Wave-generated structures and sequences from a shallow marine succession, Lower Carboniferous, County Cork, Ireland

In a Lower Carboniferous formation south of Cork, Ireland, characterized by sand/mud alternations at varying scales, several lithotypes could be singled out on the basis of relative sand content and primary sedimentary structures. The lithotypes are arranged in several types of sequences: coarsening upwards, coarsening-fining upwards, random, and in rare instances: fining upwards. With increased gross sandcontent the sand intercalations thicken and show a richer array of structures, reflecting a wider range of energy conditions. The majority of the structures is interpreted as wave generated. Current formed structures play an insignificant role. Tidal effects could not be ascertained. The alternation of low- and high-energy lithotypes, occurring in sandy as well as muddy parts of the sequences is explained as resulting from the interplay of storm and fair weather conditions. The effect of shoaling bathymetry is reflected in sequences by an increasing importance of high-energy lithotypes. The environment of deposition can be visualized as a muddy shallow marine platform on which longshore directed sandy shoals were formed under the influence of wave action. Depending on the degree of wave agitation and the availability of sand the shoals reached different stages of maturity: incipient, submerged or emergent. The sequential type encountered in vertical sections depends on the location of the line of logging and varies laterally as sandlenses thicken, amalgamate or die out.     

Lower Carboniferous (Dinantian) stratigraphy and structure of the Walterstown-Kentstown area,Co. Meath,Ireland

Stratigraphic units are defined and described for the Lower Carboniferous succession in the Walterstown-Kentstown area of Co. Meath, Ireland. A complete (unexposed) Courceyan succession from the terrestrial red bed facies of the Baronstown Formation to the Moathill Formation of the Navan Group has been penetrated in several boreholes. Although the lower part of the sequence is comparable with the Courceyan succession at Navan and Slane, the middle part of the sequence differs markedly in the Walterstown-Kentstown area and two new members, the Proudstown and Walterstown Members, are defined in the upper part of the Meath Formation. Syndepositional faulting was initiated during the Courceyan, probably in latest Pseudopolygnathus multistriatus or early Polygnathus mehli latus time. Movement on the ENE trending St. Patrick's Well Fault influenced the deposition of the Walterstown Member and the overlying Moathill Formation and was probably associated with the development of the East Midlands depocentre to the south of the area. A second episode of tectonism in the latest Courceyan or early Chadian resulted in uplift and erosion and the development of ‘block and basin’ sedimentation. Subsequent transgression of the uplifted block led to the establishment of the Kentstown Platform, bounded to the north, west and south by rocks of basinal facies. The Milverton Group (Chadian-Asbian), confined to this platform, unconformably overlies Courceyan or Lower Palaeozoic strata and is subdivided into three formations: Crufty Formation (late Chadian), Holmpatrick Formation (late Chadian-Arundian) and Mullaghfin Formation (late Arundian-Asbian). The Walterstown Fault controlled the western margin of the Kentstown Platform at this time. Contemporaneous basinal sediments of the Fingal Group (Lucan and Naul Formations) accumulated to the west of the Walterstown Fault and are much thicker than age-equivalent platform facies. Platform sedimentation ceased in latest Asbian to early Brigantian time with tectonically induced collapse and drowning of the platform; platform carbonates of the Mullaghfin Formation are onlapped northwards by coarse proximal basinal facies of the Loughshinny Formation. A distinct gravity anomaly in the Kentstown area suggests the presence of a granitoid body within the basement. The Kentstown Platform is therefore considered to have formed on a buoyant, granite-cored, footwall high analogous to the Askrigg and Alston Blocks of northern England.     

Controls on the evolution and demise of Lower Carboniferous carbonate platforms,northern margin of the Dublin Basin,Ireland

