Microbial micritic carbonates in uppermost Permian reefs, Sichuan Basin, southern China: some similarities with Recent travertines

The uppermost Permian Chuenmuping reef formed on the western side of a carbonate platform situated in the eastern Sichuan Basin, southern China. Contrasts exist between this western patch reef and the better known Jiantianba barrier reef complex on the eastern platform margin in western Hubei Province, 250 km to the east. Microbial micritic carbonates form significant components of the Chuenmuping reef limestones. Three types of fabric can be identified: irregular, clotted and scalloped-laminated. An additional, cuneiform fabric has been found only in fore-reef facies at Jiantianba. Irregular fabric is comparable with the surface of presently forming travertines at Rapolano Terme, central Italy, which are produced by calcification of cyanobacteria. Clotted fabric shows indistinct peloids which tend to lack rims, and are amalgamated into irregular masses, some of which exhibit bush-like arrangements where traces of filaments can be seen. Traces of filaments are observed in both dark and light layers in the scalloped-laminated fabric, again suggesting a microbial origin. Cuneiform fabric consists of peloids and filaments, and closely resembles deposits in Quaternary travertines which may have been caused by bacterial action. Chuenmuping reef shows a shallowing sequence in normal marine conditions. The micritic fabrics interpreted here as microbial occur more commonly in the upper part of the reef. This indicates that microbial micrites, with a cementing role, formed coevally with reef growth within the upper part of the photic zone.