Benthic carbonate factories of the Phanerozoic

Marine carbonate precipitation occurs in three basic modes: abiotic (or quasi-abiotic), biotically induced, and biotically controlled. On a geologic scale, these precipitation modes combine to form three carbonate production systems, or "factories" in the benthic environment: (1) tropical shallow-water factory, dominated by biotically controlled (mainly photo-autotrophic) and abiotic precipitates; (2) cool-water factory, dominated by biotically controlled (mainly heterotrophic) precipitates; and (3) mud-mound factory, dominated by biotically induced (mainly microbial) and abiotic precipitates. Sediment accumulations of the factories differ in composition, geometry, and facies patterns, and some of these differences appear prominently in seismic data, thus facilitating subsurface prediction. The characteristic accumulation of the tropical factory is the flat-topped, often reef-rimmed platform. In cool-water systems, reefs in high-energy settings are scarce and hydrodynamic influence dominates, producing seaward-sloping shelves and deep-water sediment drifts often armored by skeletal framework. The typical accumulation of the mud-mound factory is groups of mounds in deeper water. Where the mud-mound factory expands into shallow water, it forms rimmed platforms similar to the tropical factory. The tropical factory is most productive; the mud-mound factory reaches 80–90%, and the cool-water factory 20–30% of the tropical growth rate. The three factories represent end members connected by transitions in space. Transitions in time are linked to biotic evolution.     

显生宙碳酸盐岩中燧石结核的几种成因模式

显生宙以来,碳酸盐岩地层中有燧石结核产出的现象十分普遍。现有研究认为,硅质生物壳体是燧石结核最主要的硅质来源,随着地质历史上主要硅质生物类型的演变,燧石结核的产出环境逐渐从浅水变为深水。不同地区不同层位的燧石结核往往具有一些共同特征,包括呈孤立分散的结核状产出、硅质选择性交代方解石颗粒而保留晶形完好的白云石、硅质矿物具有隐晶硅质-微晶石英-粗晶石英的规律性变化等。基于上述主要特征及不同研究实例的特点,前人总结出了有机质氧化模式、半透膜模式、混合水硅化模式、重结晶应力控制交代模式等燧石结核成因模式,从不同角度对燧石结核的典型特征进行了解释。然而由于燧石结核成因的复杂性及其可形成于沉积-成岩的不同阶段,各个成因模式均存在一定的局限性,只可用于解释部分地质特征。鉴于燧石结核对研究区的沉积环境、成岩历史等具有很好的指示作用,对其成因的研究具有重要意义,尽管上述模式的提出时间较早,但针对特定问题的研究非常深入,在以后的研究中应加以借鉴。     

Benthic carbonate facies of the Phanerozoic: Review and example from the carboniferous of the Russian platform

General classifications of Phanerozoic carbonate facies and controlling them factors are reviewed. Three principal carbonate factories distinguished by W. Schlager (2000, 2003) are the tropical shallow-water, the cool-water, and the mudmound factories. The general term for facies associations in the first factory is photozoan carbonates. The cool-water factory encompasses environments producing heterozoan carbonate facies. The mudmound factory is a non-actualistic sedimentary system producing mound-shape buildups of non-skeletal microbial micrites (also termed automicrites). The benthic carbonate production is controlled by light, bottom temperature, eutrophication, siliciclastic influx, and the evolution of marine ecosystems. The cyclic alternation of skeletal associations (“biofacies”) formed under the control of high-amplitude sea level changes is exemplified by the Moscovian (Carboniferous) epeiric carbonates of the East European Craton. Three principal biofacies associations in this example are bryonoderm extended (heterozoan), staffellid-syphonean (photozoan). and Meekella-Ortonella (intertidal flat to stagnant lagoon).     

Two-dimensional modeling of the accumulation of carbonate deposits in marine environments

A program is developed for modeling the accumulation of deep-water, shallow-sea, reef and fragmentary carbonate deposits in marine environments. The formation of the Maldives carbonate platform is modeled using the developed program. The comparison of the modeling results and the geological cross-section demonstrates that the algorithms allow the construction of geological cross-sections in sufficient detail.     

