Correlation of Mississippian (Upper Viséan) foraminiferan,conodont, miospore and ammonoid zonal schemes,and correlation with the Asbian–Brigantian boundary in northwest Ireland

The microbiota of the upper Viséan (Asbian–Brigantian) rocks in the Lough Allen Basin in northwest Ireland is analysed. The Middle Mississippian sequence studied extends from the upper part of the Dartry Limestone/Bricklieve Limestone formations of the Tyrone Group to the Carraun Shale Formation of the Leitrim Group. The rocks have been traditionally dated by ammonoid faunas representing the B_2a to P_2c subzones. The Meenymore Formation (base of the Leitrim Group) also contains conodont faunas of the informal partial‐range Mestognathus bipluti zone. The upper Brigantian Lochriea nodosa Conodont Zone was recognized by previous authors in the middle of the Carraun Shale Formation (Ardvarney Limestone Member), where it coincides with upper Brigantian ammonoids of the Lusitanoceras granosus Subzone (P_2a). Foraminifera and algae in the top of the Dartry Limestone Formation are assigned to the upper Cf6γ Foraminifera Subzone (highest Asbian), whereas those in the Meenymore Formation belong to the lower Cf6δ Foraminifera Subzone (lower Brigantian). The Dartry Limestone Formation–Meenymore Formation boundary is thus correlated with the Asbian–Brigantian boundary in northwest Ireland. For the first time, based on new data, a correlation between the ammonoid, miospore, foraminiferan and conodont zonal schemes is demonstrated. The foraminiferans and algae, conodonts and ammonoids are compared with those from other basins in Ireland, northern England, and the German Rhenish Massif. Historically, the Asbian–Brigantian boundary has been correlated with several levels within the P_1a Ammonoid Subzone. However, the new integrated biostratigraphical data indicate that the Asbian–Brigantian boundary in northwest Ireland is probably located within the B_2a Ammonoid Subzone and the NM Miospore Zone, but the scarcity of ammonoids in the Tyrone Group precludes an accurate placement of that boundary within this subzone. Copyright © 2006 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.     

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.     

The recognition of the Asbian/Brigantian boundary fauna and marker horizons in the Dinantian of North Wales

For the first time the stratigraphically important brachiopod Davidsonina septosa (Phillips) has been located in thickly bedded pale grey, late Asbian limestones in North Wales. Above these limestones are thinly bedded dark grey Brigantian limestones, which have yielded a rich and diverse coral-brachiopod fauna, including Lonsdaleia floriformis (Martin). The Girvanella Nodular Bed is recorded for the first time in this region, some distance above the base of the Brigantian. The boundary between the two major lithofacies is marked by a prominent palaeokarstic surface and coincides with a significant faunal change, both in the macrofauna and microfauna that serves to identify the boundary between the Asbian and Brigantian Stages. The discovery within late Dinantian successions of certain diagnostic corals, brachiopods, and algae outside their accepted restricted stratigraphical ranges, casts doubt on their reliable use as Asbian or Brigantian zone fossils.     

Late Viséan–Serpukhovian foraminiferans and calcareous algae from the Adarouch region (central Morocco), North Africa

