Upper Pennsylvanian section on the north wnll of Dry Canyon III the Sacramento Mountains.
6 km northeast of Alamogordo. New Mexico. The bot 10m of the creek is about the base of Missourian
beds. The base of Virgilan strata is about the base of the pronounced biohermallevel. The
well-marked dark thin bed below the main bioherm is composed of peloidal grainstone. forescl-
bedded to Ihc left (west into the Oro GrandI! basin). The bioherms are algal plate mud mounds
and aredevcloped at a very gl!ntJe shelf margin and on the west nank of a Pennsylvanian
anticline whose axis lay to the right edge of the photo. The axis is cut transversely by the canyon.
The t.... o mounds at the wcst end are micritic cores wnh abundant algal phlles. The main
mound is composed chieny offoreset·bcdded, detrita\. bioclastic nanking strata derived from
organisms growing 011 mounds exposed on the soulh side of the clmyon from where the picture
was taken. The ledges above the main mound level are principally limestones capping sedimentary
shelfcyclcs described 011 Figs. VI·7, VI-I2, VII-8. The cycles grade a few kilometers
east to red beds and conglomerates of the Pennsylvanian upland.
~.
.
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.
•
James L.Wilson
Carbonate Facies in
Geologic History
With 183 Figures and 30 Plates
Springer-Verlag
New York Heidelberg Berlin
JAMES LEE WILSON, B. A., M. A., Ph. D., Keith Wiess Professor of Geology,
Rice University, Houston, Texas, 77001, USA
Cover motif from Paul N. McDaniel, ERICa, Woking, England.
ISBN -13 :978-0-387 -90343-9 e-ISBN -13 :978-1-4612-6383-8
DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4612-6383-8
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data. Wilson James Lee, 1920 - Carbonate
facies in geologic history. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Facies (Geology) 2. Rocks.
Carbonate. I. Title. QE65l.W52 551.8'1 75-15667
This work IS subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the
material is concerned, specifically those of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations,
broadcasting, reproduction by photocopying machine or similar means, and storage in data
banks.
Under § 54 of the German Copyright Law where copies are made for other than private use,
a fee is payable to the publisher, the amount of the fee to be determined by agreement with
the publisher.
© by Springer-Verlag Berlin· Heidelberg 1975
The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the
absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws
and regulatIons and therefore free for general use.
To my wife
Della Moore Wzlson
and to my parents
Mr. and Mrs. J. Burney Wzlson
Preface
Since 1950 geologists have learned more about the origin and lithification of
carbonate sediments than in all the previous years of the history of science. This
is true in all the diverse fields of carbonate geology: the study of Recent
environments, marine zoology and botany, organic geochemistry, trace element
and isotope geochemistry, mineralogy, microfacies of depositional environments,
and trace-fossil and sedimentary structure investigation. A synthesis of this new
knowledge is just beginning to be formulated.
The purpose of this volume is to introduce the advanced student and
petroleum explorationist principally to one important aspect of this study: to
some of the principles of carbonate geology which may serve to interpret the
depositional environments of ancient strata and to better define their sequences
and patterns.
Chapter I is a brief review of principles of carbonate sedimentation. (For a
full discussion of the mineralogy, geochemistry, and diagenesis of carbonates
along with a review of Holocene sediments, one may refer to Bathurst's (1971)
and Milliman's (1974) texts.) Chapter II reviews stratigraphic and paleotectonic
concepts and discusses a general model for carbonate deposition. Chapter III
offers an outline of carbonate petrography, concentrating on lithologic descrip-
tion for the purposes of environmental interpretation. For a further review of
this subject and excellent photomicrographs, Horowitz and Potter (1971) and
Majewske (1969) may be used.
The remainder of the book (Chapter IV-XII) attempts to synthesize a large
amount of descriptive data interpreting depositional patterns from numerous
examples of carbonate facies. From this, certain generalizations appear which
are mainly set out in Chapters II and XII (Summary). The approach has been
mainly inductive: let us look at the record of marine deposition of lime sediment,
see what is there and learn how to describe and interpret it. A dual approach is
recommended: to focus attention equally on stratigraphic relations and petro-
graphic study. Comparisons between certain patterns are made to facilitate the
sorting out of parameters deemed to be most important in their formation.
The inductive approach is always fraught with some difficulty. One is
reminded of Mark Twain's remark in Innocents Abroad, that despite his perusal
of thousands of European cathedrals dedicated to a collection of Saints, he could
not honestly admit to an appreciation of such architecture. He felt that he
should, perhaps, study another 97,000 or so before making up his mind about
their esthetic value. Have we looked at sufficient models for a proper synthesis?
