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Cool-water carbonate ramps: a review

MARTYN PEDLEY 1 & GABRIELE CARANNANTE 2 1Department of Geography, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7R~, UK (e-mail: [email protected], uk) 2Instituto di Scienze della Terra, Universitf degli Studi di Napoli, 'Federico 11', Largo San Marcellino n. 10, 80138 Napoli, ltaly (e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: This review of marine, cool-water carbonate ramps considers both their defining features and the key publications relating to them. Cool-water carbonate environments are dominated by open, skeletal debris-covered sea bottoms which support biological assemblages devoid of hermatypic coral reefs, calcified green algae and non-skeletal grains. The growing body of modem literature deals mainly with Neogene to Recent examples, particularly from the Australian, New Zealand and Mediterranean regions. Nevertheless, many ancient examples have been recognized and, without doubt, many more - currently described as 'tropical carbonates' - will also be found to be cool-water examples.

It is now becoming clear that a distinction must research, it must be remembered that Recent be made between those deposits associated with analogues of cool-water carbonates had also been macrotidal regimes (i.e. world ocean sites) and described from the Mediterranean Sea in the those associated with land-locked water bodies pioneering works of Walther (1885, 1910) and such as the Mediterranean Sea. The principal over half a century later by Froidevaux (1976), difference between the two is not so much the Barbera et al. (1978), Carannante et al. (1981, diversity of biota but, more importantly, the mini- 1988), Carannante & Simone (1988) and Bosence mal fair-weather reworking processes which char- (1985). acterize microtidal seas. This commonly allows Many modern works have concentrated on colonization and sediment preservation in the Tertiary (mainly Miocene) limestones in the peri- inner-ramp zone. Biozones occupy much deeper- Mediterranean region (Barbera et al. 1978), water sites on open ocean ramps, particularly in New Zealand (Nelson 1978) and in Poland where ramps are storm dominated. The corre- (Studencki 1979). Nevertheless, there is a continu- spondingly wider inner ramps in these world ing interest in Recent examples, especially from ocean sites generally become dominated by mass the Brazilian (Milliman & Summerhayes 1975), bioclastic reworking. New Zealand (Nelson et al. 1982) and Canadian The past two decades have witnessed the (Nelson & Bornhold 1983) shelves. development of alternative sedimentological mod- Foremost in the post-1970s works that laid out els designed to cater for cool-water carbonate a framework for future reference is the Non- systems. These systems are dominated by open, Tropical Shelf Carbonates Ancient and Modern skeletal debris-covered sea bottoms which support volume edited by Nelson (1988a). Collectively, biological assemblages devoid of hermatypic cor- these articles (and especially that of Nelson als, calcified green algae and non-skeletal grains 1988b) defined the parameters of cool-water car- (chlorozoan assemblages sensu Lees & Buller bonate ramps. Later, SEPM Special Publication 56 1972). Recent examples, all distinctly different (Cool-Water Carbonates edited by James & from tropical platform carbonates, have now been Clarke 1997) expanded the dataset considerably. documented from cool-temperate to subtropical Much of this work detailed modern and Neogene continental shelves, and even from the tropical Southern Ocean carbonates, with the first article zone. Ancient examples have also been reported in the volume (James 1997) being dedicated to a in the literature, being variously designated as consideration of the cool-water carbonate deposi- 'temperate', 'non-tropical' or, more frequently, as tional realm. Here, the terms 'photozoan' (iden- 'cool-water' limestones. tifying tropical assemblages) and 'heterozoan' Although the pioneering works of Chave (encompassing cooler-water assemblages) were (1967), Lees & Buller (1972) and Lees (1975) introduced. Many of the other papers in the undoubtedly set the pace for modern cool-water volumes detailed modern and Tertiary Southern

From: PEDLEY, H. M. & CARANNANTE, G. (eds) 2006. Cool-Water Carbonates: Depositional Systems and Palaeoenvironmental Controls. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 255, 1-9. 0305-8719/06/$15.00 © The Geological Society of London 2006. Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 25, 2021

