Paleozoic Carbonate Mud-Mounds: Global Abundance & Paleogeographic Distribution

Federico F. Krause¹, Christopher R. Scotese², Carlos Nieto¹, Selim G. Sayegh¹, John C. Hopkins¹, and Rudolf O. Meyer³. (1) Department of Geology & Geophysics, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. N.W, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada, phone: (403) 220-5845, fax: (403) 284-0074, fkrause@ucalgary.ca, (2) Department of Geology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019-0049, (3) Department of Earth Sciences, Memorial University New Foundland, St. John's, NF A1B 3X5, Canada

Carbonate mud-mounds with zebra and stromatactis structures are present in every Paleozoic system and series. Yet within this interval they are more common in Middle and Lower Upper Paleozoic deposits, reaching their abundance acme in Lower Carboniferous Series rocks. In addition, global paleogeographic distribution plots of mud-mounds illustrate that they spanned the globe during the Paleozoic, as they are found at localities that were positioned from tropical to polar circles. That these carbonate buildups covered such a wide latitudinal span signifies that they were not limited to tropical marine settings, but that they grew and occupied a wider ecosedimentary spectrum that included locales where oceanic waters were cold and seasonally light-limited. Moreover, the proliferation of mud-mounds during the Middle and Lower Upper Paleozoic is curious in that it parallels a period during which global climatic ice-house conditions are thought to have prevailed on the planet. Thus, mud-mounds may be products of cool and cold-water carbonate sedimentation and should be reexamined and studied with this alternative in mind.

Microbial Buildups, Facies and Reservoirs I (SEPM)
AAPG Annual Meeting 2004: Embrace the Future, Celebrate the Past Technical Program