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Lecture 4

Carbonate Depositional Systems


!! Some Terminology !! Muddy Peritidal Facies !! Intertidal-Subtidal Sand Bodies !! Reefs and Carbonate Buildups !! Pelagic and Resedimented Deep-Water
Limestones

Carbonate platforms:

geometry, terminology

CARBONATE PLATFORM
Ramp Shelf Bank

Basin

Basin

Platform edge: a critical zone

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Platform edge: a critical zone


Rimmed platform
! Occurs segmented to continuous rampart with reefs and/or lime sand shoals along the margin ! Absorbs ocean waves and dissipates the storm energy ! Can restrict water circulation on the platform ! Generates a variety of lower energy environments ! Confines the movement of coarse-grained sediment to the lagoon/ shallow platform

Platform edge: a critical zone

Platform edge: a critical zone


Unrimmed platform
! Platform (open shelf and ramp) without a margin barrier ! nearshore, wave-agitated facies grade into deeper water, lowenergy deposits ! Sediment can easily be transported into deep water ! Subtidal accumulation space will be controlled as much by the depth of wave abrasion as by sea level

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Rimmed Shelf Depositional Systems

(Tucker, 1999)

Carbonate Ramp Depositional Systems

(Tucker, 1999)

Lecture 4

Carbonate Depositional Systems


!! Some Terminology !! Muddy Peritidal Facies (see Tucker; Pratt) !! Intertidal-Subtidal Sand Bodies !! Reefs and Carbonate Buildups !! Pelagic and Resedimented Deep-Water
Limestones

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Muddy Peritidal Facies


1.! Limestones and dolostones representing calcareous sediments that are/were deposited in very shallow water and on muddy tidal flats 2.! Wide range of features that can be compared directly with modern analogues ! Easy to recognize in the field ! Important paleobathymetric indicators

Where do they form?

(Pratt et al., 1992)

The Peritidal Environment


! Typical of microtidal conditions (< 2 m)

(Pratt et al., 1992)

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Modern Tidal Flats; Persian Gulf

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Euryhaline vs Stenohaline Taxa

(Heckel, 1972)

Modern Tidal Flats; Andros Island

(Scoffin, 1987)

(Pratt et al., 1992)

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Modern Tidal Flats; Andros Island

(Scoffin, 1987)

Sedimentary and Biogenic Structures

(Scoffin, 1987)

Inter- & Supratidal Flat Sedimentation


1.! Dominantly lime mudstones, commonly peloidal, although local lenses of coarser sediment (grainstone) may represent tidal-channel fills. 2.! Fenestrae are characteristic features forming distinctive birdseye/fenestral limestones. 3.! Fauna may be restricted in diversity; gastropods with ostracods and bivalves.

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Inter- & Supratidal Flat Sedimentation


4. Thin, coarse layers of skeletal grains may be transported on tidal flats by storms. 5. Microbial mats and stromatolites; many are simple planar varieties showing desiccation cracks and laminoid fenestrae. 6. Small local domal to columnar stromatolites. 7. Bioturbation and rootlet may occur.

Inter- & Supratidal Flat Diagenesis


1.! Synsedimentary cemented surface crusts which may expand to form tepee structures and may break up to give intraclasts. 2.! Penecontemporenous dolomitization may take place, giving fine grained dolomite mosaics. 3.! In arid climatic areas evaporite minerals gypsum-anhydrite-halite will develop.

Subtidal Lagoonal Sedimentation


1.! Living organisms and accumulating sediments in predominantly quiet-water areas, depend largely on the degree of restriction. 2.! Sea water may be normal, brackish or hypersaline in terms of salinity. 3.! Sediments are variable in grain size, although many are carbonate muds, rich in peloids. 4.! Lagoon floor is dominated by euryhaline taxa

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Subtidal Lagoonal Sedimentation


5. Surficial microbial mats and sea grasses may cover the lagoon floor. 6. Bioturbation is intensive mainly crustaceans and bivalves. 7. Sedimentary structures poorly developed but vaguely graded beds of coarser grains and shell lags may be formed through periodic storm reworking .

Subtidal Lagoonal Diagenesis


1.! Sea floor cementation limited to intraskeletal cavities. Aggregate are common. 2.! Microbes play a significant role in skeletal breakdown and production of micritized grains.

