Cambrian Grand Cycles: A northern Appalachian perspective

Chow, Nancy; James, Noël P.

doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1987)98<418:cgcana>2.0.co;2

Cited by 85 publications

(48 citation statements)

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“…The evidence cited here indicates that the differences in internal architecture of the sequences in the La Laja Formation and the causal mechanisms are best explained by differential rates of sea-level rise, an explanation also offered by Palmer and Halley (1979), Chow and James (1987), and Mount et al (1991), among others. In addition, the sequences within the La Laja Formation seem to reflect the laws of reciprocal sedimentation, i.e., siliciclastic input during sea-level lowstands and carbonate production during rising sea level and sea-level highstand.…”

Section: La Laja Formation and Equivalentsmentioning

confidence: 80%

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Argentine Precordillera: Sedimentary and Plate Tectonic History of a Laurentian Crustal Fragment in South America

Keller¹

1999

Argentine Precordillera: Sedimentary and Plate Tectonic History of a Laurentian Crustal Fragment in South America

143

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The Argentine Precordillera ("Precordillera") is part of a larger terrane which is exotic to the western margin of Gondwana. This larger terrane is characterized by a Grenvillian-type basement and the presence of Laurentian carbonate-platform rocks of Cambrian-Ordovician age. The original position of the terrane is interpreted to be the Ouachita embayment of southeastern Laurentia.Terminal Neoproterozoic continental breakup and the formation of the Appalachian-Ouachita margin during the late Precambrian-Early Cambrian established a passive margin to the present east of the Precordillera. This passive margin is the original continental margin of Laurentia, which was located outboard of the Precordillera. Continuous crustal extension during the Cambrian along the Ouachita margin created a marginal plateau that accommodated the Argentine Precordillera carbonate platform. This marginal plateau to Laurentia was separated from mainland Laurentia by a deep graben system, today represented by the offshore Ouachita facies of the southeastern United States. The Cambrian through earliest Middle Ordovician mark the climax of the Laurentian episode because the Argentine Precordillera sediments and fauna are indistinguishible from Laurentia.In the carbonate platform succession of the Argentine Precordillera, the La Laja Formation marks the transition from rift-related redbeds to carbonate sedimentation. The La Laja Formation was deposited on a platform seaward of the nearshore siliciclastic trap but inboard of a (only partly exposed) carbonate belt which might have marked the platform margin. Several third-order cycles developed; differential rates of sea-level rise were the driving forces for cycle formation. Near the base of the La Laja Formation, a sandy interval is separated from the older rocks by a presumed hiatus. This hiatus might represent the Hawke Bay regression event of the eastern margin of Laurentia. Upper Cambrian limestones and dolostones of the Zonda and La Flecha Formations record the evolution of vast peritidal flats. The spatial and biostratigraphical relations between both formations are not clear and await further research. At present, it seems that the lower, more calcareous facies of the La Flecha Formation in the Guandacol subbasin is coeval to the dolomite facies of the Zonda Formation in the San Juan subbasin. The last important terrigenous input is noticed inMarjuman sediments of the La Flecha Formation, which marks a major shift in coastal onlap toward the hinterland. The Tremadocian La Silla Formation reflects a somewhat deeper environment, although open-marine rocks are absent. However, extensive tidal flats are also absent. The rocks are mud-dominated limestones and dolostones with locally abundant oolites. 1 Geological Society of America Special Paper 341 1999 on July 16, 2015 specialpapers.gsapubs.org Downloaded from Small-scale cycles are locally present. The general arrangement of facies is best explained by a tidal-flat island model. The La Silla Formation shows the most uniform facies deve...

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Section: La Laja Formation and Equivalentsmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…These rocks record the evolution of an oolite shoal complex and the adjacent tidal flats. The association is very similar to rocks described from Cambrian strata of the Appalachians (Chow and James, 1987), where similar rocks form unpredictable meter-scale assemblages. A comparable setting is invoked for the Zonda Formation (Fig.…”

Section: Zonda Formationmentioning

confidence: 88%

Argentine Precordillera: Sedimentary and Plate Tectonic History of a Laurentian Crustal Fragment in South America

Keller¹

1999

Argentine Precordillera: Sedimentary and Plate Tectonic History of a Laurentian Crustal Fragment in South America

143

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“…Nevertheless, on balance it is thought that orbital forcing was the dominant control on the metre-scale cycles in the Lower Qiulitag Group. Indeed, orbital forcing has been advanced by others for Cambrian cycles elsewhere in the world (Chow and James 1987;Koerschner and Read 1989;Osleger and Read 1991;Mei et al 2005).…”

Section: Origin Of High-frequency Metre-scale Cyclesmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The origin of metre-scale, shallowing-upward carbonate cycles is a matter of extensive debates, with three main mechanisms proposed: (1) Orbitally forced eustasy (Fischer 1964; Goldhammer et al 1987Goldhammer et al , 1990Goldhammer et al , 1993Cisneros and Vera 1993;Strasser and Hillgartner 1998), (2) Autocyclic processes (Ginsburg 1971;Pratt and James 1986;Chow and James 1987;Satterley 1996), and (3) jerky subsidence (Cisne 1986;Hardie and Shinn 1986;Hardie et al 1991).…”