Shallow water platform limestones of the Chadian–Asbian Milverton Group are restricted to the north-eastern part of the Lower Carboniferous (Dinantian) Dublin Basin. Here, they are confined to two granite-cored fault blocks, the Kentstown and Balbriggan Blocks, known to have been active during the late Dinantian. Three areas of platform sedimentation are delimited (the Kentstown, Drogheda and Milverton areas), although in reality they probably formed part of a single carbonate platform. Resedimented submarine breccias and calciturbidites (Fingal Group) composed of shallow water allochems and intraclasts sourced from the platform accumulated, along with terrigenous muds, in the surrounding basinal areas. Sedimentological evidence suggests that the Kentstown and Balbriggan Blocks possessed tilt-block geometries and developed during an episode of basin-wide extensional faulting in late Chadian time. Rotation of the blocks during extension resulted in the erosion of previously deposited sequences in footwall areas and concomitant drowning of distal hangingwall sequences. Antithetic faults on the northern part of the Balbriggan Block aided the preferential subsidence of the Drogheda area and accounts for the anomously thick sequence of late Chadian platform sediments present there. Continued subsidence and/or sea-level rise in the late Chadian–early Arundian resulted in transgression of the Kentstown and Balbriggan Blocks; carbonate ramps developed on the hangingwall dip slopes and transgressed southward with time. Subsequent progradation and aggradation of shallow water sediments throughout the Arundian to Asbian led to the development of carbonate shelves. Several coarse conglomeratic intervals within the contemporaneous basinal sequences of the Fingal Group attest to periodic increases of sediment influx associated with the development of the shelves. Sedimentological processes controlled the development of the carbonate platforms on the hangingwall dip slopes of the Kentstown and Balbriggan Blocks, though periodic increases of sediment flux into the basinal areas may have been triggered by eustatic falls in sea level. In contrast, differential subsidence along the bounding faults of these blocks exerted a strong control on the margins of the late Dinantian shelves, maintaining relatively steep slopes and inhibiting the progradation of the shelves into the adjacent basins. Tectonically induced collapse and retreat of the platform margins occurred in the late Asbian–early Brigantian. Platform sediments are overlain by coarse-grained proximal basinal facies which fine upwards before passing into a thick shale sequence, indicating that by the late Brigantian carbonate production had almost stopped as the platforms were drowned.     

Late Dinantian (Lower Carboniferous) platform carbonate stratigraphy of the Buttevant area North Co. Cork,Ireland

A thick sequence of late Dinantian (Asbian–Brigantian) carbonates crop out in the Buttevant area, North Co. Cork, Ireland. A mud-mound unit of early Asbian age (the Hazelwood Formation) is the oldest unit described in this work. This formation is partly laterally equivalent to, and is overlain by, over 500 m of bedded platform carbonates which belong to the Ballyclogh and Liscarroll Limestone Formations. Four new lithostratigraphic units are described within the platform carbonates: (i) the early Asbian Cecilstown Member and (ii) the late Asbian Dromdowney Member in the Ballyclogh Limestone Formation; (iii) the Brigantian Templemary Member and (iv) the Coolbane Member in the Liscarroll Limestone Formation. The Cecilstown Member consists of cherty packstones and wackestones that are inferred to have been deposited below fair-weather wavebase. This unit overlies and is laterally equivalent to the mud-mound build-up facies of the Hazelwood Formation. The Dromdowney Member is typified by cyclic-bedded kamaenid-rich limestones possessing shell bands, capped by palaeokarst surfaces, with alveolar textures below and shales above these surfaces. The carbonates of this unit were deposited at or just below fair-weather wavebase, the top of each cycle culminated in subaerial emergence. The Templemary Member consists of cyclic alternations of subtidal crinoidal limestones capped by subtidal lagoonal crinoid-poor, peloidal limestones possessing coral thickets. Intraclastic cherty packstones and wackestones characterize the Coolbane Member, which is inferred to have been deposited below fair-weather wavebase but above storm wavebase. The early Asbian Cecilstown Member has a relatively sparse micro- and macrofauna, typified by scattered Siphonodendron thickets, archaediscids at angulatus stage and common Vissariotaxis. Conversely, macro- and microfauna is abundant in the late Asbian Dromdowney Member. Typical late Asbian macrofossils include the coral Dibunophyllum bipartitum and the brachiopod Davidsonina septosa. The base of the late Asbian (Cf6γ Subzone) is recognized by the first appearance of the foraminifers Cribrostomum lecompteii, Koskinobigenerina and the alga Ungdarella. The Cf6γ Subzone can be subdivided into two biostratigraphic divisions, Cf6γ1 and Cf6γ2, that can be correlated throughout Ireland. Relatively common gigantoproductid brachiopods and the coral Lonsdaleia duplicata occur in the Brigantian units. The base of the Brigantian stage (Cf6δ Subzone) is marked by an increase in the abundance of stellate archaediscids, the presence of Saccamminopsis-rich horizons, Loeblichia paraammonoides, Howchinia bradyana and the rarity of Koninckopora species. Changes in facies at the Cecilstown/Dromdowney Member and the Ballyclogh/Liscarroll Formation boundaries coincide closely with the changes in fossil assemblages that correspond to the early/late Asbian and the Asbian/Brigantian boundaries. These facies changes are believed to reflect major changes in relative sea-level on the Irish platforms. The sea-level variations that are inferred to have caused the facies changes at lithostratigraphic boundaries also brought in the new taxa that define biostratigraphic boundaries. Moreover, many of the Dinantian stage boundaries that are defined biostratigraphically in Great Britain, Belgium and the Russian Platform also coincide with major facies boundaries caused by regressive and transgressive episodes. The integration of detailed biostratigraphic analyses with facies studies will lead to better stratigraphic correlations of Dinantian rocks in northwest Europe. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Brigantian and Middle Triassic remagnetizations in Lower Carboniferous carbonates, Northern Ireland: Role of diagenesis and fluid flow

