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.