碳酸盐矿物阴极发光性的控制因素分析

碳酸盐矿物的阴极发光性主要受其Mn²⁺和Fe²⁺含量,以及Mn²⁺/Fe²⁺值的综合控制,但Mn²⁺/Fe²⁺值的控制作用强一些。研究中充填裂缝的方解石胶结物样品主要采自北京西山寒武系和奥陶系的碳酸盐岩地层中。此外,还从北京石花洞中采集了现代溶洞的石笋样品。样品的阴极发光强度可分为不发光、暗、中等和亮,阴极发光颜色也相应地分为不发光、橙红色、橙黄色和亮黄色。通过对野外露头样品进行电子探针研究,测定其中的Mn²⁺和Fe²⁺的含量,并结合样品的阴极发光颜色和强度,得出Mn²⁺含量要在0.01%以上,Fe²⁺含量至少在0.8%以下,Mn²⁺/Fe²⁺在0.05以上,方解石胶结物才能发光。经研究发现,充填裂缝中方解石胶结物的阴极发光性与Mn²⁺和Fe²⁺含量,以及Mn²⁺/Fe²⁺值之间存在如下关系:不含Mn²⁺,Fe²⁺微量,Mn²⁺/Fe²⁺为0时,不发光;0.052+/Fe²⁺<0.2时,发光强度暗,发光颜色为橙红色;0.22+/Fe²⁺<2时,发光强度中等,发光颜色为橙黄色;Mn²⁺/Fe²⁺>2时,发光强度亮,发光颜色为亮黄色。     

四川盆地海相碳酸盐岩的油气成藏条件

四川盆地位于亚洲大陆中南部,是我国最大的外流盆地。油气资源评价结果(2008)表明,四川盆地海相地层待发现资源量约为50111.84×108m~3,资源勘探潜力巨大。本文从地层的划分、层序格架及层序岩相古地理特征等方面,对四川盆地海相碳酸盐岩油气成藏条件做了进一步研究。认为研究区烃源岩包括下志留统、中二叠统、上二叠统龙潭组和上三叠统须家河组等4套岩石,及局部发育的上二叠统大隆组。储集层粉为构造成因类和沉积成因类,构造成因主要包括裂缝性储层;沉积成因类储层主要是礁滩储层、内幕白云岩储层和风化壳岩溶储层。中二叠统气藏主要为自生自储的裂缝性气藏和台内滩相气藏;茅口组顶部和雷口坡组顶部发育风化壳型气藏;吴家坪组、长兴组及飞仙关组地层含礁滩型气藏;嘉陵江组和雷口坡组地层含内幕白云岩型气藏。     

中国海相碳酸盐岩层系油气贫化与次生成藏

我国海相层系经过多期构造运动的叠加,油气地质条件除受"先天条件"的影响外,"后天因素"的影响更加突出,表现在现今油气成藏虽仍以海相烃源为主,但油气成藏与油气主要生烃高峰多已不匹配; 油气相态多已发生变化,如四川盆地从含油盆地转为含气盆地; 油气富集过程受构造影响而发生了改变,油气藏规模因此发生了变化,表现出油气藏的破坏规模缩小,或随断层的切割,油气发生泄露,向上运聚到浅层形成次生油气藏,导致油气贫化。因此,具有多期成藏、多期改造、相态转化及晚期就位的特点。现今海相层系发现的油气藏实际上已经是经过"变位、变相"的残留及次生油气藏。针对这一特性,在海相层系油气勘探中更应注意后期油气藏演化所带来的特殊性,进一步深化整体保存环境对油气藏形成、保持的影响。     

