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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 2000; v. 178; p. 217-227;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.2000.178.01.14
© 2000 Geological Society of London

Sedimentation rates and growth potential of tropical, cool-water and mud-mound carbonate systems

Wolfgang Schlager

Vrije Universiteit/Earth Sciences, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Carbonate fixation in the ocean proceeds in three basic modes: abiotically, biotically induced (with organic trigger), and biotically controlled (where organisms determine timing, location and composition of the product). The three modes combine in a variety of ways to produce carbonate sediment. When viewed on the scale of formations and global facies belts, three benthic carbonate production systems, or ‘factories’, emerge: (1) the tropical shallow-water system, dominated by biotically controlled (mainly photoautotrophic) and abiotic precipitates; (2) the cool-water system, dominated by biotically controlled (mainly heterotrophic) precipitates; and (3) the mud-mound system, dominated by abiotic and biotically induced (mainly microbial) precipitates.

The sedimentation rates of all three factories decrease as the time span of observation increases. This scaling trend is not just an artifact of ratio correlation; it is almost certainly related to the episodic, pulsating nature of sedimentation.

The growth potential of the three systems can be estimated by drawing the envelope of the maximum observed rates of aggradation. The tropical system shows the highest rates: 104 µm a–1 at 103 years, decreasing to 102 µm a–1 at 107 years. The maximum rates of the cool-water system are comparable to those of the tropical carbonates for intervals shorter than 2 x 105 years but they amount to only 25% of the tropical standard in the domain of 106–108 years. The high short-term rates of cool-water carbonates are probably caused by reworking and local trapping of sediment. The growth rates of the mud-mound system significantly exceed cool-water rates and rival the aggradation rates of tropical shallow-water carbonates. However, the mud-mound system exports less sediment than its tropical counterpart and is, therefore, somewhat less productive.





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