Origin and significance of lamination in Lower Cretaceous stromatolites and proposal for a quantitative approach

Suárez-González, Pablo; Quijada, Isabel Emma; Benito, M. Isabel; Mas, Ramón; Merinero, Raúl; Riding, Robert

doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2013.11.003

Cited by 34 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 91 publications

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“…The ‘regularity’ of stromatolite lamina accretion is an intriguing issue because of the variety of processes involved and the uncertainty about the time span represented by the different types of laminae (Arenas & Jones, ). Most laminated microbialites encompass more than one style of lamination (Monty, ; Casanova, ; Arenas et al ., ; Suarez‐Gonzalez et al ., ) and several cyclicity ranks (Lindqvist, ; Seong‐Joo et al ., ; Storrie‐Lombardi & Awramik, ; Petryshyn et al ., ; Arenas et al ., ). In fine‐grained stromatolites, the most common pattern is an alternation of light porous and dark dense laminae that has been recognized in many different depositional settings (Monty, ; Park, ; Bertrand‐Sarfati et al ., ; Zamarreño et al ., ; Kano et al ., ; Tang et al ., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other examples have been reported from the Miocene of New Zealand (Lindqvist, ), where they are associated with largely siliciclastic lake deposits, the Oligocene–Miocene of the French Central Massif (Bertrand‐Sarfati et al ., ; Roche et al ., ) and the Eocene Green River Formation in Utah, USA (Awramik & Buchheim, ; Chidsey et al ., ; Della Porta, ). Examples of Pre‐Cenozoic lacustrine stromatolites are scant with the exception of studies from the Cretaceous of the Gyeongsang Basin in Korea (Woo et al ., ; Nehza et al ., ) and the Cameros Basin in Spain (Suarez‐Gonzalez et al ., ), from the lower Cretaceous of the Codó Formation in Brazil (Bahniuk et al ., ), from the Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous of Wessex Basin in the UK (Gallois et al ., ), from the Triassic of the Arnstadt Formation in Germany (Arp et al ., ) and from the late Archean in Western Australia (Awramik & Buchheim, ).…”

Section: Comparison With Other Lacustrine Microbialitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lacustrine stromatolites: Useful structures for environmental interpretation – an example from the Miocene Ebro Basin

2019

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The significance of stromatolites as depositional environmental indicators and the underlying causes of lamination in the lacustrine realm are poorly understood. Stromatolites in a ca 600 m thick Miocene succession in the Ebro Basin are good candidates to shed light on these issues because they are intimately related to other lacustrine carbonate and sulphate facies, grew under variable environmental conditions and show distinct lamination patterns. These stromatolites are associated with wave‐related, clastic‐carbonate laminated limestones. Both facies consist of calcite and variable amounts of dolomite. Thin planar stromatolites (up to 10 cm thick and less than 6 m long) occurred in very shallow water. These stromatolites represented first biological colonization after: (i) subaerial exposure in the palustrine environment (i.e. at the beginning of deepening cycles); or (ii) erosion due to surge action, then coating very irregular surfaces on laminated limestones (i.e. through shallowing or deepening cycles). Sometimes they are associated with evaporative pumping. Stratiform stromatolites (10 to 30 cm high and tens of metres long) and domed stromatolites (10 to 30 cm high and long) developed in deeper settings, between the surge periods that produced hummocky cross‐stratification and horizontal lamination offshore. Changes in stromatolite lamina shape, and thus in the growth forms through time, can be attributed to changes in water depth, whereas variations in lamina continuity are linked to water energy and sediment supply. Growth of the stromatolites resulted from in situ calcite precipitation and capture of minor amounts of fine‐grained carbonate particles. Based on texture, four types of simple laminae are distinguished. The simple micrite and microsparite laminae can be grouped into light and dark composite laminae, which represent, respectively, high and low Precipitation/Evaporation ratio periods. Different lamination patterns provide new ideas for the interpretation of microbial laminations as a function of variations in climate‐dependent parameters (primarily the Precipitation/Evaporation ratio) over variable timescales.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Comparison With Other Lacustrine Microbialitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lacustrine stromatolites: Useful structures for environmental interpretation – an example from the Miocene Ebro Basin

2019

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“…Tieling lamination therefore conforms to the definition by Monty () of repetitive lamination: “superposition of laminae of similar nature and configuration, separated by physical discontinuities”. It contrasts with the alternating lamination reported from coarse‐grained agglutinated stromatolites (Reid et al ., ; Seong‐Joo et al ., ; Suárez‐González et al ., ).…”