The author's answer is obviously "we have made a start at it." The facies patterns
described are mostly all from the author's personal experience in European and
Middle East regions and from the midcontinent, western Canada, Rocky
Mountains, Appalachian and southwestern United States and Mexico. These
VIII Preface
regions include vast areas of carbonate rock. No personal or up-to-date knowledge
of the Great Basin, Australian or Siberian stratigraphy is included. Nevertheless,
it appears that sufficient stratigraphy is known to permit some valid generaliza-
tions of facies patterns and for them to be used as an effective tool in predicting
facies distribution in imperfectly known areas. The middle chapters of the book
repeat many patterns with different faunal variations because carbonates tend
to follow essentially one basic and fundamental depositional pattern which is
superficially modified by tectonic, climatic, and hydrologic factors, thus simplifying
our task of generalization.
With the task of synthesis in mind, the book abounds in classifications and
outlines attempting to organize and standardize information. This approach
includes:
1. Carbonate microfacies (24 SMF types, Standard Microfacies Types).
2. Terminology of carbonate buildups (23 definitions).
3. Types of shelf-margin profiles (3 types).
4. Facies belts along shelf margins (9 in an idealized profile).
5. Sequence in development of an ideal carbonate mound (7 facies).
6. Tectonic settings of carbonate buildups and facies patterns (4 major categories).
7. Carbonate cyclic sequences (5 types).
8. Organism development in carbonate buildups through geologic time (4 stages).
Certain aspects of carbonate sediments are not covered even in the review
in Chapter XII. Oceanic sediments, fresh-water and temperate-zone marine
carbonates are omitted because practically all common carbonate facies in the
geologic record were apparently deposited in shallow, tropical, marine environ-
ments. Descriptions of Holocene models of carbonate deposition which are basic
to our interpretation of ancient facies patterns have been given by Bathurst
(1971) and Milliman (1974), in numerous special publications and memoirs of the
AAPG and SEPM, in the Sedimenta Series of the University of Miami, the
Persian Gulf volume (Purser, 1973), and numerous guidebooks to the British
Honduras, Florida, Bahamas, and Yucatan areas.
The reader may find more serious omissions in the lack of discussion of
evaporites, which are an integral part of the carbonate depositional realm.
However, a general synthesis of evaporite literature is now available from
symposia by major geological societies and several books have appeared on the
subject. The related subject, dolomite origin and stratigraphy, is discussed briefly
in Chapter X. Tertiary buildups and patterns are not sufficiently known to the
author personally to permit accurate description; although they are not discussed,
they are equally important to petroleum exploration.
The writer hopes that the labor of reading and studying the book is not
quite so formidable a task as was its writing.
July 1975 lL.WILSON
Acknowledgements
A book of this type would have been impossible without years of cooperative
field observation and exchange of ideas with many persons. For these opportunities
the author wishes to thank the management of Shell Development and Shell
Oil Companies, Shell International Research, and particularly the many fine
geologists of these companies who provided stimulating discussion at so many
different times and places.
The author is also grateful to the National Science Foundation which, through
Grant Number GA10147, made possible the initiation of this compilation, and
to William Marsh Rice University for providing facilities for carrying on the
research with excellent graduate students and for providing a sabbatical year.
The author would also like to thank Professor Richard Dehm and
Dr. Ludwig Happel of the Institutes of Paleontology and General and Applied
Geology of the University of Munich for their hospitality during a pleasant
year in which much of the writing was accomplished. This was also made
possible through a Fulbright-Hayes research fellowship in 1972-1973.
Many persons contributed specifically to the completion of the book.
Dr. R.N. Ginsburg and Paul Potter looked at introductory Chapters and gave
initial encouragement. Dr. L.L.Sloss undertook the difficult task of reading and
criticizing most of the manuscript. C. Kendall, Alan Coogan, Ludwig Happel,
G.Shairer, B.H.Purser, and R.N. Ginsburg read and criticized particular Chapters.
Valuable suggestions were also made by three graduate students, Steve Schafers-
man, Edward Thornton, and John Van Wagoner who carefully read the intro-
ductory chapters. Schafersman also assisted with the photomicrography. Michael
Campbell helped compile a glossary of sedimentary structures.
Special acknowledgement is made to the American Association of Petroleum
Geologists and to the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists
who permitted many illustrations from their journals to be republished.
Dr. R.N. Ginsburg of the Miami University Laboratory of Comparative Sedi-
mentology kindly furnished the author eight redrafted Figures by Dr. Bruce
H.Purser who gave permission for their inclusion in Chapter X. J.E.Klovan,
D.F. Toomey, M.Malek-Aslani, F.R.Allcorn, and C.Kendall assisted greatly by
furnishing some of the photomicrographs used on the plates.
The original manuscript editing was largely done by Martha Lou Broussard
and completed by Peggy Rainwater. The author is particularly grateful for their
conscientious efforts.
