Lower carboniferous (Dinantian) stratigraphy and structure in the Kingscourt Outlier,Ireland

Logging of 55 recent boreholes, together with remapping, has resulted in a fundamental reassessment of the stratigraphy and sedimentology of the Dinantian Kingscourt Outlier. Despite the present isolated position of the outlier within the Longford-Down Massif, the Kingscourt rocks are an integral part of the Dublin Basin succession. The newly defined Ardagh Platform marks the most northerly limit to basinal sedimentation in the Dinantian Dublin Basin. The Courceyan is a typical but thinner, north Dublin Basin succession with two new formal units: the Rockfield Sandstone Member and the Kilbride Formation. The latter, a coarse-grained, well washed limestone of latest Courceyan to early Chadian (late Tournaisian) age is the shallow water equivalent of the Feltrim Formation (Waulsortian facies), which is absent in the outlier. The Courceyan interval in the north of the outlier is markedly attenuated. In the succeeding Chadian-Brigantian interval basinal facies predominate in the south, but on the Ardagh Platform an almost complete coeval Viséan shallow water sequence is found. A new platform unit (Deer Park Formation) of latest Asbian to Brigantian age is defined in the Ardagh area. The Dee Member (Chadian) is newly defined for the lower part of the basinal Tober Colleen Formation and the Altmush Shale Member is formally defined for the upper part of the Loughshinny Formation. Two major structures dominate the Kingscourt Outlier: the NE-SW trending Moynalty Syncline in the south and the N-S trending Kingscourt Fault. Both are Hercynian structures, but probably represent reactivated Caledonide basement-controlled structures. Dinantian syn-depositional faulting is indicated in both the Courceyan (‘Kingscourt Sag’) and Chadian-Asbian. The latter period of faulting in the Ardagh area separates platform facies in the north from basinal facies to the south. In the late Asbian, platform facies with carbonate build-ups prograded south into the basin as far south as Nobber, but in the latest Asbian to Brigantian, basinal facies extended northwards over the collapsed platform margin.     

Stratigraphy and sedimentology of lower carboniferous (Dinantian) boreholes from West Co. Meath,Ireland

The 2-km deep Athboy Borehole (1439/2) together with the lower part of boreholes EP30 and N915 form a standard type section for strata of Dinantian (Courceyan to Asbian) age in west Co. Meath. Above a thin basal red-bed siliciclastic sequence, the marine Courceyan shelf succession is almost 600 m thick. It comprises the Liscartan, Meath, and Moathill Formations of the Navan Group and the Slane Castle Formation of the succeeding Boyne Group. The shallow-water limestones include micrites, oolites, and sandy bioclastic packstones and grainstones with subordinate skeletal wackestones and shales. Lateral facies changes from north to south in the Navan area suggest deepening across a shelf towards a depocentre further to the south around Trim. The deeper-water Waulsortian Limestones of late Courceyan to Chadian age (Feltrim Formation, ca. 213 m thick) form a series of five sheet-like mudbanks, interbedded with generally thin units of nodular crinoidal limestones and shales. The mudbanks are formed of bryozoan-rich peloidal wackestones and lime-mudstones with phase C and D components. Rare soft-sediment breccias occur at the bottom and top of banks. The succeeding Fingal Group commences with a thin interval (3–20 m) of black shales, laminated packstones, and micritic limestones of Chadian age, the Tober Colleen Formation. This is followed by the Lucan Formation (Chadian to Asbian) predominantly of laminated and graded calciturbidites, laminated sandstones, cherts, and black shales, which is over 1300 m thick. Ten sedimentary units have been informally defined, based on lithofacies and facies associations. The oldest unit, the Tara Member, is characterized by proximal debris-flow breccia deposits and nodular mudstones. A thick bioturbated micrite and shale unit (Ardmulchan Member) in the middle of the formation is overlain directly by a coarse oolitic and crinoidal grainstone unit (Beauparc Member). Near the top of the formation is a distinctive unit of coarse-grained laminated sandstones and shales (Athboy Member). The highest rocks in the Borehole are clean thickly-bedded limestones of the Asbian Naul Formation (>90 m thick). The youngest Dinantian strata in the area, the Brigantian Loughshinny Formation, marks a return to shale-dominant basin sedimentation. The significance of this work lies in the fact that the Athboy borehole is the longest continuously cored borehole in the Carboniferous of Ireland and provides a continuous sedimentary and biostratigraphic record for the northern part of the Dublin Basin. Foraminiferal biozones (Cf2–Cf6) have been recognized in this and in borehole N915, and Stage boundaries identified, which can be applied throughout the Basin. The sedimentary record for the Lucan Formation indicates four tectonic pulses during the Viséan, in the late Chadian/early Arundian, mid-Arundian, Holkerian, and late Holkerian/early Asbian.     

