Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
    • Series home
    • Lyell Collection home
    • Geological Society home
  • Content
    • Online First
    • Current volume
    • Past volumes
    • Collections
    • Supplementary publications
    • Open Access
  • Subscribe
    • GSL fellows
    • Institutions
    • Corporate
    • Other member types
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Librarians
    • Readers
    • Access for GSL Fellows
    • Access for other member types
    • Press office
    • Help
  • Alerts
    • eTOC alerts
    • Online First alerts
    • RSS feeds
    • Newsletters
    • GSL blog
  • Propose
  • Geological Society of London Publications
    • Engineering Geology Special Publications
    • Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis
    • Journal of Micropalaeontology
    • Journal of the Geological Society
    • Lyell Collection home
    • Memoirs
    • Petroleum Geology Conference Series
    • Petroleum Geoscience
    • Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society
    • Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology
    • Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society
    • Scottish Journal of Geology
    • Special Publications
    • Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological Society
    • Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow
    • Transactions of the Geological Society of London

User menu

  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • Log out
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
  • Geological Society of London Publications
    • Engineering Geology Special Publications
    • Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis
    • Journal of Micropalaeontology
    • Journal of the Geological Society
    • Lyell Collection home
    • Memoirs
    • Petroleum Geology Conference Series
    • Petroleum Geoscience
    • Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society
    • Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology
    • Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society
    • Scottish Journal of Geology
    • Special Publications
    • Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological Society
    • Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow
    • Transactions of the Geological Society of London
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • Log out
  • My Cart
  • Follow gsl on Twitter
  • Visit gsl on Facebook
  • Visit gsl on Youtube
  • Visit gsl on Linkedin
Geological Society, London, Special Publications

Advanced search

  • Home
    • Series home
    • Lyell Collection home
    • Geological Society home
  • Content
    • Online First
    • Current volume
    • Past volumes
    • Collections
    • Supplementary publications
    • Open Access
  • Subscribe
    • GSL fellows
    • Institutions
    • Corporate
    • Other member types
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Librarians
    • Readers
    • Access for GSL Fellows
    • Access for other member types
    • Press office
    • Help
  • Alerts
    • eTOC alerts
    • Online First alerts
    • RSS feeds
    • Newsletters
    • GSL blog
  • Propose

Phanerozoic carbonate ramps from greenhouse, transitional and ice-house worlds: clues from field and modelling studies

J. Fred Read
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 149, 107-135, 1 January 1998, https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.SP.1999.149.01.07
J. Fred Read
Department of Geological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA 24061-0420, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Search for this author on this site
PreviousNext
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

During times of continental glaciation (e.g. Pennsylvanian-Early Permian, Miocene-Pleistocene), parasequences on carbonate platforms appear to be dominated by 400, 100 and possibly 40 ka Milankovitch climatic and eustatic changes with 50–100 m shifts in sea level. Carbonate cycles have conspicuous regional disconformities and associated aeolianites, lack tidal-flat facies except near the continental shoreline, commonly have deeper-water facies sandwiched between shallow-water deposits, and there is much unfilled accommodation. The large changes in sea level in ice-house times causes ramps to have significant gradients, thus on high-energy ramps, there can be widespread grainstone sheets. Platform tops have much depositional relief (pinnacle reefs and mounds) and erosional topography. Cycles may be highly shingled and show major lateral shifts on the ramp from cycle to cycle.

During times with moderate continental ice sheets (e.g. late Mid- to Late Ordovician, Early Carboniferous), ramp cycles lack deeper-water facies, rarely have regional tidal flats but instead show widespread disconformities updip and some aeolianites. The only tidal-flat facies are developed within third-order highstand systems tracts (perhaps reflecting decreased amplitude, higher-frequency eustasy) or in downdip positions during fourth-order lowstands. Margins show moderate shingling. Grainy reservoir facies are regionally extensive, as a result of moderately large shifts of grainstone belts. Grainy facies in downslope build-ups are compartmentalized by muddy incipient drowning facies. Storm beds on the deep ramp are arranged in upward-coarsening units because of high-frequency eustasy.

