Further Reading 245
is sometimes referred to as the Messinian salinity
crisis (Hsü 1972).
15.6 MIXED CARBONATE–CLASTIC
ENVIRONMENTS
The depositional environments described in this
chapter are made up of ‘pure’ carbonate and evaporite
deposits that do not contain terrigenous clastic or
volcaniclastic material. There are, however, modern
environments where the sediments are mixtures of
carbonate and other clastic materials, and in the
stratigraphic record many successions consist of mix-
tures of limestones, sandstones and mudstones. These
typically occur in shallow-marine settings. The
changes from carbonate to non-carbonate deposition
and vice versa are the result of variations in the
supply of terrigenous clastic material and this is in
turn determined by tectonic or climatic factors, or
fluctuations in sea level.
Climate plays an important role in determining
the supply of sand and mud to shallow marine
environments. Under more humid conditions, the
increased run-off on the land surface results in more
sediment being carried by rivers, which are them-
selves more vigorous and hence deliver more sedi-
ment to the adjacent seas. A change to a wetter
climate on an adjacent landmass will therefore result
in increased deposition of sand and mud, which
will suppress carbonate production on a shelf. Alter-
nation of beds of limestone with beds of mudstone
or sandstone may therefore be due to periodic clim-
atic fluctuations of alternating drier and wetter con-
ditions. However, other mechanisms can also
cause fluctuations in the supply of detritus from the
continent to parts of the shelf. Tectonic uplift of
the landmass can also increase the sediment supply
by increasing relief and hence the rate of erosion.
Tectonic activity can also result in subsidence of
the shelf, which will make the water deeper across
the shelf area: a relative sea-level rise will have the
same effect. With increased water depth, more of the
shelf area will be ‘starved’ of mud and sand, allowing
carbonate sedimentation to occur in place of clastic
deposition. Fluctuations in sea level (which are
described in more detail in Chapter 23) may therefore
result in alternations between limestone and mud-
stone/sandstone deposition.
Carbonate deposits can co-exist with terrigenous
clastic and volcaniclastic sediments under certain
conditions. Deltas built by ephemeral rivers in arid
environments may experience long periods without
supply of debris and during these intervals carbonates
may develop on the delta front (Wilson 2005), for
example, in the form of small reefs that build up in
the shallow marine parts of ephemeral fan-deltas
(Chapter 17). Time intervals between eruption epi-
sodes in island arc volcanoes (12.4.2) may be long
enough for small carbonate platforms to develop in
the shallow water around an island volcano, giving
rise to an association between volcanic and carbonate
deposition (Wilson & Lokier 2002).
Characteristics of shallow marine carbonates
● lithology – limestone
● mineralogy – calcite and aragonite
● texture – variable, biogenic structures in reefs, well
sorted in shallow water
● bed geometry – massive reef build-ups on rimmed
shelves and extensive sheet units on ramps
● sedimentary structures – cross-bedding in oolite shoals
● palaeocurrents – not usually diagnostic, with tide,
wave and storm driven currents
● fossils – usually abundant, shallow marine fauna
most common
● colour – usually pale white, cream or grey
● facies associations – may occur with evaporites, asso-
ciations with terrigenous clastic material may occur
Characteristics of marine evaporites
● lithology – gypsum, anhydrite and halite
● mineralogy – evaporite minerals
● texture – crystalline or amorphous
● bed geometry – sheets in lagoons and barred basins,
nodular in sabkhas
● sedimentary structures – intrastratal solution brec-
cias and deformation
● palaeocurrents – rare
● fossils – rare
● colour – typically white, but may be coloured by
impurities
● facies associations – often with shallow marine
carbonates
FURTHER READING
Braithwaite, C. (2005) Carbonate Sediments and Rocks. Whit-
tles Publishing, Dunbeath.