Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Age, facies, and geometry of the Sandbian/Katian (Upper Ordovician) pelmatozoan-bryozoan-receptaculitid reefs of the Vasalemma Formation, northern Estonia

Kroger, Bjorn ; Hints, Linda and Lehnert, Oliver LU (2014) In Facies 60(4). p.963-986
Abstract
The Vasalemma Formation (early Katian, Late Ordovician) of northern Estonia consists of a succession of biodetrital grainstones up to 15 m thick with numerous intercalated reef bodies, which reach diameters of more than 50 m. Four dominant facies types are distinguished within the reef core limestones: (1) a bryozoan framestone-bindstone, (2) an echinoderm bindstone, (3) a receptaculitid-bryozoan-microbial framestone, and (4) a tabulate bafflestone. A linking theme between the different reef-core limestones is the presence of clotted microbial bindstone, which in some places contains spicules. Except for the tabulate bafflestone, all facies types occur in the youngest and oldest intervals of reef growth. Generally, a tendency can be... (More)
The Vasalemma Formation (early Katian, Late Ordovician) of northern Estonia consists of a succession of biodetrital grainstones up to 15 m thick with numerous intercalated reef bodies, which reach diameters of more than 50 m. Four dominant facies types are distinguished within the reef core limestones: (1) a bryozoan framestone-bindstone, (2) an echinoderm bindstone, (3) a receptaculitid-bryozoan-microbial framestone, and (4) a tabulate bafflestone. A linking theme between the different reef-core limestones is the presence of clotted microbial bindstone, which in some places contains spicules. Except for the tabulate bafflestone, all facies types occur in the youngest and oldest intervals of reef growth. Generally, a tendency can be observed with a dominance of echinoderm framestone low in the formation and at the base of individual reefs, towards a more receptaculitid dominated facies at the top of the formation. The reefs developed in a narrow, ca. 20-km-long and max. 5-km-wide band on a shallow NE-SW-directed platform in the central part of the North Estonian Confacies Belt. Reef growth can be constrained toward the latest Keila age, representing the rising limb and the peak interval of the Guttenberg Isotopic Carbon Excursion (GICE). Reef termination falls within a second-order sea-level lowstand, the Frognerkilen Lowstand Event, which led to partial subaerial exposure of the reefs. The dead reefs subsequently and rapidly drowned during the Nakkholm Drowning Event at the Oandu/Rakvere Stage. This timing is nearly equivalent to a phase of enhanced reef development elsewhere in Baltica and probably is related to locally increased nutrient availability during the GICE interval. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Reef, Ordovician, Chemostratigraphy, GICE
in
Facies
volume
60
issue
4
pages
963 - 986
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • wos:000343645800007
  • scopus:84939887646
ISSN
0172-9179
DOI
10.1007/s10347-014-0410-8
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d5b12e18-020a-4c48-8b00-e56c1ed5431e (old id 4783723)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:00:15
date last changed
2022-01-27 22:17:06
@article{d5b12e18-020a-4c48-8b00-e56c1ed5431e,
  abstract     = {{The Vasalemma Formation (early Katian, Late Ordovician) of northern Estonia consists of a succession of biodetrital grainstones up to 15 m thick with numerous intercalated reef bodies, which reach diameters of more than 50 m. Four dominant facies types are distinguished within the reef core limestones: (1) a bryozoan framestone-bindstone, (2) an echinoderm bindstone, (3) a receptaculitid-bryozoan-microbial framestone, and (4) a tabulate bafflestone. A linking theme between the different reef-core limestones is the presence of clotted microbial bindstone, which in some places contains spicules. Except for the tabulate bafflestone, all facies types occur in the youngest and oldest intervals of reef growth. Generally, a tendency can be observed with a dominance of echinoderm framestone low in the formation and at the base of individual reefs, towards a more receptaculitid dominated facies at the top of the formation. The reefs developed in a narrow, ca. 20-km-long and max. 5-km-wide band on a shallow NE-SW-directed platform in the central part of the North Estonian Confacies Belt. Reef growth can be constrained toward the latest Keila age, representing the rising limb and the peak interval of the Guttenberg Isotopic Carbon Excursion (GICE). Reef termination falls within a second-order sea-level lowstand, the Frognerkilen Lowstand Event, which led to partial subaerial exposure of the reefs. The dead reefs subsequently and rapidly drowned during the Nakkholm Drowning Event at the Oandu/Rakvere Stage. This timing is nearly equivalent to a phase of enhanced reef development elsewhere in Baltica and probably is related to locally increased nutrient availability during the GICE interval.}},
  author       = {{Kroger, Bjorn and Hints, Linda and Lehnert, Oliver}},
  issn         = {{0172-9179}},
  keywords     = {{Reef; Ordovician; Chemostratigraphy; GICE}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{963--986}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Facies}},
  title        = {{Age, facies, and geometry of the Sandbian/Katian (Upper Ordovician) pelmatozoan-bryozoan-receptaculitid reefs of the Vasalemma Formation, northern Estonia}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10347-014-0410-8}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10347-014-0410-8}},
  volume       = {{60}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}