Section: Origin Of High-frequency Metre-scale Cyclesmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Such stratal cyclicity in platform carbonates can be shown by the vertical cycle stacking patterns, which are commonly illustrated by use of the Fischer plot (Fischer 1964;Goldhammer et al 1987;Read and Goldhammer 1988;Osleger and Read 1993;Chen et al 2001;Chen and Tucker 2003). Many studies have documented the cycles and/or sequences of Upper Cambrian shallow-water carbonate successions, such as those in North China (Meng et al 1997;Shi et al 1997;Mei et al 2005), and North America (Chow and James 1987;Koerschner and Read 1989;Read 1989;Hardie et al 1991;Osleger 1991a;Osleger and Read 1991;Glumac and Walker 2000).…”

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confidence: 97%

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Depositional facies and stratal cyclicity of dolomites in the Lower Qiulitag Group (Upper Cambrian) in northwestern Tarim Basin, NW China

Zhang

Chen

Zhou

et al. 2014

Facies

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and accommodation variations revealed by Fischer plots, six larger-scale third-order depositional sequences (Sq1-Sq6) are recognized. These sequences generally consist of a lower transgressive and an upper regressive systems tract. The transgressive tracts are dominated by thickerthan-average cycles, indicating an overall accommodation increase, whereas the regressive tracts are characterized by thinner-than-average peritidal cycles, indicating an overall accommodation decrease. The sequence boundaries are characterized by transitional zones of stacked thinner-than-average cycles, rather than by a single surface. These sequences can further be grouped into lowerorder sequence sets: the lower and upper sequence sets. The lower sequence set, including Sq1-Sq3, is characterized by peritidal facies-dominated sequences and a progressive decrease in accommodation space, indicating a longer-term fall in sea level. In contrast, the upper sequence set (Sq4-Sq6) is characterized by subtidal facies-dominated sequences and a progressive increase in accommodation space, indicating a longer-term rise in sea level.

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Controls on microbial and oolitic carbonate sedimentation and stratigraphic cyclicity within a mixed carbonate‐siliciclastic system: Upper Cambrian Wilberns Formation, Llano Uplift, Mason County, Texas, USA

Lehrmann

Droxler

Harris

et al. 2020

The Depositional Record

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The upper Cambrian Wilberns Formation in central Texas records deposition on a low-gradient shelf within a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic tidal-flat system that changes offshore to subtidal shelf and open-marine oolitic skeletal shoals with large microbial mounds. Siliciclastic sediment is interpreted to have been delivered to the tidal flat by aeolian processes because of the narrow range in grain size and paucity of clay. Tidal influence is dominant as evidenced by reversing currents and desiccation on the tidal flat, and megaripples with reversing current indicators in offshore shoals. Intraclastic conglomerates were deposited in broad channels on the tidal flats during storm surges. Microbialite deposition is interpreted to be controlled by accommodation favouring amalgamated thin biostromes developed in the tidal flat vs. larger mounds with greater synoptic relief in the offshore, and current energy resulting in preferential elongation of offshore mounds in a NE-SW orientation. Intertidal mounds and biostromes grew in the presence of significant siliciclastic flux and trapped it within their structure, whereas offshore large buildups incorporated little siliciclastic component. Oolite and skeletal grainstone formed in tide agitated shoals associated with large subtidal microbial mounds. Storms extensively recycled and redistributed skeletal and oolitic sands from the offshore shoals across the shelf as thin sand sheets. Spatial mixing of siliciclastic and carbonate sediment occurred across the tidal flat and shelf. Low-frequency and intermediate-frequency stratigraphic cycles were driven by shifts in the shoreline and changes in rate of siliciclastic flux in response to relative sea-level fluctuation. Random facies stacking and the lack of metre-scale cyclicity are interpreted to reflect stratigraphic incompleteness and an episodic signal introduced by storms.K E Y W O R D S Cambrian, carbonate, Laurentia, microbialite, oolite, siliciclastic 278 | LEHRMANN Et AL.microbialites, oolites and other deposits such as flat-pebble conglomerates, and the controls on cyclicity, in the Wilberns Formation through evaluation of the environmental constraints provided by sedimentary structures and sediment composition in detailed stratigraphic sections of a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic system.

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Cambrian Grand Cycles: A northern Appalachian perspective

Cited by 85 publications

References 0 publications

Argentine Precordillera: Sedimentary and Plate Tectonic History of a Laurentian Crustal Fragment in South America

Argentine Precordillera: Sedimentary and Plate Tectonic History of a Laurentian Crustal Fragment in South America

Depositional facies and stratal cyclicity of dolomites in the Lower Qiulitag Group (Upper Cambrian) in northwestern Tarim Basin, NW China

Controls on microbial and oolitic carbonate sedimentation and stratigraphic cyclicity within a mixed carbonate‐siliciclastic system: Upper Cambrian Wilberns Formation, Llano Uplift, Mason County, Texas, USA

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