Carbonate Platform Response to Tectonism and Eustasy: the Middle Cambrian Carbonates of the Lower and Middle Conasauga Group, East Tennessee
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 8-1993 Carbonate Platform Response to Tectonism and Eustasy: The Middle Cambrian Carbonates of the Lower and Middle Conasauga Group, East Tennessee Eugene Carlton Rankey University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Geology Commons Recommended Citation Rankey, Eugene Carlton, "Carbonate Platform Response to Tectonism and Eustasy: The Middle Cambrian Carbonates of the Lower and Middle Conasauga Group, East Tennessee. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 1993. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/2592 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Eugene Carlton Rankey entitled "Carbonate Platform Response to Tectonism and Eustasy: The Middle Cambrian Carbonates of the Lower and Middle Conasauga Group, East Tennessee." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, with a major in Geology. Kenneth R. Walker, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Robert D. Hatcher, Stephen Driese Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Eugene Carlton Rankey entitled "Carbonate Platform Response to Tectonism and Eustasy: The Middle Cambrian Carbonates of the Lower and Middle Conasauga Group, East Tennessee." I have examined the final copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, with a major in Geology. I ' l ./ "'�-"' � I / 1 / / <:·,; · · [ 1 ' ( 1 j' · __ ----�-··- __ ·" � · ' .,_' , 1c -c _1.'f, ' .. !• .�.- . l ,_ .....��,,1 ·' ... Kenneth R. Walker, Major Professor V./e have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: b-;L� . ·-.- ;-''· I ' I . f �:· ,'"'-�-- l )'/·�- • t> f -�... '., --��-�-�--�-------4-�J ----- Accepted for the Council: Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of The Graduate School STATEMENT OF PERMISSION TO USE In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master's degree at the University ofTennessee, Knoxville, I agree that the library shall make it available to borrowers under rules of the library. Brief quotations fromthis thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Permission for extensive quotation from or reproduction of this thesis may be granted by my major professor, or in his absence, by the Head of Interlibrary Services, when, in the opinion of either, the proposed use of the material is for scholarly purposes. Any copying or use of the material in this thesis for financial gain shall not be all ower without my written permission. Signature � Date t 30/ j<A j CARBONATE PLATFORM RESPONSE TO TECTONISM AND EUSTASY: THE MIDDLE CAM.BRIAN CARBONATES OF THE LOWER AND MIDDLE CONASAUGA GROUP, EAST TENNESSEE A Thesis Presented for the Master of Science Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Eugene Carlton Rankey August 1993 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Although this thesis represents my work, many people have contributed to my education during its completion. I wish to thank Dr. Kenneth R. Walker, my advisor, for his continual input and support and for inviting me to come toTennessee during the summer of 1991. His suggestions helped to make this a more complete thesis. I am also indebted to my committee members, Dr. Robert D. Hatcher, Jr., and Dr. Stephen Driese, for their contributions and comments. From all of these professors I have learned a great deal, in both classroom and field settings. Completion of this project would have been much more difficult without the input of my fellow "bankers." I wish to thank Dr. Krishnan Srinivasan for setting the framework for study on the Maryville, and for his continual enthusiasm for, and input to, this project. KennethTobin is also thanked for helping me run stable isotopes, for his guidance in carbonate and siliciclastic sedimentology labs, and for his support during my tenure here. I also wish to thank Boslikja Glumac, Andy Stephaniak, Dr. D. Mark Steinhaufffor their input. I also wish to thank Amy Halleran, Dr. Claudia Mora, and Dr. Stephen Goldberg for their aid on several isotope samples. The secretaries (Denise, Jayne, Melody, and Cindy) here at UT are also thanked for guiding me through the maze of a big school. I appreciate the patience of my fiancee, Ms. Kelly Groves. Her patience and kindness through this time did not go