RT Journal Article
T1 Quantitative analysis of accommodation patterns in carbonateplatforms: an example from the mid-Cretaceous of SE Spain
A1 Martín Chivelet, Javier
AB For sequence stratigraphic analysis of extensive carbonate platforms (hundreds of kilometres wide) developed ingreenhouse climates on broad, passive margins, less emphasis should be placed on large-scale seismic geometries, andmore attention paid to sequence stratigraphic correlation of stratigraphic sections based usually on isolated outcrops.To this end, quantitative analysis of accommodation emerges as a simple, useful tool, that allows detailedarchitectural reconstructions, regional chronostratigraphical correlation and systems tract interpretation. In thispaper, a quantitative analysis of accommodation was applied to the wide platforms that developed in the southernpassive continental margin of Iberia during the mid-Cretaceous (late Albian to early middle Cenomanian interval).This analysis was based on several integrated techniques including: (1) construction of total accommodation curveswith the aid of backstripping techniques for calculating decompacted sedimentary accumulation through time, (2)mathematical analysis of these curves and characterisation of second- and third-order accommodation patterns, and(3) analysis of parasequence stacking patterns in peritidal cyclic successions by means of Fischer plots. By applyingthese techniques to eight individual sections logged at the decimetre scale in outcrops of the External Zones of theBetic orogenic belt, it was possible to characterise the second- and third-order accommodation signal for this intervalin the basin. The second-order curve defines a long-term sigmoidal pattern of nearly six million years, with low ratesof accommodation generation in the first and the last part of the interval, and high rates in the mid-interval. Thethird-order signal defines six accommodation events of one million years average duration, which controlled thedevelopment of six successive depositional sequences and their systems tracts. On the basis of this new sequencestratigraphic framework, a high-resolution, 2-D platform transect, showing the spatial distribution of facies, waserected and analysed. The results notably complete previous qualitative sequence stratigraphic data on the platformand contribute to a better understanding of the nature of systems tracts and their boundaries in response tooverlapping of second- and third-order accommodation patterns.
PB Elsevier
SN 0031-0182
YR 2003
FD 2003
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/58314
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/58314
LA eng
DS Docta Complutense
RD 7 abr 2025