Western Tethys sedimentary successions constitute fundamental archives of Late Triassic–Early Jur... more Western Tethys sedimentary successions constitute fundamental archives of Late Triassic–Early Jurassic environmental, carbonate production and tectonic changes. During the Late Triassic, the Northern Calcareous Alps (Austria) belonged to the Western Tethys passive margin, characterised by the deposition of the early-dolomitized peritidal Hauptdolomit (Norian) adjacent basinward to the Dachstein carbonate shelf and passing upward to the mixed carbonate–siliciclastic Kössen Formation (Upper Norian–Rhaetian). The Kössen Fm. was subdivided into the lower shallow-water Hochalm Member and the upper Eiberg Member, accumulated in an intraplatform basin coeval to shallow-water carbonates (Upper Rhaetian Limestone). The Eiberg Mb. and overlying Jurassic strata were extensively studied as a continuous marine record across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. In contrast, shallow-water successions, time-equivalent to the Eiberg Mb. and Upper Rhaetian Limestone, located North of the Eiberg Basin, are...
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2004
Among the more challenging questions in geology are those concerning the anatomy of sedimentary b... more Among the more challenging questions in geology are those concerning the anatomy of sedimentary bodies and related stratal surfaces. Though significant progress has been made on the interpretation of depositional environments, little systematic data are available on their dimensions and geometry. With the recent advances in computer power, software development and accuracy of affordable positioning equipment, it has now become possible to extract high-resolution quantitative data on the anatomy of sedimentary bodies. In Asturias, northwestern Spain, aerial photography provides continuous 2-D cross-sections of a seismic-scale, rotated to vertical, carbonate platform margin of the Early Carboniferous. Digital elevation models, orthorectified aerial photographic imagery and ground verification of stratal surfaces generated the elements that are required to reconstruct the true dimensions, angular relationships of bedding planes and the spatial distribution of facies units in this platf...
The Upper Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian) bioclastic wedge of the Orfento Formation in the M... more The Upper Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian) bioclastic wedge of the Orfento Formation in the Montagna della Maiella, Italy, is compared to newly discovered contourite drifts in the Maldives. Like the drift deposits in the Maldives, the Orfento Formation fills a channel and builds a Miocene delta‐shaped and mounded sedimentary body in the basin that is similar in size to the approximately 350 km2 large coarse‐grained bioclastic Miocene delta drifts in the Maldives. The composition of the bioclastic wedge of the Orfento Formation is also exclusively bioclastic debris sourced from the shallow‐water areas and reworked clasts of the Orfento Formation itself. In the near mud‐free succession, age‐diagnostic fossils are sparse. The depositional textures vary from wackestone to float‐rudstone and breccia/conglomerates, but rocks with grainstone and rudstone textures are the most common facies. In the channel, lensoid convex‐upward breccias, cross‐cutting channelized beds and thick grainst...
3D modelling is a fundamental tool to visualize and understand the history of sedimentary basin f... more 3D modelling is a fundamental tool to visualize and understand the history of sedimentary basin filling and to reconstruct the geobody architecture. Spatial distribution of discontinuity surfaces and geobody characteristics provide valuable information on the factors controlling the sedimentary evolution of basins. Several Neogene‐Quaternary basins of central‐western Italy are controlled by extensional and strike‐slip tectonics and characterized by travertine deposition, related to hydrothermal fluids rising up along discontinuities and fractured carbonate bedrocks. This study presents the 3D modelling results of the quarry area within the tectonically controlled Acque Albule Basin (Tivoli, Central Italy) that hosts the Pleistocene Lapis Tiburtinus travertine. The 3D reconstruction of the different surfaces bounding the travertine units shows a complex architecture composed of depressions, reliefs and channels as predominant morphological elements related to four different depositio...
