University of Tennessee, Knoxville Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 5-1997 Cessation of Grand Cycle Deposition in the Framework of Passive Margin Evolution: Controlling Mechanisms and Effects on Carbonate Deposition and Diagenesis, Cambrian Maynardville Formation, Southern Appalachians Bosiljka Glumac University of Tennessee - Knoxville Recommended Citation Glumac, Bosiljka, "Cessation of Grand Cycle Deposition in the Framework of Passive Margin Evolution: Controlling Mechanisms and Effects on Carbonate Deposition and Diagenesis, Cambrian Maynardville Formation, Southern Appalachians. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1997. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/2644 This Dissertation 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 Doctoral Dissertations 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 dissertation written by Bosiljka Glumac entitled "Cessation of Grand Cycle Deposition in the Framework of Passive Margin Evolution: Controlling Mechanisms and Effects on Carbonate Deposition and Diagenesis, Cambrian Maynardville Formation, Southern Appalachians." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Geology. Kenneth R. Walker, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Steve Driese, Claudia Mora, George K. Schweitzer Accepted for the Council: Dixie L. Thompson Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Bosiljka Glumac entitled "Cessation of Grand Cycle Deposition in the Framework of Passive Margin Evolution: Controlling Mechanisms and Effects on Carbonate Deposition and Diagenesis, Cambrian Maynardville Formation, Southern Appalachians." I have examined the final copy of this dissertation fo r fo rm and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r the degree ofDoctor of Philosophy, with a major in Geology. enneth R. Walker, Major Professor We have read this dissertation Accepted fo r the Council: Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of The Graduate School CESSATION OF GRAND CYCLE DEPOSITION IN THE FRAMEWORK OF PASSIVE MARGIN EVOLUTION: CONTROLLING MECHANISMS AND EFFECTS ON CARBONATE DEPOSITION AND DIAGENESIS, CAMBRIAN MAYNARDVILLE FORMATION, SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS A Dissertation Presented fo r the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Bosiljka Glumac May 1997 11 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my grandparents nona Albina (1913- 1988) & nono Pepo Josip Radovic (1903- 1976), and baka Koka Sofija (1914- 1992) & djed Milan Glumac (1911 - 1995), and to my parents Aurelija & Nikola Glumac who provided me and my brothers with valuable examples, and an inexhaustible source of encouragement. 111 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First of all, I would like to thank my academic advisor, Dr. Kenneth R Walker, for being my teacher and mentor, and for his moral and financial support during my graduate studies at the University of Tennessee. Dr. Steven G. Driese and Dr. Claudia I. Mora from the Department of Geological Sciences are thanked for serving on my committee. I am also thankful to Dr. Driese for offering courses in various aspects of sedimentology fromwhich I learned a great deal. Dr. Mora's expertise in stable isotope geochemistry and access to laboratory facilities contributed towards some of the most exciting findings of this study. I would also like to thank my committee members fromthe Chemistry Department, Dr. Craig E. Barnes and Dr. George K. Schweitzer. I am grateful to the Department of Geological Sciences for providing me with financial support. My research was partially funded by a NSF grant to Dr. Walker, a Geological Society of America student research grant, the Faculty Senate Research Council Summer Graduate Research Assistantship, and the Mobil Carbonate Research Fund at the University of Tennessee. Assistance with the analytical aspects of this research was provided by Ken Tobin, Krishnan Srinivasan, Kevin Howard, Ian Richards, Andrew Stefaniak, Amy Halleran, and Allan Patchen. Strontium isotope analyses were performed by Dr. Steven Goldberg at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Field assistance was provided by Tony Caldanaro, Brian Freshour, Andrew Stefaniak, and Krishnan Srinivasan. I would also like to thank Mike Green for his help with statistical analysis, Bob Sepanski for developing photographs, and the departmental secretaries, Melody, Cindy and Denise for numerous favors. Inspiring discussions with members of the Carbonate