Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T16:37:11.155Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Frasnian (Upper Devonian) integrated facies analysis, magnetic susceptibility and sea-level fluctuations in the NW Algerian Sahara

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2018

Abdessamed Mahboubi ,
Jean-Jacques Cornée ,
Raimund Feist ,
Pierre Camps  and
Catherine Girard
Abdessamed Mahboubi
Affiliation:
Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, CC064, Place Eugène Bataillon, Montpellier Cedex 05, France
Jean-Jacques Cornée*
Affiliation:
Géosciences Montpellier, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Université des Antilles, France
Raimund Feist
Affiliation:
Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, CC064, Place Eugène Bataillon, Montpellier Cedex 05, France
Pierre Camps
Affiliation:
Géosciences Montpellier, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Université des Antilles, France
Catherine Girard
Affiliation:
Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, CC064, Place Eugène Bataillon, Montpellier Cedex 05, France
*
Author for correspondence: Jean-Jacques Cornée, Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Changes in the palaeoenvironment are investigated in two representative Frasnian sections of the NW Algerian Sahara, integrating sedimentology and magnetic susceptibility (MS). The Ben Zireg section is characterized by condensed and ferruginous calcareous deposits; in the South Marhouma section the sedimentation rate is high, dominated by muddy nodular limestones with several hypoxic shale intervals. In both sections, sediments were mostly emplaced on pelagic outer ramps below the limit of storm wave-base, evolving through time from proximal to distal setting. Investigations of the temporal evolution of facies and MS data permit a first estimate of the local sea-level trends in NW Algeria. These trends match the overall long-term rise of sea level recognized worldwide from Frasnian Zone 5 upwards. Noteable positive excursions of the sea-level curve related to the semichatovae transgression, as well as to the late Frasnian transgression prior to the late Kellwasser event, can be established in this area. Although the sharp regression of sea level at the upper Kellwasser level can be confirmed from our data, no particular trend is depicted at the transition of conodont zones (Frasnian Zones 12–13) where the presence of the lower Kellwasser level has not yet been clearly recognized.

Keywords

FrasnianAlgerian Saharafaciesmagnetic susceptibilitysea level
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 156 , Issue 8 , August 2019 , pp. 1295 - 1310
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aigner, T (1985) Storm Depositional Systems: Dynamic Stratigraphy in Modern and Ancient Shallow-Marine Sequences, Vol. 3, Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 174 pp.Google Scholar
Alekseev, AS, Kononova, LI and Nikishin, AM (1996) The Devonian and Carboniferous of the Moscow Syneclise (Russian platform): stratigraphy and sea-level changes. Tectonophysics 268, 149–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bambach, RK, Knoll, AH and Wang, SC (2004) Origination, extinction, and mass depletions of marine diversity. Paleobiology 30, 522–42.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, RT, Gradstein, FM and Hammer, O (2012) The Devonian period. In The Geologic Time Scale 2012 (eds Gradstein, F, Ogg, J, Schmitz, M and Ogg, G), pp. 559–601. Amsterdam: Elsevier.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belka, Z and Wendt, J (1992) Conodont biofacies pattern in the Kellwasser Facies (upper Frasnian/lower Fammenian) of the eastern Anti–Atlas, Morocco. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatolology, Palaeoecology 91, 143–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bendella, M and Mehadji, AO (2014) Depositional environment and ichnology (Nereites ichnofacies) of the Late Devonian Sahara region (SW Algeria). Arabian Journal of Geology 7, 1–14.Google Scholar
