Was Phanerozoic reef history controlled by the distribution of non-enzymatically secreted reef carbonates (microbial carbonate and biologically induced cement)?

Throughout most of the Phanerozoic, reef rigidity resulted as much, or more, from early lithification by microbial carbonates and biologically induced cements (non-enzymatic carbonates) than from biological encrustation of, or by, large, enzymatically secreted metazoan skeletons. Reef framework is divided into four categories: (1) skeletal metazoan; (2) non-skeletal microbialite (stromatolite and thrombolite); (3) calcimicrobe; and (4) biocementstone, in which small or delicate organisms serve as scaffolds for rigid cement crusts. The last three categories are dominated by non-enzymatic carbonates. Skeletal framework and non-skeletal microbialite framework were the most abundant framework types through the Phanerozoic. The composition and abundance of skeletal framework was controlled largely by mass extinction events, but most reefs consisted of both microbialite and skeletal organisms in a mutually beneficial relationship. Microbialite framework was abundant throughout the Palaeozoic and early Mesozoic, but declined after the Jurassic. Calcimicrobe framework was important during the Cambrian-Early Ordovician and Devonian and biocementstone framework was important from the late Mississippian to the Late Triassic. The Phanerozoic history of reefs does not correlate well with the stratigraphic distribution of large, skeletal ‘reef builders’, or with a variety of physicochemical parameters, including sea-level history, Wilson Cycle or global climate cycles. Because non-enzymatic carbonates result from induction by non-obligate calcifiers, and not enzymatic precipitation by obligate calcifiers, the distribution of these carbonates was controlled to a larger extent by temporal changes in physicochemical parameters affecting the saturation state of sea water with respect to carbonate minerals. Changes in pCO₂, Ca/Mg ratios, cation concentrations and temperature may have affected the abundance of non-enzymatic carbonates and, hence, reefs, independently from the effects of these same parameters and mass extinction events on skeletal reef biota. The decline in abundance of reefal microbialite and absence of calcimicrobe and biocementstone reef framework after the Jurassic may be a result of relatively low saturation states of sea water owing to increased removal and sequestration of finite marine carbonate resources by calcareous plankton since the Jurassic. Reef history is difficult to correlate with temporal changes in specific global parameters because these parameters affect skeletal biota and biologically induced carbonate precipitation independently. Hence, reef history was regulated not just by skeletal reef biota, but by parameters governing non-enzymatic carbonates.     

Temporal Distribution of Diagnostic Biofabrics in the Lower and Middle Ordovician in North China: Clues to the Geobiology of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event

Abstract: The temporal distribution of the diagnostic biofabrics in the Lower and Middle Ordovician in North China distinctly illustrates that the sedimentary systems on the paleoplate have been changed markedly as consequences of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE). The pre-GOBE sedimentary systems deposited in Tremadoc display widespread microbialite and flat-pebble conglomerates, and a less extent of bioturbation. Through the transitional period of early Floian, the sedimentary systems in the rest of the Early and Mid- Ordovician change to GOBE type and are characterized by intensive bioturbation and vanishing flat-pebble conglomerates and subtidal microbial sediments. The irreversible changes in sedimentary systems in North China are linked to the GOBE, which conduced the increase in infaunal tiering, the expansion of infaunal ecospace, and the appearance of new burrowers related to the development of the Paleozoic Evolutionary Fauna during the Ordovician biodiversification. Thus, changes in sedimentary systems during the pivotal period of the GOBE were consequences of a steep diversification of benthic faunas rather than the GOBE’s environmental background.     

