Carbonate sediments of Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs close to the southern limits of reef growth in the southwest Pacific

Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs are atoll-like structures that have developed on top of volcanic edifices and are close to the southern environmental limit of reef development in the southwest Pacific. Reef morphology and vertical accretion rates during the Holocene appear similar to those on other more tropical reefs. Sediment samples were collected from the lagoon of both reefs and around the flanks of Middleton Reef. A distinctly chlorozoan assemblage was observed with coral, molluscs, Halimeda, coralline algae and foraminifers being the dominant sediment constituents. Lagoon sediment samples show little variation within or between reefs, lacking the concentric zonation characteristic of larger atolls. Samples collected from the flanks of Middleton Reef, and subsurface material from vibrocores, differ compositionally from the surficial lagoon sand and were typically more tropical in character. A comparison of the sediment constituents from these reefs with those of samples from within a fringing reef and from the shelf around Lord Howe Island, further south, indicated regional patterns in sediment composition. Halimeda rapidly decreased in abundance with increased latitude, and appeared confined to deeper water, whereas coralline red algae increased significantly. The rapid change in these major sediment contributors is coincident with the general decrease in coral growth rates with latitude. This reinforces the notion that the latitudinal limit of reef development is constrained by factors other than coral growth alone.     

重庆开县上二叠统长兴组红花生物礁成礁模式

通过对红花生物礁露头的精细解剖和微相分析,研究了礁的内部构成和成礁模式。红花生物礁发育3期礁体旋回：礁A、礁B和礁C。礁A由生屑泥晶灰岩和骨架岩构成;礁B由生屑泥晶灰岩、粘结岩、骨架岩和生屑灰岩构成;礁C由粘结岩、骨架岩和生屑灰岩构成。红花生物礁造礁生物有钙质海绵、钙藻类、苔藓虫和水螅类,附礁生物为有孔虫、腕足类、双壳类、腹足类和棘皮动物等。单个礁体内,由下往上的生物演化为：腕足类+双壳类+有孔虫组合→钙藻类→钙质海绵+水螅类+钙藻类+苔藓虫组合→生物碎屑;岩性演化为：生屑泥晶灰岩→粘结岩→骨架岩→生屑灰岩。礁B的生屑滩内生屑间为泥晶充填,生屑分选、磨圆较好,是由相邻的高能生屑滩侵蚀搬运到礁B侧翼低能区沉积形成。3期礁都发育在碎屑滩上,礁A为低能环境下形成的礁,礁B和礁C在礁A形成的高地上成礁,为高能环境礁;单个礁体的完整成礁模式为：在浅滩之上,钙藻类大量生长、粘结吸附颗粒固结基底,钙质海绵和钙藻类在硬质基底上繁茂生长,形成具有抗浪格架的生物礁,礁体暴露水面死亡后遭波浪、水流改造形成生屑滩。     

Early-Middle Permian Reef Frameworks and Reef-building Models in the Eastern Kunlun Mountains

Reef frameworks and building models of the Early-Middle Permian in the eastern Kunlun Mountains have been verified through studies of reef-building communities, palaeoecology and carbonate facies. The eastern Kunlun reefs are built mainly by 6 reef-building communities, which include 11 major categories of frame-building organisms and 6 categories of reef-associated organisms. Eight types of reef-frames have been distinguished and eleven kinds of rocks identified to belong to 6 reef facies. Three sorts of reefs classified by previous researchers, namely mudmounds, knoll reefs and walled reefs, are well developed in the study area. Such reef-facies association and reef distribution show that there are 4 models of reef growth and development, i.e. the tidal-bank knoll-reef model, the plateau-margin wall-reef model, the composite wall-reef model and the deep-water mudmound model. The reefs are mainly constructed by calcareous sponge and calcareous algae, which are similar to all Permian reefs in other area     

内蒙古哲斯敖包茅口期生物礁特征

内蒙古哲斯敖包茅口期发育典型的生物礁。礁体呈东西向展布,在空间上可明显地划分出后礁相、礁核相及前礁相。礁核相包括礁坪带、礁冠带和礁前缘带。各相带相互位置关系表明当时礁体南侧为滨岸方向,北侧为广海方向。礁体中化石极为丰富,可识别出不同的生物组合。生物组合的空间分布明显受生物礁相带控制,它们之间均为横向关系,反映了生物组合与水动力环境的统一性。     