2 M. PEDLEY & G. CARANNANTE

Ocean carbonates; however, there were also sig- ramp sediment distributions, in the Balearic re- nificant contributions on Recent, Northern Ocean gion, enabled the first clear comparisons to be and on Palaeozoic and Mesozoic deposits. Such made between world ocean and microtidal sites. was the impact of these two collective volumes Recently, Mediterranean cool-water Neogene that many new researchers were attracted to the carbonates have received much greater attention. fast-growing field of cool-water carbonates. Taphofacies studies have been carried out by During the early 1990s, studies effectively Brachert et al. (1998) and Kourampas & Robert- delineated new litho- and biofacies associations son (2000). Many of the Quaternary deposits and depositional controls, especially around Aus- contain well-developed eustatic signatures (the tralian and New Zealand shores. Since 1997 Mediterranean Sea remained connected to the research has increasingly become concerned with Atlantic Ocean throughout the Quaternary). These synecological aspects of modern-day biota (e.g. glacio-eustatic changes have typically driven pro- James et al. 2001; Hageman et al. 2003; Smith & grading clinoform foresets during regression (e.g. Nelson 2003; Amini et al. 2004; Halfar et al. Hansen 1999) and back-stepping bioclastic 2004). There is also growing interest in extending wedges during transgression (e.g. Tesson et al. these types of studies further back into older, 2000). Other sandbody-focused studies include Cenozoic deposits, with a view to better defining Massari et al. (2002) on Pliocene and Vecsei & more ancient bio- and lithofacies (e.g. Lukasik et Sanders (1999) on the Miocene sequences in Italy. al. 2000; Nelson et al. 2003; Hendy & Kamp Glaser & Betzler (2002) and Braga et al. (2001) 2004). Equally fruitful are the studies interpreting have also worked on mixed carbonate-siliciclastic cool-water deposits from both Cretaceous (e.g. packages in the Miocene of southern Spain. Follmi et al. 1994; Carannante et al. 1995, 1997; Models of microtidal temperate carbonate sedi- Simone et al. 2003) and Palaeozoic successions mentation have been presented by Pomar & (e.g. Samankassou 2002; Pope & Steffen 2003; Tropeano (2001), Pedley et al. (2001) from Italian Stemmerik & Worsley 2005). Quaternary examples and by Martin et al. (2004) Cool-water carbonate deposition is often con- for Spanish Pliocene deposits. Diagenetic studies trolled by relatively short-term eustatic changes of Mediterranean cool-water carbonates have also so, inevitably, sequence stratigraphic considera- been carried out (e.g. Knoerich & Mutti 2003). tions have become increasingly important (e.g. Brachert et al. 2003; Caron & Nelson 2003; Cool-water carbonates Saxena & Betzler 2003; Caron et al. 2004). Much of this work has been directed towards developing At present all marine carbonates are viewed as a models in the better known New Zealand and continuum of depositional environments ranging southern Australian sites. These sites also pro- between tropical and cold water. Biotal distribu- vided considerable information on non-tropical tions and facies relationships appear clear in early carbonate diagenesis (see Nelson & Smith modern settings but can become misleadingly 1996; Brachert & Dullo 2000; Nelson & James blurred in the ancient. Further difficulties arise 2000; Smith & Nelson 2003). from variable terminologies and a consensus has A new body of information has also developed still to be reached on the precise definition of such during the past decade which deals with microtidal terms as 'cool-temperate' and 'warm-temperate' Quaternary and Neogene cool-water deposits from marine carbonates (see discussions in Mutti & the Mediterranean region. Microtidal regimes are Hallock 2003). Consequently, all examples figured important because similar environments must have in this book are grouped under the cloak of 'cool- existed in the past whenever plate motion and water carbonates'. Many of these marine carbo- orogenic activity conspired to create partly land- nates develop today in temperate latitudes, such as locked arms of former oceans. The Mediterranean the Atlantic seaboard of Europe, Brazilian shelf, region, the largest modern example, has remained south coast of Australia, and New Zealand. Others microtidal at least since the early Miocene when form in warmer non-tropical regions, such as the its connection to the Indian Ocean was lost. Mediterranean Sea and the Caspian Sea. It must Wave-driven processes and associated carbonate also be remembered that cool-water carbonates sediments in these water bodies appear to behave can also form within tropical climatic zones where differently to their open ocean counterparts and cold coastal currents sweep shelf regions. They the articles assembled in this volume are chosen can also accumulate in aphotic depths. to demonstrate this. Sea-water temperature, nutrient availability and Although, early works provided a comparison light are principal controls on the type of carbo- between ancient and modern 'temperate carbo- nate forming in any region because they limit the nates' of the Mediterranean, it was not until diversity of skeleton-secreting organisms able to Fornos & Ahr (1997) that modern Mediterranean colonize substrates (see discussions in Pomar Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 25, 2021

