Field and Computer Modeling Studies of Appalachian Cyclic Carbonates

J. F. Read

Cyclic carbonates in the Cambrian of the Appalachians have been studied using field data integrated with computer modeling studies. The models incorporate 1 to 3-m.y. and 20,000 to 100,000-year low-amplitude sea level fluctuations, water depth-dependent sedimentation rates, lag time, and subsidence. The 1 to 3-m.y. sea level fluctuations are defined by Fischer plots, which are readily compared to the model output. Cycles decrease in number toward regional highs, because (1) lower subsidence rates only allow 40 to 60% of the Milankovitch sea level fluctuations to affect the highs and (2) highs subside lower than third-order sea levels fall, which truncate 50% of cycles. Furthermore, 2 cycles/100,000 years are deposited on the outer shelf, compared to 1 to 1.4 cycles/100,00 years on inner shelf highs. Consequently cycles have longer average periods toward the highs. Furthermore, average cycle thickness shows only a slight decrease landward, even though formation thicknesses may be halved. The field data and modeling constrain amplitudes of 1 to 3-m.y. sea level changes because significant unconformities are absent from the shelf sequence, indicating third-order sea levels fell slower than subsidence rates, thus were considerably less than 50 m.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91030©1988 AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas, 20-23 March 1988.