Three Upper Viséan to Serpukhovian limestone formations from the Adarouch region (central Morocco), North Africa, have been dated precisely using foraminiferans and calcareous algae. The lower and middle part of the oldest formation, the Tizra Formation (Fm), is assigned to the latest Asbian (upper Cf6γ Subzone), and its upper part to the Early Brigantian (lower Cf6δ Subzone). The topmost beds of this formation are assigned to the Late Brigantian (upper Cf6δ Subzone). The lower part of the succeeding Mouarhaz Fm is also assigned to the Late Brigantian (upper Cf6δ Subzone). The Akerchi Fm is younger than the other formations within the region, ranging from the latest Brigantian (uppermost Cf6δ Subzone) up to the Serpukhovian (E₁–E₂). The base of the Serpukhovian (Pendleian Substage, E₁) is repositioned, to coincide with the appearance of a suite of foraminiferans including Archaediscus at tenuis stage, Endothyranopsis plana, Eostaffella pseudostruvei, Loeblichia ukrainica, Loeblichia aff. minima and Biseriella? sp. 1. The upper Serpukhovian (Arnsbergian Substage, E₂) is marked by the first appearance of Eostaffellina ex. gr. paraprotvae and Globoomphalotis aff. pseudosamarica. The biostratigraphical scheme used for the reassessment of the foraminiferal zones and subzones in the Adarouch area closely compares with that for the British succession in northern England (Pennine Region), where the stratotypes of the Upper Viséan (Asbian and Brigantian) and Early Serpukhovian (Pendleian) substages are located. Thus, a succession equivalent to an interval from the Melmerby Scar Limestone to the Great (or Little) Limestone is recognized. These assemblages are also compared to other foraminiferal zones proposed in other regions of Morocco. Several foraminiferans have been identified that are proposed as potential Serpukhovian markers for other basins in Western Europe, and compared to sequences in Russia and the Donets Basin, Ukraine. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Sedimentation during carbonate ramp-to-slope evolution in a tectonically active area: Bowland Basin (Dinantian), northern England

The Bowland Basin (northern England) contains a series of carbonates and terrigenous mudstones deposited during the Ivorian to early Brigantian. Two regional depositional environments are indicated by facies and facies associations. Wackestone/packstone and calcarenite facies indicate deposition in a carbonate ramp environment, while lime mudstone/wackestone, calcarenite and limestone breccia/conglomerate facies, often extensively slumped, represent a carbonate slope environment. Stratigraphic relations suggest that the depositional environment evolved from a ramp into a slope through the Dinantian. Two main sediment sources are indicated by the sequence; an extra-basinal terrigenous mud source and a supply of carbonate from the margins of the basin. Deposition from suspension and from sediment gravity flows, in situ production and remobilization of sediment during sedimentary sliding were important processes operating within the basin. Periods of enhanced tectonic activity in the late Chadian to early Arundian and late Asbian to early Brigantian are indicated by basin-wide horizons of sedimentary slide and mass flow deposits. Both intervals were marked by a decline in carbonate production resulting from inundation and uplift/emergence. The first of these intervals separates deposition on a seafloor with gentle topography (carbonate ramp) from a situation where major lateral thickness and facies variations were present and deposition took place in a carbonate slope environment. The second interval marks the end of major carbonate deposition within the Bowland Basin and the onset of regional terrigenous sedimentation.     

Stratigraphie et sédimentologie des « calcaires à Productus » du Carbonifère inférieur de la Montagne noire (Massif central,France)Stratigraphy and sedimentology of the Lower Carboniferous ‘Calcaires à Productus’ of the Montagne Noire (Massif Central,France)

The ‘Calcaires à Productus’ of the Montagne Noire are microbial build-ups. Two formations are defined and dated respectively as Uppermost Visean (Upper Warnantian–Brigantian) and Serpukhovian on the basis on corals. That makes these limestones out to be younger than previously stated (Lower and base of Upper Warnantian–Asbian and base of Brigantian) and indicates that the development of the olistoliths and thrusts including them, due to the Variscan orogeny, was at least as young as the Upper Serpukhovian. The Serpukhovian limestones of the Montagne Noire are correlated with the Lanet Limestone (Mouthoumet Massif, Corbières) and Ardengost Limestone (central Pyrenees). To cite this article: É. Poty et al., C. R. Geoscience 334 (2002) 843–848.     

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.     

