Microbial carbonates as indicators of environmental change and biotic crises in carbonate systems: examples from the Late Devonian, Alberta basin, Canada

Whalen, Michael T.; Day, Jed; Eberli, Gregor P.; Homewood, Peter

doi:10.1016/s0031-0182(01)00476-x

Cited by 120 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…Their general morphology and internal structure resemble those of certain microbes (cf. Brock et al, 1994;Kaźmierczak and Iryu, 1999;Whalen et al, 2002;Golubic et al, 2006;Herrero and Flores, 2008) to which the thaumatoporellaceans were related recently (Cherchi and Schroeder, 2005).…”

Section: A Raspini: Shallow Water Carbonate Platforms In the Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also, mesotrophic conditions alone, testified by the diffused microbial colonization of the shallow water environments (cf. Whalen et al, 2002;Rameil et al, 2010;Schroeder et al, 2010;see below), were insufficient for the development and blooming of M. texana and M. parva.…”

Section: Regional-to-global Significance Of the Isotope Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…increased pCO 2 and increased nutrient levels (Weissert and Erba, 2004;Kuroda et al, 2011;Najarro et al, 2011), may have influenced the sensitive carbonate factory of the Southern Apenninic platform, leading to the settlement of other peculiar shallow-water facies along the studied sections. It is possible, for example, that progressive enhancement of the continental weathering, due to the acceleration of the global water cycle, caused an increase of dissolved Ca 2+ and HCO − 3 in the ocean (Kump et al, 2000) which may potentially have facilitated the microbial colonization in shallow water environments (Kaźmierczak et al, 1996;Kaźmierczak and Iryu, 1999;Whalen et al, 2002;Rameil et al, 2010). Microbes are, in fact, important contributors in carbonate systems during times of environmental change and biotic crises (Whalen et al, 2002;Graziano, 2003; see also Huck et al, 2010) and develop well under high-trophic levels (Hallock, 1988;Miller et al, 1989;Mutti and Hallock, 2003).…”

Section: Response Of the Shallow Carbonate Platform To The Late Aptiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Larson and Erba, 1999;Jahren, 2002;Hu et al, 2005;Coffin et al, 2006;Najarro et al, 2011;Hong and Lee, 2012;Hu et al, 2012;Huang et al, 2012). High nutrient transfer from continents to oceans (Weissert and Erba, 2004;Wortmann et al, 2004) and an increase of dissolved Ca 2+ and HCO − 3 (Kump et al, 2000) led to the blooming of mesotrophic and eutrophic biota on carbonate platforms (Bachmann and Hirsch, 2006;Burla et al, 2008), including the microbial colonization of wide-spread shallow water environments (Whalen et al, 2002;Wortmann et al, 2004). In addition, deep-sea igneous activity influenced the chemical composition of seawater, and the concomitant low Mg/Ca ratio and high concentration of Ca favoured the development of low-Mg calcite secreting organisms (e.g.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The synchronous partial decline in the abundance of oligotrophic biota indicates an important deterioration of the palaeoenvironment as the result of highly trophic seawater (e.g. Vilas et al, 1995;Graziano, 1999;Simmons et al, 2000;Embry et al, 2010;Schroeder et al, 2010), and as also testified by the simultaneous local development of microbialites (Whalen et al, 2002;Schroeder et al, 2010).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Shallow water carbonate platforms (Late Aptian–Early Albian, Southern Apennines) in the context of supraregional to global changes: re-appraisal of palaeoecological events as reflectors of carbonate factory response

Raspini

2012

Solid Earth

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Abstract. This paper discusses the palaeoenvironmental significance of the "Orbitolina Level", the microbial carbonates and the Salpingoporella dinarica-rich deposits encased in the Aptian/Albian shallow water carbonate platform strata of Monte Tobenna and Monte Faito (Southern Italy). These facies show a peculiar field appearance due to their color and/or fossil content. In the shallow water carbonate strata, the Late Aptian "Orbitolina Level" was formed during a period of decreasing accommodation space. Microbial carbonates occur in different levels in the composite section. They reach their maximum thickness around the sequence boundaries just above the "Orbitolina Level" and close to the AptianAlbian transition, and were not deposited during maximum flooding. S. dinarica-rich deposits occur in the lower part of the Monte Tobenna-Monte Faito composite section, in both restricted and more open lagoonal sediments. S. dinarica has its maximum abundance below the "Orbitolina Level" and disappears 11 m above this layer.On the basis of δ 13 C and δ 18 O values recorded at TobennaFaito, the succession has been correlated to global sea-level changes and to the main volcanic and climatic events during the Aptian. Deterioration of the inner lagoon environmental conditions was related to high trophic levels triggered by volcano-tectonic activity. Microbial carbonates were deposited especially in periods of third-order sea level lowering. In such a scenario, periods of increased precipitation during the Gargasian induced the mobilization of clay during flooding of the exposed platform due to high-frequency sea-level changes, with consequent terrigenous input to the lagoon. This and the high nutrient levels made the conditions unsuitable for the principle carbonate producers, and an opportunistic biota rich in orbitolinids (Mesorbitolina texana and M. parva) populated the platform. In the more open marine domain, the increased nutrient input enhanced the production of organic matter and locally led to the formation of black shales (e.g. the Niveau Fallot in the Vocontian Basin).It is argued that the concomitant low Mg/Ca molar ratio and high concentration of calcium in seawater could have favoured the development of the low-Mg calcite skeleton of the S. dinarica green algae.During third-order sea-level rise, no or minor microbial carbonates formed in the shallowlagoonal settings and S. dinarica disappeared. Carbonate neritic ecosystems were not influenced by the environmental changes inferred to have been induced by the mid-Cretaceous volcanism.The "Orbitolina Level", the microbial carbonates and the Salpingoporella dinarica-rich deposits in the studied Aptian/Albian shallow water carbonate strata are interpreted to be the response to environmental and oceanographic changes in shallow-water and deeper-marine ecosystems.

