Facies, architecture and genetic controls of carbonate ramp aprons development

Cool-water Carbonate Ramp Aprons (CRA) are depositional systems in which skeletal sand and gravel are redistributed basinwards on a ramp, off a shallow carbonate platform by tractive currents as a result of flow funnelling in between topographic highs. These deposits are different and should not be confused with the carbonate apron models proposed by of Mullins and Cook (1986) who describe either carbonate deep water turbiditic systems accumulated at the base of the slope or talus cones formed at the margins of carbonate build ups. A key example of CRA facies assemblages is represented by the Early Pleistocene, Favignana Calcarenite where bimodal depositional processes, occurring in a water…