COOL-WATER CARBONATE RAMPS: A REVIEW 3

2001; Mutti & Hallock 2003). Present-day 'tem- Microtidal cool-water factories perate' environments are dominated by Foramol associations (sensu Lees & Buller 1972), domi- The considerable emphasis on microtidal ramps in nated by benthic foraminifera, echinoids, molluscs this volume dictates that some generalized details and bryozoans. Coralline algae are the most should be given. Present-day carbonate production important phototrophs contributing directly to the rates are never better than moderate; however, sediments. Colonial associations, however, typi- cool-water ramp biodiversity is generally high and cally lack hermatypic corals. Consequently, sea- communities are able to colonize into much floor bioconstructions (frameworks) rarely exceed shallower waters. To a large extent this is because decimetre-scale relief, though these frameworks the depth to fair-weather wave base is negligible may be equally as robust in their tropical counter- compared with world ocean counterparts. The parts. Mediterranean can, nevertheless, be an aggressive This absence of major reef barriers and baffles water body during violent winter storms. Such has major implications for sediment stability as storms, however, are quite localized and last a commonly there is little to prevent wave and matter of hours only. Seafloor communities appear storm energy from penetrating directly to the to recover quickly and the principal effect of such shoreline (see discussions in Pomar 2001). Conse- storms is to relocate sand and finer-grade sedi- quently, the majority of cool-water carbonates ments further down-ramp. Only during prolonged develop into carbonate ramp profiles. Neverthe- stillstands does carbonate production ever outpace less, isolated island sites, especially partly sub- accommodation space. merged volcanic seamounts, more typically The profile of a Pleistocene ramp from the develop narrow carbonate aprons or haloes asso- Central Mediterranean (Fig. 1, modified from ciated with submerged wave-cut benches. High Pedley & Grasso 2002) serves to illustrate some levels of sediment mobility are to be expected. of the biodiversity and depth control associated The inner-ramp zone in particular is commonly with microtidal Mediterranean ramps. Labelling also the site of very high bioclast attrition rates, of the transect zones generally follows that with the development (though not always the adopted by Reading & Collinson (1996), though it preservation) of rounded shoreface packstones and must be noted that some workers (e.g. Pomar & grainstones. Only when bioclastic shoals are Tropeano 2001) merge the offshore transition and developed is there an opportunity for sheltered shoreface zones together and refer to everything 'lagoon' and in situ invertebrate developments. between storm wave base and mean low water as Cool-water carbonate ramps frequently are the shoreface zone. Nevertheless, these ramp homoclinal in profile. Carbonate production and/ zones are tied closely to considerations of wave- or in situ preservation rates are much less than base position rather than to predetermined water in their tropical counterparts and distal steepen- depths. Below storm wave base, where light and ing is far less common. The general absence of turbulence levels are lowest (offshore zone), deli- reef frameworks within the mid-ramp zone en- cate bryozoans produce a carpet-like open frame- sures that any 'taphanomic' filters are small in work which acts as a filter, trapping muds and fine comparison with tropical ramps. There are few resediments derived from the shallower ramp. sediment bafflers in cool-water sites, though Vinculariiform and Reteporiform growth-form inner and mid-ramp coralline algal biostromes strategies are successful during slow sedimenta- and the delicate bryozoan 'gardens' of the outer tion phases, whereas mobile and flexible Cellarii- ramp are important in controlling finer resedi- form growth forms often dominate sites with mentation patterns. Inevitably, storm activity is moderate mud sedimentation rates (cf. Schopf detrimental to the unprotected carbonate factory 1969; Nelson et al. 1988). sites and partial dismantling is the norm. Line- In the shallower offshore margins and inner- sourced bioclasts and lime mud from the shal- ramp slope, light levels are sufficient for coralline lower ramp provide the principal ammunition algal phototrophs. Consequently, they produce a carried by geostrophic flows, to be shot down- clearly definable biozone which is bounded by ramp into calciturbidite-dominated clinoform out- virtual darkness down-ramp and by recurrent er ramp sheets and/or into complex channel damage by attrition in the up-ramp direction. networks. Rhodolitic pavement facies dominate, especially Rapid global sea-level change is a further factor where periodic overturning by turbulence occurs. controlling ramp profiles, especially during the In the deeper water, delicately branched growth Holocene. It is not surprising, therefore, that most forms dominate, whereas, smaller and more sphe- cool-water carbonate ramps are trapped in catch- rical rhodoliths dominate where agitation becomes up mode with eustatic rise constantly threatening frequent in the vicinity of storm-weather wave to outpace carbonate factory growth rate. base. Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 25, 2021