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.     

The lower carboniferous (dinantian) of the Swords area: Sedimentation and tectonics in the Dublin Basin,Ireland

The litho- and biostratigraphy of the Lower Dinantian succession in a deeper part of the Dublin Basin is described. The sub-Waulsortian Malahide Limestone Formation (emended) is described fully for the first time, and has proved to be very much thicker than was previously suspected, in excess of 1200 m. Succeeding the ‘Lower Limestone Shale’ unit, which is transitional from the underlying Old Red Sandstone facies, the following six new members are recognized: Turvey Micrite Member, Swords Argillaceous Bioclastic Member, St. Margaret's Banded Member, Huntstown Laminated Member, Dunsoghly Massive Crinoidal Member and Barberstown Nodular Member (top). The Malahide Limestone Formation is overlain by ‘Waulsortian’ limestones of the Feltrim Limestone Formation (new name) which form overlapping and isolated mudmounds with complex relationships with their enclosing non-mound facies. Though very much thicker, the Courceyan succession is comparable with that elsewhere on the south side of the Basin, and is part of the Kildare Province (Strogen and Somerville 1984). Isopach maps for the region show that this province and the North Midlands are separated by the deepest part of the Dublin Basin, named the ‘East Midlands Depocentre’, in which a shale-dominant facies is present. The top of the ‘Waulsortian’ is of early Chadian age. Formations younger than this are dominated by basinal calcareous shales (Tober Colleen Formation) and by storm deposits and calciturbidites with appreciable terrigenous input from the east (Rush Formation). The Courceyan main shelf conodont biozones are also greatly thickened in this area. The Pseudopolygnathus multistriatus Biozone (> 300 m thick) is succeeded by a very thick (> 900 m) Polygnathus mehli Biozone. The base of the Chadian is considered to occur below the top of the Feltrim Limestone Formation and, although equivocal, may be diagnosed in the Dublin Basin by the first appearance of the problematic microfossil Sphaerinvia piai and a primitive form of the calcareous alga Koninckopora. In the late Courceyan, the Swords area was part of a gently sloping shelf extending northwards into the basin. During deposition of the Feltrim Limestone Formation there was major deepening and there is evidence of initial break up of the Dublin Basin by faulting into separate blocks. By Chadian time the Basin was definitely subsiding by fault displacements and basinal limestones contain shallow water faunas and littoral sand and pebbles derived by turbidite flows from the margins of the higher blocks. The early subsidence was apparently by pure flexure, but in the Viséan the Dublin Basin was fault-controlled, differing from the adjacent Shannon Basin in having both margins strongly faulted.     

The carboniferous lithostratigraphy of Southeast County Limerick,Ireland, and the origin of the shannon trough

The Carboniferous succession in southeast County Limerick, on the southeastern margin of the Shannon Trough, is Courceyan to mid-Namurian in age and over 1900 m thick. The lithostratigraphy is described in detail. Its most important aspect is the presence of two thick volcanic sequences, a Chadian one of the alkali basalt to trachyte suite and one of Asbian age dominated by limburgites and ankaramites. The associated Dinantian carbonates are of shelf or ramp facies throughout, and no fundamental division into shelf and basin facies occurs as in the Dublin and Craven Basins in early Viséan times. Rapid differential subsidence between this area and the Shannon Estuary began during deposition of the late Courceyan to early Chadian Waulsortian facies but was less marked in the remaining Viséan when much of the volcanic topography was preserved by rapid basinal subsidence. There was basinal inversion in the late Dinantian to lower Namurian, followed by renewed subsidence in mid-Namurian times. This contrasts with the continuous rapid subsidence of the area further west on the Shannon Estuary. This behaviour, together with a comparison of that of nearby Carboniferous basins such as the Dublin, South Munster, and Craven Basins, which lack substantial volcanic sequences, suggests an origin in a transtensional regime rather than one of simple crustal stretching.     