Paleomagnetism (18 sites, 231 specimens) of Lower Carboniferous carbonates in Northern Ireland reveals three characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) components. Six sites from Brigantian limestones have a Middle Triassic (239 ± 7 Ma) secondary chemical remanent magnetization (CRM) in hematite, likely from alteration of the limestones by oxidizing meteoric fluids when continental red beds were deposited immediately above. Twelve sites from early Asbian limestones retain ChRM directions residing in pyrrhotite and magnetite. Their paleopoles are statistically indistinct, but suggest that the pyrrhotite remanence (326 ± 4 Ma) is about a million years younger than the magnetite remanence (327 ± 3 Ma). More importantly, the primary ChRM in these limestones was reset 3 or 4 Ma after deposition, probably by fluids involved in their diagenesis, giving secondary CRMs that are 8 Ma younger than those observed in the Lower Carboniferous carbonates that host the Navan Zn–Pb deposit in the Irish Midlands, suggesting two unrelated fluid histories.     

Geochemistry,origin and correlation of crude oils in Lower Cretaceous sedimentary sequences of the southern Mesopotamian Basin,southern Iraq

Thirty one crude oil samples from Lower Cretaceous reservoirs in southern Iraq were analyzed using bulk property and molecular methods to determine their maturity and biomarker characteristics, as well as to obtain information on their respective source rocks. All the oils are unaltered, non-biodegraded, have high sulfur content and API gravity is in the range for light to heavy oil (19–40° API). They are characterized by low Pr/Ph values, even/odd predominance and front-end biased n-alkane distributions. Based on these parameters the oils were generated and expelled from a marine carbonate source rock bearing Type II-S kerogen. Compositional similarities of hopane and sterane biomarkers with those from potential source rocks allowed identification of the Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous Sulaiy and Yamama carbonate succession as the effective source beds. A similar composition of normal and isoprenoid hydrocarbons among the oils suggests an origin from a common source rock. However, biomarker maturity ratios indicate a wide range of maturity. This appears to result from the type of burial history of the source rock, characterized by a slow passage through the liquid window interval during an extended period of geologic time.     

Upper Carboniferous to Lower Permian transgressive–regressive sequences of central Spitsbergen,Arctic Norway

Investigation of the Upper Carboniferous to Lower Permian sedimentary strata of central Spitsbergen shows that this highly cyclic rock succession is composed of four long-term transgressive–regressive cycles. These long-term cycles are themselves composed of stacked higher order cycles. Transgressive phases are characterized by increasing accommodation space, and include a basal transgressive part of marked retrogradation of facies belts and thickening-upward component cycles. Regressive phases are characterized by decreasing accommodation space, displayed by progradation of facies belts, overall shallowing and increased restriction of the depositional environment, influx of coarse terrigenous sediments and increasing evidence of exposure and/or non-deposition. The oldest transgressive–regressive sequence identified, Sequence 1, is of Serpukhovian to Bashkirian age and represents a syn-rift sequence. Also composed of syn-rift sediments is the transgressive–regressive Moscovian to mid-Gzhelian-aged Sequence 2. The late Gzhelian to late Asselian Sequence 3 is mainly a post-rift sequence. The youngest sequence, Sequence 4, is of Sakmarian to possible Artinskian age, and is also composed of post-rift sediments. The individual transgressive–regressive cycles are defined as second-order cycles, based on lithological signatures, lateral extent of bounding unconformities, and the actual time period the cycles span. Local tectonic activity is believed to control to some extent the development of short-term cycles in the syn-rift succession. However, cyclicity within the long-term cycles is mainly controlled by eustatic sea-level fluctuations, and therefore enables them to be correlated to other Circum-Arctic regions. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Carboniferous subvolcanic activity on the Beara Peninsula,SW Ireland

