Upper Miocene reef complex of Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain
The late Tortonian-Messinian coral reef platform of south Mallorca onlaps a folded middle late Miocene carbonate platform on which progradation of up to 20 km occurs. Vertical sea cliffs (up to 100 m high) superbly show the last 5 km of this progradation and complement the numerous water-well cores from the island interior. The coral reef platform consists of a series of progradational-accretional sequences and erosion surfaces of different orders of magnitude. The first-order sequence is bounded by significant erosion surfaces with breccias, major facies shifts, and vertical accretion. The second-order sequences show accretional events of up to 100 m thick with 1 to 2 km of progradation, and the third-order sequences occur in packages of tens of meters. Individual reef units are bounded by minor erosional surfaces and define the fourth-order sequences. This composite accretional-progradational architecture implies cyclic variations of relative sea level. Episodes of sea level rise were responsible for the vertical accretion. Sea level falls produced the erosional surfaces; most progradation occurred during lowering sea level episodes. This sedimentological framework of the Mallorca reef suggests late Miocene glacio-eustatic fluctuations of sea level similar to the Quaternary.
- OSTI ID:
- 5969345
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-880301-
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Annual meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Houston, TX, USA, 20-23 Mar 1988
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Similarities in the dolomitization of upper Miocene reef complexes in Mallorca and the Las Negras areas, Spain: Possible evidence for a Mediterranean dolomitizing event during the Messinian
Miocene reefs in western Mediterranean
Related Subjects
58 GEOSCIENCES
ISLANDS
REEFS
MEDITERRANEAN SEA
MARINE SURVEYS
SPAIN
CARBONATES
CORALS
MIOCENE EPOCH
SEA LEVEL
STRATIGRAPHY
UPWELLING
VARIATIONS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CENOZOIC ERA
CNIDARIA
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
EUROPE
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
LEVELS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SEAS
SURFACE WATERS
SURVEYS
TERTIARY PERIOD
WESTERN EUROPE
020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
580500 - Oceanography- (1980-1989)