Aggradation and carbonate accumulation of Holocene Norwegian cold‐water coral reefs

Cold‐water coral ecosystems present common carbonate factories along the Atlantic continental margins, where they can form large reef structures. There is increasing knowledge on their ecology, molecular genetics, environmental controls and threats available. However, information on their carbo‐nate production and accumulation is still very limited, even though this information is essential for their evaluation as carbonate sinks. The aim of this study is to provide high‐resolution reef aggradation and carbonate accumulation rates for Norwegian cold‐water coral reefs from various settings (sunds, inner shelf and shelf margin). Furthermore, it introduces a new approach for the evaluation of the cold‐water coral preservation within cold‐water coral deposits by computed tomography analysis. This approach allows the differentiation of various kinds of cold‐water coral deposits by their macrofossil clast size and orientation signature. The obtained results suggest that preservation of cold‐water coral frameworks in living position is favoured by high reef aggradation rates, while preservation of coral rubble prevails by moderate aggradation rates. A high degree of macrofossil fragmentation indicates condensed intervals or unconformities. The observed aggradation rates with up to 1500 cm kyr^?1 exhibit the highest rates from cold‐water coral reefs so far. Reef aggradation within the studied cores was restricted to the Early and Late Holocene. Available datings of Norwegian cold‐water corals support this age pattern for other fjords while, on the shelf, cold‐water coral ages are reported additionally from the early Middle Holocene. The obtained mean carbonate accumulation rates of up to 103 g cm^?2 kyr^?1 exceed previous estimates of cold‐water coral reefs by a factor of two to three and by almost one order of magnitude to adjacent sedimentary environments (shelf, slope and deep sea). Only fjord basins locally exhibit carbonate accumulation rates in the range of the cold‐water coral reefs. Furthermore, cold‐water coral reef carbonate accumulation rates are in the range of tropical reef carbonate accumulation rates. These results clearly suggest the importance of cold‐water coral reefs as local, maybe regional to global, carbonate sinks.     

Impacts of Oyster Reef Restoration on Primary Productivity and Nutrient Dynamics in Tidal Creeks of the North Central Gulf of Mexico

The ability of oysters to remove large quantities of particulates from the water column, thereby potentially improving water quality, has been cited as one of the reasons for oyster reef restoration. However, this ability has not yet been effectively demonstrated in the field. As part of the Alabama Oyster Reef Restoration Project, this study was designed to assess impacts of restored eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) reefs on primary production, nutrient dynamics, and water quality in shallow tidal creeks. Using a Before–After-Control–Impact (BACI) design, we monitored tidal creeks around Dauphin Island, AL, for changes induced by the introduction of oyster reefs. Reef placement resulted in increased ammonium (NH₄⁺) in two of the three experimental creeks. Interestingly, oyster reefs did not seem to reduce water column particulates or have an impact on phytoplankton or microphytobenthic biomass or productivity. We do not believe that our data discount the importance and/or usefulness of oysters in modifying the water column. Rather, we acknowledge that it is difficult to detect these impacts/environmental services in this type of system (i.e., a tidal creek system), because they seem to be very localized and short-lived (i.e., not ecologically relevant on a creek-wide scale). This study highlights the need to consider location and habitat in planning oyster restoration projects. Also, it demonstrates that the types, magnitudes, and spatial extent of changes in ecosystem services that should be expected after reef restoration might need to be re-evaluated.     

Do carbonate reefs form due to fluid seepage?

Buried carbonate reefs are favoured hydrocarbon prospecting targets, mainly due to their high porosity and potential for containing large quantities of petroleum. The question of the true relationship between reef structure and the internally trapped fluids (hydrocarbons) is here raised as one of cause - and effect. In other words, which came first, the hydrocarbons or the carbonate reef itself? Modern bioherms and seabed carbonate reefs in, amongst other locations, the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, are shown to form in close association with active hydrocarbon seepages. Mainly based on results from ecological studies at deep-ocean vent communities, a new model for carbonate reef formation is promoted: that such reefs form at locations containing high concentrations of bacteria and other microorganisms suspended in the water column as a result of seeping fluids (solutions and gases) that provide some of the energy basis and carbon source for ecosystems independently of photosynthesis. Therefore, on burial and effective sealing (‘capping’), these carbonate reefs become hydrocarbon reservoirs, trapping and accumulating the very minerals on which they - in the first place - were dependent.     

