Sequence Stratigraphy is an integrated and multi-disciplinary approach to the investigation of depositional systems that has deeply influenced the researchers in the last tens of years. The sequence stratigraphic framework applied to carbonate depositional systems provides one of the major tools for the understanding and prediction of facies associations and geometric architectures. Differently to siliciclastic system, carbonates cannot be described or limited only in terms of changes in accommodation, sedimentary supply and climate. In fact, carbonate sediments do not come from a source external of the depositional system, but they are mostly produced in situ (e.g. autochthonous and parautochthonous carbonates). Moreover, carbonate sediments are sensitive to water chemistry, pCO2, temperature, nutrients, biota, and other environmental forcings. Furthermore, during fast subsidence phases, the impressive capacity of carbonate platforms to keep up might lead to a misinterpretation of the hierarchic order of the depositional cycles or sequences. A similar problem derives from the high sensitivity of carbonate platform systems to small eustatic variations. Hence, sequence stratigraphy applied to carbonate depositional systems needs a deep investigation of all these controlling factors, in particular which the carbonate sediment supplier is, where it is physically produced and how it is transported. The stratigraphic record of Mediterranean Meso-Cenozoic carbonate platforms is an amazing laboratory for testing carbonate sequence stratigraphy in different settings and with different depositional systems, from M to T to C factories over a period of 250 Ma. In particular, a stunning laboratory is the Triassic succession of the Southern Alps, which permits to compare the response of carbonate, terrigenous and mixed systems to relative sea level variations within a highresolution bio-chronostratigraphic framework.

Carbonate sequence stratigraphy: an intriguing challenge or an hazardous tool?

GIANOLLA, Piero
2016

Abstract

Sequence Stratigraphy is an integrated and multi-disciplinary approach to the investigation of depositional systems that has deeply influenced the researchers in the last tens of years. The sequence stratigraphic framework applied to carbonate depositional systems provides one of the major tools for the understanding and prediction of facies associations and geometric architectures. Differently to siliciclastic system, carbonates cannot be described or limited only in terms of changes in accommodation, sedimentary supply and climate. In fact, carbonate sediments do not come from a source external of the depositional system, but they are mostly produced in situ (e.g. autochthonous and parautochthonous carbonates). Moreover, carbonate sediments are sensitive to water chemistry, pCO2, temperature, nutrients, biota, and other environmental forcings. Furthermore, during fast subsidence phases, the impressive capacity of carbonate platforms to keep up might lead to a misinterpretation of the hierarchic order of the depositional cycles or sequences. A similar problem derives from the high sensitivity of carbonate platform systems to small eustatic variations. Hence, sequence stratigraphy applied to carbonate depositional systems needs a deep investigation of all these controlling factors, in particular which the carbonate sediment supplier is, where it is physically produced and how it is transported. The stratigraphic record of Mediterranean Meso-Cenozoic carbonate platforms is an amazing laboratory for testing carbonate sequence stratigraphy in different settings and with different depositional systems, from M to T to C factories over a period of 250 Ma. In particular, a stunning laboratory is the Triassic succession of the Southern Alps, which permits to compare the response of carbonate, terrigenous and mixed systems to relative sea level variations within a highresolution bio-chronostratigraphic framework.
2016
Gianolla, Piero
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11392/2352223
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