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Section: A Raspini: Shallow Water Carbonate Platforms In the Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Regional-to-global Significance Of the Isotope Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Response Of the Shallow Carbonate Platform To The Late Aptiamentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Shallow water carbonate platforms (Late Aptian–Early Albian, Southern Apennines) in the context of supraregional to global changes: re-appraisal of palaeoecological events as reflectors of carbonate factory response

Raspini

2012

Solid Earth

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Co‐existence of skeletal and ooid shoals as a result of antecedent topography—Cat cay shoal complex, Bahamas

Cruz

Eberli

2019

The Depositional Record

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High‐resolution seismic data reveal an unexpected Pleistocene topography underneath the Cat Cay shoal complex along the western margin of Great Bahama Bank, illustrating how Pleistocene topography focuses tidal flow to create different types of grainstone shoals. The 1–3 km wide and 35 km long shoal complex is composed of the Cat Cay ooid shoal that is a laterally continuous 8 m thick ooid shoal and a sequence of 300–600 m wide and less than 6 m thick skeletal‐dominated tidal deltas south of Ocean Cay. The skeletal tidal deltas overlie an irregular Pleistocene surface, while the Cat Cay ooid shoal is situated on a flat Pleistocene surface east of a Pleistocene rock ridge. This finding challenges the assumption that an antecedent high is needed for ooid shoal initiation. The base of the Cat Cay ooid shoal is an up to 4 m thick skeletal‐peloidal unit that is similar in composition to the skeletal tidal deltas south of Ocean Cay but their deposition was followed by an up to 4 m thick accumulation of ooids. The Pleistocene ridge west of the Cat Cay ooid shoal allowed accumulation of mud and peloids (the nucleus source), while to the south, muddy sediment was winnowed away and no ooids formed. The evolution of the two shoal types is ultimately the result of the presence and absence of antecedent topography adjacent to the shoal system, resulting in variations of mud accumulations and the formation of the nucleus in the ooid shoal. The coeval occurrence of ooid and skeletal shoals in the same complex implies that in the rock record, a vertical succession from oolitic to skeletal shoals does not indicate an environmental change such as climate or an anoxic event but rather a change in flow conditions created by antecedent topography.

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Facies mosaic and diagenetic patterns of the early Devonian (Late Pragian–Early Emsian) microbialite‐dominated carbonate sequences, Qasr Member, Jauf Formation, Saudi Arabia

2015

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The Al-Jawf area of northern Saudi Arabia provides spectacular outcrops of Early Devonian carbonate bioherms in the Wadi Murayr and Dumat Al-Jandal areas. These carbonate bioherms belong to the Qasr Member of the Late Pragian-Early Emsian Jauf Formation (~405 Ma) and are surrounded by a bioclastic carbonate succession. The Qasr Member is the first major carbonate unit of the Palaeozoic succession in Saudi Arabia that mainly consists of microbialite carbonates and metazoan reefs exhibiting distinct mound features. These bioherm complexes and their associated carbonate facies are pervasively dolomitized. Stratigraphic, petrographic and geochemical analyses were conducted to determine the facies distribution and interpret their depositional and diagenetic processes. A total of 11 facies are identified from a range of depositional environments within a carbonate platform system, ranging from tidal flats, lagoon, shoal, patch reefs to reef front. The main diagenetic processes are carbonate cementation and dolomitization. Dolomitization occurred as both fabric preserved (mostly in grain-dominated facies) and fabric destructive (mud-dominated facies). The microbialites and coralline sponges facies show poor reservoir with visual porosity less than 5%, but this succession may have a potential to serve as a good source for the underlying and overlying facies. Ooid and peloidal grainstone facies show fair to good visual porosity that locally exceeds 10% with intergranular porosity as the dominant type. However, in the most studied samples, vuggy and intraparticle porosities are observed as the dominant type.

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Microbial carbonates as indicators of environmental change and biotic crises in carbonate systems: examples from the Late Devonian, Alberta basin, Canada

Cited by 120 publications

References 73 publications

Shallow water carbonate platforms (Late Aptian–Early Albian, Southern Apennines) in the context of supraregional to global changes: re-appraisal of palaeoecological events as reflectors of carbonate factory response

Shallow water carbonate platforms (Late Aptian–Early Albian, Southern Apennines) in the context of supraregional to global changes: re-appraisal of palaeoecological events as reflectors of carbonate factory response

Co‐existence of skeletal and ooid shoals as a result of antecedent topography—Cat cay shoal complex, Bahamas

Facies mosaic and diagenetic patterns of the early Devonian (Late Pragian–Early Emsian) microbialite‐dominated carbonate sequences, Qasr Member, Jauf Formation, Saudi Arabia

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