Aspects of dinantian sedimentation in the edale basin,north derbyshire

The Dinantian Edale Basin is located to the north of the Derbyshire carbonate platform and underlies the Upper Carboniferous of the central Pennines. The Edale Basin was thought to be part of a large basin which extended from the Derbyshire carbonate platform to the Askrigg Block. The presence of aggregate grains and ooids in the Alport Borehole suggests that a carbonate platform, possibly located on the Holme structural high, was present underneath the central Pennines. This platform is called the Holme Platform. The Arundian to early Asbian section of the Alport Borehole represents deposition of resedimented shallow-water carbonates with occasional bioturbated periplatform carbonates and basinal shales on the middle part of a carbonate ramp. Volcaniclastic sediments may have been derived from a volcanic centre within the Edale Basin. A change in sedimentation during the mid-Asbian to the deposition of basinal shales and distal carbonate turbidites is attributed to starvation of the basin. This may have been caused by a combination of the development of accretionary rimmed carbonate shelves and the repeated emergence of shelf carbonates deposited on surrounding carbonate platforms. The late Asbian/early Brigantian section of the Edale Borehole is interpreted as a distal equivalent of the ‘Beach Beds’ which outcrop at the north margin of the Derbyshire carbonate platform. The ‘Beach Beds’ represent bioclastic turbidites derived from the Derbyshire carbonate platform. Throughout the Brigantian, sedimentation in the Edale Basin was dominated by the deposition of distal carbonate turbidites and basinal shales. Variation of dip through the Alport Borehole indicates the common occurrence of slumps throughout the sequence and the presence of either an angular unconformity or a fault within the early Brigantian section.     

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 Corwen Outlier and its implications for the Mid Mississippian palaeogeography of North Wales,UK

The isolated outlier of Visean (Mid Mississippian) limestones and sandstones near Corwen, North Wales, UK, provides a critical constraint on regional tectonic and palaeogeographical models. The late Asbian to Brigantian succession comprises a series of shoaling‐upwards cycles (parasequences). These were the product of forced, glacioeustatic regressions and have boundaries that testify to emergence, karstic dissolution and soil formation on a low gradient carbonate platform prior to flooding and the resumption of marine deposition. The recognition of two of the main marker beds within the North Wales Visean succession (Main Shale and Coral Bed) together with a newly applied foraminiferal and algal biozonation allow the outlier succession to be correlated with other Visean outcrops in the region and more widely throughout the British Isles. In revealing regional thickness and facies variations, these comparisons show that the outlier succession was deposited landward of the early Asbian shoreline in a region of enhanced subsidence localized along the Bala Lineament. The Corwen Outlier suggests that, within narrow gulfs associated with the region's major tectonic lineaments, Mississippian carbonate facies extended farther south into the contemporary hinterland of older rocks and that, in response to Brigantian climate change, these topographic features likely also influenced fluvial catchments supplying siliciclastic sediment to the platform's landward margin and, subsequently, Namurian deltas. Contrary to earlier suggestions, Visean outcrop patterns, facies distributions and thicknesses in the vicinity of the Bala Lineament can be explained without the need to invoke extensive post‐depositional lateral displacements. BGS © NERC 2013. Geological Journal © John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Dinantian sedimentation and the basement structure of the Derbyshire Dome

The depositional history of the Dinantian on the Derbyshire Dome can be divided into three phases: (1) pre-Holkerian: onlap of an irregular basement surface by evaporite and carbonate sediments, (2) Holkerian to Asbian: sedimentation on a carbonate shelf formed by the merging of early Dinantian depocentres following burial of the basement topography, and (3) Brigantian: formation of intrashelf basins and the development of a carbonate ramp on part of the pre-existing shelf. A model of the basement structure underlying the Derbyshire Dome is presented to explain the location of the Brigantian intrashelf basins and carbonate ramp. The basement consists of two main tilted fault blocks separated by a smaller tilt block. Movement on faults bounding the tilt blocks caused the development of intrashelf basins. The basin margins were controlled by structures which developed in the cover sediments. The carbonate ramp present during the late Brigantian developed in response to an eastward tilting of the basement.     