Meter-Scale Peritidal Cycles


1.! Facies typically organized in shallowing-upward successions (submeter to decameter-thick). 2.! Basal subtidal unit (A), intermediate intertidal facies (B) and upper supratidal unit (C) with or without a capping terrestrial horizons.

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Meter-Scale Peritidal Cycles


Humid, Low-Energy Tidal Flats Arid, Low-Energy Tidal Flats

(Pratt et al., 1992)

Middle to Upper Cambrian platform carbonates, Bonanza King Formation, southern Great Basin

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Meter-Scale Peritidal Cycles


3.! Various styles according to energy (low vs high), climate (arid vs humid) and biological evolution (microbes vs invertebrates vs plants). 4.! Asymmetrical organization (ABC) is common. 5.! Repeated patterns in time ABC/ABC/ABC

Milroy Member of the Middle Ordovician Loysburg Formation; Pennsylvania

Intertidal facies; Finely laminated, fine-grained dolomite Subtidal facies; Dark-gray, thickly-bedded micritic limestone

Peritidal Cyclostratigraphy - Autocyclicity


1
Tidal Flat Carbonate Factory - Source Area

Tidal Flat

Source

No Sedimentation

New Tidal Flat

Carbonate Factory - Source Area

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Peritidal Cyclostratigraphy - Allocyclicity

(Pratt et al., 1992)

Lecture 4

Carbonate Depositional Systems


!! Some Terminology !! Muddy Peritidal Facies !! Intertidal-Subtidal Sand Bodies (see Tucker) !! Reefs and Carbonate Buildups !! Pelagic and Resedimented Deep-Water
Limestones

Intertidal-Subtidal Sand Bodies

(Tucker, 1999)

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Intertidal-Subtidal Sand Bodies

(Tucker, 1999)

Modern Tidal Flats; Persian Gulf

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Intertidal-Subtidal Sand Bodies


Setting
! barrier, beaches, shorefaces and tidal deltas along ramp shorelines ! shoals and banks along rimmed-shelf margins

Hydraulic Energy
! shallow areas of strong tidal current and wave action (mostly <5-10 m) ! action of storms in deeper waters on carbonate ramps

(Pratt et al., 1992)

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Intertidal-Subtidal Sand Bodies

(Tucker, 1999)

Intertidal-Subtidal Sand Bodies


Sediment Types
! mainly grainstones composed of ooids and rounded and sorted skeletal grains ! carbonate sands (grainstone-packstone) also deposited in deeper waters on carbonate ramps by the action of storms

Tempestites below the Normal Wave Base

(from Aigner, 1985)

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Temporal relationships in tempestites


Years Hours

Bioturbation

10 100 CM

Minutes

Seconds

HCS Cross-strata

(Modified from Dott, 1983)

Tempestites below the Normal Wave Base


8. WAVE.AND STORN4-DON4INATED AND SHALLOW.I\4ARINE SHORELINE SYSTEMS 181
Tirne -------->

*E
=9

ai;

B
-=Gr
+:::F!+J

!1
;t.

r/Smll wve ripples Planar-lamineted sand wave npplefonr]s coarse Crosbeddec, sno ano grevel Sole rnarkson base

lrr--Erosion trregutr scours, gutters

Current Bed aesponse Bed state frnesand)

Combrned Flow Deposition


Flat bed

Wan ng osci latoryflow

Hummocky bed 2-D wave anisokoprc--+ isotropic npples

No bed forms

Typical vertical succession of produced structures by a stormacting on a mixture of sandgrades andfinegravel