Chadian faunas and flora from dyserth: Depositional environments and palaeogeographic setting of Viséan strata in northeast wales

New floral and faunal data from the oldest Dinantian limestones (Foel Formation) in the Dyserth area, suggest that these sediments are of Chadian age, rather than the Asbian age concluded by earlier workers. The basal late Chadian limestones rest conformably on Dinantian Basement Beds of ?Chadian age or older. The initial inundation of St. George's Land occurred during Chadian times, when shallow-water marine limestones accumulated in the Dyserth area and further to the south, together with terrestrially derived siliciclastics, containing drifted plant fragments. Periodically, a restricted hypersaline lagoonal environment was established but an open marine, neritic environment with abundant stenohaline fauna prevailed in this area. These Chadian sediments accumulated on the proximal part of a carbonate ramp and are presumed to have passed laterally downslope into deeper water basinal facies with Waulsortian buildups of the Irish Sea Basin. In the later Arundian, a carbonate ramp–to–platform transition occurred, with widespread deposition of shallow-water carbonates. In the Asbian this platform developed a rimmed margin, with buildups forming a linear belt between platform and basin. An almost complete Chadian to Brigantian Lower Carboniferous sequence can now be recognized in North Wales. This succession is comparable with the shelf succession in south Cumbria on the northern margin of the Irish Sea Basin.     

Biostratigraphy of Dinantian limestones and associated volcanic rocks in the Limerick Syncline,Ireland

Rocks of Courceyan to Brigantian age are exposed in the Limerick Syncline. However, a complete Courceyan succession is known only from two boreholes which correlate closely, both faunally and lithologically, with a standard Limerick Province succession in the Pallaskenry Borehole on the Shannon estuary. This is followed by a thick Waulsortian sequence (the newly defined Limerick Limestone Formation) of late Courceyan to early Chadian age and overlying cherty micrites (the newly defined Lough Gur Formation) of early to late Chadian age, whose top is younger to the east. The Lough Gur Formation is succeeded by lavas and tuffs of the Knockroe Volcanic Formation whose upper part is interbedded with and overlain by shallow water oolites and algal-rich bioclastic limestones of the Herbertstown Limestone Formation. The higher part of the latter is in turn interbedded with lavas and tuffs of the Knockseefin Volcanic Formation. The Herbertstown Limestone has rich and diverse coral/brachiopod and foraminiferal assemblages of late Chadian to Asbian age. Its base is markedly diachronous: late Chadian in the west of the syncline and Holkerian in the east. Both the base and top of the Knockroe Volcanic Formation are thus shown to be markedly diachronous and volcanism extends from the Chadian to early Asbian. The Knockseefin Volcanic Formation is entirely of Asbian age. The highest limestones (Dromkeen Limestone Formation) have a diagnostic late Asbian–early Brigantian fauna and are overstepped by mid-Namurian shales.     

Lower Carboniferous peritidal carbonates and associated evaporites adjacent to the Leinster Massif,southeast Irish Midlands

Analysis of a 275 m‐thick section in the Milford Borehole, GSI‐91‐25, from County Carlow, Ireland, has revealed an unusual sequence of shallow subtidal, peritidal and sabkha facies in rocks of mid?‐late Chadian to late Holkerian (Viséan, Lower Carboniferous) age. Sedimentation occurred on an inner ramp setting, adjacent to the Leinster Massif. The lower part of the sequence (late Chadian age) above the basal subtidal bioclastic unit is dominated by oolite sand facies associations. These include a lower regressive dolomitized, oolitic peloidal mobile shoal, and an upper, probably transgressive, backshoal oolite sand. A 68 m‐thick, well‐developed peritidal sequence is present between the oolitic intervals. These rocks consist of alternating stromatolitic fenestral mudstone, dolomite and organic shale, with evaporite pseudomorphs and subaerial exposure horizons containing pedogenic features. In the succeeding Arundian–Holkerian strata, transgressive–regressive carbonate units are recognized. These comprise high‐energy, backshoal subtidal cycles of argillaceous skeletal packstones, bioclastic grainstones with minor oolites and algal wackestones to grainstones and infrequent algal stromatolite horizons. The study recognizes for the first time the peritidal and sabkha deposits in Chadian rocks adjacent to the Leinster Massif in the eastern Irish Midlands. These strata appear to be coeval with similar evaporite‐bearing rocks in County Wexford that are developed on the southern margin of this landmass, and similar depositional facies exist further to the east in the South Wales Platform, south of St. George's Land, and in Belgium, south of the Brabant Massif. The presence of evaporites in the peritidal facies suggests that dense brines may have formed adjacent to the Leinster Massif. These fluids may have been involved in regional dolomitization of Chadian and possibly underlying Courceyan strata. They may also have been a source of high salinity fluids associated with nearby base‐metal sulphide deposits. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biostratigraphy,microfacies and depositional environments of upper Viséan limestones from the Burren region,County Clare,Ireland

