--> Abstract: The Signigicance of Temperate-Type (Foramol) Carbonate Systems as Indices of Depositional Dynamics, by Fotini Pomoni-Papaioannou; #90072 (2007)

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The Signigicance of Temperate-Type (Foramol) Carbonate Systems as Indices of Depositional Dynamics

Fotini Pomoni-Papaioannou
University of Athens, Athens, Greece

In the western Pelagonian domain (Northern Greece, Internal Hellenides), the passage of an Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous, frequently exposed under subaerial conditions “Bahamian-type” platform, to an Upper Cretaceous open shelf environment, of ramp-like morphology, resulted in a significant carbonate diversification, concerning the biota assemblage, the mineralogy, the microfacies types and the early diagenetical patterns.
The Upper Cretaceous is characterized by, calcite-dominated, “foramol” type, grain-supported, rudist-bearing limestones, whose biota assemblage recall a temperate-type sedimentary setting. Due to intensive bioerosion of rudists and lack of early cementation, a significant amount of bioclasts have been transported offshelf by storm-related sand flows and accumulated in a pelagic realm. An overall destructive early diagenetic regime characterizes the Upper Cretaceous platform, and major porosity destruction and lithification occur mainly in response to chemical compaction of calcitic skeletons during moderate to deep burial.
Paleoenvironmental conditions, during the Upper Cretaceous, suggest an open shelf domain, with gentle slope margins (ramp), recording a tendency of drowning, due to relative sea level rise coupled with the low potential of growth typical of foramol carbonate factories Complex arrangements of winnowed, remobilized and/or resedimented lithofacies took place during terminal high stands and/or regressive phases of the sea level.
Temperate-type carbonate facies have been also accumulated in the central-west part of Crete, in the Apostoli Basin, during the Neogene. The depositional environment corresponds to a shallow ramp, the sediments being deposited in a nearshore environment and under conditions analogous to those prevailing in the circalittoral bottoms of the Recent counterparts of the Mediterranean Sea.

 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90072 © 2007 AAPG and AAPG European Region Conference, Athens, Greece