海南岛排浦珊瑚礁区的现代沉积体系及其演化过程

海南岛排浦礁区由珊瑚岸礁和堤礁及其间水域组成。因堤礁的障壁作用和丰富的陆源物质供应,研究区内形成清水和浑水两类沉积环境,产出清水碳酸盐和浑水碳酸盐两列沉积体系,并形成礁源沉积、陆源沉积和混合沉积三类沉积物。文中详细论述了各类沉积的特征,讨论了沉积体系的演化过程:全新世早期是单一的陆源碎屑沉积体系,全新世中期海侵,气温转暖,形成早期排浦岸礁与大铲堤礁的雏型,全新世晚期堤礁进入成熟阶段,其障壁作用加强,最终形成清水与浑水两种沉积环境和两列沉积体系。     

Sediment Suspension and Deposition Across Restored Oyster Reefs of Varying Orientation to Flow: Implications for Restoration

The eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, is a prominent ecosystem engineer, whose reefs exhibit strikingly consistent morphologies at multiple spatial scales throughout its North American range. These distinct morphologies are thought to form by interactions of nascent reef structures with hydrodynamics. We carried out two field studies to determine if historical reef configurations applied in a restoration context would improve reef persistence and restoration outcomes. We collected seabed and water column observations across constructed reefs of three orientations representative of those found historically throughout the oyster’s range: parallel or perpendicular to tidal currents or circular. Areas adjacent to reefs were sites of fine sediment trapping, with lower flow velocities, evidence of particle settling, and more fine sediments on the seabed relative to off-reef reference sites. The water column above the reef crest exhibited higher acoustic backscatter, higher flow velocities, and larger particles in suspension, consistent with local erosion of flocculated fine sediment from the reef crest. Perpendicular reefs produced conditions that were more conducive to reef persistence and improved oyster performance, including high flow velocities and enhanced resuspension of sediments from the reef, compared to parallel or circular reefs. Particle trapping in areas between reefs has the potential to inhibit reef growth between existing reef structures, providing support for hypotheses of landscape-scale reef pattern formation. Oyster reef restoration efforts can benefit from this improved understanding of biophysical interactions arising from reef orientation that contribute to sediment dynamics on constructed oyster reefs.     

南海珊瑚礁光学浅水海域多光谱遥感水深反演

海洋水深信息对研究珊瑚礁海域资源与环境具有重要作用。南海珊瑚礁海域测深数据受多种条件限制施测困难,在时间与空间方面数量非常有限。文章针对南海岛礁海域以I类水体为主导的海水光学特性,以南沙群岛库归沙洲海域为例,使用Sentinel-2多光谱卫星遥感影像和同期过境的MODIS卫星数据,构建底质光谱,采用半分析半经验模型计算海水表面遥感反射率与海水叶绿素浓度,通过对数比值模型进行该地区光学浅水海域遥感水深反演分析,并进一步通过多时相反演水深融合提升精度。经与多波束实测水深数据验证,研究区域反演水深总体均方根误差和平均相对误差分别为2.68 m 和9.99%。该方法通过叶绿素浓度推演部分海水光学特性,可以从多光谱卫星影像中快速获取南海岛礁光学浅水海域初步水深信息,供相关海洋领域分析与应用。     

黔南扁平村晚石炭世生物礁生物群落分析

在黔南紫云猴场镇以西约4 km扁平村发现了新的大型生物礁组合。该礁产于马平组Triticites带内,时间上隶属于晚石炭世晚期。通过对该礁组合中生物群落的详细研究,将其自下而上划分为组合面貌不同的6个群落。其中成礁生物群落有两个：珊Ivanoviacfmanchurica,叶状藻Eugonophyllum和菌藻类蓝细菌群落及珊瑚Formitchevella群落。前者各种生物在不同环境中独立发育构成小点礁,彼此平行排列,形成下部点礁层;后者由大型笙柱状排列的Formitchevella构成其上部主礁体。这些群落代表了生物礁的不同发展阶段,显示了在造礁过程中生物种类更替演化的特征,而群落演化与成礁有一致的对应关系,并控制着该生物礁的发育和规模。以特征生物Formitchevella为代表的造礁群落的组成、结构、生态特征和礁体生长发育模式在中国乃至世界上的石炭纪礁体中都是独特的,构成了晚石炭世罕见的非藻造架生物礁。扁平村生物礁的发现,丰富了世界石炭纪造礁生物群落的类型,为研究石炭纪造礁生物群落演化、礁体生长及建立生物礁生长动力学模型提供了新的实例。     

