Growth mode of Middle Triassic carbonate platforms in the Western Dolomites (Southern Alps, Italy)

✍ Scribed by F Maurer

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 896 KB
• Volume: 134
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0037-0738
• DOI: 10.1016/s0037-0738(00)00049-x

✦ Synopsis

The correlation of carbonate platform and slope sediments with biostratigraphically and radiometrically dated basinal successions in the Western Dolomites allows the reconstruction of the growth of a Middle Triassic carbonate platform (Schlern/Rosengarten) over a time interval of approximately ®ve ammonoid zones (Reitzi, Secedensis, Curionii, Gredleri, Archelaus zones). The whole platform evolution had a total duration of ,4.7 Ma and the growth mode can be reconstructed for each ammonoid zone (corresponding to time intervals of ,1 Ma or less). Aggradation of the platform, with a mean rate of 200 Bubnoffs, took place during the Reitzi, Secedensis and parts of Curionii zones, whereas rapid progradation (,2700 m/Ma) was the main growth feature during the Gredleri and Archelaus zones. From observations of the physical stratigraphy of neighbouring carbonate platforms (Geisler, Latemar, Agnello), the sequence-stratigraphic framework of these buildups can also be established. Variations in subsidence and sediment production are interpreted as the main parameters in controlling the growth mode of these platforms.