(S12) Shallow Marine Carbonate and Evaporite Environments Flashcards
What is a Carbonate Platform?
Shallow marine areas where carbonate sedimentation occur
What are the two main conditions for a Carbonate Platform to occur?
Isolation from clastic supply, Shallow marine
What are the two controls on the type of carbonate grains deposited on a carbonate platform?
Climatic conditions, Evolution of groups of organisms
What are the two main controls of creation of shallow marine environments?
Tectonic subsidence, Sea level rise
What is characteristic of sediment supply of clastic material to the shelf?
Few large rivers supplying most of sediment to relatively small part of coastline
Why is climate ajacent to the continental shelf important?
In deserts there is little runoff into shallow marine
What is the main control over the amount of carbonate produced?
The productivity in the food chain
Productivity within the food chain is directly dependent on ___ which in turn is dependant on ___.
Availability of light, Amount of suspended material
Where is algal productivity likely to be at its highest?
Bright, tropical zones
What is the name for the oceanic zone which light can penetrate?
Photic zone
What is the maximum extent light can penetrate to in the ocean and where do most organisms flourish?
Maximum up to 100m, usually 10-20m is where most organisms flourish
What is the name for the shallow marine region with high biogenic productivity?
Carbonate factory
What is the optimum temperature for shallow marine productivity?
20 - 25 degrees
Where are hermatypic corals most productive?
Shallow clear water with strong currents
What is different about the location of hermatypic corals and most other marine organisms?
Other marine organisms tend to prefer a quieter location
Where does the precipitation of evaporite minerals usually occur?
where ocean bodies become wholly or partially isolated under arid conditions
When does sea water become sufficiently concentrated for precipitation of minerals to occur?
When evaporation exceeds input of water
In the past, where has larger areas of mineral precipitation occurred from seawater?
Epiconinental seas and small ocean basins
Why were carbonate facies different in the Pre-Cambrian compared to the Phanerozoic?
Absence of shelly organisms, lacked bioclastic components
Where are corals and calcareous green algae most common?
Low latitudes where shallow sea is always over 15 degrees
What is the name for a geological association formed from calcareous green algae and corals?
Chlorozoan
What is the name for a geological association formed from only calcareous green algae?
Chloralgal
What is the name for the geological assemblage of carbonates formed by the remains of benthic forams and molluscs in cooler waters?
Foramol
What assemblages are ooids most commonly associated with?
Chlorozoan and Chloralgal
What two common features found on beaches can form from the reworking of bioclastic debris and ooids by wave action?
Strand Plains, Barrier Islands
What is the texture of carbonate sediments deposited on barrier islands and strand plains?
Well sorted, Low mud matrix (Grainstone and Packstone)
What local zone is most of the carbonate detritus reworked from in shallow marine settings?
Shoreface
What is the typical angle and velocity of sedimentary structures in carbonate detritus in the foreshore and backshore areas?
3-13 degrees, Dips seawards in Foreshore, landwards in Backshore
In what tidal regime do laterally continuous barrier systems form, and when in geological time?
Micro-tidal, Slow rise in sea level
What is a “Beachrock”?
Carbonate in solution precipitates and acts as a cement for sand/gravel - in fully lithified rock
How is it possible to recognise early cementation in a beachrock?
On the foreshore it may act as a host for organisms which bore into the hard substrate
What would the succession for a prograding carbonate strandplain or beach barrier look like?
Coarsening upwards, well sorted, stratified grainstone and packstone
What is “Aeolianite”?
Carbonate aeolian dunes which have become wet and thus the surface of the rock becomes lithified from cement
What is a common occurance around roots of plants in shallow marine carbonate environments?
Precipitation to form Nodular Rhizocretions
What does sedimentation in carbonate lagoons look like?
Carbonate mudstone and wackestone with some grainstone and packstone beds deposited as washovers
What does sedimentation on a flood-tidal delta in a carbonate lagoon look like?
Cross-bedded oolithic and bioclastic packstone and grainstone formed by sub-aqueous dunes
What are the two types of sediment most commonly found on flood-tidal deltas in carbonate shallow marine settings?
Oolithic sediment or Bioclastic debris
What is the main source of fine-grained material in carbonate lagoons?
Calcareous algae living within the lagoon
What is the main control over diversity and abundance of life in carbonate lagoons?
Salinity
Give two examples of life which are found in hypersaline carbonate lagoons
Stromatolites, Marine Grasses (Thalassia)
What is the name for an area of hypersaline shallow water which precipitates evaporite minerals?
Saltern
How thick may saltern deposits become?
Meters to tens of meters thick
What type of gypsum growth may be found in saltern deposits and why?
Selenitic gypsum, restricted circulation in a lagoon - grows upwards from lagoon bed
What succession would be indicative of a fluctuating Arid Lagoon?
Alteration between laminated gypsum (sub-aqueous) and nodular gypsum in a supratidal sabkha
What is the name for the zone which is above the mean high water mark?
Supratidal Zone
When does the supratidal zone become inundated?
Extreme high tides or storms
What does the supratidal zone usually look like where the gradient to the shoreline is very low?
Marshy area
What usually forms in the marshy supratidal carbonate zone?
Microbial mats
What role does aoelian blown material play in supratidal carbonate zones?
Dust and sand can be bound by the microbes forming carbonate pavement
What may occur after the formation of a carbonate pavement?
Desiccation, but broken pieces are re-incorporated into sediment and re-cementation
What would the fabric of a succession of carbonate pavement look like?
Primary lamination with in-situ breccia
Give and example of a modern arid sabkha flat
Arabian Gulf
What is the definition of a “Sabkha”?
Sites of evaporite formation within coastal sediments
What are two common general features of a sabkha?
Not always a well defined beach, Usually very low relief
What is the most important supply of water to a sabkha?
Through groundwater transportation from the sea
How does the process of a sabkha form?
Evaporation through the sediment, water is drawn up and becomes increasingly concentrated in salts, dense, highly concentrated brine forms
Where do gypsum, halite and anhydrite form within a sabkha?
Gypsum forms within the sediment near a body of water, Anhydrite forms within the sediment further away from the water, Halite forms a crust at the surface
What forms do gypsum and anhydrite take when forming in a sabkha?
Gypsum = clusters, Anhydrite = Nodules
What is the name for the layers of anhydrite which have remnants of sediments?
Chicken-wire strucutre
What colour are terrigenous sediments in sabkhas usually?
Red
List the succession formed by sedimentation along an arid coast. (5 Main Stages)
Bottom: Wave reworked shallow subtidal setting, Overlain by: Intertidal microbial limestone beds, Gypsum forms in upper intertidal/lower supratidal, Anhydrite with chicken-wire structure, then coalesced beds of anhydrite in uppermost - may be contourted due to mineral growth
What is the name for the contourted anhydrite structure found in arid coastal environments?
Enterolithic bedding structure
What would cause a repeat in the cycle of an arid coastal succession?
Continued subsidence
What is the most distinctive feature found in arid coastal successions?
Displacive growth of gypsum within the sediment
What would the succession of carbonate sands deposited on migrating bars in tidal channels look like?
Cross-bedded grainstone/packstone beds
What is prominent in intertidal carbonate settings and why?
Desiccation, carbonate mud in warm climates dries out forming a crust by syndepositional cementation
What is the name of the feature which forms in carbonate muds where the surface layer expands from repeated precipitation? (2 names)
Teepee structures (Pseudoanticlines)