Lower Permian (Sakmarian) Cool-water Microbial Carbonate Mounds of the Sverdrup Basin
Abstract
The Sverdrup Basin in the Canadian Arctic records a shift from warm-water photozoan carbonates to cool-water heterozoan carbonates during the Early Permian. Carbonate buildups composed of dominantly thrombolytic micrite with primary biotic components including bryozoan, echinoderm, Tubiphytes, brachiopod and sponge spicules occur as a series of mud mounds restricted to paleobathymetric lows located on present day Ellesmere Island. As many
as 43 carbonate mud mounds have been catalogued from both Blind Fiord and Otto Fiord and are described and interpreted using microfacies analysis and geochemical analyses as part of this study. These mounds grew up to 150 m in thickness at the interface between a distally steepened ramp and a sigmoidal slope. This setting was below storm wave base, nutrient rich, and subjected to frequent turbidites and tempestites. Sediments from this environment comprise variably silty heterozoan wackestones and packstones.between a distally steepened ramp and a sigmoidal slope. This setting was below storm wave base, nutrient rich and subjected to frequent turbidites and tempestites. Sediments from this environment comprise variably silty heterozoan wackestones and packstones with primary biotic components including bryozoan, echinoderm, Tubiphytes, brachiopod and sponge spicules.
Description
Keywords
Geology
Citation
Pelletier, E. (2017). Lower Permian (Sakmarian) Cool-water Microbial Carbonate Mounds of the Sverdrup Basin (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26796