Magmatic activity associated with the Munster Basin has been more widespread than previously reported. The Munster Basin is a substantial sedimentary basin, and towards the end of its extensional phase of development, at the beginning of the Variscan orogeny in Ireland, numerous intrusions were emplaced into consolidated Upper Devonian and Lower Carboniferous sediments on the Beara Peninsula. One hundred and sixty-four sills and dykes have been mapped which are subalkaline to alkaline in nature. Two separate suites have been identified. The northern suite comprises subalkaline basalts of Cod's Head and Dursey Island which are intruded into Devonian Red Beds, and the southern suite comprises alkali basalts, trachytes and phonolites which crop out along 9 km of the south coast of the Beara Peninsula and are suggested as Brigantian in age. They are intruded into Devonian Red Beds and marine Lower Carboniferous strata and are therefore later than the tholeiitic magmatism on the Iveragh peninsula to the north. The alkaline magmatism on Beara was induced by lithospheric thinning and controlled partly by pre-existing zones of weakness in the Caledonide crust and partly by fracture zones that developed parallel to the Munster Basin margin as it subsided. In contrast to the Iveragh Peninsula, the stretching factor for the Beara lithosphere was never large enough to lead to the production of tholeiitic magmas. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A rendzina from the Lower Carboniferous of South Wales

ABSTRACT A thin calcrete-crust horizon from the Lower Carboniferous Llanelly Formation of South Wales consists of two parts; an upper laminated unit and a lower peloidal unit. The former is interpreted as a subaerial stromatolite and the latter as an A horizon of a palaeosol. Comparisons are made with the A horizons of rendzinas and it is concluded that the calcrete-crust represents a complete rendzina profile. This fossil rendzina contains abundant evidence of a soil fauna in the form of fecal pellets and small burrows.     

云南保山地区的下石炭统

<正> 云南保山地区下石炭统及其生物群曾引起许多学者的兴趣(Reed l927;王鸿桢,1945;段丽兰,1973,1985;宋学良,1982;金玉玕、方润森,1983;杨宗仁,1983;陈重泰,1984;陈根保,1984;金苏华,1992),其主要原因在于丰富而特殊的生物类群,悬而未决的地层问题以及独特的生物地理位置。本文以4条剖面(图1)为基础,依据多门类的生物化石对诸如本区杜内/维宪阶界线、Siphonophyllia-Keyserlingophyllum(Humboldtia)动物群的时代、冷水(凉水)珊瑚动物群、岩石地层单位等问题进行讨论。     

内蒙古通辽南部石炭纪岩相古地理特征

研究区位于内蒙古自治区奈曼旗和库伦旗南部，构造区划属于华北板块北缘的天山-赤峰活动带^[1]。区内晚石炭世地层以陆源碎屑岩和碳酸盐岩沉积为主。二者在空间上具有相变关系。按微相组合或基本层序，沉积构造，生物特征及其空间分布规律，可划分出滨岸相，潮坪相，台后盆地相及台地相4种岩相，8个微相；它们构成一个较为完整的海进层序，属于海侵体系域沉积。反映华北板块北缘晚石炭世海槽属于被动陆源盆地-即陆表海环境。     

Facies relationships in the Upper Devonian-Lower Carboniferous of southwest Ireland and adjacent regions

In southwest Ireland 2,500 m of Upper Famennian to basal Namurian marine sandstones and mudstones, the Cork Beds, overlie rocks of Old Red Sandstone facies. Coastal exposures of the Cork Beds are interpreted as showing gradual upward change from alluvial strata, through thick subtidal and shelf sediments to pyritic muds. A review of recent palaeontological evidence shows that the thick shallow marine part of the Cork Beds is older than the major development of lime-stones north of the Cork Harbour—Kenmare Une, whose equivalents to the south are in the condensed basinal sediments. The Lower Carboniferous portion of the Cork Facies is shown to be thicker in South Cork than in West Cork. In Lower Carboniferous times a positive area–the Glandore High–separated two sub-basins with different depositional histories. Six palaeogeographic maps are used to demonstrate the progressive shift of facies belts as Lower Carboniferous marine transgression progressed. Finally, brief comparison is made with rocks of the same age in southwest England.     