The hydrodynamic and sedimentary setting of nearshore coral reefs, central Great Barrier Reef shelf, Australia: Paluma Shoals, a case study

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) shelf contains a range of coral reefs on the highly turbid shallow inner shelf, where interaction occurs with terrigenous sediments. The modern hydrodynamic and sedimentation regimes at Paluma Shoals, a shore‐attached ‘turbid‐zone’ coral reef, and at Phillips Reef, a fringing reef located 20 km offshore, have been studied to document the mechanisms controlling turbidity. At each reef, waves, currents and near‐bed turbidity were measured for a period of ≈1 month. Bed sediments were sampled at 135 sites. On the inner shelf, muddy sands are widespread, with admixed terrigenous and carbonate gravel components close to the reefs and islands, except on their relatively sheltered SW side, where sandy silty clays occur. At Paluma Shoals, the coral assemblage is characteristic of inner‐shelf or sheltered habitats on the GBR shelf (dominated by Galaxea fascicularis, up to >50% coral cover) and is broadly similar to that at Phillips Reef, further offshore and in deeper water. The sediments of the Paluma Shoals reef flats consist of mixed terrigenous and calcareous gravels and sands, with intermixed silts and clays, whereas the reef slope is dominated by gravelly quartz sands. The main turbidity‐generating process is wave‐driven resuspension, and turbidity ranges up to 175 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU). In contrast, at Phillips Reef, turbidity is <15 NTU and varies little. At Paluma Shoals, turbidity of >40 NTU probably occurs for a total of >40 days each year, and relatively little time is spent at intermediate turbidities (15–50 NTU). The extended time spent at either low or high turbidities is consistent with the biological response of some species of corals to adopt two alternative mechanisms of functioning (autotrophy and heterotrophy) in response to different levels of turbidity. Sedimentation rates over periods of hours may reach the equivalent of 10 000 times the mean global background terrigenous flux (BTF) of sediment to the sea floor, i.e. 10 000 BTF, over three orders of magnitude greater than the Holocene average for Halifax Bay of <3 BTF. As elsewhere along the nearshore zone of the central GBR, dry‐season hydrodynamic conditions form a primary control upon turbidity and the distribution of bed sediments. The location of modern nearshore coral reefs is controlled by the presence of suitable substrates, which in Halifax Bay are Pleistocene and early Holocene coarse‐grained (and relatively stable) alluvial deposits.     

四川盆地上二叠统沉积相及其构造控制

前言四川盆地上二叠统区域沉积相的研究,前人做了大量的工作。始自刘鸿允的《中国古地理图》(1945),历经地质矿产部石油地质综合大队《中国南方二叠系沉积相及含油气性远景研究报告》(1982),《四川石油管理局地质勘探开发研究报告》,而至关士聪的《中国海陆变迁,海域沉积相与油气》(1984)等,已基本查明了,晚二叠世沉积相沿康滇古陆呈南北向带状分布。由西向东依次为:大陆和海底火山喷发相、冲积相、陆海过渡相、局限台地相、开阔台地相及浅海盆     

Sedimentary evolution of the Torrecilla Reef Complex in response to tectonically forced regression (Early Kimmeridgian,Northern Spain)

The early Kimmeridgian Torrecilla Reef Complex in the northern Iberian Basin of Spain consists of a fringing reef composed of eight accretionary units. The first four were deposited along a steep margin. They display down-lapping and off-lapping geometries, and are characterised by poor reef-framework development, large volumes of reworked corals and transported sediment, and limited growth of micro-encrusters. In contrast, deposition of the fifth and younger accretionary units occurred on a shallow platform without a pronounced slope where coral reefs grew in a shallow protected environment. The main features of these reefs are an absence of reef-slope facies, a high proportion of preserved framework elements, relatively low volumes of intra-reef sediment, high proportions of terrigenous material, and abundant micro-encrusters and microbialites. These reefs were protected from storm waves by long-shore sand bars, which also protected a very shallow lagoon during the last stage of sedimentation.The early Kimmeridgian was a period of rising global sea level, a trend apparent across other portions of the Iberian Basin. However, geometry and sedimentary evolution of the Torrecilla Reef Complex is consistent with those of off-lapping reefs that develop during sea-level fall. Thus, we conclude that down-stepping geometries and evolution to progressively shallower environments within the Torrecilla Reef Complex occurred as a result of a tectonically forced regression.     

