Geologic
Modeling of Frasnian and Famennian
Carbonate Platforms,
Frost, Ned1 (1) The
The Late Devonian Frasnian
and Famennian carbonate platforms of the
Platform-interior strata from Windjana Gorge (Frasnian) and
Barnett Spring (Famennian) show dramatic changes in facies distribution and cyclicity
across the F/F boundary. This transition is characterized in the backreef by a change from muddy stromatoporoid-biostromes
to a complex mosaic of high-energy grainstone shoals,
tepee-pisolite complexes, and fenestral
laminites. A similar change from mud-dominated to
grain-dominated facies is observed in the
platform-margin/slope system in Windjana Gorge across
the F/F boundary. Here, the shift from retrogradation
to progradation in the latest Frasnian
leads to dramatically different styles of slope architecture and facies heterogeneity.
The models generated from these
world-class outcrops provide valuable information on stratal
geometry and geobody dimensions, changes in facies patterns associated with the F/F boundary, and the
effect that long-term changes in accommodation space and platform-margin
trajectory have on shaping platform and slope architecture. Additionally, this
information can be applied to further petroleum exploration in the
AAPG Search and Discover Article #90063©2007 AAPG Annual Convention, Long Beach, California