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.