The Burren region in western Ireland contains an almost continuous record of Viséan (Middle Mississippian) carbonate deposition extending from Chadian to Brigantian times, represented by three formations: the Chadian to Holkerian Tubber Formation, the Asbian Burren Formation and the Brigantian Slievenaglasha Formation. The upper Viséan (Holkerian–Brigantian) platform carbonate succession of the Burren can be subdivided into six distinct depositional units outlined below. (1) An Holkerian to lower Asbian unit of skeletal peloidal and bryozoan bedded limestone. (2) Lower Asbian unit of massive light grey Koninckopora‐rich limestone, representing a shallower marine facies. (3) Upper Asbian terraced limestone unit with minor shallowing‐upward cycles of poorly bedded Kamaenella‐rich limestone with shell bands and palaeokarst features. This unit is very similar to other cyclic sequences of late Asbian age in southern Ireland and western Europe, suggesting a glacio‐eustatic origin for this fourth‐order cyclicity. (4) Lower Brigantian unit with cyclic alternations of crinoidal/bryozoan limestone and peloidal limestone with coral thickets. These cycles lack evidence of subaerial exposure. (5) Lower Brigantian bedded cherty dark grey limestone unit, deposited during the maximum transgressive phase of the Brigantian. (6) Lower to upper Brigantian unit mostly comprising cyclic bryozoan/crinoidal cherty limestone. In most areas this youngest unit is truncated and unconformably overlain by Serpukhovian siliciclastic rocks. Deepening enhanced by platform‐wide subsidence strongly influenced later Brigantian cycle development in Ireland, but localized rapid shallowing led to emergence at the end of the Brigantian. A Cf5 Zone (Holkerian) assemblage of microfossils is recorded from the Tubber Formation at Black Head, but in the Ballard Bridge section the top of the formation has Cf6 Zone (Asbian) foraminiferans. A typical upper Asbian Rugose Coral Assemblage G near the top of the Burren Formation is replaced by a lower Brigantian Rugose Coral Assemblage H in the Slievenaglasha Formation. A similar change in the foraminiferans and calcareous algae at this Asbian–Brigantian formation boundary is recognized by the presence of upper Asbian Cf6γ Subzone taxa in the Burren Formation including Cribrostomum lecomptei, Koskinobigenerina sp., Bradyina rotula and Howchinia bradyana, and in the Slievenaglasha Formation abundant Asteroarchaediscus spp., Neoarchaediscus spp. and Fasciella crustosa of the Brigantian Cf6δ Subzone. The uppermost beds of the Slievenaglasha Formation contain a rare and unusual foraminiferal assemblage containing evolved archaediscids close to tenuis stage indicating a late Brigantian age. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tertiary syntectonic carbonate platform development in Indonesia

Cenozoic tropical carbonate sedimentation was strongly influenced by local and regional tectonics in SE Asia. This paper outlines the evolution of the syntectonic Eocene to middle Miocene Tonasa Formation of South Sulawesi, evaluating controls on sedimentation, facies distribution and sequence development. Development of a facies model for this Cenozoic tropical carbonate platform provides a meaningful analogue for similar, less well‐studied SE Asian carbonates, which commonly comprise targets for hydrocarbon exploration. This study also has considerable implications for the study of syntectonic carbonates, controls on carbonate sedimentation, carbonate platform development in backarc areas and SE Asian tectonics. Detailed facies mapping, logging, petrographic and biostratigraphic analyses indicate that the Tonasa Formation was deposited initially as part of a transgressive sequence in a backarc setting. By late Eocene times, shallow‐water carbonates were being deposited over much of South Sulawesi forming a widespread (100‐km long) platform area. Shallow‐water sedimentation continued unabated in some areas of the platform until the middle Miocene. Elsewhere, active normal faulting resulted in fault‐block platforms, with local subaerial exposure of footwall blocks and the formation of basinal graben in adjacent hangingwall areas. Platform‐top facies were aggradational and dominated by larger benthic foraminifera. Low‐angle slopes, particularly hangingwall dip slopes, were characterized by the development of ramps. Faults, controlled in part by pre‐existing structures, were periodically active and formed steep escarpment margins. Variable regional subsidence strongly influenced the development of the Tonasa Carbonate Platform, whereas platform‐wide effects caused by regional eustacy have not been identified. Computer modelling of the Tonasa Platform confirms that the accommodation space and sedimentary geometries observed can be produced by block faulting and regional subsidence alone. Modelling also reveals that regional subsidence and extension, oblique to the main stretching direction, were low on the margins of the backarc basin. Shallow‐water accumulation rates for this foraminifera‐dominated tropical carbonate platform were an order of magnitude lower than those for modern warm‐water platforms dominated by corals or ooids.     

