BURTON, LISA M., University of Durham, Dept. of Geological Sciences, Durham, England
ABSTRACT: Carbonate-Clastic Interactions; Implications for the Survival of Modern Reefs
The Tertiary Vic Basin (NE Spain) and Fortuna Basin (SE Spain) provide
well-exposed examples of carbonate production and reef development within predominantly
siliciclastic semi-arid shelf environments. The Miocene and modern sediments of the
Mahakan Delta, Kalimantan, provide an example of reef development in a tropical
shelf
environment.
The aim of this project is to show the response of coral reefs and associated carbonate-producing organisms to terrigenous siliciclastic sedimentation in terms of species diversity, organism morphology and biotic zonation. This project also aims to explain the evolution of carbonate-clastic successions in response to changing sediment flux, climate and sea-level change. This aim will be addressed, by a detailed sedimentological study of ancient carbonate-clastic successions and snorkeling along selected traverses of the modern reefs associated with the Mahakan Delta.
This project will provide a better understanding of the interrelationships between carbonate and clastic facies. Coral reefs are important ecological and economic resources. Sedimentation is a serious environmental problem in modern reefs and this project will enable the effects of a clastic influx to be predicted.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90909©2000 AAPG Foundation Grants-in-Aid