4 M. PEDLEY & G. CARANNANTE

OFFSHORE [ RAMPSLOPE [ OFFSHORE TRANSITION JSHOREFACE T

SEA - LEVEL ca Ak --~!l" FAIR- WEATHER WAVE BASE Cladocora

i1° STORM.... WAVE BASE Rhodohths ..... --~_ ..... ~5oO~o~.:.i-i~!~::.:i:i~i ~~:~:-~:~!~i-~:i~: :~:...... ~p L lereDraru a

P ...... ~:::i:~;~:::~::..:':.~:~,"~%to~'~.....~.:~: :~~...... ,.;::~i::;!~:i~..,...i~ ",Nac ...... '...... _~ p.~P~ 'N~afls.!: ~:~-:.::*:~"~':' ~ f~.t~ .

NB : Outer ramp is dominated by line-sourced resedimentation generated by storm activity from the mid and inner ramp.

Fig. l. Pleistocene ramp profile from the Central Mediterranean (modified from Pedley & Grasso 2002), illustrating biodiversity and depth control. Labelling of transect zones (at the top of the figure) generally follows that adopted by Reading & Collinson (1996).

Shorewards, in the area between storm- and point where storm wave base intersects the ramp fair-weather wave base (offshore transition zone), profile (often taken as the boundary between mid- there is a progressive increase in bivalves, regular and outer ramp (e.g. Pomar 2001; Pomar & echinoids and benthonic foraminifera at the ex- Tropeano 2001). Here, it is common to find pense of planktonic foraminifera. Surprisingly, rudstone clinobeds (commonly rhodolitic in nat- in the Mediterranean Sea it is common to ure) which prograde basinwards and downlap onto find monospecific, hermatypic coral (Cladocora) finer outer ramp facies. These laterally extensive patch-reefs within these mid-ramp areas. However, lithosomes 'represent avalanches of sediment such bioherms are poorly cemented and contain swept out onto a depositional slope, below wave few secondary framework elements for reinforce- base by storm waves and wind-driven currents' ment. They offer virtually no resistance to waves (Pomar & Tropeano 2001). This sediment, gener- and their survival is attributed mainly to the ally derived from the shoreface and offshore prevailing microtidal regime. Under catch-up re- transition zone of the mid- and inner ramp, is gimes (e.g. Holocene) planar bioclastic facies apparently delivered on an infrequent basis, thus extend up-ramp throughout this zone. They are giving time for seabed invertebrate recolonization often highly bioturbated and may even be nodular. between events. In contrast, constant reworking in the inner In Quaternary systems subjected to dynamic ramp (shoreface zone) makes it an unlikely place eustatic change, only the extreme-lowstand in which to find preserved in situ faunas. Gener- clinobed developments will be preserved. They ally, deposits consist of strongly reworked rud- correspond to the lowstand terraces of Chiocci & stone and grainstone-dominated bioclasts often Orlando (1996) and to the shelf-perched and built up into low-angle, tabular shoreface shelf-edge prograding sandbodies of Massari et al. packages. A prime factor leading to the poor (1999) and Pedley & Grasso (2002). In contrast, preservation potential of these inner-ramp carbo- highstand clinobed lithosomes are commonly nates in Holocene examples is sea-level rise, shaved or even totally dismantled during subse- which inevitably focused storm and wave energy quent transgressive and highstand events. directly onto the beach zone. Where inner-ramp, In summary, the principal difference between highstand carbonates are preserved, the shoreface Mediterranean ramps and carbonate ramps typical zone commonly terminates abruptly against a of world ocean sites is not so much the diversity mollusc-bored, cobble and boulder zone lying of biota in the carbonate factory sites but, more proximal to an eroded cliff-edged coast. importantly, the minimal fair-weather reworking An important variation in depositional style process in microtidal seas. Any storm activity in occurs where stillstands became well established such land-locked sea bodies usually is very loca- (e.g. during the earlier Quaternary). During these lized but can be intense in the short term. By times there is often a progressive local steepening contrast, communities (biozones) inhabit much of the ramp slope immediately seawards of the deeper sites on open ocean, storm-dominated Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 25, 2021