塔河油田西北部加里东中期古水系特征及其地质意义

塔河地区奥陶系中下统碳酸盐岩主要经历了加里东中期-海西期古岩溶作用,前人对海西期岩溶特征研究作了大量工作,并取得了一些共性认识,但加里东中期岩溶作用与古水系的发育特征研究较为薄弱。利用三维地震资料和相关技术,对塔河地区西北部奥陶系古水系进行识别和刻画,并结合区域地层沉积和构造演化等,尤其是不整合面上覆地层接触关系,发现奥陶系上统良里塔格组顶面和桑塔木组顶面分别存在相互独立的水文体系,实现了对加里东中期Ⅱ幕和Ⅲ幕岩溶古水系归属的厘定,首次提出了良里塔格组末期的加里东中期Ⅱ幕运动具有优越的岩溶发育条件,初步探索了加里东中期古岩溶发育模式,从而为深入研究塔河地区奥陶系加里东中期构造特征和古岩溶作用奠定了基础。      

Petrography of Late Cambrian to Middle Ordovician radiolarian chert in Kazakhstan with special reference to the emergence of benthic animals in the pelagic realm

Upper Cambrian to Middle Ordovician radiolarian chert successions from Kazakhstan were studied to clarify the history of the emergence of benthic animals in ocean floor sediments. Radiolarian tests and clay were deposited for a period of 30 Myr without experiencing an influx of continent-derived coarse clastic materials. Red, grey and black cherts of the Upper Cambrian to the upper mid-Darriwilian are thinly laminated, and no trace of benthic animal activity is recognized in that time interval. Bioturbation structures and burrow traces in mid-Darriwilian stage red chert in Kazakhstan suggest that benthic animals colonized the location where radiolarian chert formed, but that there was a significant delay in colonization when compared with similar reported occurrences in Australia and Canada.     

A preliminary Ordovician biostratigraphy of Tasmania

In Tasmania sedimentary rocks containing shelly fossils at many horizons, some graptolitic horizons and numerous conodont horizons were deposited, apparently continuously, from the Tremadoc Epoch into and after the Llandovery Epoch. Superposition can be demonstrated over this interval so that the position of preserved faunas or biotas relative to one another is clear in most cases. Twenty successive Ordovician faunas are recognized. During the interval represented by this succession the geographical affinities of the faunas were generally with eastern Asian, North American and South American faunas, but in the later part of the Ordovician and in the Silurian the affinities were wider. Because of the clarity of the succession, the duration of deposition and relationships of the faunas, the Tasmanian succession is likely to be a useful link in world correlation, especially for isolated areas such as parts of South America and southeastern Asia.     

塔中Ⅰ号坡折带上奥陶统成礁背景分析

自塔中Ⅰ号坡折带上奥陶统良里塔格组发现生物礁滩作为重要储集层后,有关礁的形态和规模一直存在较大的争议。本研究解析该地区礁的古生物组合、古生态结构和沉积环境,以此为基础系统论证生物礁的沉积序列。礁的建造方式可归属于珊瑚骨架礁丘、层孔虫—海绵骨架礁丘、海绵—层孔虫骨架礁丘以及管孔藻—层孔虫骨架礁丘几种生态类型,这些骨架礁丘无论从造礁生物多样性、生态组合特征以及造礁规模,皆不同于前时代的前寒武纪叠层石礁、寒武纪古杯礁、早奥陶世的灰泥丘和托盘海绵礁,而呈现出单个礁体厚度大、发育旋回多之特点,多期礁体的垂向叠加、横向迁移造成礁体叠置连片, 形成了呈条带状展布的大型生物礁群。     

陕甘宁盆地中部马五1潮缘碳酸盐岩沉积旋回及其成因探讨

陕甘宁盆地中部马五₁段由多个向上变浅的潮缘碳酸盐岩沉积序列重复叠置组成,并可分为十三种沉积 -成岩微相和六个沉积相带。这种沉积序列的韵律性重复叠置的形成方式为潮缘进积楔的简单退覆和阶段式退覆,其形成机制为自旋回。     

Depositional Controls on the Ichnology of Ordovician Wave-dominated Marine Facies: New Evidence from the Shirgesht Formation, Central Iran