Stable chlorine isotopes in Phanerozoic evaporites

Modern seawater has a uniform δ³⁷Cl value (0.0‰), with an exception in the upper current of the Bosphorus (0.4‰). Marine halite ranging in age from Cambrian to Miocene has δ³⁷Cl values of 0.0 ± 0.9‰, with most of the data in the range 0.0 ± 0.5‰. Mean δ³⁷Cl values differ measurably between basins, with no evident relationship to basin size or to age. Smaller evaporite bodies have the largest δ³⁷Cl ranges. Potash facies halite has mean δ³⁷Cl values lower than those of halite facies salt in the East Siberia and Zechstein basins. The bulk δ³⁷Cl of bedded halite preserving sedimentary textures cannot be shifted measurably after deposition under plausible natural conditions. During the Phanerozoic, a detectable change in the δ³⁷Cl values of the oceans is unlikely as a result of Cl fluxes to and from the mantle and evaporites. In halite, the values of δ³⁷Cl that cannot be explained by fractionation occurring on crystallization are best explained by the addition of non-marine Cl with δ³⁷Cl ≠ 0.0‰ to evaporite brine.     

Some features of the evolution of carbonate accumulation in the earth’s history: Communication 1. Evolution of the intensity, mechanism, and setting of carbonate accumulation

Marine and oceanic carbonate accumulation during the Vendian-Cambrian was mostly controlled by the life activity of organisms, which either constructed skeletons and directly transferred carbonates into sediments or created geochemical environments favorable for the precipitation of the carbonate substance. During the first third of the Paleozoic, the chemogenic and biochemogenic mechanisms of limestone formation were replaced by the biogenic one. In the dolomite formation, to the contrary, the chemogenic mechanism progressively replaced the biochemogenic mechanism and its pseudobiogenic modification. The carbonate accumulation occurred in the cyclic mode and its intensity increased with time to reach its peak in the Late Cretaceous. The main paleogeographic domains of carbonate accumulation also experienced changes. They were mainly represented by spacious shelf seas in the Paleozoic; by intraoceanic shoals, reefs and pelagic realm in the Mesozoic; and by the pelagic realm and, to a lesser extent, reefs in the main Cenozoic.     

Quantitative analysis of Phanerozoic sedimentation

This paper is the conclusion of many years of study of Phanerozoic sedimentation over the area of the present continents (without Antarctica). The compilation of the schematic lithological-paleogeographical maps for each section of the Phanerozoic systems (except the Quaternary) is taken as a basis for these studies; Ronov calculated areas of distribution and volumes of different groups of sedimentary and volcanogenic rocks within platforms and geosynclines, as well as changes in a mean rate of accumulation and intensity of volcanic activity.The volume of geosynclinal sediments of the whole of the Phanerozoic is 457 · 10⁶ km³. The volume of platformal sediments is 182 · 10⁶ km³.Our data confirm a periodic character in changes in the area, volume and rate of accumulation of sedimentary and volcanic deposits, concurrent with tectonic periodicity; the Hercynian and Alpine cycles being the most pronounced, the Caledonian weaker and the Salairian (Sardian) and Kimmerian cycles weaker still. The high rates of sedimentation and the high general intensity of volcanism are characteristic of the initial parts of tectonic cycles. The major transgressions and the peaks of carbonate accumulation fall in their middle parts. The high rates of sedimentation and the increase of clastic sediments corresponds to their final parts.Side by side with this cyclic character, our data reveal a certain time trend in the Phanerozoic changes under review. This is a general reduction of sea-covered area within the present continents and an increase of volume of sediments and of mean rates of subsidence. Since the changes within platforms and geosynclines have the same trend, they are obviously controlled by global processes. The global rhythm exists in spite of obviously uncoordinated movements of separate major blocks of the lithosphere, in particular of continental platforms. This is indicative of a global tendency predominating over regional ones.     