Bohacs, KM, Lazar, OR and Demko, TM (2014) Parasequence types in shelfal mudstone strata—Quantitative observations of lithofacies and stacking patterns and conceptual link to modern depositional regimes. Geology 42, 131–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, D, Wignall, PB and Racki, G (2004) Extent and duration of marine anoxia during the Frasnian–Famennian (Late Devonian) mass extinction in Poland, Germany, Austria and France. Geological Magazine 141, 173–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, DPG and Wignall, P (2008) The role of sea-level change and marine anoxia in the Frasnian-Famennian (Late Devonian) mass extinction. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 263, 107–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boote, DRD, Clark-Lowes, DD and Traut, MW (1998) Palaeozoic petroleum systems of North Africa. In Petroleum Geology of North Africa (eds Macgregor, DS, Moody, RTJ and Clark-Lowes, DD), Vol. 132, pp. 7–68. Journal of the Geological Society of London, Special Publication.Google Scholar
Boulvain, F, Cornet, P, Da Silva, AC, Delaite, G, Demany, B, Humblet, M, Renard, M and Coen-Aubert, M (2004) Reconstructing atoll-like mounds from the Frasnian of Belgium. Facies 50, 313–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyer, DL and Droser, ML (2009) Palaeoecological patterns within the dysaerobic biofacies: examples from Devonian black shales of New York state. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 276, 206–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyer, DL, Owens, JD, Lyons, TW and Droser, ML (2011) Joining forces: combined biological and geochemical proxies reveal a complex but refined high-resolution palaeo-oxygen history in Devonian epeiric seas. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 306, 134–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casier, JC (2008) Résumés des communications et guide de l’excursion consacrée aux ostracodes du Dévonien Moyen et Supérieur de Dinant. In 22nd Réunions des Ostracologistes de Langue Française, pp. 1–88. Bruxelles: Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Département de Paléontologie.Google Scholar
Chen, D and Tucker, ME (2003) Palaeokarst and its implication for the extinction event at the Frasnian–Famennian boundary (Guilin, south China). Journal of the Geological Society of London 161, 895–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, HE, Mcdaniel, PN, Mountjoy, EW and Pray, LC (1972) Allochthonous carbonate debris flows at Devonian bank (‘reef’) margins, Alberta, Canada. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology 20, 439–97.Google Scholar
Crick, RE, Ellwood, BB, Hladil, J, El Hassani, A, Hrouda, F and Chlupac, I (2001) Magnetostratigraphy susceptibility of the Pridolian–Lochkovian (Silurian–Devonian) GSSP (Klonk, Czech Republic) and coeval sequence in Anti-Atlas Morocco. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatololgy, Palaeoecology 167, 73–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Da Silva, AC, De Vleeschouwer, D, Boulvain, F, Claeys, P, Fagel, N, Humblet, M, Mabille, C, Michel, J, Sardar Abadi, M, Pas, D and Dekkers, MJ (2013) Magnetic susceptibility as a high-resolution correlation tool and as a climatic proxy in Paleozoic rocks-merits and pitfalls: examples from the Devonian in Belgium. Marine and Petroleum Geology 46, 173–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Da Silva, AC, Mabille, C and Boulvain, F (2009) Influence of sedimentary setting on the use of magnetic susceptibility: examples from the Devonian of Belgium. Sedimentology 56, 1292–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deb, SP, Schieber, J and Chaudhuri, AK (2007) Microbial mat features, mudstones of the Mesoproterozoic Somanpalli Group, Pranhita-Godavari Basin, India. In Atlas of Microbial Mat Features Preserved within the Siliciclastic Rock Record (eds Schieber, J, Bose, PK, Eriksson, PG, Banerjee, S, Jadavpur, SS, Altermann, W and Catuneanu, O), Vol. 2, pp. 171–80. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Donzeau, M (1974) L’arc Anti-Atlas-Ougarta (Sahara Nord occidental, Algérie, Maroc). Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences, Paris, (II) 278, 417–20.Google Scholar
Dopieralska, J, Belka, Z and Walczak, A (2016) Nd isotope composition of conodonts: an accurate proxy of sea-level fluctuations. Gondwana Research 34, 284–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunham, RJ (1962) Classification of carbonate rocks according to depositional texture. In Classification of Carbonate Rocks (ed. Ham, WE), pp. 108–21. Tulsa, Okla: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir no. 1.Google Scholar