Much of the drafting was done by the author's sister, Mrs. Betty Mitchell
and the lettering by Michael Carr, John Van Wagoner, and the author's mother,
Mrs. J.Burney Wilson.
x Acknowledgements
The author is especially grateful to his wife, Della Moore Wilson, who
contributed most importantly; directly by performing the very considerable chore
of editing and typing of the manuscript; and indirectly through loving encourage-
ment, unfailing good humor, and pleasant companionship through the two and
one half years of the writing.
Contents
Chapter I Principles of Carbonate Sedimentation . . . . . . . .. 1
The Requisite Marine Environment: Warmth, Light, Water
Movement .................... 1
Carbonate Production Is Basically Organic . . . . . . . 4
Principal Hydrographic Controls on Carbonate Accumulation 5
The Local Origin of Carbonate Particles-Textural Inter-
pretation and Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Carbonate Deposition Is Rapid but Is Easily Inhibited and
Therefore Sporadic during Geologic Time . . . . . . . . 14
Carbonate Sediments and Rock Are Peculiarly Subject to
Many Stages of Diagenesis 16
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Chapter II The Stratigraphy of Carbonate Deposits 20
Definitions 20
The Basic Facies Pattern 24
Paleotectonic Settings for Carbonate Facies 29
Stratigraphic Sequences, Geometry, and Facies of Carbonate
Shelf Margins and Basins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Stratigraphic Sequences in Carbonates of Epeiric Seas on
Shelves and in Shallow Basins 46
Chapter III Outline of Carbonate Petrography 56
Techniques for Examining Carbonate Rocks 56
Microfacies Interpretations . . . . . . . 60
Standard Microfacies Types . . . . . . . 63
Diagenetic Changes in Carbonate Sediments 69
Biological Observations ........ 71
Glossary of Sedimentary Structures in Carbonate Rocks 75
Environmental Analysis of a Carbonate Thin Section 86
Significance of Color in Carbonate Rocks 89
Clastic Content in Carbonates 90
Porosity and Permeability . . . . . . . . 93
Chapter IV The Advent of Framebuilders in the Middle Paleozoic 96
The Earliest Buildups . . . . . . . . . 96
Silurian Buildups - Paleotectonic Settings 103
Devonian Buildups 118
Summary .............. 140
XII Contents
Chapter V The Lower Carboniferous Waulsortian Facies 148
Relation of Waulsortian Facies to Regional Paleostructure 150
Composition of Typical Waulsortian Facies 162
Theories of Mound Origin 165
Conclusions ............. 167
Chapter VI Pennsylvanian-Lower Permian Shelf Margin Facies in South-
western United States of America . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Paleotectonic Setting, Geologic History, and Climate 169
Special Organic Communities Forming Carbonate Buildups
in Late Paleozoic Strata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Examples of Permo-Pennsylvanian Carbonate Buildups 174
Conclusions .................. 198
Chapter VII Late Paleozoic Terrigenous-Carbonate Shelf Cycles . 202
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Yoredale Cycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Pennsylvanian and Wolfcampian Shelf Cyclothems of the
Midcontinent and Southern Rocky Mountains . . . . . . 206
Chapter VIII Permo-Triassic Buildups and Late Triassic Ecologic Reefs 217
Permian Reef Complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
The Middle Triassic of the Dolomites . . . . . . . . . . 233
Upper Triassic Reef-Lined Banks and Basinal Mounds of
Austria and Bavaria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Similarities and Differences between Permian and Triassic
Reef Complexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Chapter IX Reef Trends and Basin Deposits in Late Jurassic Facies of
Europe and the Middle East 257
Regional Settings . . . . . 258
Basic Microfacies . . . . . 262
The Reef Girdle of Central Europe 266
The Solnhofen Facies . . . . . . . 274
Chapter X Shoaling upward Shelf Cycles and Shelf Dolomitization 281
Oolite-Grainstone Cycles . . . . . . 283
Lime Mud-Sabkha Cycles . . . . . 297
Platform Cycles with Intense Diagenesis 304
Dolomitization of Carbonate Banks and Interior Shelf Cycles 310
Conclusions .................... 318
Contents XIII
Chapter XI The Rise of Rudists; Middle Cretaceous Facies in Mexico
and the Middle East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
The Rudist Bivalves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Shelf Margin and Plattform-Bank Interior Facies of Middle
Cretaceous of Mexico and the Gulf Coast . . . . . . 325
Middle and Lower Cretaceous Facies in the Middle East 339
Chapter XII Summary 348
Stratigraphic Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Nine Standard Facies Belts in an Ideal Model of a Carbonate
Complex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Three Major Types of Shelf Margin Profiles . . . . . . 361
Carbonate Mounds and Associated Ecologic Reefs . . . . 364
Interrelations of Parameters Controlling and Modifying Car-
bonate Accumulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Review of Tectonic Settings for Carbonate Buildups and
Cycles . 375
References . 380
Subject Index . 399
Plates .411
