Miocene reef facies of Pelagian Block, central Mediterranean

Conference · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:5992471

Pedley, H M

Miocene reefs outcrop in the Maltese Islands, southeastern Sicily, and the pelagian island of Lampedusa. Several rapid eustatic sea level fluctuations affected these late Tortonian-early Messinian build-ups; normal salinities appear to have been maintained during these events. Substrate, topography, sedimentation rate, and tectonic/eustatic events controlled reef development, which can be grouped into three settings: The most stable situation, the oldest Maltese and southeastern Sicilian reefs, has a ramp profile 15-30 km wide. The outermost zone consists of a broad belt of the large benthic foraminifer Heterostegina (compared with the underyling Oligocene beds rich in Lepidocyclina). Coralline algal carbonates, commonly rhodolitic, form a broad biostromal up-ramp association, kilometers in width, which commonly extends into the shallowest parts of the shelf. Scattered across the shallower ramp areas, in water depths generally less than 10 m, are coral-algal patch reefs, rarely larger than 20-50 m in diameter, commonly with truncated tops, and dominated by crustose coralline algae and the corals Porites and Tarbellastraea.

• OSTI ID: 5992471
• 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

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
58 GEOSCIENCES
MALTA
REEFS
MEDITERRANEAN SEA
GEOMORPHOLOGY
SICILY
BIOGEOCHEMISTRY
BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION
CONTINENTAL SLOPE
CORALS
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
MIOCENE EPOCH
TECTONICS
TOPOGRAPHY
TURBULENCE
CENOZOIC ERA
CHEMISTRY
CNIDARIA
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
EUROPE
GEOCHEMISTRY
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
ISLANDS
ITALY
SEAS
SURFACE WATERS
TERTIARY PERIOD
WESTERN EUROPE
020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
580500 - Oceanography- (1980-1989)