Ellwood, BB, Tomkin, JH, El Hassani, A, Bultynck, P, Brett, CE, Schindler, E, Feist, R and Bartholomew, AJ (2011) A climate-driven model and development of a floating point time scale for the entire middle Devonian Givetian stage: a test using magnetostratigraphy susceptibility as a climate proxy. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatololgy, Palaeoecology 304, 85–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feist, R, Mahboubi, A and Girard, C (2016) New Late Devonian phacopid trilobites from Marhouma, SW Algerian Sahara. Bulletin of Geosciences 91, 243–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Filer, JK (2002) Late Frasnian sedimentation cycles in the Appalachian basin–possible evidence for high frequency eustatic sea-level changes. Sedimentary Geology 154, 31–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flügel, E (2004) Microfacies of Carbonate Rocks: Analysis, Interpretation and Application. New York: Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heildelberg, 984 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Folk, RL (2005) Nannobacteria and the formation of framboidal pyrite: textural evidence. Journal of Earth Systems in Sciences 114, 369–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Göddertz, B (1987) Devonische Goniatiten aus SW-Algerien und ihre stratigraphische Einordnung in die Conodonten-Abfolge. Palaeontographica Abtelung A 197, 127–220.Google Scholar
Hallam, A and Wignall, PB (1999) Mass extinctions and sea-level changes. Earth Science Review 48, 217–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haq, BU and Schutter, SR (2008) A chronology of Paleozoic sea-level changes. Science 322, 64–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
House, MR and Ziegler, W (eds) (1997) On sea-level fluctuations in the Devonian. Courier Forschunginstitut Senckenberg 199, 1–146.Google Scholar
Hüneke, H (2006) Erosion and deposition from bottom currents during the Givetian and Frasnian: response to intensified oceanic circulation between Gondwana and Laurussia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 234, 146–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hüneke, H (2013) Bioclastic contourites: depositional model for bottom-current redeposited pelagic carbonate ooze (Devonian, Moroccan Central Massif). Zeitschriftder Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften 164, 253–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, NP and Choquette, PW (1990) Limestone—the meteoric diagenetic environment. In Diagenesis (eds Mc Ilreath, IA and Morrow, DW), Vol. 4, pp. 35–73. Geoscience Canada. Canada: Geological Association of Canada.Google Scholar
Johnson, JG, Klapper, G and Sandberg, CA (1985) Devonian eustatic fluctuations in Euramerica. Geological Society of America Bulletin 96, 567–87.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, JG and Sandberg, CA (1988) Devonian eustatic events in the Western United States and their biostratigraphic responses. In Devonian of the World (eds McMillan, NJ, Embry, AF and Glass, DJ), Vol. 14, pp. 171–8. Calgary: Canadian Petroleum Geology.Google Scholar
Kaźmierczak, J, Kremer, B and Racki, G (2012) Late Devonian marine anoxia challenged by benthic cyanobacterial mats. Geobiology 10, 371–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klapper, G and Barrick, JE (1978) Conodont ecology: pelagic versus benthic. Lethaia 11, 15–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klapper, G and Kirchgasser, WT (2016) Frasnian Late Devonian conodont biostratigraphy in New York: graphic correlation and taxonomy. Journal of Paleontology 90, 525–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kremer, B and Kaźmierczak, J (2005) Cyanobacterial mats from Silurian black radiolarian cherts: phototrophic life at the edge of darkness? Journal of Sedimentary Research 75, 897–906.