离岸沙坝-潟湖海岸拦门沙航道回淤——以渤海湾曹妃甸海域老龙沟拦门沙为例

渤海湾曹妃甸老龙沟海区属于典型的离岸沙坝-潟湖海岸体系,口门处发育有拦门沙。采用实测资料分析和二维波流泥沙数学模型计算研究了拦门沙成因及其开挖后的回淤情况。研究表明,涨落潮流路不一致、落潮流扩散是老龙沟拦门沙形成的主要原因。针对该海区波浪、潮流、泥沙及海床演变特点,进行了2006年、2007年大小潮潮流泥沙的验证及2008年8~12月试挖槽回淤的验证,在此基础上,预测了拦门沙航道正常情况下的泥沙回淤和大风天骤淤。试挖槽监测资料分析及数学模型计算表明,风浪掀沙是影响老龙沟拦门沙回淤的重要因素。     

The genus Allorisma from Lower Carboniferous of the Moscow kettlehole

The author discusses the conceptual bases of the pelecypod family Allorismidae and of the Carboniferous genera Allorisma, Allorismiella, Edmondia, Edmondiella, and Pseudedmondia. There is an extensive discussion of the hinge line structures of Allorisma based on Russian specimens, and four species of the genus from the Carboniferous of the Moscow area are described. Astaf'yeva-Urbaitis overlooked Wilson's 1959 paper in which Allorisma was shown to be a junior synonym of Edmondia; as a result Astaf'yeva-Urbaitis' nomenclature is faulty. Wilson replaced Allorisma with the new generic name Wilkingia. — J. Pojeta, Jr.     

藏南冈底斯岩基东段石炭纪岩浆作用记录

藏南冈底斯岩基记录了大量中生代和新生代以来的岩浆作用信息,虽然晚古生代的岩浆岩报道较少,但对限定拉萨地块在新特提斯洋俯冲之前的构造作用具有重要意义。本文通过综合已有资料,进一步对加查县和朗县晚古生代花岗岩开展了锆石U-Pb地质年代学及全岩元素地球化学组成的研究。加查县和郎县花岗片麻岩的原岩年龄分别为~344.8Ma和344.0~362.0Ma,表明加查和朗县岩体都形成于石炭纪。这些岩石具有较高的SiO₂含量（67.46%~75.33%）,Al₂O₃含量较低（12.66%~15.82%）,CaO含量为0.79%~4.32%,FeO和MgO的含量分别为0.48%~3.00%和0.28%~1.64%。依据它们的K₂O/Na₂O比值,这些岩石可分为富钾和富钠两个演化系列。这些岩石富集轻稀土元素,亏损Nb、Ta和Ti,但Zr和Hf无明显异常。地球化学特征和年代学信息表明：（1）冈底斯岩基东段石炭纪花岗岩形成于弧后伸展环境,可能与古特提斯洋向冈瓦纳大陆北缘的俯冲作用有关;（2）镁铁质岩浆演化形成富钠花岗岩,幔源岩浆和中下地壳岩熔体的混合形成富钾花岗岩;和（3）石炭纪岩浆作用持续时间至少~30Myr。

     

黔南代页1井下石炭统打屋坝组页岩气地质条件及勘探前景

近年来发现黔南地区下石炭统打屋坝组发育厚度较大的黑色页岩层,该地层已经成为黔南地区重要的页岩气目标地层。为进一步了解该地层的页岩气参数,评价其页岩气勘探潜力,对代页1井打屋坝组黑色页岩进行观察和取样分析,显示该井打屋坝组黑色页岩钻厚为80 m,总体为一套深水陆棚相沉积;干酪根显微组分以腐泥组、壳质组和镜质组为主,Ⅰ型—Ⅲ型干酪根均有发育,有机碳(TOC)含量主要分布在1.5%~3.3%之间,镜质体反射率(Ro)为2.15%~2.66%;矿物组成以石英、黏土矿物为主,脆性矿物(不含方解石)含量在35%~64%之间;含气量在0.49~4.97 m3/t之间,平均为2.20 m3/t。通过露头剖面观察,显示黔南下石炭统打屋坝组黑色页岩厚度均较大,代页1井含气量较高,有机地化、储集物性参数较好,反映打屋坝组具有良好的勘探前景,可进一步加强该地层的基础地质、页岩储层改造和页岩气富集规律研究工作。     

The significance of needle-fibre calcite in a Lower Carboniferous palaeosol

Needle-fibre calcite occurs in association with root structures in a Lower Carboniferous calcrete crust. The origin of this form of calcite is discussed and the scattered literature from soil science, microbiology and geology is reviewed. It is concluded that while needle-fibre calcite is not diagnostic of any environment its origin is related to the activities of various micro-organisms, especially fungi. The use of needle-fibre calcite as a climatic indicator is reviewed and it is used, with other criteria, as evidence of fluctuating climates in the Lower Carboniferous.     

A Lower Carboniferous Blastoid from the Tushan District,Kueichou

正 During our geological reconnaissance of the south-eastern part of Kueichou in January 1941, Mr. S. C. Huo' and I collected two specimens of a Blastoid.