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Steep-sided carbonate mud mounds in the Middle Devonian of the eastern Anti-Atlas, Morocco

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

J. Wendt
J. Wendt
Affiliation:
Institut und Museum für Geologie und Paläontologie der Universität, D-7400 Tübingen, Germany
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Abstract

During the Eifelian and early Givetian, isolated mud mounds were established in a shallow basin, predominantly characterized by calcareous mudstone deposition, in the eastern Anti-Atlas of Morocco. The shapes, lithologies and faunas of these mounds stand in marked contrast with those of nearby contemporaneous, more widespread stromatoporoid/coral biostromes and small carbonate platforms adjacent to shallow shelves. With one exception, the mounds are totally exhumed, perfectly exposing their original morphologies. The smaller mounds are asymmetrical, with steeper northeastern and eastern (35–75°) than southwestern and western flanks (30–50°). The largest mound is almost circular and symmetrical, with scattered stromatoporoids, tabulate and rugose corals that do not form a rigid framework. Frame-builders are much rarer or absent in the smaller mounds. The nature and geographical distribution of the mounds reflects a bathymetric gradient, indicating that they formed on low-angle ramps which sloped gently into a shallow basin. A large reef mound was constructed at moderate depth, while small mud mounds accumulated in deeper water. Decrease of frame-builders and increase in pelagic organisms in the latter document the transition to a pelagic platform with reduced sedimentation at a short distance from the deepest mound.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 130 , Issue 1 , January 1993 , pp. 69 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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