COOL-WATER CARBONATE RAMPS: A REVIEW 5 ramps, leaving the wide inner ramps mainly as below carbonate factory depths and is of tectonic sites for mass bioclastic reworking. origin. The carbonate factory is dominated by coralline algae and Peyssonnelia red algae. A Posidonia sea-grass ecosystem occupies the inner Articles in this volume ramp whereas the outer ramp is occupied mainly The book presents a large body of new research by suspension-transported resediments. Carbonate on Mediterranean-based cool-water carbonates. muds in the system are considered to be derived The microtidal, enclosed nature of the Mediterra- from disintegrated epiphytes and macroskeletal nean Sea potentially makes it more likely to components. Toseano, Vigliotti & Simone's study preserve non-reworked inner-ramp facies, though involves the occurrence and variability of modern this is not always apparent. coralline algal facies in the Bay of Naples and The first four articles deal with algal and Bay of Pozzuoli. The article deals with the cyanobacterial dominated substrates. Nalin, Basso importance of seafloor morphology and other & Massari provide an interesting example of the environmental variables on rhodalgal carbonate rigid framework associated with 'coralligOne de factory growth and on skeletal sand accumulation plateau', which developed over a rhodolitic pave- and transportation. The study is particularly in- ment in the Pleistocene Cutro terrace deposits of volved with taphonomic filters, such as the coral- Calabria, Italy. The bioherm grew between fair- line algal zone. Massari & Chioeci provide a weather wave base and storm wave base (30- detailed consideration of the architecture of basin- 60m) during a single transgressive-regressive ward-prograding clinoform bioclastic sandbodies event which terminated in burial by shoreface detached from the shoreline and developed on a bioclastics. Basso, Morbioli & Corselli examine distally steepened ramp. The deposits developed in detail the coralline algal component of ramps mainly during relative sea-level falls in a storm- close to the Pontian Islands, Italy. The work shows dominated microtidal marginal setting. Ramp-top how internal rhodolitic structure changes from depths were controlled by storm wave base, the laminar/concentric growth forms in unstable sub- latter being responsible for intense turbulence and strates to boxworks in stable sites with low winnowing. Mobilized sediments were driven sedimentation rates. The study also shows the basinwards as gravity flows. Many current con- increasing dominance of bryozoans in deepening cepts are embodied in the article by Braga, biotopes. Bassi, Carannante, Murru, Simone & Martin, Betzler & Aguirre, who present a well- Toscano, make a detailed reconstruction of a considered cool-water carbonate model for the Miocene temperate-type carbonate, channelized Tortonian to Zanclean (Miocene to Pliocene) of depositional system from Sardinia, Italy. Coupling the Betic intermontane basins. Carbonate produc- palaeobiotogical analyses (i.e. rhodolith character- tion took place mainly seaward of bioclastic istics, bryozoan growth forms, taphonomic shoals and below fair-weather wave base. In this features) to physical (sedimentological and geo- example the lack of cementation encouraged metrical) observations has enabled the recognition particle mobilization both shorewards into the of complex relationships between the carbonate shoals, spits and beaches, and basinwards, where factory, the smaller erosive tributary channels and they were resedimented into outer-ramp channels, the deeper main channel. An intriguing Quatern- lobes and basinal sites. Pedley & Grasso examine ary cyanobacterial mound from Greece is the the general influence of eustatic change on accom- subject of Kershaw & Guo's article. This is the modation space versus resedimentation and its only article in the book specifically dealing with implications for lime mud deposition. Renter, peritidal problems. In it, the authors detail the Braehert & Kroeger illustrate details of a tropi- marine versus freshwater aspects that must be cal to temperate carbonate transition from a late considered by workers before making any deduc- Miocene example in Crete, Greece. tion relating to the origins of stromatolites from Cool-water settings have now also been recog- peritidal situations. They highlight the conflicting nized in late Mesozoic successions within the conclusions that can be derived from a geochem- Mediterranean realm. Ruberti, Toseano, Caran- ical versus palaeontological approach. nante & Simone provide an excellent example in Resedimentation processes in Mediterranean connection with a rudist-rich succession from ramps are central to a larger group of articles southern Italy. It must be remembered, however, covering Miocene to Quaternary examples from that the Tethys was an open seaway during the the region. Fornrs & Ahr present a further Late Cretaceous, consequently tidal ranges were development of their model for low-energy tempe- likely to have been closer to mesotidal rather than rate (Mediterranean-type) ramps based on offshore macrotidal at that time. regions of the Balearic Islands, Spain. Although The section on world ocean sites is supported distally steepened this anticedant feature is well strongly by examples from New Zealand and Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 25, 2021