The Lower Ordovician Shirgesht Formation in central Iran is composed of siliciclastic and carbonate rocks deposited in diverse coastal and marine shelfal environments (tidal flat, lagoon, shoreface, offshore-shelf and carbonate ramp). Five facies associations contain diverse ichnofossil assemblages that show distinct proximal to distal trends formed in a wide range of physical-chemical conditions. The ethological groups of trace fossils in the Shirgesht Formation reflect a gradient of depositional stress conditions across a wave-influenced shoreline and shelf. Deposits of wave-influenced environments make up a significant component of the geological record of shallow marine settings, and the ability to determine paleoenvironments in detail in such successions is critical for reconstruction of depositional histories and sequence-stratigraphic interpretation.The Cruziana ichnofacies of the study shows highly diverse suites that record the establishment of a benthic community under stable conditions and a long-term colonization window. The Skolithos ichnofacies recognized is a low diversity opportunistic ichnocommunity suite that resulted from colonization after tempestite deposition in a stressed environment. The strata record an onshore to offshore replacement of the Cruziana ichnofacies (with abundant feeding traces of deposit-feeders) by the Skolithos ichnofacies (dominated by suspension-feeders and predators). A transitional zone between the two ichnofacies coincides with the offshore-transition/distal lower-surface deposits. The distribution of ichnofacies, the diversity and range of ethological characteristics reflected by the ichnogenera, and the wide range of wave-dominated coastal facies demonstrate the potential to use individual trace fossils and ichnofacies for significantly refined palaeoenvironmental analysis of wave-dominated coastal settings, particularly in Ordovician successions.     

Textured organic surfaces associated with the Ediacara biota in South Australia

The Ediacaran Period takes its name from the fossils of the Ediacara biota, which represent the first appearance of large and diverse assemblages of organisms in the fossil record. Although the global record of these distinctive body fossils is now well known, a previously unrecognized megascopic organic record of textured organic surfaces (TOS) occurs in the Ediacara biota. However, TOS is also a feature over a wider range of paleoenvironmental settings, where body fossils are unknown, in Ediacaran siliciclastic successions that have been studied in Australia, Namibia and western North America.Paleoecological analysis of successive bedding planes of strata from the late Ediacaran Rawnsley Quartzite in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia, reveals that TOS represent the most common organic features in bedding-surface assemblages of the Ediacara biota. The TOS consist of preserved, patterned assemblages of textured organic mats, fibers and simple tubular body fossils. Complex Ediacara body fossils while striking for their distinctive body plans, and dominating some of the beds, are relatively minor components of combined overall surface area. Many elements of TOS have previously been miss-diagnosed as trace fossils, which are in practice limited to two or at most three morphotypes that indicate the presence of Bilateria. Although TOS represent a simpler grade of organismic construction than discrete and more complex Ediacara body fossils, they were preserved in a similar manner. Marked variability in all components of the biota between successive surfaces suggests that Ediacara ecologies fluctuated at short intervals despite an apparently consistent sedimentary regime.     

塔里木盆地塔中地区奥陶系构造-沉积模式与碳酸盐岩裂缝储层预测

奥陶系碳酸盐岩是塔中地区油气勘探的重要目的层。本文在讨论塔中地区奥陶纪区域构造背景和奥陶系岩性段划分的基础上,建立了塔中地区奥陶系构造 -沉积模式,并用三维有限元数值模拟方法对塔中地区有利碳酸盐岩裂缝储层发育区进行了预测,以期指导塔中地区碳酸盐岩的油气勘探。     

Stratigraphische Untersuchungen im Paläozoikum des Montseny (Katalonien/Spanien)

