Carbonate production and offshore transport on a Late Jurassic carbonate ramp (Kimmeridgian, Iberian basin, NE Spain): evidence from outcrops and computer modelling

Abstract

Abstract The complex interplay between shallow-water carbonate production, pelagic sedimentation, and sediment erosion and redeposition on a Kimmeridgian carbonate ramp is analysed from field data and computer modelling. Field data come from reconstructed cross-sections near Zaragoza and near Teruel, NE Spain. Inner ramp areas are dominated by coral patch reefs, ooid shoals and bioclastic packstones and grainstones, whereas middle ramp areas are typified by tempestites and pinnacle reefs. Outer ramp areas are dominated by carbonate muds and marls. The large-scale stratigraphic features of the ramp are simulated using the forward modelling computer program carbonate 6. A good match is found between real and simulated stratigraphic thicknesses along the two sections, large-scale internal stratigraphic geometries, amounts of aggradation and progradation, and the location of sequence boundaries, flooding surfaces and systems tracts in the two modelled cross-sections. To investigate the origin of the offshore carbonate mud, two synthetic stratigraphies, which both closely replicate the overall ramp geometries, were generated by computer simulation. These two simulations are based on two different hypotheses that had not been resolved from field investigation: (1) that most of the outer ramp mud was derived from erosion and redeposition from inshore areas; (2) that most of this mud originated from pelagic sedimentation. Detailed comparison between the simulated occurrence of sedimentary facies (characterized in the program by depth and process of deposition) and the real facies occurrence indicates that the closest match is given by hypothesis (1) where most of the offshore mud is produced by resedimentation from inshore areas. Offshore transport and resedimentation is thought to have been favoured by the windward orientation of the ramp, and offshore transport was highest during periods of sea-level highstands.