Tropical carbonate deposition and diagenesis

Carbonate depositional systems: influences on their development.

Dr Moyra E.J. Wilson1, Prof Annette George1

1School of Earth and Oceans, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

Carbonate production and resultant carbonate platform, reefal or stratal development is highly sensitive to a range of environmental factors.  Potential influences on carbonate systems include climate, ocean chemistry, oceanography, relative sea level change, tectonics, clastic or nutrient influx.  Whether you are working on tropical or non-tropical carbonate systems, on platform- to regional scales  we welcome your submission in either poster or oral format, to discuss global and/or regional influences on carbonate system development.

Carbonates - archives of time, space and change

Dr Stephen Lokier1, Dr Chelsea Pederson2

1University of Derby, United Kingdom, 2The University of Southern Mississippi, USA

Carbonate sediments have formed in a wide range of marine and non-marine settings through the complex interplay of biological, chemical and physical processes. Precisely-constrained high-resolution stratigraphic records are important for determining past global change and understanding the complex interactions between climatic processes, oceanographic and environmental changes, the biosphere, stratigraphic architecture and subsequent diagenesis. The complementary study of Recent carbonate depositional systems is crucial to the interpretation of these systems. This session invites contributions from general and interdisciplinary topics within the diverse fields of Carbonate Sedimentology, Stratigraphy and Diagenesis, the session will explore a broad range of geochemical, biological and stratigraphic proxies and their applications to understanding Earth history.

Effects of climate perturbations on recent and fossil carbonate platforms

Professor Gianluca Frijia1, Professor Michele Morsilli1

1University of Ferrara, Italy

Carbonate platforms dominate coastal areas across tropical belts in the recent world.They host the majority of marine diversity and they are, economically,  very relevant  for tourism and fishery. Fossil carbonate platforms are found in the entire Phanerozoic geological record and their extension was much larger than today for several stratigraphic intervals (e.g. Cretaceous). Carbonate platforms are  very sensitive "living"systems to climatic and environmental changes (both fast and slow) and recent examples are under threat of the ongoing climate changes. Understanding the factors controlling the development and demise of carbonate platforms, in the geological record, and the timing of these processes is crucial in order to predict future scenarios for the recent ones. On the other hand the study of recent shallow carbonate systems allows us to measure in detail environmental parameters which are impossible to precisely quantify in the fossil counterparts.

The session encourages contributions focusing on the response of recent and fossil carbonate platforms to climate and environmental perturbations. Sedimentological,(paleo)ecological, paleontological, geochemical, stratigraphic and remote sensing studies are welcome.