During global greenhouse times and little global ice (e.g. Late Cambrian-Early Ordovician, Devonian, Triassic, Cretaceous), parasequences updip on aggraded ramps are dominated by roughly 20 ka precessional cycles that formed under small (possibly <10 m or so) sea-level fluctuations, possibly coupled with an autocyclic component. The cycles typically consist of very shallow-water facies, with regional tidal flat caps and minor disconformities; cycles form layer-cake successions on the shallow ramp, and may be bundled into 100 and 400 ka sets, although ‘missing beats’ on the platform commonly obscure simple ratios typical of Milankovitch forcing. The ramps commonly have very low gradients and platforms tend to be aggraded with little topography, unless sedimentation rates are low, which results in poorly cyclic, subtidal skeletal facies over much of the ramp. Any compartmentalization of downslope subtidal build-ups is due to long-term incipient drowning events.

  • © The Geological Society 1999
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this volume

Geological Society, London, Special Publications: 149 (1)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
Volume 149
1999
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
  • Back Matter (PDF)
  • Front Matter (PDF)
Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Citation tools

Phanerozoic carbonate ramps from greenhouse, transitional and ice-house worlds: clues from field and modelling studies

J. Fred Read
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 149, 107-135, 1 January 1998, https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.SP.1999.149.01.07
J. Fred Read
Department of Geological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA 24061-0420, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Permissions
View PDF
Share

Phanerozoic carbonate ramps from greenhouse, transitional and ice-house worlds: clues from field and modelling studies

J. Fred Read
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 149, 107-135, 1 January 1998, https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.SP.1999.149.01.07
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
Email to

Thank you for sharing this Geological Society, London, Special Publications article.

NOTE: We request your email address only to inform the recipient that it was you who recommended this article, and that it is not junk mail. We do not retain these email addresses.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Phanerozoic carbonate ramps from greenhouse, transitional and ice-house worlds: clues from field and modelling studies
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from Geological Society, London, Special Publications
(Your Name) thought you would be interested in this article in Geological Society, London, Special Publications.
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

Similar Articles

Cited By...

  • Most read
  • Most cited
Loading
  • Tsunami hazard related to a flank collapse of Anak Krakatau Volcano, Sunda Strait, Indonesia
  • Palaeoproterozoic supercontinents and global evolution: correlations from core to atmosphere
  • Source to surface model of monogenetic volcanism: a critical review
  • Tectonic evolution of the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and northern South America in the mantle reference frame: an update
  • The English Chalk and London Clay: two remarkable British bony fish Lagerstätten
More...

Special Publications

  • About the series
  • Books Editorial Committee
  • Submit a book proposal
  • Author information
  • Supplementary Publications
  • Subscribe
  • Pay per view
  • Alerts & RSS
  • Copyright & Permissions
  • Activate Online Subscription
  • Feedback
  • Help

Lyell Collection

  • About the Lyell Collection
  • Lyell Collection homepage
  • Collections
  • Open Access Collection
  • Open Access Policy
  • Lyell Collection access help
  • Recommend to your Library
  • Lyell Collection Sponsors
  • MARC records
  • Digital preservation
  • Developing countries
  • Geofacets
  • Manage your account
  • Cookies

The Geological Society

  • About the Society
  • Join the Society
  • Benefits for Members
  • Online Bookshop
  • Publishing policies
  • Awards, Grants & Bursaries
  • Education & Careers
  • Events
  • Geoscientist Online
  • Library & Information Services
  • Policy & Media
  • Society blog
  • Contact the Society

Published by The Geological Society of London, registered charity number 210161

Print ISSN 
0305-8719
Online ISSN 
2041-4927

Copyright © 2019 Geological Society of London