Microbialites have proved to be excellent reservoir facies with preserved primary porosity to gre... more Microbialites have proved to be excellent reservoir facies with preserved primary porosity to great burial depth. The ability to resist compaction of the complicated pore system in microbialites is partly caused by early microbial processes that construct and strengthen the rock. Combining petrographic and petrophysical data show that early microbially-induced, micritic grain-grain cements are very effective in providing rock strength. This process is observed in cemented marine grainstones (modern marine hardgrounds) and in stromatolites (Figure 1). Likewise secretion along filaments provides bridging cements that strengthen the rock fabric, for example in some travertine deposits. As a result, microbialites are petrophysically characterized by high porosity and high velocity, although the pore types in microbialites are predominantly intergranular and intraframe.
Similar carbonate fabrics may result from different pathways of precipitation and diagenetic repl... more Similar carbonate fabrics may result from different pathways of precipitation and diagenetic replacement. Distinguishing the underlying mechanisms leading to a given carbonate fabric is relevant, both in terms of an environmental and diagenetic interpretation. Prominent among carbonate fabrics are aragonite botryoids and spherulites, typically interpreted as direct seawater precipitates and used as proxies for fluid properties and depositional environments. This study investigated μm to mm-scale Holocene botryoidal and spherulitic aragonite from marine and non-marine carbonate settings associated with microbial mats, and reports two distinct formation mechanisms: 1) early diagenetic replacement, and 2) primary precipitation via nanocrystal aggregation. In the intertidal microbial mats of Khawr Qantur (Abu Dhabi), botryoidal and spherulitic aragonite are replacement products of heavily micritized bioclasts. To form the botryoidal and spherulitic aragonite, skeletal rods and needles, ...
... Research Articles: Carbonate Depositional Systems. Evolution of a High-Relief Carbonate Platf... more ... Research Articles: Carbonate Depositional Systems. Evolution of a High-Relief Carbonate Platform Slope Using 3D Digital Outcrop Models: Lower Jurassic Djebel Bou Dahar, High Atlas, Morocco. ... Slope study area is indicated. Previous Work at Djebel Bou Dahar. ...
... Seismic-scale outcrops of lower Pennsylvanian steep-margined carbonate platforms in northern ... more ... Seismic-scale outcrops of lower Pennsylvanian steep-margined carbonate platforms in northern Spain (Sierra de Cuera, Cantabrian Mountains) provide the opportunity to link depositional facies to platform-interior architecture. ...
Page 1. Non-Actualistic Carbonate Deposystems: Revising The Carbonate Factory-Depth Paradigm* By ... more Page 1. Non-Actualistic Carbonate Deposystems: Revising The Carbonate Factory-Depth Paradigm* By Giovanna Della Porta 1 , Jeroen AM Kenter 2 , and Paul M. (Mitch) Harris 3 Search and Discovery Article #40290 (2008) Posted July 15, 2008 ...
Non marine carbonate buildups have recently been the object of renewed interests from the academi... more Non marine carbonate buildups have recently been the object of renewed interests from the academia and industry following the discovery of the South Atlantic hydrocarbon reservoirs. Non-marine carbonate buildups and microbial bioherms are characterized by a wide range of geobody types, fabrics and flow unit architectures and distributions with complex depositional and secondary pore systems. Carbonate buildups accumulate in large spectrum of terrestrial settings ranging from sublacustrine to subaerial spring ...
Bulk carbon and oxygen stable isotopes of ancient shallow-marine carbonates can record the effect... more Bulk carbon and oxygen stable isotopes of ancient shallow-marine carbonates can record the effects of multiple palaeoenvironmental factors, but also the imprint of several post-depositional processes, which may alter the original marine isotopic composition. In this study, carbon and oxygen stable isotope analyses were performed on bulk carbonate, bivalve calcitic-shell (Trichites) and calcite vein samples from two stratigraphic sections (Tosos and Fuendetodos, present-day distance 15km), representing proximal inner- and distal mid-ramp environments, respectively, of the uppermost Kimmeridgian ramp facies deposited in the northern Iberian Basin (NE Spain). These successions underwent different diagenetic pathways that altered the primary marine isotopic composition in each section in different ways. Different burial histories, tectonic uplift and a variable exposure to meteoric diagenesis from the end of the Kimmeridgian to the Cenozoic (following Alpine tectonic uplift) are reflect...