6 M. PEDLEY & G. CARANNANTE

Australia, showing how recent studies have shifted tors, was a driving force favouring the early towards investigations of skeletal taphonomies diagenetic precipitation of epitaxial cements. The at both acoustic and conventional sample scales. final article in the book, by Caron, Nelson & The first example by Halfar, Strasser, Riegl & Kamp, examines the pathways and timing of Godinez-Orta, however, demonstrates the ex- cementation in Pliocene carbonates of New Zeal- panding use of acoustic mapping in delineating and. In particular, they develop concepts of offlap bryomol carbonate factory sites in the northern and downlap cementation trends. A five-stage Gulf of Mexico. The study showed that seafloor cement stratigraphic model is presented, based on deposits can be subdivided into four acoustic petrographic criteria highlighted by cathodolumi- facies on the basis of grain size and bryozoan nescence and staining procedures. It is also worth- growth morphologies. Significantly, the bryozoan while, from the diagenetic viewpoint, in returning associations grew in unusually warm conditions to Pedley & Grasso (microtidal section). They compared with other world ocean sites, largely record a range of non-luminescent vadose and because of the absence of faster-growing photo- marine phreatic cements which developed under trophs caused by water turbidity. Work in Austra- the control of short-term eustatic change. These lia by Lukasik & James on a Miocene cool-water offer a means of recognizing eustatic processes at carbonate sequence shows how relatively small small outcrop scale and also shed light on the temperature changes caused a shift from hetero- magnitude and relative pace of eustatic change zoan (echinoid and bryozoan) facies to bryozoan- within a complete glacio-eustatic cycle. rich, foraminifera and photozoan facies. These temperature shifts caused fluctuations in carbonate Overview production rates which, in turn, affected the ability of the depositional system to record fluctuations in This increased attention of palaeontologists and relative sea-level. Anastas, Dalrymple, James & sedimentologists on cool-water carbonate pro- Nelson illustrate cool-water carbonate seaway cesses and environments prompted the editors to deposits developed in mixed wave-dominated and find ways to draw together these potentially current-dominated settings. These mixed energy diverse research strands into a collective publica- conditions are most typical of wide seaways. tion. A number of articles in this book were Kindler, Ruchonnet & White provide an example presented originally at the 2004 International of a temperate-water Pliocene platform, from Geological Congress in Florence. This nucleus of ODP leg 194 in NE Australia, in which carbonate articles, mainly on Mediterranean microtidal cool- production was focused into the lowstand events water carbonates, stimulated considerable interest, but was shut off during highstands. Finally, particularly from other Mediterranean workers, Hendy, Kamp & Vonk provide a detailed analysis and highlighted the need for a volume which of condensed shell beds of New Zealand Mio- gathered together a larger body of Mediterranean Pliocene shelf sequences. These bivalve-domi- research on cool-water carbonates than had hither- nated taphofacies, though otherwise siliciclastic to been possible. In addition, it was felt that successions, are used by the authors as palaeoen- because many of the original interpretations con- vironmental indicators. In addition, the variations cerning cool-water carbonates were derived from in taphofacies appear to be environment specific, studies in New Zealand and southern Australia, a thereby providing considerable assistance in the significant part of the book should also include recognition of transgressive, highstand and regres- coverage of modern and ancient systems deposited sive systems tracts. in world ocean sites. It is hoped that this marriage Diagenetic fabrics within cool-water carbonates of articles from the micro- and macrotidal do- are generally poorly known. Consequently, three mains will provide a useful reference source for interesting studies are included here in order to set all workers interested in entering the cool-water the scene for future research. Mutti, John & field. Above all, it is hoped that this book will Knoerieh present a detailed review of the appli- provide a stimulus for all workers seeking to cations and limitations of chemostratigraphy in investigate modern and ancient microtidal carbo- shallow-water heterozoan carbonates, using exam- nates associated with other land-locked water ples from the Marion Platform and from the bodies. When added to the pre-existing database Mediterranean. The study concludes that hetero- on Tertiary to Recent examples, a moderately zoan systems relative to their tropical counterparts comprehensive picture of modern cool-water sys- show good preservation of their marine signatures. tems emerges. This solid groundwork covers both Knoerieh & Mutti provide a detailed consid- palaeoecology and the associated sediment pro- eration of epitaxial cements in Mediterranean cesses. Miocene carbonates. They show how aragonite, However, several formidable tasks still lie present among the invertebrate sediment contribu- ahead. First, there is some way to go with respect Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 25, 2021

