Early to mid-Viséan shallow water platform buildups,north Co. Dublin,Ireland |
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| Authors: | Ian D Somerville Neil A H Pickard Peter Strogen Garethli Jones |
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| Abstract: | A number of carbonate buildups in north Co. Dublin, long assigned to the late Viséan (Asbian), are shown on the basis of coral, foraminiferal and algal evidence to be early to mid-Viséan (late Chadian to Holkerian) in age. They are equivalent in age to beds ranging from the upper part of the Lane Formation to the top of the Holmpatrick Formation. The buildups are poorly exposed and relatively small, probably only a few tens of metres across at most. Buildup sediments are massive to crudely bedded and dominated by peloidal, clotted and dense uniform micrites displaying lime mudstone and bioclastic wackestone textures. Dasycladacean algae are common in the buildups and cryptalgal fabrics are locally important. Cavities in the buildups are generally small (< 5 cm) and lined with inclusion-rich radiaxial calcite cements. Micritization of bioclasts and cements is ubiquitous. Enclosing off-buildup limestones are skeletal and intraclastic grainstones possessing sedimentary structures indicative of deposition in moderate to high energy environments. Fossil and petrographic evidence from the buildups also indicate a shallow water origin for the north Co. Dublin buildups. Compared with the slightly older Tournaisian (Courceyan to early Chadian) Waulsortian buildups which developed extensively in the Dublin Basin, these younger platform buildups are smaller and more isolated and possess a diverse suite of algal components and cryptalgal fabrics. Nevertheless, components in the north Co. Dublin buildups most closely resemble the shallowest phase D Waulsortian buildups, particularly in the presence of abundant peloids and micritized cements. The north Co. Dublin buildups developed on a carbonate platform (the Milverton Platform), adjacent to the Dublin Basin, whereas the Waulsortian developed in a deeper ramp setting. Following the demise of the Waulsortian in early Chadian time carbonate buildups established themselves on the shallow platforms. It is suggested that the microbial communities responsible for these buildups may have ‘evolved’ from older phase D Waulsortian communities and that he north Co. Dublin platform buildups represent the shallow water end of a spectrum of Viséan buildups. |
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| Keywords: | Visé an Tournaisian Biostratigraphy Carbonate buildups Waulsortian Carbonate Platform Dublin Basin Corals Foraminifera Algae |
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