Cryptic exposure horizons in the Carboniferous Limestone of Portishead,Avon

Two unusual subaerial exposure horizons containing fibrous columnar calcite crystals are described from the (early Chadian) Lower Carboniferous of Portishead, near Bristol in southwest Britain. The lower horizon overlies the Courceyan Black Rock Limestone (mid-ramp facies) and is separated from the upper horizon by the Sub-Oolite Bed and is overlain by the Chadian Gully Oolite (both are inner ramp deposits). Regionally the Portishead Palaeosol Beds are interpreted as forming part of extensive emergent surfaces which developed along the southern margin of the Welsh–Brabant Massif. They correlate with similar subaerial exposure horizons in Belgium and southern Germany, and may be the product of a proposed major eustatic sea level fall at the end of the Courceyan.     

Tectonic and climatic controls on sedimentation during deposition of the Sinakumbe group and Karoo supergroup,in the mid-Zambezi Valley Basin,southern Zambia

Sediments of the Ordovician to Devonian Sinakumbe Group (∼210 m thick) and overlying Upper Carboniferous to Lower Jurassic Karoo Supergroup (∼4.5 km thick) were deposited in the mid-Zambezi Rift Valley Basin, southern Zambia.The Sinakumbe-Karoo succession represents deposition in a extensional fault-controlled basin of half-graben type. The basin-fill succession incorporates two major fining-upward cycles that resulted from major tectonic events, one event beginning with Sinakumbe Group sedimentation, possibly as early as Ordovician times, and the other beginning with Upper Karoo Group sedimentation near the Permo-Triassic boundary. Minor tectonic pulses occurred during deposition of the two major cycles. In the initial fault-controlled half-graben, a basin slope and alluvial fan system (Sikalamba Conglomerate Formation), draining southeastward, was apparently succeeded, without an intervening transitional facies, by a braided river system (Zongwe Sandstone Formation) draining southwestward, parallel to the basin margin. Glaciation followed by deglaciation resulted in glaciofluvial and glacio-lacustrine deposits of the Upper Carboniferous to Lower Permian Siankondobo Sandstone Formation of the Lower Karoo Group, and isostatic rebound eventually produced a broad flood plain on which the coal-bearing Lower Permian Gwembe Coal Formation was deposited. Fault-controlled maximum subsidence is represente by the lacustrine Upper Permian Madumabisa Mudstone Formation. Block-faulting and downwarping, probably due to the Gondwanide Orogeny, culminated with the introduction of large quantities of sediment through braided fluvial systems that overwhelmed and terminated Madumabisa Lake sedimentation, and is now represented by the Triassic Escarpment Grit and Interbedded Sandstone and Mudstone Formations of the Upper Karoo Group. Outpourings of basaltic flows in the Early Jurassic terminated Karoo sedimentation.     