COOL-WATER CARBONATE RAMPS: A REVIEW 7 to understanding fully the preservation potential of carbonate platform deposits (Vera Basin, Almera, these carbonates and particularly in unravelling southern Spain). Sedimentology, 48, 99-116. their early diagenesis. The older sedimentary CARANNANTE, G. & SIMONE, L. 1988. Foramol carbo- record also needs re-examination to ascertain nate shelves as depositional site and source area: recent and ancient examples from the Mediterra- better the relationships between cool-water and nean Region. American Association of Petroleum tropical successions, including re-examination and Geologists Bulletin, 72, 993-994. reinterpretation of successions hitherto considered CARANNANTE, G., SIMONE, L. & BARBERA, C. 1981. to be wholly tropical. This will undoubtedly 'Calcari a briozoi e litotamni' of southern Apen- change the perception of how past global carbo- nines. Miocenic anologous of recent Mediteranean nate production rates were influenced by latitude rhodolitic sediments. 1AS 2nd European Meeting, and basin configuration. Finally, there is an urgent Bologna (Italy). Abstract Book. International Asso- need to improve the dataset with respect to other ciation of Sedimentologists, Bologna, 17-20. microtidal cool-water bodies, both modem (e.g. CARANNANTE, G., ESTEBAN, M., MILLIMAN, J.D. & SIMONE, L. 1988. Carbonate lithofacies as paleo- Caspian Sea) and ancient. Interpreting ancient latitudinal indicators: problems and limitations. examples, of course, is no easy task. Biota Sedimentary Geology, 60, 333-346. generally belong to long-extinct phyla and their CARANNANTE, G., CHERCHI, A. & SIMONE, L. 1995. respective roles within ecosystems and as sub- Chlorozoan versus Foramol lithofacies in Upper strate stabilizers are often unclear. Cretaceous rudist limestones. Palaeogeography, Nevertheless, armed with modem concepts of Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 119, 137-154. functional morphology and sequence stratigraphy CARANNANTE, G., GRAZIANO, R., RUBERTI, D. & it is clear that the modelling of these dominantly SIMONE, L. 1997. Upper Cretaceous temperate-type bioclastic cool-water carbonates will offer new open shelves from northern (Sardinia) and southern economic opportunities. Not the least of these is (Apennines-Apulia) mesozoic tethyan margins. In: JAMES, N.P. & CLARKE, AID. (eds) Cool-Water the potential of ancient examples to form regional Carbonates. Society of Economic Paleontologists aquifers and hydrocarbon reservoirs. and Mineralogists Special Publication, 56, 309-325. CARON, V. & NELSON, C.S. 2003. 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