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lüning, S, Wendt, J, Belka, Z and Kaufmann, B (2004) Temporal–spatial reconstruction of the early Frasnian (Late Devonian) anoxia in NW Africa: new field data from the Ahnet Basin (Algeria). Sedimentary Geology 163, 237–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacLean, LCW, Tyliszczak, T, Gilbert, PUPA, Zhou, D, Pray, TJ, Onstott, TC and Southam, G (2008) A high-resolution chemical and structural study of framboidal pyrite formed within a low-temperature bacterial biofilm. Geobiology 6, 471–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mahboubi, A and Gatovsky, Y (2014) Late Devonian conodonts and event stratigraphy in northwestern Algerian Sahara. Journal of African Earth Sciences 101, 322–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahboubi, A, Feist, R, Cornée, J-J, Mehadji, AO and Girard, C (2015) Frasnian (Late Devonian) conodonts and environment at the northern margin of the Algerian Sahara platform: the Ben Zireg section. Geological Magazine 152, 844–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mamet, B and Préat, A (2006) Iron-bacterial mediation in Phanerozoic red limestones: state of the art. Sedimentary Geology 185, 147–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrow, JR and Sandberg, CA (2008) Evolution of Devonian carbonate-shelf margin, Nevada. Geosphere 4, 445–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mutti, E, Lucchi, FR, Seguret, M and Zanzucchi, G (1984) Seismoturbidites: a new group of resedimented deposits. Marine Geology 55, 103–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Narkiewicz, M (1988) Turning points in sedimentary development in the Late Devonian in southern Poland. In Devonian of the World (eds McMillan, NJ, Embry, AF and Glass, DJ), Vol. 14, pp. 619–36. Calgary: Canadian Petroleum Geology.Google Scholar
Pareyn, C (1961) Les Massifs Carbonifères du Sahara Sud-Oranais. Paris: Publications du Centre de Recherches Sahariennes, série Géologie, 324 pp.Google Scholar
Pas, D, Da Silva, AC, Cornet, P, Bultynck, P, Königshof, P and Boulvain, F (2013) Sedimentary development of a continuous middle Devonian to Mississippian section from the fore-reef fringe of the Brilon reef complex (Rheinisches Schiefergebirge, Germany). Facies 59, 969–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pas, D, Da Silva, AC, Devleeschouwer, X, Devleeschouwer, D, Labaye, C, Cornet, P, Michel, J and Boulvain, F (2015) Sedimentary development and magnetic susceptibility evolution of the Frasnian in Western Belgium (Dinant Synclinorium, La Thure section). In Magnetic Susceptibility Variation: a Window onto Ancient Environments and Climatic Variations (eds Da Silva, AC, Whalen, MT, Hladil, J, Chadimova, L, Chen, D, Spassov, S, Boulvain, F and Devleeschouwer, X), pp. 15–36. Geological Society of London, Special Publication no. 414.Google Scholar
Pas, D, Da Silva, AC, Sutter, T, Kido, E, Bultynck, P, Pondrelli, M, Corradini, C, Devleeschouwer, X, Dojen, C and Boulvain, F (2014) Insight into the development of a carbonate platform through a multi-disciplinary approach: a case study from the Upper Devonian slope deposits of Mount Freikofel (Carnic Alps, Austria/Italy). International Journal of Earth Sciences 103, 519–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peckmann, J and Thiel, V (2004) Carbon cycling at ancient methane-seeps. Chemical Geology 205, 443–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petter, G (1952) Dévonien moyen et supérieur. In Les Chaines d’Ougarta et la Saoura (eds Alimen, HD, Le Maitre, D, Menchikoff, N, Petter, G and Poueyto, A), pp. 62–74. Alger: 19th Congrès Géologique International.Google Scholar
Petter, G (1959) Goniatites Dévoniennes du Sahara. Alger: Service de la Carte Géologique de l’Algérie, 313 pp.Google Scholar
Pisarzowska, A and Racki, G (2012) Isotopic chemostratigraphy across the early-middle Frasnian transition (Late Devonian) on the south Polish carbonate shelf: a reference for the global punctata event. Chemical Geology 334, 199–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riquier, L, Tribovillard, N, Averbuch, O, Joachimski, MM, Racki, G, Devleeschouwer, X, El Albani, A and Riboulleau, A (2005) Productivity and bottom water redox conditions at the Frasnian-Famennian boundary on both sides of the Eovariscan belt: constraints from trace-element geochemistry. In Understanding Late Devonian and Permian-Triassic Biotic and Climatic Events: Towards an Integrated Approach (eds Over, DJ, Morrow, JR and Wignall, PB), pp. 199–224. Developments in Palaeontology and Stratigraphy Series. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Rossetti, DF and Góes, AM (2000) Deciphering the sedimentological imprint of paleoseismic events: an example from the Aptian Codó formation, northern Brazil. Sedimentary Geology 135, 137–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandberg, CA (1976) Conodont biofacies of Late Devonian Polygnathus styriatus Zone in western United States. In Conodont Paleoecology (ed. Barnes, CR), pp. 171–86. Montreal: Geological Association of Canada, Special Paper no. 15.Google Scholar