Early to mid-Viséan shallow water platform buildups,north Co. Dublin,Ireland

A number of carbonate buildups in north Co. Dublin, long assigned to the late Viséan (Asbian), are shown on the basis of coral, foraminiferal and algal evidence to be early to mid-Viséan (late Chadian to Holkerian) in age. They are equivalent in age to beds ranging from the upper part of the Lane Formation to the top of the Holmpatrick Formation. The buildups are poorly exposed and relatively small, probably only a few tens of metres across at most. Buildup sediments are massive to crudely bedded and dominated by peloidal, clotted and dense uniform micrites displaying lime mudstone and bioclastic wackestone textures. Dasycladacean algae are common in the buildups and cryptalgal fabrics are locally important. Cavities in the buildups are generally small (< 5 cm) and lined with inclusion-rich radiaxial calcite cements. Micritization of bioclasts and cements is ubiquitous. Enclosing off-buildup limestones are skeletal and intraclastic grainstones possessing sedimentary structures indicative of deposition in moderate to high energy environments. Fossil and petrographic evidence from the buildups also indicate a shallow water origin for the north Co. Dublin buildups. Compared with the slightly older Tournaisian (Courceyan to early Chadian) Waulsortian buildups which developed extensively in the Dublin Basin, these younger platform buildups are smaller and more isolated and possess a diverse suite of algal components and cryptalgal fabrics. Nevertheless, components in the north Co. Dublin buildups most closely resemble the shallowest phase D Waulsortian buildups, particularly in the presence of abundant peloids and micritized cements. The north Co. Dublin buildups developed on a carbonate platform (the Milverton Platform), adjacent to the Dublin Basin, whereas the Waulsortian developed in a deeper ramp setting. Following the demise of the Waulsortian in early Chadian time carbonate buildups established themselves on the shallow platforms. It is suggested that the microbial communities responsible for these buildups may have ‘evolved’ from older phase D Waulsortian communities and that he north Co. Dublin platform buildups represent the shallow water end of a spectrum of Viséan buildups.     

Carbonate platform growth and cyclicity at a terminal Proterozoic passive margin, Infra Krol Formation and Krol Group, Lesser Himalaya, India

Abstract The Infra Krol Formation and overlying Krol Group constitute a thick (< 2 km), carbonate-rich succession of terminal Proterozoic age that crops out in a series of doubly plunging synclines in the Lesser Himalaya of northern India. The rocks include 18 carbonate and siliciclastic facies, which are grouped into eight facies associations: (1) deep subtidal; (2) shallow subtidal; (3) sand shoal; (4) peritidal carbonate complex; (5) lagoonal; (6) peritidal siliciclastic–carbonate; (7) incised valley fill; and (8) karstic fill. The stromatolite-rich, peritidal complex appears to have occupied a location seaward of a broad lagoon, an arrangement reminiscent of many Phanerozoic and Proterozoic platforms. Growth of this complex was accretionary to progradational, in response to changes in siliciclastic influx from the south-eastern side of the lagoon. Metre-scale cycles tend to be laterally discontinuous, and are interpreted as mainly autogenic. Variations in the number of both sets of cycles and component metre-scale cycles across the platform may result from differential subsidence of the interpreted passive margin. Apparently non-cyclic intervals with shallow-water features may indicate facies migration that was limited compared with the dimensions of facies belts. Correlation of these facies associations in a sequence stratigraphic framework suggests that the Infra Krol Formation and Krol Group represent a north- to north-west-facing platform with a morphology that evolved from a siliciclastic ramp, to carbonate ramp, to peritidal rimmed shelf and, finally, to open shelf. This interpretation differs significantly from the published scheme of a basin centred on the Lesser Himalaya, with virtually the entire Infra Krol–Krol succession representing sedimentation in a persistent tidal-flat environment. This study provides a detailed Neoproterozoic depositional history of northern India from rift basin to passive margin, and predicts that genetically related Neoproterozoic deposits, if they are present in the High Himalaya, are composed mainly of slope/basinal facies characterized by fine-grained siliciclastic and detrital carbonate rocks, lithologically different from those of the Lesser Himalaya.     

The Distribution of Chadian and earliest Arundian strata in North Wales: Implications for Dinantian (Carboniferous) lithostratigraphy and palaeogeography

The late Chadian Foel Formation, previously thought to be confined to the Dyserth area of North Wales, forms a poorly exposed but persistent basal unit to much of the Dinantian crop east of the Clwydian Range, necessitating a revision of the local lithostratigraphy. The formation comprises a peritidal heterolith which, together with the lowest few metres of the overlying Llanarmon Limestone, yields microfossil assemblages diagnostic of the Eoparastaffella Cf4α Subzone. Succeeding strata, containing the lowest archaediscid foraminifera, provide the first record of Cf4β assemblages from North Wales and establish an early Arundian age for these beds. The Foel Formation was deposited as an aggradational sequence on the northern flank of St. George's Land during a pulsed transgression which began in late Chadian times. The widely recognized basal Arundian transgression is represented by the contact between the Foel Formation and overlying platform carbonates. The latter overlap the Foel Formation in the southernmost part of the Clwydian crop demonstrating, for the first time, southwards onlap on the northern side of the Bala–Bryneglwys Fault System.     

