--> ABSTRACT: Paleoslope of the Friuli Carbonate Platform (Northern Italy): Correlation of the Platform Top and Margin with Adjacent Slope and Basin Sections, by B. W. Fouke, F. F. Podlachikov, A. J. Nederbragt; #91020 (1995).

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Paleoslope of the Friuli Carbonate Platform (Northern Italy): Correlation of the Platform Top and Margin with Adjacent Slope and Basin Sections

B. W. Fouke, F. F. Podlachikov, A. J. Nederbragt

The timing, rate and magnitude of mid-Cretaceous sea level change is being reconstructed by correlating shallow-water carbonate platform deposits with age-equivalent deep-water basinal deposits at several localities around the world in order to: 1) gauge sea level change along paleoslope; 2) compare paleoceanographic responses recorded in basin sediments with environmental changes recorded on platform tops. This will permit the global correlation of mid-Cretaceous shallowing and/or deepening sea level cycles, while quantifying the local effects of tectonism and differential sediment supply.

Albian, Cenomanian and Turonian sedimentary cycles of the Friuli Platform in Northern Italy have been chosen as the initial reference locality for this study. Six sections in and near the Friuli region are being analyzed, which include: 1) the platform-top (Cellina); 2) the platform margin (Monte Cavallo Group); the platform slope (Fadalto and La Secca); and 3) the associated basin (Cismon and Gubbio). Correlations between the sections include lithologic events and exposure unconformities, biostratigraphy, bulk rock ^dgr13C analyses (taken at 1 m intervals), and cyclostratigraphy (bedding planes and facies stacking patterns). Initial comparisons of the Friuli platform-top to basin sections indicate: 1) correlatable 13C excursions; 2) grainstone pulses shed during sea level highstands that extend into the basin; 3) subaerial exposure unconformities that extend from the platform-top across the platform-margin; and 4) spectral and fractal analyses implying that the low-frequency depositional cycles may be dominated by sea level changes, while the high-frequency depositional cycles may be tectonically controlled.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91020©1995 AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas, May 5-8, 1995