The Catalonian Coast Bange and Inner Bange are the connecting link between the East-Pyrenees in the North and the Celtiberic Chains in the Southeast. During the Paleozoic the Catalonian Ranges differ from both areas by extreme eugeosynclinal conditions with very low rates of sedimentation. Similar conditions in the Hercynian of Spain are to be found in the “pelagic” areas of the southwestern part of the Sierra Morena from upper Ordovician to Lower Carboniferous times. Based on the mapping of the Avencó-Valley (a part of the Montseny-Mountains/Catalonia) the Paleozoic layers are described and a stratigraphic subdivision is worked out. The conformable sequence begins in the upper Ordovician (Caradoc) and continues to the Visean. Buntsandstein is unconformably overlying the Paleozoic. The Ordovician/Silurian boundary is determined by Graptolithes; the Silurian/Devonian boundary is located within a sequence of Orthoceras-limestone as elsewhere in the Catalonian Range. For lack of fossils the Devonian/Carboniferous boundary is not clearly defined; instead a lithologic boundary was used. Special stress has been laid upon sedimentary structures.     

Development of an equatorial carbonate platform across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary and links to global palaeoenvironmental changes (Musandam Peninsula,UAE/Oman)

The Triassic-Jurassic boundary is marked by one of the ‘big five’ mass extinctions of the Phanerozoic. This boundary event was accompanied by several carbon cycle perturbations, potentially induced by the opening of the Central Atlantic and associated volcanism, and accompanied by an ocean acidification event. Continuous carbonate successions covering this interval of environmental change are however rare. Here data from a shallow-marine equatorial mixed carbonate-siliciclastic succession is presented, that was studied on a regional scale. Four sections that are 48 km apart were examined on the Musandam Peninsula (United Arab Emirates and Sultanate of Oman). The system was analysed for its sedimentology, vertical and lateral facies changes, and stable carbon and oxygen isotopes. Strontium isotope analysis was used to determine the position of the Triassic-Jurassic boundary horizon. The studied ramp experienced an episode of demise during the Late Triassic, followed by a restricted microbialite dominated ramp, containing large amounts of siliciclastic facies. During the Latest Triassic the diverse carbonate factory revived and flourished across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. No clear evidence for a biocalcification crisis or an ocean acidification event across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary is visible. Lateral facies heterogeneities can be observed across the studied interval, attributed to hydrodynamic activity, including tropical storms, crossing the extensive shelf area. Although evidence for synsedimentary tectonic activity is present, the vertical stacking pattern is largely controlled by changes in relative sea level. The refined chronostratigraphy accompanied by the detailed environment of deposition analysis allows for a refinement of the regional palaeogeography. The neritic equatorial carbonate ramp has archived a negative carbon isotope excursion preceding the Triassic-Jurassic boundary that has also been reported from other study sites. The lack of evidence for a biocalcification crisis across the equatorial Triassic-Jurassic boundary indicates that the Tethys did not experience a distinct global acidification event.     

Ordovician sequence stratigraphy and correlation in the Middle-Upper Yangtze region,South China

The precise correlation of the Ordovician successions in different facies is difficult due to the complex changes of the tecto-paleogeography in South China. Based on previous studies, the authors recognized 10 3^rd grade sequences, i. e., Osq1 to Osq10 in ascending order, by the integrated study of chronostratigraphy, biostratigraphy as well as the analysis on the sedimentary facies. The authors are confident to correlate the Ordovician successions precisely in different facies in an isochronous stratigraphic framework with the application of the method of sequence stratigraphy and correlation.     

Ediacaran to Lower Ordovician age for rocks ascribed to the Schist–Graywacke Complex (Iberian Massif,Spain): Evidence from detrital zircon SHRIMP U–Pb geochronology

