Search results for " stratigraphy"

Eustasy and sea water Sr composition: application to high-resolution Sr-isotope stratigraphy of Miocene shallow-water carbonates

2007

Oceanic 87 Sr/ 86 Sr-isotope ratios are strongly influenced by rates of silicate weathering and therefore linked not only to glaciation but also to sea-level change. The present study combines analysis of sequence stratigraphy and basin architecture with Sr-isotope stratigraphy in Miocene shallow-water sediments in southern Portugal and Crete (Greece). The common method is to use smoothed global sea water Sr-isotope reference curves but here a different approach is chosen. Instead, measured Sr-isotope curves are correlated with unsmoothed reference curves by identification of similar fluctuations in the order of several 100 kyr. Transgressive intervals are characterized by increasing Sr-iso…

Black shale deposition during Toarcian super-greenhouse driven by sea level

2013

Abstract. One of the most elusive aspects of the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event (T-OAE) is the paradox between carbon isotopes that indicate intense global primary productivity and organic carbon burial at a global scale, and the delayed expression of anoxia in Europe. During the earliest Toarcian, no black shales were deposited in the European epicontinental seaways, and most organic carbon enrichment of the sediments postdated the end of the overarching positive trend in the carbon isotopes that characterises the T-OAE. In the present study, we have attempted to establish a sequence stratigraphic framework for Early Toarcian deposits recovered from a core drilled in the Paris Basin using a…

Sequence stratigraphy and carbon isotope stratigraphy of an Aptian mixed carbonate-siliciclastic platform to basin transition (Galve sub-basin, NE Sp…

2010

Late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of sediment drift accumulation in the Malta Graben (central Mediterranean Sea)

2018

The Malta Graben is a deep tectonic depression in the Sicily Channel, bounded by NW-SE normal faults and filled by thick Pliocene-Quaternary deposits. A previous analysis of a giant piston core (LC09) from the Malta Graben had revealed a wide range of sedimentary features (carbonate turbidites, bioturbated mud and scours), although the chronostratigraphic constraint of the stacking pattern has remained elusive. After establishing a reliable chronological framework based on seven radiocarbon dates for a shorter core from the Malta Graben (ANSIC03-735), a down-core analysis of planktonic foraminifer and coccolith abundance, stable isotopes and sediment grain size was carried out. Since the la…

The Late Ordovician glacial sedimentary system of the North Gondwana platform.

2009

International audience; The Late Ordovician (Hirnantian) glaciation is examined through the North Gondwana record. This domain extended from southern high palaeo-latitudes (southeastern Mauritania, Niger) to northern lower palaeo-latitudes (Morocco, Turkey) and covered a more than 4000 km-wide section perpendicular to ice-flow lines. A major mid-Hirnantian deglaciation event subdividing the Hirnantian glaciation in two first-order cycles is recognised. As best illustrated by the glacial record in western Libya, each cycle comprises 2-3 glacial phases separated by ice-front retreats several hundreds kilometres to the south. From ice-proximal to ice-distal regions, the number of glacial surfa…

Chronostratigraphy and geochronology: A proposed realignment.

2013

We propose a realignment of the terms geochronology and chronostratigraphy that brings them broadly into line with current use, while simultaneously resolving the debate over whether the Geological Time Scale should have a “single” or “dual” hierarchy of units: Both parallel sets of units are retained, although there remains the option to adopt either a single (i.e., geochronological) or a dual hierarchy in particular studies, as considered appropriate. Thus, geochronology expresses the timing or age of events (depositional, diagenetic, biotic, climatic, tectonic, magmatic) in Earth’s history (e.g., Hirnantian glaciation, Famennian-Frasnian mass extinction). Geochronology can also qualify r…

The end-Triassic mass extinction: A new correlation between extinction events and δ13C fluctuations from a Triassic-Jurassic peritidal succession in …

2018

Abstract A new δ13Ccarb curve was obtained from an expanded peritidal succession in western Sicily and was used to investigate the relationships between isotopic signatures and biological events on carbonate platforms across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary (TJB). The resulting curve shows two main negative carbon isotopic excursions (CIEs) that fit well with the “Initial” and “Main” CIEs that are recognized worldwide and linked to the End-Triassic Extinction (ETE). In the studied section, the first negative CIE marks the disappearance of the large megalodontids, which were replaced by small and thin-shelled specimens, while the “Main” CIE corresponds to the last occurrence (LO) of the megalo…

Refitting lithic laminar fragments to assess Palaeolithic sequences: The case of Cova de les Cendres (Teulada-Moraira, Alicante, Spain)

2020

Abstract The integrity of the different levels that form a sequence and the formation processes of the archaeological deposit must be assessed as a previous step to the construction of behavioural, cultural and evolutionary interpretations. This is especially relevant when dealing with long sequences and cultural evolution constructed on them, as is the case in the research on Upper Palaeolithic. Lithic taphonomy provides insight into these issues and refitting is one of its powerful tools. This approach has been applied to the Aurignacian, Gravettian and Solutrean levels of Cova de les Cendres (Teulada-Moraira, Alicante, Spain), where fracture refits of laminar fragments –including blades,…

Biostratigraphy and isotope stratigraphy of upper Maastrichtian–Danian marine deposits of the Kopet-Dagh Basin, northeast Iran

2018

Abstract Biostratigraphy, using foraminifera and echinoids, plus high-resolution carbon isotope stratigraphy of the upper Maastrichtian–Danian interval in the western part of the Kopet-Dagh Basin in northeast Iran are outlined. Our study of shallow-marine carbonate platform deposits of the Kalat Formation, rich in larger benthic foraminifera (predominantly Clypeorbis mammillatus Schlumberger, Lepidorbitoides sp. and Siderolites calcitrapoides Lamarck), has allowed the definition of a C. mammillatus-S. calcitrapoides Assemblage Zone, of late Maastrichtian age. Clypeorbis mammillatus is here recorded for the first time from the Maastrichtian Kalat Formation and represents the most easterly fi…

Sea–land geology of Marettimo (Egadi Islands, central Mediterranean sea)

2016

We present a 1:10,000 scale geological map of Marettimo Island and its offshore (Egadi Archipelago, central Mediterranean Sea). The map was achieved by integrating a new geological survey with data from recent, marine, geological and geophysical surveys acquired along the adjacent continental shelf. The island is composed of a Mesozoic, mostly carbonate platform succession, which is overlain by continental to coastal marine Quaternary deposits. Extensional tectonics have affected the carbonate platform since the Late Triassic producing an initial increase of accommodation space that was filled by interbed breccias, marls and calcareous marls. During the Jurassic, a NE-SW-directed normal fau…