Theoretical calculation of oxygen isotope fractionation factors in carbonate systems

Using established methods of statistical mechanical calculation and a recent compilation of vibrational frequency data, we have computed oxygen isotope reduced partition function ratios (β values) for a large number of carbonate minerals. The oxygen isotope β values of carbonates are inversely correlated to both the mass and radius of the cation bonded to the carbonate anion but neither correlation is good enough to be used as a precise and accurate predictor of β values. There is an approximately 0.6% relative increase in the β values of aragonite per 10 kbar increase in pressure. These estimates of the pressure effect on β values are broadly similar to those deduced previously for calcite using the methods of mineral physics. In comparing the β values of our study with those derived recently from first-principles lattice dynamics calculations, we find near-perfect agreement for calcite and witherite (<0.3% deviation), reasonable agreement for dolomite (<0.9% deviation) and somewhat poorer agreement for aragonite and magnesite (1.5-2% deviation). In the system for which we have the most robust constraints, CO₂-calcite, there is excellent agreement between our calculations and experimental data over a broad range of temperatures (0-900 °C). Similarly, there is good to excellent correspondence between calculation and experiment for most other low to moderate atomic mass carbonate minerals (aragonite to strontianite). The agreement is not as good for high atomic mass carbonates (witherite, cerussite, otavite). In the case of witherite and cerussite, the discrepancy may be due, in part, to our calculation methodology, which does not account for the effect of cation mass on the magnitude of vibrational frequency shifts associated with heavy isotope substitution. However, the calculations also reveal an incompatibility between the high- and low-temperature experimental datasets for witherite and cerussite. Specifically, the shapes of fractionation factor versus 1/T² curves in the calcite-witherite and calcite-cerussite systems do not conform to the robust constraints on the basic shape of these curves provided by theory. This suggests that either the high- or low-temperature datasets for both minerals is in error. Dolomite-calcite fractionation factors derived from our calculations fall within the wide range of fractionations for this system given by previous experimental and natural sample studies. However, our compilation of available low-temperature (25-80 °C) experimental data reveal an unusual temperature dependence of fractionations in this system; namely, the data indicate an increase in the magnitude of fractionations between dolomite (or proto-dolomite) and calcite with increasing temperature. Such a trend is incompatible with theory, which stipulates that fractionations between carbonate minerals must decrease monotonically with increasing temperature. We propose that the anomalous temperature dependence seen in the low-temperature experimental data reflect changes in the crystallinity and degree of cation ordering of the dolomite phase over this temperature interval and the effect these changes have on the vibrational frequencies of dolomite. Similar effects may be present in natural systems at low-temperature and must be considered in applying experimental or theoretical fractionation data to these systems. In nearly all cases, carbonate mineral-calcite fractionation factors given by the present calculations are in as good or better agreement with experimental data than are fractionations derived from semi-empirical bond strength methods.     

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.     

Climatic and eustatic signals in a global compilation of shallow marine carbonate accumulation rates

Two of the most important factors that control the accumulation rate of material in carbonate platform environments on geological time scales are climate and eustasy. Accurately assessing the importance of these inter‐related factors through the study of both modern and ancient carbonate facies, however, is problematic. These difficulties arise from both the complexities inherent in carbonate depositional systems and the demonstrable incompleteness of the stratigraphic record. Here, a new compilation of more than 19 000 global Phanerozoic shallow marine carbonate accumulation rates derived from nearly 300 individual stratigraphic sections is presented. These data provide the first global holistic view of changes in shallow marine carbonate production in response to climate and eustasy on geological time scales. Notably, a clear latitudinal dependence on carbonate accumulation rates is recognized in the data. Moreover, it can also be demonstrated that rates calculated across the last glacial maximum and Holocene track changes in sea‐level. In detail, the data show that globally averaged changes in carbonate accumulation rates lagged changes in sea‐level by ca 3 kyr, reflecting the commonly observed delay in the response of individual carbonate successions to sea‐level rise. Differences between the rates of carbonate accumulation and sea‐level change over the past 25 kyr ostensibly reflect changing accumulation mode, with platform drowning (give‐up mode) pervasive during peak Early Holocene sea‐level rise, followed by a switch to catch‐up mode accumulation from ca 9 ka to the present. Carbonate accumulation rates older than the Quaternary are typically calculated over time spans much greater than 100 kyr, and at these time spans, rates primarily reflect long‐term tectonically mediated accommodation space changes rather than shorter term changes in climate/eustasy. This finding, coupled with issues of stratigraphic incompleteness and data abundance, tempers the utility of this and other compilations for assessing accurately the role of climate and eustasy in mediating carbonate accumulation rates through geological time.     