Research Group, Krishnan Srinivasan, Ken Tobin, Andrew Stefaniak, Stan Dunagan, Gary Ottinger, Chris Foster, Mark Steinhauff, and Gene Rankey were an invaluable part of my experience at UT. Numerous other people are responsible for making my stay in Knoxville very enjoyable: IV Mike and Barb Green, Kevin and Kathy Smart, Chris Olson and Kelly Gardener, Brent Couzens, Michael Neton, Greg Yanagihara, Marta and Joe Corbin, RaNaye Dreier and Kim Kasten, Ian and Maria Richards, Landon and Alison Davidson, Jeffand Kelly Connelly, Tim and Sally Davis, Ellen Williams, Marvin Bennett, Mike Caudill, Jim Heller, Janee Ansley; my "internationalfriends" Ronnie Minniti and Leticia Pibida +Melissa, Abir and Ehab Abourashed, Daniela and Kole Kovac; and many others. Thank you all! I am truly grateful to my parents, Aurelija and Nikola Glumac, for their love, support and encouragement. Thank you for understanding the unusual requests of your only daughter, for your unlimited confidence in me, for letting me believe that dreams can come true, and for teaching me, by your examples, the importance of hard work, honesty, tolerance, and sacrifice. I would like to thank my parents simply, in the language they understand, with verses of a song that I used to sing to them as a child: "Hvala mama, hvala tata, hvala vam za sve." My brothers also deserve special recognition. My older brother Miodrag for his expertise in solving computer and math problems, ski trips, and for just talking to me. It is so nice to have someone like you around! My younger brother Ranko for the summers we spent together in the States, for his sincere sense of humor, and for reminding us what being a teenager is all about. Thanks to all other relatives and friends for their thoughts and words of support. At the end, my most sincere gratitude goes to my very best friend, Anthony J. Caldanaro, Jr., for his love, patience, and reassurance. Words cannot express my feelings and deep appreciation for Tony's help with countless "little" things without which it would have been difficult (if not impossible) to accomplish so much. Thank you Tony for joining me in my journey, and for sharing very special moments with me. Reflections on the landscapes and beaches of the Istrian peninsula, the pristine mountains and meadows of Lika, and thoughts and memories of people I love provided me with unending inspiration. v ABSTRACT The Middle and Upper Cambrian deposits of the southern Appalachians reveal the existence of a broad carbonate platform that was facing the Iapetus Ocean to the east and was separated from the exposed craton to the west by the Conasauga intrashelf basin. This study focuses on the Maynardville Formation, which was deposited during the early Late Cambrian along the western carbonate platform margin. As the uppermost carbonate unit of the alternating shale and carbonate units or Grand Cycles of the Conasauga Group (M iddle to Upper Cambrian), the Maynardville marks a change in style of passive-margin deposition reflected in the cessation of Grand Cycle deposition. The Maynardville is a transitional interval between the largely subtidal carbonate and siliciclastic deposits of the Conasauga Group, and the peritidal carbonate deposits of the overlying Knox Group (Upper Cambrian to Lower Ordovician). The Maynardville consists of a lower subtidal package, underlain by the Nolichucky Shale, and an upper peritidal package, overlain by the Copper Ridge Dolomite. Mixed carbonate/siliciclastic deposition took place in a deep ramp (upper Nolichucky) to shallow-ramp and lagoonal (subtidal Maynardville) setting. To the east was a broad, semi-arid carbonate tidal flat with a variety of peritidal environments (upper Maynardville/Copper Ridge). The Nolichucky represents a retrogradational depositional package that formed in response to an increase in the rate of relative sea-level rise. Deposition of a shallowing-upward succession of the Maynardville reflects carbonate platform aggradation and progradation favored by a subsequent decrease in the rate of relative sea-level rise. Stacking patterns of theMaynardville are a result of the interplay between intrinsic factors of carbonate depositional systems, the mechanisms related to the history of the adjacent siliciclastic basin, and possible eustatic sea-level changes. The cessation of Grand Cycle deposition is a consequence of passive-margin V1 evolution. The abrupt change from carbonate to shale deposition in the Grand Cycles may have been caused by short-term, episodic,