New SHRIMP U–Pb ages of detrital zircon obtained from eight samples of Neoproterozoic to Lower Paleozoic graywackes, schists, microconglomerates and shales provide the maximum depositional age and a new zircon age pattern for the Schist–Graywacke Complex (SGC) from the Iberian Massif (SW Europe). The ages of the youngest zircon grains found in four samples provide a maximum depositional age of latest Ediacaran–Lower Cambrian for the complex. Lower-Middle Cambrian fossiliferous formations on top of the lithologies correctly attributed to the SGC constrain its minimum depositional age. Unexpectedly, two samples attributed to the SGC yielded Cambro-Ordovician zircon populations. These must belong to younger Lower Ordovician sedimentary successions that, up to now, have not been differentiated from those of the SGC. The new age patterns are mainly composed of Neoproterozoic (73%) and Paleoproterozoic (15%) ages, with minor Neoarchean (7%), Mesoarchean (2%), Mesoproterozoic (3%) and Cambrian (1%) ages for the latest Ediacaran–Lower Cambrian successions, and Neoproterozoic (46%) and Cambro-Ordovician (46%) ages, with minor Neoarchean (1%), Mesoarchean (0.5%), Paleoproterozoic (6%), Mesoproterozoic (0.5%) and Carboniferous (1%) ages for the Lower Ordovician successions. The presence of Mesoproterozoic zircon points to the Saharan Metacraton as a contributing source for these sediments. Cadomian granitoids could have been a local Neoproterozoic source. The Cambro-Ordovician zircons may also indicate that Cambro-Ordovician magmatism contributed as a source. Cambro-Ordovician volcanism, the most probable source of the Cambro-Ordovician zircons, would have been coeval with the deposition of the Lower Ordovician successions.     

重庆二叠—三叠系界线地层的干裂缝和侵蚀面及其意义

剖面研究揭示,重庆老龙洞地区二叠系—三叠系界线上下地层中发育厚约3 m的微生物岩。该微生物岩的上部发育树枝状构造,下部具斑点状构造,因此被明显的分为上下两部分;其上部岩层顶面发育有侵蚀面,下部岩层顶面发育干裂缝。根据微生物岩上下岩层的沉积相分析和相关资料的对比研究表明,研究区在二叠纪—三叠纪之交,经历了暴露和侵蚀过程。研究结果为深入探讨这一重要地质时期的海平面变化提供了新的资料。     

细分小层岩相古地理编图的沉积学研究及油气勘探意义——以鄂尔多斯地区中东部奥陶系马家沟组马五段为例

鄂尔多斯盆地中东部奥陶系发育巨厚的蒸发岩-碳酸盐岩旋回性沉积,地层厚度达500~900m。对其上部厚约200~350m的马家沟组第五段岩性、沉积相的进一步分析表明,其内部仍发育次一级的沉积旋回。而通过细分小层的沉积学研究和岩相古地理编图,对马五段的岩性相变规律及沉积演化特征的认识则更为明晰,对该区奥陶系的沉积学研究与天然气勘探部署也发挥了重要作用,主要体现在以下几方面:一是对于有利沉积相带(尤其是相控储层)的预测更为精准,细分小层的岩相古地理编图对主力目的层的研究分析更具针对性;二是对白云岩化机理的认识进一步深入,基本明确了短期海侵层序中的白云岩化受继承性古地理格局与层序演化的共同控制;三是推动古隆起东侧奥陶系中组合(马五5-马五10)岩性圈闭大区带成藏认识的形成,勘探发现了千亿方规模储量接替区;四是催生奥陶系盐下"侧向供烃成藏"模式的建立,指导近期盆地中部奥陶系盐下勘探取得重大突破。因此可以初步认为,细分小层的岩相古地理编图可能代表了古地理学发展的一个重要方向,无论是对相带展布、层序演化及白云岩化等沉积学方面的研究,还是对油气勘探工作中的有利储集体预测及圈闭成藏规律的认识,都具有一定的实际意义。     

Micro faunal assemblages in the Ordovician – Silurian successions from the Pin Valley of Tethys Himalaya, India

The Spiti basin together with the Zanskar basin forms the largest basin among the Tethyan Himalayan successions and forms one of the best-developed sec-tions in the Tethyan Tibetan belt. The basin is one of the classical areas, which depicts a continuous fos-siliferous Palaeozoic - Mesozoic successions. The present studies are focused on the Ordovician and Si-lurian successions of the Pin valley of the Spiti basin. Pin valley exposes richly fossiliferous lithological successions from Neoproterozoic to Cretaceous; therefore, it is an ideal section for the detail paleobi-ological and geological studies.     