Western Tethys sedimentary successions constitute fundamental archives of Late Triassic–Early Jur... more Western Tethys sedimentary successions constitute fundamental archives of Late Triassic–Early Jurassic environmental, carbonate production and tectonic changes. During the Late Triassic, the Northern Calcareous Alps (Austria) belonged to the Western Tethys passive margin, characterised by the deposition of the early-dolomitized peritidal Hauptdolomit (Norian) adjacent basinward to the Dachstein carbonate shelf and passing upward to the mixed carbonate–siliciclastic Kössen Formation (Upper Norian–Rhaetian). The Kössen Fm. was subdivided into the lower shallow-water Hochalm Member and the upper Eiberg Member, accumulated in an intraplatform basin coeval to shallow-water carbonates (Upper Rhaetian Limestone). The Eiberg Mb. and overlying Jurassic strata were extensively studied as a continuous marine record across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. In contrast, shallow-water successions, time-equivalent to the Eiberg Mb. and Upper Rhaetian Limestone, located North of the Eiberg Basin, are...
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2004
Among the more challenging questions in geology are those concerning the anatomy of sedimentary b... more Among the more challenging questions in geology are those concerning the anatomy of sedimentary bodies and related stratal surfaces. Though significant progress has been made on the interpretation of depositional environments, little systematic data are available on their dimensions and geometry. With the recent advances in computer power, software development and accuracy of affordable positioning equipment, it has now become possible to extract high-resolution quantitative data on the anatomy of sedimentary bodies. In Asturias, northwestern Spain, aerial photography provides continuous 2-D cross-sections of a seismic-scale, rotated to vertical, carbonate platform margin of the Early Carboniferous. Digital elevation models, orthorectified aerial photographic imagery and ground verification of stratal surfaces generated the elements that are required to reconstruct the true dimensions, angular relationships of bedding planes and the spatial distribution of facies units in this platf...
The Upper Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian) bioclastic wedge of the Orfento Formation in the M... more The Upper Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian) bioclastic wedge of the Orfento Formation in the Montagna della Maiella, Italy, is compared to newly discovered contourite drifts in the Maldives. Like the drift deposits in the Maldives, the Orfento Formation fills a channel and builds a Miocene delta‐shaped and mounded sedimentary body in the basin that is similar in size to the approximately 350 km2 large coarse‐grained bioclastic Miocene delta drifts in the Maldives. The composition of the bioclastic wedge of the Orfento Formation is also exclusively bioclastic debris sourced from the shallow‐water areas and reworked clasts of the Orfento Formation itself. In the near mud‐free succession, age‐diagnostic fossils are sparse. The depositional textures vary from wackestone to float‐rudstone and breccia/conglomerates, but rocks with grainstone and rudstone textures are the most common facies. In the channel, lensoid convex‐upward breccias, cross‐cutting channelized beds and thick grainst...
3D modelling is a fundamental tool to visualize and understand the history of sedimentary basin f... more 3D modelling is a fundamental tool to visualize and understand the history of sedimentary basin filling and to reconstruct the geobody architecture. Spatial distribution of discontinuity surfaces and geobody characteristics provide valuable information on the factors controlling the sedimentary evolution of basins. Several Neogene‐Quaternary basins of central‐western Italy are controlled by extensional and strike‐slip tectonics and characterized by travertine deposition, related to hydrothermal fluids rising up along discontinuities and fractured carbonate bedrocks. This study presents the 3D modelling results of the quarry area within the tectonically controlled Acque Albule Basin (Tivoli, Central Italy) that hosts the Pleistocene Lapis Tiburtinus travertine. The 3D reconstruction of the different surfaces bounding the travertine units shows a complex architecture composed of depressions, reliefs and channels as predominant morphological elements related to four different depositio...
