In: Sedimentary Geology, 2016, vol. 331, p. 148–161
Shifts in carbonate-producing biotic communities in the geological record provide evidence of past environmental changes in the neritic realm. The shallow-marine Calcare di Nago Formation exposed in the San Valentino section (northern Italy) covers the Late Eocene and Earliest Oligocene. The succession is characterized by the occurrence of light-dependent biota such as coralline algae and larger...
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In: Journal of Sedimentary Research, 2015, vol. 85, no. 6, p. 660–682
Porous micritic facies, either primary chalks or resulting from secondary destructive micritization, can constitute important hydrocarbon or water reservoirs. Characterization of reservoir properties and the understanding of factors which controlled the distribution of porosity are of primary interest to evaluate the prospective reserves. Middle and late Oxfordian limestones of the eastern Paris...
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In: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2013, vol. 376, p. 73–90
Lagoonal carbonates of Kimmeridgian age in NW Switzerland formed in a tropical epeiric sea and exhibit indicators of subaerial emergence such as tidal biolaminites, desiccation cracks, flat pebble conglomerates, and fenestral structures. Additionally, 30 dinosaur tracksites from at least six stratigraphic intervals indicate repeated formation of land bridges between the platform and adjacent...
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In: GSA Today, 2013, vol. 23, no. 3, p. 4-8
We propose a realignment of the terms geochronology and chronostratigraphy that brings them broadly into line with current use, while simultaneously resolving the debate over whether the Geological Time Scale should have a “single” or “dual” hierarchy of units: Both parallel sets of units are retained, although there remains the option to adopt either a single (i.e., geochronological) or...
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In: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2012, p. -
From the Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene, the Earth experienced the most significant climatic cooling of the Cenozoic era. The Eocene–Oligocene transition (EOT) represents the culmination of this climatic cooling, leading to the onset of the Antarctic glaciation and, consequently, to the beginning of the present-day icehouse world. Whereas the response of deep-sea systems to this climate...
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In: Cretaceous Research, 2012, p. -
The term “reef” has been frequently misused when applied to fossil coral communities. Our popular but biased view of coral community structure based on the idyllic picture of recent tropical reefs has failed to recognize that, in many fossil examples, alternative states of community structure with no or limited framework may occur. The Aptian colonial scleractinians analysed in the western...
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In: Sedimentology, 2012, vol. 59, no. 1, p. 185–211
Recent global change occurs within decades and leaves a significant imprint on shallow carbonate platforms. To what extent can rate and synchronicity of environmental changes in the past be evaluated in order to allow comparisons with the processes and products of today? Sections of a carbonate-dominated platform of Late Oxfordian age have been logged in detail in the Swiss Jura Mountains. The...
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In: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2011, vol. 312, no. 1-2, p. 24-39
Carbonate karst unconformities represent primary sequence-stratigraphic boundaries but, where sealed by marine sedimentary successions, also signify ancient rocky shores. During the Late Eocene (Priabonian), a shallow sea flooded the deeply karstified and brecciated Cretaceous carbonate bedrocks of the western Swiss Alps. Transgression resulted in the formation of a rocky archipelago of basement...
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In: Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, 2011, vol. 182, no. 6, p. 507-519
Near the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary, the filament event corresponds to the massive occurrence of thin elongate shells, probably bivalves which constitute, in the Bahloul Formation, about 40% of allochems. This biosedimentary event was described in several areas, such as in Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, North America, Oman and Tibet. In Tunisia, filaments are well represented within well laminated...
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In: Swiss Journal of Geosciences, 2011, vol. 104, no. 2, p. 299-322
Sediment production and accumulation on shallow carbonate platforms are controlled by allogenic, externally controlled processes (such as sea level, climate, and/or platform-wide subsidence patterns) as well as by autogenic factors that are inherent to the sedimentary system (such as lateral migration of sediment bodies). The challenge is to determine how and in which proportion these...
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