Frasnian carbonate shoals and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Devonian series from the southern Cantabrian Mountains, northern Spain
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21701/bolgeomin.128.4.004Keywords:
Cantabrian Mountains, carbonate shoals, facies, Frasnian, sequence stratigraphyAbstract
The sequence stratigraphical framework of the Frasnian Nocedo Formation consists of two third-order sequences organised in the Gordón Member and the Millar Member in which three limestone intervals occur: the Molino Limestone at the top of the Gordón Member, the Varga Limestone at the base of the Millar Member (herein proposed as new unit to differentiate it from the Molino Limestone), and the Crémenes Limestone at the top of the Millar Member. The Molino Limestone has been studied in eighteen sections along a 70 km east-west transect in the southern part of the Cantabrian Mountains. The limestone represents a skeletal carbonate shoal belt in a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate environment, located between the land area of the Asturian geanticline and the deeper distal, predominantly siliciclastic shelf. The Molino Limestone consists of three facies types representing a back shoal, shoal, and foreshoal. The Molino Limestone was deposited during the late Highstand Systems Tract of the lower sequence. In the proposed depositional model carbonate deposition was governed by currents controlled by relative sea-level. Effective lateral transport of siliciclastics on the shelf occurred during times when the water depth was sufficient for a current system to be established. As the water depth decreased siliciclastic sedimentation reduced and carbonates increasingly took over.
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