Section: Lower Stromatolite Unitmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…() suggested that: “trapping and binding of sediment alone will not produce laminated stromatolites”. This view, based on present‐day coarse‐grained agglutinated fabrics in which lamination can be produced by thin precipitated micritic laminae (Reid et al ., ), is supported by similarly coarse ancient examples (Suárez‐González et al ., ) but it does not apply to fine‐agglutinated fabrics at Tieling, which lack signs of precipitated laminae. Instead, Tieling lamination appears to have been produced mainly by pauses in accretion, the most prominent of which are evidently also erosional.…”

Section: Lower Stromatolite Unitmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fine‐grained agglutinated elongate columnar stromatolites: Tieling Formation,ca1420 Ma, North China

Tosti

Riding

2016

Sedimentology

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The Mesoproterozoic Tieling Formation, near Jixian, northern China, contains thick beds of vertically branched, laterally elongate, columnar stromatolites. Carbonate mud is the primary component of both the stromatolites and their intervening matrix. Mud abundance is attributed to water column ‘whiting’ precipitation stimulated by cyanobacterial photosynthesis. Neomorphic microspar gives the stromatolites a ‘streaky’ microfabric and small mud flakes are common in the matrix. The columns consist of low‐relief, mainly non‐enveloping, laminae that show erosive truncation and well‐defined repetitive lamination. In plan view, the columns form disjunct elongate ridges <10 cm wide separated by narrow matrix‐filled runnels. The stromatolite surfaces were initially cohesive, rather than rigid, and prone to scour, and are interpreted as current aligned microbial mats that trapped carbonate mud. The pervasive ridge–runnel system suggests scale‐dependent biophysical feedback between: (i) carbonate mud supply; (ii) current duration, strength and direction; and (iii) growth and trapping by prolific mat growth. Together, these factors determined the size, morphology and arrangement of the stromatolite columns and their laminae, as well as their branching patterns, alignment and ridge–runnel spacing. Ridge–runnel surfaces resemble ripple mark patterns, but whether currents were parallel and/or normal to stromatolite alignment remains unclear. The formation and preservation of Tieling columns required plentiful supply of carbonate mud, mat‐building microbes well‐adapted to cope with this abundant sediment, and absence of both significant early lithification and bioturbation. These factors were time limited, and Tieling stromatolites closely resemble coeval examples in the Belt‐Purcell Supergroup of Laurentia. The dynamic interactions between mat growth, currents and sediment supply that determined the shape of Tieling columns contributed to the morphotypical diversity that characterizes mid–late Proterozoic branched stromatolites.

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“…These stromatolites have stratiform and domal morphologies (Fig. 8F), and in general they show an alternation of micrite-rich and grain-rich laminae (Suarez-Gonzalez et al 2014). Locally, pseudomorphs after sulfates are observed within the stromatolites, deforming and replacing adjacent laminae.…”

Section: Oolite-stromatolite Facies Associationmentioning

confidence: 97%

Sedimentology of Ancient Coastal Wetlands: Insights From A Cretaceous Multifaceted Depositional System

Suárez-González

Quijada

Benito

et al. 2015

Journal of Sedimentary Research

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Coastal wetlands are prominent modern environments widely studied in geomorphology and ecology, but the term ''coastal wetland'' is still barely used for the sedimentological classification of ancient deposits. The depositional system studied here (Leza Formation, Cameros Basin, Early Cretaceous, N Spain) includes diverse carbonate and clastic facies deposited at the sea-land transition, and is an illustrative example of the wide array of sedimentary environments that may occur in coastal wetlands systems. The studied system was composed mainly of carbonate water bodies whose salinity ranged from fresh to brackish and near-marine, and which had variable input of clastic material due to their lateral connection with alluvial fans. In addition, the system also included carbonate water bodies with stronger marine influence, tide-influenced oolitic areas, and relatively restricted evaporative settings.

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Origin and significance of lamination in Lower Cretaceous stromatolites and proposal for a quantitative approach

Cited by 34 publications

References 91 publications

Lacustrine stromatolites: Useful structures for environmental interpretation – an example from the Miocene Ebro Basin

Lacustrine stromatolites: Useful structures for environmental interpretation – an example from the Miocene Ebro Basin

Fine‐grained agglutinated elongate columnar stromatolites: Tieling Formation,ca1420 Ma, North China

Sedimentology of Ancient Coastal Wetlands: Insights From A Cretaceous Multifaceted Depositional System

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