Carbonate Sedimentology

Fall 2008

Instructor: Mark Harris

• Contact information
  • Associate Dean for Research office: Mitchell 253; 229-5126
  • Geosciences office: Lapham 246; 229-5777
  • email: mtharris@uwm.edu
• Office hours: Monday and Wednesday before class, Wednesday after class, or by arrangement

Course information

• Meeting time and place: Monday and Wednesday, 12:00-1:50 PM, Lapham 236
• One-day field trip on Friday, Saturday or Sunday in early November
• Course description and instructor expectations
• Grading
• Thematic outline
• Textbook
• Books you should know about
• Schedule
• Citations for assigned readings
• UWM's "uniform syllabus policies" include university policies regarding course policies such as appeals, religious observances, etc.

Course objective and instructor expectations

This course covers the interpretation of depositional environments of carbonate sediments. The objective is for each of you to be able to accurately describe carbonate facies, interpret their depositional settings, and to develop a reasonable regional intepretation. We will stress comparative sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy as general approaches, but make minimal use of microfacies (which is why there is a seperate course on carbonate petrology and diagenesis).

The course uses two primary resourses for you to use in reaching these goals: (1) a wide range of readings taken from various books and articles choosen to introduce you to major concepts, key papers, and useful case studies; and (2) various sample sets that will provide you a wide range of carbonate lithologies to study.

My hope is that we can approach the topic from a collaborative approach more akin to a seminar than a lecture course. For this to be successful, you will need to come to class prepared to discuss and question the material. Loosely translated, this means that I expect that you will have read and thought about the course readings before class, and completed the laboratory assignments on time. This will allow you to use the readings and samples as a springboard for discussion.

Grading

Your grades will be based upon your performance on take-home essay questions and laboratory assignments. These assessment tools are used (instead of in-class exams) because these activities reflect the course objectives.

• Laboratory assignments (5 pts. each): These will usually be due at the start of the following class
  1. Fabrics and lime mud
  2. Grain types
  3. Classification
  4. Illinois Basin
  5. Belize shelf environments
  6. Sedimentary structures
  7. Tidal flats
  8. Shelf to basin examples
  9. Triassic buildup facies (the Dolomites)
  10. Sequence and facies model
  11. Interpretation of Estonian sequences
• Essay question sets (10 pts. each)
  1. Grains and classification
  2. Facies summary
  3. Sequence stratigraphy
• Final Project: Cretaceous of Texas (15 pts.)

A Thematic Outline

• General Preamble
  • Literature
  • Approaches to Carbonate Rocks
  • A Few Basic Concepts
• Carbonate Grains, Textures and Classification
  • Textures, Fabrics, and Classification
  • Non-skeletal grains: Lime mud, oolites, pisolites, etc.
  • Skeletal grains: invertebrates and calcareous algae
• Comparative Sedimentology
  • Definitions and Principles
    • Use of modern environments as analogs
    • Hierarchy of scales
      • Individual sedimentary structures (slab scale)
      • Diagnostic associations of sed structures into related subfacies (outcrop scale)
      • Organization of subfacies into facies (outcrop to formation scale)
      • Facies stratigraphy (formation to group scale with Walther's Law)
    • Sedimentary meter-scale cycles as the basic pattern of shallow-water carbonates
  • Sedimentary Structures
    • Layering
    • Algal features: mats and stromatolites
    • Descication features: fenestral fabrics and mud cracks
    • Current features: cross-beds, ripples, flaser bedding
    • Other structures
• Carbonate Depositional Environments
  • Shelf: tidal flats, shallow shelf
  • Shelf margin: reefs and shoals
  • Slope and basin settings
  • Non-marine settings: caliche, arid lakes, and playas
• Stratigraphy of Ancient Carbonates
  • Facies profiles
  • Sedimentation cycles
  • Introduction to sequence stratigraphy
  • Examples of sequence stratigraphic analysis

Textbook

• Required: Tucker, M. E., and V. P. Wright, 1990, Carbonate Sedimentology: Blackwell, 482 p. (purchase through UWM Bookstore)
• Recommended: Demicco, R. V., and Hardie, L. A., 1994, Sedimentary Structures and Early Diagenetic Features of Shallow Marine Carbonate Deposits: SEPM Atlas Series, No. 1, 263 p. (purchase through SEPM)
• Additional readings will be assigned and made available in the classroom.