# name
Relative sea-level change, climate, and sequence boundaries: insights from the Kimmeridgian to Berriasian platform carbonates of Mount Salève (E France).

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The present study analyses the stratal archi- tecture of the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) to Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) sedimentary succession of Mount Salève (E France), and four Berriasian stratigraphic intervals containing four sequence-boundary zones reflecting lowering trends of the relative sea-level evolution. Massive Kimmeridgian limestones characterized by the presence of colonial corals appear to be stacked in an aggrading pattern. These non-bedded thick deposits, which are interpreted to have formed in balance between relative sea-level rise and carbonate accumulation, suggest a keep- up transgressive system. Above, well-bedded Tithonian-to-Berriasian peritidal carbonates reflect a general loss of accommodation. These strata are interpreted as a highstand normal-regressive unit. During the early phase of this major normal regression, the vertical repetition of upper intertidal/lower supratidal lithofacies indicates an aggrading depositional system. This is in agreement with an early stage of a highstand phase of relative sea level. The Berriasian sequence-boundary zones investigated (up to 4 m thick) developed under different climatic conditions and correspond to higher-frequency, forced- and normal-regressive stages of relative sea-level changes. According to the classical sequence-stratigraphic principles, these sequence-boundary zones comprise more than one candidate surface for a sequence boundary. Three sequence-boundary zones studied in Early Berriasian rocks lack coarse siliciclastic grains, contain a calcrete crust, as well as marly levels with higher abundances of illite with respect to kaolinite, and exhibit fossilized algal-microbial laminites with desiccation polygons. These sedimentary features are consistent with more arid conditions. A sequence-boundary zone interpreted for the Late Berriasian corresponds to a coal horizon. The strata above and below this coal contain abundant quartz and marly intervals with a higher kaolinite content when compared to the illite content. Accordingly, this Late Berriasian sequence-boundary zone was formed under a more humid climate. The major transgressive-regressive cycle of relative sea level identified and the climate change from more arid to more humid conditions recognized during the Late Berriasian have been reported also from other European basins. Therefore, the Kimmeridgian to Berriasian carbonate succession of Mount Salève reflects major oceanographic and climatic changes affecting the northern margin of the Alpine Tethys ocean and thus constitutes a reliable comparative example for the analysis of other coeval sedimentary records. In addition, the stratigraphic intervals including sequence-boundary zones characterized in this study constitute potential out- crop analogues for sequence-boundary reflectors mapped on seismic profiles of subsurface peritidal carbonate successions. The detailed sedimentological analyses provided here highlight that on occasions the classical principles of sequence stratigraphy developed on seismic data are difficult to apply in outcrop. A sequence-boundary reflector when seen in outcrop may present successive subaerial exposure surfaces, which formed due to high-frequency sea-level changes that were superimposed on the longer- term trend of relative sea-level fall.

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International Journal of Earth Sciences, 2013, vol. 102, num. 2, p. 493-515

# metadata.dc.source[].value
Articles publicats en revistes (Mineralogia, Petrologia i Geologia Aplicada)

# metadata.dc.title[].value
Relative sea-level change, climate, and sequence boundaries: insights from the Kimmeridgian to Berriasian platform carbonates of Mount Salève (E France).