新钻孔（SSZK1）取得的55.92 m岩芯的 U?Th定年、矿物、薄片、主微量元素及碳氧稳定同位素等资料,开展了西沙群岛晚第四纪碳酸盐岩沉积相和淡水成岩作用的研究。根据不同的矿物组成特征,可将SSZK1钻孔岩芯分为上、中、下三段: 下 段（33.89~55.92 m,主要为低镁方解石）、中 段（18.39~33.89 m,主要为文石和低镁方解石）、上段（0~18.39 m,主要为文石、高镁方解石和低镁方解石）。由于下段碳酸盐岩几乎全为稳定的低镁方解石组成,碳氧同位素值的严重负偏和小幅度变化,可推断其经历了程度较大的淡水成岩作用。中段和上段还存在不稳定的文石和高镁方解石,碳氧同位素值相对下段正偏和高幅高频变化,推测其淡水成岩作用的程度比下段要小。中段碳氧同位素值高幅高频变化同时也说明该段的矿物纵向变化较复杂。这种矿物组成的复杂变化可能是由于晚第四纪海平面频繁变化,该段被大气水渗流带和潜流带交替占据引起的。主微量元素的变化同时受到淡水成岩作用和沉积环境的影响。在中段、下段中可识别出sq1、sq2、sq3、sq4四个完整的相旋回。Na₂O,S,Sr 和碳氧同位素受到的淡水成岩作用而被消耗和负偏,且由于老一期的旋回经历了更长时间的淡水成岩作用,新、老旋回间的 Na₂O,S,Sr含量值和碳氧同位素值有明显差异。利用新、老时期形成的旋回间淡水成岩作用剩余Na₂O,S,Sr含量和碳氧同位素值的差别可以将新、老两个旋回区分开来。