中国南方显生宙大地构造演化简史

中国南方的构造格架以众多造山带围绕扬子克拉通分布为特征。这些造山带分别形成于古生代(华南造山带)和中—新生代(秦岭-大别山造山带、松潘-甘孜造山带、三江造山带、右江造山带和沿海造山带)。在造山带中散布着保山地块和南海地块等微陆块。本文以扬子克拉通为中心,概述了中国南方显生宙构造古地理演化的主体面貌,并归纳了其对海相烃源岩堆积的制约关系,指出制约和影响中国南方古地理演化的几个主要的构造事件为:新元古代晚期至古生代早期的大陆裂谷和被动大陆边缘形成事件,古生代中期华南造山带形成演化事件,古生代晚期张裂事件,中生代古特提斯洋闭合造山事件,侏罗纪以来的太平洋板块俯冲事件,新生代印度板块与欧亚大陆的碰撞事件等。本文还指出,上述这些事件延续的时间有限,变形强度在空间上也有差异,对于油气成藏和晚期调整的影响也会因时因地而异。具体事物具体分析才能对研究中国南方油气分布规律有所帮助。     

Plume-Associated Ultramafic Magmas of Phanerozoic Age

A parameterization of experimental data in the 0·2–7·0GPa pressure range constrains both forward models of potentialprimary magma compositions that exit the melting regime in themantle and inverse models for computing the effects of olivinefractionation for any olivine-phyric lava suite. This is usedto infer the MgO contents of primary magmas from Gorgona, Hawaii,Baffin Island and West Greenland. They typically contain 18–20%MgO for wide variations in assumed peridotite source compositions,but MgO can drop to 14–17% for Fe-enriched sources, andincrease to 24–26% for fractional melts from Gorgona.Primary magmas with 18–20% MgO have potential temperaturesof 1520–1570°C. For Gorgona picrites with 24% MgO,the potential temperature and initial melting pressure wereabout 1700°C and 8·0 GPa, respectively; melting washot and deep, consistent with the plume model. There are importantrestrictions to magma mixing in mantle plumes. Primary magmasthat exit the melting regime are both well-mixed aggregate fractionalmelts and isolated fractional melts. The latter can originatefrom a hot plume axis and be in equilibrium with olivines havingmg-numbers of 93·0–93·6, but they have MgOcontents and thermal characteristics that are difficult to constrain. KEY WORDS: komatiite; picrite; basalt; MORB; olivine; mantle plumes; primary magmas; equilibrium melting; accumulated fractional melting     

塔里木盆地罗斯—玛东地区碳酸盐岩潜山储层特征及油气藏模式

随着塔里木盆地罗斯—玛东地区中—下奥陶统碳酸盐岩潜山勘探的相继突破,碳酸盐岩储层的复杂性日渐凸显。综合钻井、地震、测井、岩心、薄片等手段对比研究表明,研究区中—下奥陶统碳酸盐岩潜山储层特征具有显著的差异性:①垂向上储层受岩性影响较大。蓬莱坝组以细—中晶白云岩为主,鹰山组下段为石灰岩-白云岩过渡岩性,鹰山组上段主要为泥晶灰岩,自下而上储层变差。②平面上潜山暴露区和覆盖区的储层差异较大。鹰山组上段仅在潜山垒带内形成裂缝型储层,覆盖区储层欠发育;鹰山组下段"串珠"储层发育,暴露区辅以裂缝型储层;蓬莱坝组潜山暴露区与覆盖区孔洞型储层均发育。通过对储层分布和发育特征的研究,提出了碳酸盐岩潜山油气藏分布的3种模式:蓬莱坝组构造型块状油气藏,鹰山组上段裂缝型准层状油气藏,鹰山组下段裂缝-洞穴型油气藏。