unnoticed. Only three (four?) more years to go, Kelly! Thanks to Mike and Kim Caudill for their friendship. My sincere thanks go to my parents for all of their support and encouragement, patience and prayers. Your guidance and love is most appreciated. I only hope that one day I can emulate your example. I wish to thank my former professors at Augustana, Dr. Richard Anderson, Dr. William Hammer, Dr. David Schroeder, and Dr. Harold Sundelius, for installing in me an undying love of, and appreciation for, geology. Past colleagues Matthew Schramm and CarnieJensen are also thanked. Special thanks go to Dan Drommerhausen for giving me someplace to go on "those" weekends. "Family Tradition" forever! Finally, especially, thanks to God. lll ABSTRACT The Middle Cambrian Craig Limestone Member (Rogersville Shale) and Maryville Limestone are part of the thick Cambro-Ordovician pericratonic sedimentary package exposed in the Valley and Ridge province in EastTennessee. Exposures in the Dumplin Valley fault zone provide further details concerning the origin and development of these limestone formations. Description of five sections, analysis of 125 thin sections and 98 slabs, and regional reconnaisance in the Dumplin Valley area reveal that the Craig Limestone Member represents "premature" demise of a carbonate shelf in that it did not develop as fully as the Maryville shelf and had no rimmed edge or widespread peritidal environments. Instead, the underlying lower Rogersville Shale represents basinal and slope deposits, and the Craig represents deposition on a gentle ramp with deposits analogous to the mid-ramp and aggrading ramp packages of the Maryville. No shoal, lagoon, or peritidal deposits were observed. In contrast, the Maryville Limestone consists of six genetic packages, each 1 Os of meters thick: 1) the slope package (debris flows and turbidites deposited below storm wave base); 2) the mid-ramp (burrow mottled mudstone with very thin packstone to grainstone lenses or layers deposited below storm wave base) I aggrading ramp package ( subequal amounts of mottled mudstone and packstone/grainstone representing increased wave activity); 3) the shoal package (ooid grainstones representing migrating ooid shoals); 4) the lagoon package (mudstone and packstone/grainstone deposited in protected settings behind ooid shoals); 5) the peritidal package ("cyclic" shoaling-upward sediments deposited in settings associated with tidal flats and islands); and 6) the backstepping platform/shelf package (a variety of lithologies deposited in response to relative sea-level rise). IV Through its evolution, the Maryville environmental regime developed from a ramp to a rimmed platform with Renalcis!Girvane/labioh erms at the platform edge and platform-interior peritidal environments. 1 Os-of-meters-scale stratigraphic packages were controlled by sedimentary aggradation and progradation. Controls on subtidal meter-scale interbeds of mud-dominated lithologies and grain-dominated lithologies appear to have been processes such as wave sweeping and storm activity; no evidence fo r regular, shallowing-upward cycles is evident. Deposition of peritidal shallowing-upward parasequences was probably controlled by a combination of autocyclic mechanisms, irregular (jerky?)tectonism, and eustatic sea-level fluctuations. A petrographic study of the Maryville revealed fo ur "diagenetic patterns" (DP): 1) DP 1 (marine fibrous and bladed cements and burial calcites and dolomites, all non ferroan); 2) DP 2 (extensively dolomitized sediments); 3) DP 3 (dissolution, vadose silt, equant calcite, depleted oxygen isotope ratios of -9 o/oo); 4) DP 4 (marine fibrous and bladed calcite, burial fe rroan and non-ferroan calcites and dolomites). DP 1 is present in the subtidal sediments of the slope through lagoon packages. DP 2 is related to early? dolomitization of peritidal sediments. DP 3 is developed at the top of the Maryville in shelf-edge and lagoon areas, and at the top of and within the peritidal package in platform interior areas. This fa cies is related to platform exposure. DP 4 is present in the backstepping shelfi'platform package and shows no evidence fo r subaerial exposure. The results of this study suggest that the Maryville platform and the Craig Limestone Member (Rogersville Shale) ramp are capped by surfaces of subaerial exposure. Subaerial exposure and meteoric diagenesis are manifest by