Mississippian (Early Carboniferous) stromatolite mounds in a fore-reef slope setting, Laibin, Guangxi, South China |
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Authors: | Jian-Wei Shen Hairuo Qing |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Marine Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 510301 Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China;(2) Key Laboratory of Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology and Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 510301 Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China;(3) Department of Geology, University of Regina, Regina, SK, S4S 0A2, Canada |
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Abstract: | The Mississippian (Early Carboniferous) is generally a period of scarce carbonate buildups in South China. This study documents
outcrops of stromatolite mounds at Mengcun and Helv villages, in Laibin City, Guangxi Province, South China. The stromatolite
mounds contain various stromatolite morphologies including laminar, wavy-laminar, domal or hemispheroidal, bulbous, and flabellate-growth
columns. Intramound rocks are brachiopod floatstone and dark thin-bedded laminated micrite limestone. Individual stromatolites
at Mengcun village are generally 3–6 cm thick and morphologically represent relatively shallow-water laminar (planar and wavy-undulated
stromatolites) and deeper-water domal, bulbous and columnar forms. Where mounds were formed, the stromatolites continued growing
upward up to 60 cm thick. Thrombolitic fabrics also occur but are not common. Stromatolite microscopic structure shows the
bulk of the lamination to consist of wavy microbialite and discrete thin micritic laminae. These mounds are intercalated in
deep-water fore-reef talus breccia, packstone formed as a bioclastic debris flow and thin-bedded limestone containing common
chert layers of the Tatang Formation (late Viséan). Further evidence supporting the deep-water setting of the stromatolite
mounds are: (1) a laterally thinning horizon of brachiopod floatstone containing deep-water, small, thin-shelled brachiopods,
peloidal micritic sediments and low-diversity, mixed fauna (e.g., thin-shelled brachiopods, tube-like worms and algae) that
have been interpreted as storm deposits, (2) common fore-reef talus breccias, (3) lack of sedimentary structures indicating
current action, (4) preservation of lamination with sponge spicules, and (5) lack of bioturbation suggesting that the stromatolites
grew in a relatively low energy, deep-water setting. The stromatolite mounds are the first described stromatolite mounds in
Mississippian strata of South China and contain evidence that supports interpretations of (1) growth history of Mississippian
microbial buildups and (2) environmental controls on stromatolite growth and lithification. |
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