Origin of Carbonate Sedimentary Rocks

About this book

Origin of Carbonate Rocks provides an overview of the origin and preservation of carbonate sedimentary rocks. The focus is on limestones and dolostones and the sediments from which they are derived. The approach is general and universal and draws heavily on fundamental discoveries, arresting interpretations, and keystone syntheses that have been developed over the last five decades. Origin of Carbonate Rocks is designed as a teaching tool for upper level undergraduate classes, a fundamental reference for graduate and research students, and a scholarly source of information for practicing professionals whose expertise lies outside this specialty. The approach is rigorous, with every chapter being designed as a separate lecture on a specific topic that is encased within a larger scheme. The text is profusely illustrated with all colour diagrams and images of rocks, subsurface cores, thin sections, modern sediments, and underwater seascapes.

Contents

Preface xiii
Acknowledgements xv

Part I: Carbonate sedimentology: an overview 1
1 Carbonate rocks and platforms 5
2 Carbonate chemistry and mineralogy 15
3 The carbonate factory 22
4 Marine carbonate factories and rock classifications 38
5 The carbonate factory: microbes and algae 51
6 The carbonate factory: single cells and shells 67
7 The carbonate factory: echinoderms and colonial invertebrates 79

Part II: Carbonate depositional systems: an overview 95
8 Lacustrine carbonates 99
9 Carbonate springs 110
10 Warm-water neritic carbonate depositional systems 123
11 The cool-water neritic realm 135
12 Muddy peritidal carbonates 150
13 Neritic carbonate tidal sand bodies 165
14 Modern reefs 179
15 Ancient reefs 192
16 Carbonate slopes 212
17 Deep-water pelagic carbonates 223
18 Precambrian carbonates 234
19 Carbonate sequence stratigraphy 247
20 The time machine 261

Part III: Carbonate diagenesis: an overview 273
21 The processes and environments of diagenesis 277
22 Analytical methods 286
23 The chemistry of carbonate diagenesis 297
24 Limestone: the synsedimentary marine diagenetic environment 311
25 Meteoric diagenesis of young limestones 326
26 Karst and water-controlled diagenesis 341
27 Burial diagenesis of limestone 357
28 Dolomite and dolomitization 370
29 Dolomitization processes and synsedimentary dolomite 383
30 Subsurface dolomitization and dolostone paragenesis 392
31 Diagenesis and geohistory 403
32 Carbonate porosity 414

Glossary 427

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Biography

Noel James, Professor of Geology at Queen's University, Canada, has, for over 40 years focused his research on carbonate sediments and rocks that range from the modern seafloor to the Archean, studying their origin via extensive marine and terrestrial fieldwork, petrography, and geochemistry. He has taught numerous courses on oceanography, carbonate sedimentology, petroleum geology and the evolution of North America to undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals as well as editing or authoring nine scientific books. He has been honoured many times by learned societies, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and a Member of the Order of Canada.

Brian Jones, Distinguished University Professor (Geology) at the University of Alberta, Canada, has, for over 40 years taught numerous courses at the introductory and advanced level on carbonate sedimentology and diagenesis. His research on carbonates has concentrated on the deposition and diagenesis of modern and Cenozoic deposits in the Caribbean, surface and subsurface Paleozoic rocks in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, many of which are prolific hydrocarbon reservoirs, and spring deposits worldwide. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and the first Middleton Medalist of the Geological Association of Canada.