西藏西部昂拉仁错地区下白垩统岩石地层特征及空间变化规律

将西藏昂拉仁错地区下白垩统划分为则弄群、多尼组、郎山组和捷嘎组4个正式岩石地层单位。讨论了各组段的空间分布、岩石组合特征、沉积环境及横向变化规律。认为多尼组仅分布于班戈-八宿地层分区的东部,在改则厚齿玛里以西相变尖灭,与则弄群二段既有上下层位关系又呈横向相变关系。郎山组为只见于昂拉仁错北部班戈-八宿地层分区内的一套稳定碳酸盐台地相沉积,而捷嘎组为只见于昂拉仁错中南部措勤-申扎地层分区内的较活动的火山活动碳酸盐台地相沉积。郎山组与捷嘎组为同时异相关系。     

The Shah Kuh Formation,a latest Barremian – Early Aptian carbonate platform of Central Iran (Khur area,Yazd Block)

The Shah Kuh Formation of the Khur area (Central Iran) consists of predominantly micritic, thick-bedded shallow-water carbonates, which are rich in orbitolinid foraminifera and rudists. It represents a late(est) Barremian – Early Aptian carbonate platform and overlies Upper Jurassic – Barremian continental and marginal marine sediments (Chah Palang and Noqreh formations); it is overlain by basinal deposits of the Upper Aptian – Upper Albian Bazyab Formation. The lithofacies changes at both, the base and top of the Shah Kuh Formation are gradational, showing that the formation is part of an overall transgressive sedimentary megacycle, and that the formational boundaries are potentially diachronous on larger distances. Analyses of facies and stratal geometries suggest that the Shah Kuh carbonate system started as a narrow, high-energy shelf that developed into a large-scale, flat-topped rudist platform without marginal rim or steep slope. The Shah Kuh Platform is part of a large depositional system of epeiric shallow-water carbonates that characterized large parts of present-day Iran during Late Barremian – Aptian times (“Orbitolina limestones” of NW and Central Iran, the Alborz and the Koppeh Dagh). Their biofacies is very similar to contemporaneous deposits from the western Tethys and eastern Arabia, and they form an important, hitherto poorly known component of the Tethyan warm-water carbonate platform belt.     

浙江桐庐阳新统栖霞组的(竹蜓)类化石及多重地层划分

浙江桐庐栖霞组可划分为二个(竹蜓)带:上部为Cancellina neoschwagerinoides-Verbeekina grabaui带,归属祥播阶;下部为Misellina claudiae带,归属罗甸阶.栖霞组被划分出3个正层序和6个四级层序.高频旋回层研究表明:栖霞组主要的成岩环境有台地相、浅海陆棚相和盆地相三种类型,从下至上总体反映为台地向盆地的演化环境.     

浙江桐庐阳新统栖霞组的■类化石及多重地层划分

浙江桐庐栖霞组可划分为二个带:上部为Cancelli naneoschwagerinoides-Verbeekina grabaui带,归属祥播阶;下部为Misellinaclaudiae带,归属罗甸阶。栖霞组被划分出3个正层序和6个四级层序。高频旋回层研究表明:栖霞组主要的成岩环境有台地相、浅海陆棚相和盆地相三种类型,从下至上总体反映为台地向盆地的演化环境。     

西藏措勤盆地川巴地区下白垩统沉积相及含煤性研究

措勤盆地是西藏近年来矿产勘查的重要地区之一,其北部川巴地区是目前的煤炭资源调查远景地区。川巴地区下白垩统由下而上可划分为则弄群、多尼组和郎山组。在对川巴地区下白垩统露头剖面沉积特征研究的基础上,结合区域地质资料,共识别出浅海泥质陆棚、碳酸盐岩台地、混积台地、潮坪、辫状河三角洲、扇三角洲和辫状河7种沉积相。则弄群岩性主要为火山碎屑岩、细砾岩、含砾粗砂岩、砂岩,发育扇三角洲相;多尼组岩性主要为细砾岩、含砾粗砂岩、砂岩、泥岩及灰岩,夹炭质泥岩和薄煤层,发育辫状河、辫状河三角洲、混积台地和浅海泥质陆棚相;郎山组岩性主要为灰岩,夹细砂岩、粉砂岩及泥岩,发育潮坪、混积台地和碳酸盐岩台地相。基于沉积相分析的聚煤规律研究,指出川巴地区主要成煤环境为多尼组辫状河三角洲平原分流间湾,阿格桑至川巴一线及其以东一带地区,是本区主要的聚煤作用带。