王家岭矿区奥陶系灰岩含水层弱富水性研究

王家岭煤矿在12km长的平硐开拓过程中揭露整个奥陶系灰岩,但出水量及出水点均不如震旦系花岗岩及寒武系灰岩多,与华北地区的普遍情况相反。同时,区内的水文地质补勘资料也显示其q=0.000 4～0.031L/(m.s),表明了奥陶系灰岩含水层的富水性弱,分析原因为:①区域内补给源变弱,矿区不在强径流带上,边界多为隔水边界,地下水系统处于半封闭状态;②构造及地形造成水易流失而不易被保留;③奥灰岩溶隙发育形态及岩性组合减缓阻碍地下水径流。     

贺兰山中段早古生代地层旋回层序研究

研究区位于鄂尔多斯西缘凹陷带的贺兰山中段地区,寒武—奥陶系地层出露齐全。作者在综合了野外特征和室内分析的基础上,将该区沉积地层划分为三大沉积体系和十四种沉积相类型,并分述了每一沉积相类型的岩性组合及其古生物化石、沉积构造和沉积相序特征,进而对区内早古生代地层的旋回层序进行了分析,认为从早寒武世开始至早奥陶世结束为一个Ⅱ级旋回层序,其中包括四个Ⅲ级海平面变化周期;从中奥陶世开始至其结束。代表另一个独立的受古构造因素控制的Ⅱ级旋回层序,其中每一内源重力流单元与陆源重力流单元的规则变化则相当于一个Ⅲ级旋回层序。     

The interpretation of cyclic successions of the Middle and Upper Triassic of the Northern and Southern Alps

Theories regarding the formation of sedimentary cycles in the 3rd, 4th and 5th order bands are reviewed with reference to the Middle and Upper Triassic of the Northern Calcareous Alps (NCA) and Southern Alps. Milankovitch, autocyclic and tectonic theories are discussed, together with an evaluation of concepts of chaotic sedimentation and a case example from the NCA. Concerning eustasy, 3rd, 4th and 5th order sea-level fluctuations were probably a low-amplitude, low-rate phenomenon caused by fluctuations in the volume of mountain glaciers and ocean water during the Triassic. The Mid and Late Triassic was a non-glacial interval in which polar regions may have been ice-free, so glacio-eustasy can not be expected. Eustatic sea-level variations in the 3rd, 4th and 5th order bands seem to have left no useful imprint on cyclic successions in the region; whatever record there may be is inextricably mixed with two other signals (tectonic activity and autocycles). The review shows how sedimentation in the Triassic of the area was strongly influenced by tectonic activity. This is as true for the Middle and Late Triassic of the NCA as it is for the Southern Alps. Tectonic activity may be responsible for large-scale cyclicity (4th to 3rd order scale). Although seismogenic structures have yet to be identified and described in carbonate successions of the Alps, candidates do exist. Slumped and microfaulted layers in laminated sediments of the Seefeld Basin (Upper Triassic, NCA) have been described as the products of fault movements. The sedimentary record from the NCA and Southern Alps also leaves little doubt that autocyclic processes were important in all environments except perhaps the deep, sediment-starved basins. Most small-scale platform cycles (5th order scale) in the region can be related to autocyclic processes and, in shallow basinal successions, to events such as storms. Previous workers have not been consistent in their interpretation of cyclic successions in the area, applying diverse theories to similar successions. So far, the Steinplatte-Hochkönig platform, with attached Kössen Basin, is the only example interpreted with reference to tectonics and autocyclicity; eustasy was probably not the most important factor in cycle generation in the Triassic of the NCA and Southern Alps. Such an approach could prove useful in future studies.