Arundian (Dinantian) carbonate mudbanks in north-west Ireland

Arundian mudbank complexes at Pollower and Carrickbaun in north-west Ireland are described in detail. The two bank complexes developed on different fault blocks controlled and separated by the Curlew Mountain Fault system which was active during the Dinantian. The two mudbank complexes are composed predominantly of lime mudstone and wackestone textures with abundant peloids and intraclasts. Stromatactoid cavity systems in the banks are extensive and have multiple generations of geopetal internal sediment and radiaxial and bladed cryptofibrous calcite cements. These mudbanks are comparable with earlier Courceyan-Chadian deep water Waulsortian mudbanks which accumulated on carbonate ramps. Components in the Pollower bank most closely resemble those in subphotic Phase C Waulsortian banks, whereas the Carrickbaun mudbank, which possesses dasycladacean algae, intraclasts and micritized fragmented bioclasts, indicates a much shallower environment of in situ carbonate mud accumulation, comparable to the photic Phase D assemblages of Waulsortian banks. The difference in depositional setting is also reflected by their respective enclosing lithologies. The Pollower bank is surrounded by deep water black argillaceous wackestones and shales, whereas at Carrickbaun shallower water crinoidal packstones and grainstones are developed on the flanks and bank top. The Arundian mudbank complexes have many similarities with the Asbian mudbanks of north-west Ireland and as such appear to represent an important ‘stratigraphic’ link in the continuum of deep water mudbanks between the two main periods of development in the early Dinantian (Waulsortian) and late Dinantian (Asbian/Brigantian).     

Palaeoecological significance of turritelline gastropod-dominated assemblages from the mid-Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) of Texas and Oklahoma,USA

The faunas of three previously poorly known and highly fossiliferous limestones from the upper Lower Cretaceous of Texas are dominated by turritelline gastropods. These faunas consist of turritelline-dominated assemblages in the Whitestone Limestone Member of the Walnut Formation in Travis County (middle Albian), the Keys Valley Marl Member of the Walnut Formation in Coryell County (middle Albian), and the Fort Terrett Formation in Kimble County (middle Albian). A fourth high-spired gastropod assemblage in the Segovia Formation in Pecos County (upper Albian) is not dominated by turritellines. Two other turritelline-dominated assemblages in non-carbonate rocks from the Albian and Cenomanian of Texas and Oklahoma are also described. These turritelline-dominated assemblage occurrences add considerably to our knowledge of the facies occurrence of Cretaceous turritelline-dominated assemblages, and they are consistent with the global facies distribution of these assemblages: i.e., although they are widespread in siliciclastic facies from Cretaceous to Recent, turritelline-dominated assemblages in carbonate facies occur almost exclusively in the Cretaceous and Paleogene.     

Platform and off-platform carbonates of the Upper Cambrian of western Maryland, U.S.A.

Upper Cambrian carbonates in western Maryland are comprised of platform facies (Conococheague Limestone) west of South Mountain and basin facies (Frederick Limestone) east of South Mountain. Conocheague platform carbonates contain interbedded non-cyclic and cyclic facies. Non-cyclic facies consist of cross-stratified grainstones, thrombolitic bioherms, and graded, thin-bedded dolostones. These were deposited in shallow, subtidal shelf lagoons. Cyclic facies are composed of repeated sequences of cross-stratified grainstone; ribbon-rock; wavy, prism-cracked laminite; and planar laminated dolostone. The cyclic facies are shallowing-upward cycles produced by lateral progradation of tidal flats over shallow, nearshore subtidal environments. Cyclic and non-cyclic facies are interbedded in the Conococheague in a layer cake fashion, but no higher-order cyclicity can be found. The Frederick Limestone is dominated by monotonously thick sequences of graded, thin-bedded limestones, interbedded with massive peloidal grainstones and beds of breccia up to 10 m thick in the lower Frederick. The breccias contain transported megaclasts of Epiphyton-Girvanella boundstones. The basal Frederick was deposited in a slope-to-basinal setting east of a rimmed shelf. An Epiphyton-Girvanella marginal reef along the shelf edge was the source of the blocks in the breccias. The upper Frederick Limestone formed on a carbonate ramp.