川西北晚三叠世卡尼期硅质海绵礁-鲕滩组合的沉积相分析

川西北晚三叠世卡尼期生物礁-鲕滩组合属于马鞍塘组（汉旺组）,分布于现今龙门山边缘的绵竹、安县、江油辖区,是作者于1975年带领地质填图小组发现的。文中通过对研究区生物礁进行微相分析,以及与世界同类生物礁对比,认为研究区的生物礁是以六射海绵为主的硅质海绵障积作用与以蓝细菌为主形成的凝块石粘结作用共同造礁,是一种深水粘结-障积型生物礁丘,也是灰泥基质支撑的生物礁。通过微相分析,尤其与世界镶边陆架模式及缓坡模式的标准微相对比,确定了研究区生物礁群的生长基底（鲕粒滩及生屑滩）不仅是形成于缓坡,而且是形成于同斜缓坡。川西北卡尼期同斜缓坡的推论、生物礁窗模式的建立及沉积相古地理图的编制,是认识川西北晚三叠世早期大地构造格局和沉积环境的依据。     

川东南志留系石牛栏组生物礁沉积特征

本文通过露头、钻井及地震剖面等,对川东南志留系石牛栏组沉积相进行了详细解剖.石牛栏组生物礁在地震剖面上呈丘状体,杂乱反射特征明显.石牛栏组两期礁滩旋回在平面上的展布特征为:早期台地边缘礁滩相以沉积生屑滩为主,有少量点礁分布其中;晚期台地边缘礁滩相以沉积大量点礁为主.川东南石牛栏组生物礁的沉积模式为碳酸盐岩缓坡模式,生物礁为发育在碳酸盐岩缓坡上的点礁群.     

藏北安多东巧地区晚侏罗世生物礁古生态学研究

安多东巧地区上侏罗统沙木罗组主要为一套潮坪相碎屑及台地相碳酸盐沉积,其中的特征沉积是发育有生物礁。造礁生物主要为层孔虫,其次为珊瑚,其中,层孔虫又可以分为筒状、块状和枝状3种宏观形态。在对造礁生物的个体生态学分析基础上,根据其组合特征,将生物礁划分为3个造礁群落,分别是Milleporidium—Cladocorops...     

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.     

万安盆地生物礁及碳酸盐台地的发育演化及控制因素

生物礁及碳酸盐台地是南海南部重要的油气储层之一,但目前对万安盆地生物礁的识别及碳酸盐台地沉积相带的划分尚不够深入.基于钻井和地震数据对该区的生物礁及碳酸盐台地进行了精细刻画,万安盆地中生物礁及碳酸盐台地的发育可分为4个演化阶段:早中新世时期,碳酸盐台地初始发育,台地规模小、数量少,零星分布于盆地中部;中中新世台地发育进入繁盛阶段,主要分布于北部隆起、中部隆起及隆起周缘的斜坡之上,横向上呈东、西带状展布,此时期的生物礁以台地边缘礁和块状礁为主;至晚中新世时期,碳酸盐台地开始衰退,而生物礁类型全、数量多,包括台地边缘礁、块状礁、塔礁、点礁等;上新世以来,生物礁及碳酸盐台地全面被淹没,盆地内部不再有生物礁及碳酸盐台地的发育.构造作用和相对海平面变化控制了碳酸盐台地的发育演化过程,古近纪基底断裂产生的地形控制了生物礁及碳酸盐台地初始发育位置及后期发育的空间分布,晚中新世以来的快速沉降和相对海平面变化控制了台地的衰退及淹没过程.      

南沙群岛“危险地带”腹地珊瑚礁的地貌与现代沉积特征

南沙群岛中央水道及南华水道两侧的珊瑚礁,大部分为环礁,分属开放型、半开放型、准封闭型、封闭型和台礁化型,反映了环礁向灰砂岛演变的不同阶段。每个环礁,从礁前斜坡向礁坪至潟湖,可相应划分出3种沉积相和细分9种沉积带。礁顶是全新世中期以来形成发育的。