Sandberg, CA, Morrow, JR and Ziegler, W (2002) Late Devonian sea-level changes, catastrophic events, and mass extinctions. Special Papers of the Geological Society of America 356, 473–87.Google Scholar
Sandberg, CA and Ziegler, W (1979) Taxonomy and biofacies of important conodonts of Late Devonian styriacus Zone, United States and Germany. Geology and Palaeontology 13, 173–212.Google Scholar
Sandberg, CA, Ziegler, W, Dreesen, R and Butler, JL (1992) Conodont biochronology, biofacies, taxonomy, and event stratigraphy around middle Frasnian Lion Mudmound (F2h), Frasnes, Belgium. Courier Forschunginstitut Senckenberg 150, 1–87.Google Scholar
Schieber, J (1986) The possible role of benthic microbial mats during the formation of carbonaceous shales in shallow Proterozoic basins. Sedimentology 33, 521–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schieber, J (1989) Facies and origin of shales from the mid-proterozoic Newland formation, Belt basin, Montana, USA. Sedimentology 36, 203–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schieber, J, Southard, J and Thaisen, K (2007) Accretion of mudstone beds from migrating floccule ripples. Science 318, 1760–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schülke, I and Popp, A (2005) Microfacies development, sea-level change, and conodont stratigraphy of Famennian mid- to deep platform deposits of the Beringhauser tunnel section (Rheinisches Schiefergebirge, Germany). Facies 50, 647–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seddon, G and Sweet, WC (1971) An ecologic model for conodonts. Journal of Paleontology 45, 869–80.Google Scholar
Spalletta, C and Vai, GB (1984) Upper Devonian intraclast parabreccias interpreted as seismites. Marine Geology 55, 133–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stigall, AL (2012) Speciation collapse and invasive species dynamics during the Late Devonian “mass extinction”. Geological Society of America, GSA Today 22, 4–9.Google Scholar
Sur, S, Schieber, J and Banerjee, S (2006) Petrographic observations suggestive of microbial mats from Rampur Shale and Bijaigarh Shale, Vindhyan basin, India. Journal of Earth System Science 115, 61–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tian, L, Tong, J, Algeo, TJ, Song, H, Chu, D, Shi, L and Bottjer, DJ (2014) Reconstruction of Early Triassic ocean redox conditions based on framboidal pyrite from the Nanpanjiang Basin, South China. Palaeogeogeography, Palaeoclimatolology, Palaeoecology 412, 68–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vierek, A and Racki, G (2011) Depositional versus ecological control on the conodont distribution in the Lower Frasnian fore-reef facies, Holy Cross Mountains, Poland. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 312, 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wendt, J and Belka, Z (1991) Age and depositional environment of Upper Devonian (early Frasnian to early Famennian) black shales and limestones (Kellwasser facies) in the eastern Anti-Atlas, Morocco. Facies 25, 51–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wendt, J, Kaufmann, B, Belka, Z, Klug, C and Lubeseder, S (2006) Sedimentary evolution of a Palaeozoic basin and ridge system: the middle and Upper Devonian of the Ahnet and Mouydir (Algerian Sahara). Geological Magazine 143, 269–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weyant, M (1988) Relationship between Devonian and Carboniferous strata near the northern confines of the Bechar basin, Algeria. Courier Forschunginstitut Senckenberg 100, 235–41.Google Scholar
Whalen, MT and Day, JE (2010) Cross-basin variations in magnetic susceptibility influenced by changing sea level, paleogeography, and paleoclimate: Upper Devonian, Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. Journal of Sedimentary Research 80, 1109–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wignall, PB, Newton, R and Brookfield, ME (2005) Pyrite framboid evidence for oxygen-poor deposition during the Permian–Triassic crisis in Kashmir. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 216, 183–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, VP and Burchette, TP (1996) Shallow-water carbonate environments. In Sedimentary Environments: Processes, Facies, and Stratigraphy (ed. Reading, HG), pp. 325–94. Oxford: Blackwell Science.Google Scholar