Microbialites have proved to be excellent reservoir facies with preserved primary porosity to gre... more Microbialites have proved to be excellent reservoir facies with preserved primary porosity to great burial depth. The ability to resist compaction of the complicated pore system in microbialites is partly caused by early microbial processes that construct and strengthen the rock. Combining petrographic and petrophysical data show that early microbially-induced, micritic grain-grain cements are very effective in providing rock strength. This process is observed in cemented marine grainstones (modern marine hardgrounds) and in stromatolites (Figure 1). Likewise secretion along filaments provides bridging cements that strengthen the rock fabric, for example in some travertine deposits. As a result, microbialites are petrophysically characterized by high porosity and high velocity, although the pore types in microbialites are predominantly intergranular and intraframe.
Similar carbonate fabrics may result from different pathways of precipitation and diagenetic repl... more Similar carbonate fabrics may result from different pathways of precipitation and diagenetic replacement. Distinguishing the underlying mechanisms leading to a given carbonate fabric is relevant, both in terms of an environmental and diagenetic interpretation. Prominent among carbonate fabrics are aragonite botryoids and spherulites, typically interpreted as direct seawater precipitates and used as proxies for fluid properties and depositional environments. This study investigated μm to mm-scale Holocene botryoidal and spherulitic aragonite from marine and non-marine carbonate settings associated with microbial mats, and reports two distinct formation mechanisms: 1) early diagenetic replacement, and 2) primary precipitation via nanocrystal aggregation. In the intertidal microbial mats of Khawr Qantur (Abu Dhabi), botryoidal and spherulitic aragonite are replacement products of heavily micritized bioclasts. To form the botryoidal and spherulitic aragonite, skeletal rods and needles, ...
... Research Articles: Carbonate Depositional Systems. Evolution of a High-Relief Carbonate Platf... more ... Research Articles: Carbonate Depositional Systems. Evolution of a High-Relief Carbonate Platform Slope Using 3D Digital Outcrop Models: Lower Jurassic Djebel Bou Dahar, High Atlas, Morocco. ... Slope study area is indicated. Previous Work at Djebel Bou Dahar. ...
... Seismic-scale outcrops of lower Pennsylvanian steep-margined carbonate platforms in northern ... more ... Seismic-scale outcrops of lower Pennsylvanian steep-margined carbonate platforms in northern Spain (Sierra de Cuera, Cantabrian Mountains) provide the opportunity to link depositional facies to platform-interior architecture. ...
Page 1. Non-Actualistic Carbonate Deposystems: Revising The Carbonate Factory-Depth Paradigm* By ... more Page 1. Non-Actualistic Carbonate Deposystems: Revising The Carbonate Factory-Depth Paradigm* By Giovanna Della Porta 1 , Jeroen AM Kenter 2 , and Paul M. (Mitch) Harris 3 Search and Discovery Article #40290 (2008) Posted July 15, 2008 ...
Non marine carbonate buildups have recently been the object of renewed interests from the academi... more Non marine carbonate buildups have recently been the object of renewed interests from the academia and industry following the discovery of the South Atlantic hydrocarbon reservoirs. Non-marine carbonate buildups and microbial bioherms are characterized by a wide range of geobody types, fabrics and flow unit architectures and distributions with complex depositional and secondary pore systems. Carbonate buildups accumulate in large spectrum of terrestrial settings ranging from sublacustrine to subaerial spring ...
Bulk carbon and oxygen stable isotopes of ancient shallow-marine carbonates can record the effect... more Bulk carbon and oxygen stable isotopes of ancient shallow-marine carbonates can record the effects of multiple palaeoenvironmental factors, but also the imprint of several post-depositional processes, which may alter the original marine isotopic composition. In this study, carbon and oxygen stable isotope analyses were performed on bulk carbonate, bivalve calcitic-shell (Trichites) and calcite vein samples from two stratigraphic sections (Tosos and Fuendetodos, present-day distance 15km), representing proximal inner- and distal mid-ramp environments, respectively, of the uppermost Kimmeridgian ramp facies deposited in the northern Iberian Basin (NE Spain). These successions underwent different diagenetic pathways that altered the primary marine isotopic composition in each section in different ways. Different burial histories, tectonic uplift and a variable exposure to meteoric diagenesis from the end of the Kimmeridgian to the Cenozoic (following Alpine tectonic uplift) are reflect...
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