Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T09:57:08.676Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lithofacies and biofacies of the Middle and Upper Devonian Sultan Formation at Mountain Springs, Clark County, Nevada: implications for stromatoporoid paleoecology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Robert J. Harrington
Robert J. Harrington*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara 93106
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Sultan Formation is a Middle and Upper Devonian inner shelf carbonate sequence in southern Nevada containing four stromatoporoid-dominated biofacies. Reported herein is a study of the Ironside Dolomite and Valentine Limestone Members exposed at Mountain Springs, Nevada. Eight lithofacies are distinguished and interpreted as a transgressive sequence, with deposition ranging from the supratidal zone to just below wave base. Each of the biofacies is unique and confined to a specific depositional environment as interpreted from the lithofacies reconstructions. The purpose of the study was to gain a better understanding of the range of ecologic conditions—physical, chemical, and biological—to which these stromatoporoids were adapted.

Based on the research, it is concluded that stromatoporoids flourished in a variety of nonreef habitats which ranged from highly stressful peritidal environments where only stromatoporoids were accommodated to less stressful offshore habitats where other organisms may have been in direct competition. Although habitat generalists are usually poor competitors, these stromatoporoids appear to have been an exception. Their ability to colonize a variety of substrata, their broad tolerances to chemical conditions and circulation patterns, and their emphasis on high rates of lateral growth have permitted them to simultaneously occupy unstable tidal channel embayments and more benign offshore habitats.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 61 , Issue 4 , July 1987 , pp. 649 - 662
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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

Bathurst, R. G. C. 1976. Carbonate Sediments and Their Diagenesis. Developments in Sedimentology, 12. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co., Amsterdam, 658 p.Google Scholar
Bereskin, S. R. 1969. Carbonate petrology and biostratigraphy of the Sultan Limestone (Devonian), southeastern California and southern Nevada. Unpubl. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara, 270 p.Google Scholar
Bereskin, S. R. 1982. Middle and Upper Devonian stratigraphy of portions of southern Nevada and southeastern California, p. 751–764. In Powers, R. B. (ed.), Geologic Studies of the Cordilleran Thrust Belt, 2. Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists.Google Scholar
Burchfiel, B. C., et al. 1974. Geology of the Spring Mountains, Nevada. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 85:1013–1022.Google Scholar
Carss, B. W., and Carozzi, A. V. 1965. Petrology of Upper Devonian pelletoidal limestones, Arrow Canyon Range, Clark County, Nevada. Sedimentology, 4:197–224.Google Scholar
Hewett, D. F. 1931. Geology and ore deposits of the Goodsprings quadrangle, Nevada. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 162, 172 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hewett, D. F. 1956. Geology and mineral resources of the Ivanpah quadrangle, California and Nevada. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 275, 172 p.Google Scholar
Kershaw, S. J. 1981. Stromatoporoid growth form and taxonomy in a Silurian biostrome, Gotland. Journal of Paleontology, 55:1284–1295.Google Scholar
Kershaw, S. J., and Riding, R. 1978. Parameterization of stromatoporoid shape. Lethaia, 11:233–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinsman, D. J. J. 1964. Recent carbonate sedimentation near Abu Dhabi, Trucial Coast, Persian Gulf. Unpubl. Ph.D. thesis, Imperial College of Science and Technology.Google Scholar
Kobluk, D. R., Bottjer, D. J., and Risk, M. J. 1977. Disorientation of Paleozoic hemispherical corals and stromatoporoids. Canadian Journal of Earth Science, 14:2226–2231.Google Scholar
Laporte, L. F. 1967. Carbonate deposition near mean sea-level and resultant facies mosaic: Manlius Formation (Lower Devonian) of New York State. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 51:73–101.Google Scholar
Laporte, L. F. 1969. Recognition of a transgressive carbonate sequence within an epieric sea: Helderberg Group (Lower Devonian) of New York State, p. 98–119. In Friedman, G. M. (ed.), Depositional Environments in Carbonate Rocks. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication 14.Google Scholar
Laporte, L. F. 1979. Ancient Environments. Prentice-Hall, Inc., New Jersey, 163 p.Google Scholar
Longwell, C. R., et al. 1965. Geology and mineral deposits of Clark County, Nevada. Nevada Bureau of Mines Bulletin 62, 218 p.Google Scholar
Meyer, F. O. 1981. Stromatoporoid growth rhythms and rates. Science, 213:894–895.Google Scholar
Reinbold, M. L., and Langenheim, R. L. 1977. Conodonts of the upper member, Arrow Canyon Formation, and the Crystal Pass Limestone, Late Devonian, Las Vegas Range, Clark County, Nevada. Wyoming Geological Association Earth Science Bulletin, 10:3–28.Google Scholar
Scholle, P. E., Bebout, D. G., and Moore, C. H. 1983. Carbonate Depositional Environments. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 33, 708 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shinn, E. A. 1968. Practical significance of birdseye structures in carbonate rocks. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 38:215–223.Google Scholar
Shinn, E. A. 1983. Tidal flat environment, p. 171–210. In Scholle, P. A. et al. (eds.), Carbonate Depositional Environments. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 33.Google Scholar
Shinn, E. A., Lloyd, R. M., and Ginsburg, R. N. 1969. Anatomy of a modern carbonate tidal flat, Andros Island, Bahamas. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 39:1202–1228.Google Scholar
St. Jean, J. Jr. 1971. Paleobiologic considerations of reef stromatoporoids. Proceedings of the Second North American Paleontological Convention, Chicago, Part J: 1389–1429.Google Scholar
Stoddart, D. R. 1962. Catastrophic storm effects on the British Honduras reefs and cays. Nature, 196:512–515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suek, D. H., and Bereskin, S. R. 1982. Biostratigraphy and carbonate petrology of a Devonian biostrome, southeastern California, p. 765–775. In Blake, R. B. (ed.), Geological Studies of the Cordilleran Thrust Belt. Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, Denver, Colorado.Google Scholar
Wilson, J. L. 1975. Carbonate Facies in Geologic History. Springer-Verlag, New York, 471 p.Google Scholar