Figure 19. A- The development of an idealizedevent bed in fine sandstoneas a resultof storm-generated combinedflow. High-frequency,wave-generated geostrophic oscillatory currentsare dominant,but unidirectional flow duringthe peak of the stofm providesa oet offshorecomponent. Duringthe risingphase of the storm,sedimentis suspendedand the muddy bed is eroded,forminga variety planar-laminated cf sole marks and gutters. As the storm startsto wane, initially sand is depositedunder powerfulcombinedflow, but ihrsevolvesto HCS, which iniliallymay be anisotropic due to the influenceof the unidirectional flow component. As the storm wanes, :ontinuedsedimenlsettlingunder largelyoscillatory flow producesisotropicHCS, eventuallymantledby small wave ripples B. The 'esultsof the sme storm conditions when the substrateis a mixtureof sand and flne gravel. Dunes,both 2-D and 3-D, migrateduring strongcombinedflow to producecrossbedding, which may be of unusually low inclination due to the affectof superimposed wave motion. -arge symmetrical wave ripplesand low-angle to planarlaminated sand recordthe transition to dominantly oscillatory flow as the storm anes. The whole bed is mantledby small wave ripplesand a mud drape (Basedon Cheel, 1991i Cheel and Leckie,1993).

(from Plint, 2011)

ed these structures to have been cut and filled by ofishore:directed storm iows in a nearshore environment. llher examples from Cretaceous 'ocks ol western Canada are similar 1 mny respects to those of L4yrow 1 9 9 2 )b . u t d i f i e ri n h a v i n ga n u b i q u i :rus fill of fine-grained HCS and rip3red sandstone (Plint, 1996; Plint 3 n d N u m m e d a l ,2 0 0 0 ; F i g . 1 8 8 ) , :Jggestive of filling (but not necesrily cutting) during strong wave 3ction. Amos et al. (2003) observed gutter casts forming in -iiore-normal 'l-40 m of water on the shoreface :1 Sable lsland (Nova Scotia shelf; : g. 2). Gutter formationand filling ':ck a few hours and occurred only :.rring strong coastal downwelling :.e to onshoredirectedstorm winds, :Jpporting the interpretation of t r y r o w( 1 9 9 2 ) Gulter casts are common in -..oreface successions, associated .:h HCS, but they also occur in thin,, Interbeddedwave-rippled sand,.ilne and mudstonetypical of more :'shore environments. Where r,^orelines can be mappedregionally,

gutter casts in nearshoreHCS facies tend to be oriented shore-perpendicular (Leckie and Krystinik, 1989; [/yrow, 1992; Plint, 1996; Plint and Nummedal, 2000; Fig. 2), whereas smllergutterstypicalof thinnerbedded, more offshore facies tend to be (Aignshore-oblique to shore-parllel e r , 1 9 8 5 ;H a r t e t a / . ,1 9 9 0 iH a y e f a / . , 2 0 0 3 ; V a r b a na n d P l i n t , 2 0 0 8 a ; Fig. 18C); the latter may record geostrophicflows in areas too deep to have experienced strong wave action. Storm Beds The development of an idealized storm bed is summarized in Figure 194, which portraysthe responseof fine sand on the seafloorto various flow statesduringthe risingand waning stages of a storm. Figure 198 summarazes the sedimentarystructures that develop under similar hydraulic conditions but where the bed consistsof a mixtureof sand and fine gravel.

FACTES SUCCESSTONS ON STORM.DOMINATED SHELVES Storm-dominated shelvesand coasts tend to be linear,and hence produce relativelysimple, tabular rock units compared to deltaic coasts, which have an irregularshorelineand correspondinglateral facies complexity (see Chapter 10). Coastalprogradation will producean essentially tabular body in which the basic stratigraphic motif is a sandier upward succession that records a progressive upward increasein the influence of waves and currents as the shoreline progrades.The successionmay culminate in subaerial beach depositsand even alluvialsediments if the accommodation is entirelyfilled and the top of the succession has not subsequently been removed by transgressive erosion (Fig. 20). The details of the succession will vary depending on variables such as available grain sizes, proportion of sand/gravelto mud, wave and tidal energy, biological activity, shelf slope, subsidence rate and rate of sedimentsupply (see additionaldis-

(from Einsele, 2000)!

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Distal vs proximal Tempestites


(Aigner, 1985)

Intertidal-Subtidal Sand Bodies


Biota
! fragments of normal marine organisms ! distinct trace fossil assemblages

Other Characteristics
! scours and channels in tempestites ! chiefly cross-bedding of all scales; keystone vugs (intertidal conditions)

Keystone Vugs in Grainstones

Small cavities representing voids left by air and gas bubbles and resulting from air escaping from intergranular pores as they are flooded with marine waters during the flood tidal cycle.

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