Geologic Framework of the Capitan Reef

Abstract

Geologic Framework of the Capitan Reef: SEPM Special Publication Series No. 65, A.H. Saller, P.M. Harris, B.L. Kirkland, and S.J. Mazzullo (Editors), 1999, SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology), Tulsa, 224 p. ($122 non-member, $87 member) ISBN: 1-56576-063-8. The magnificent El Capitan is as controversial as it is classical, and this is the latest volume dealing with the intriguing questions that these rocks contain. Answers, well, if you think you have all the answers you are not up to date on all the questions as this volume clearly illustrates. Following an excellent introduction by the editors that gives an overview of the contents and a very useful historical summary of work on this classic area which puts them in perspective, the book is divided into three sections: stratigraphic/depositional, paleoecologic, and diagenetic. There are six articles in the first section and three each in the following two. Stratigraphic/Depositional—The authors of the lead article, Kerans and Tinker, are no strangers to the stratigraphy of the Capitan reef complex, and their contribution herein addresses the entire stratigraphic sequence of this complex from the inner shelf where evaporites are conspicuous to the deep basin with its organic-rich rocks. They clearly differentiate between extrinsic (oceanographic effects, climate, subsidence, eustacy, siliciclastic sediment supply, turbidity, salinity, and antecedent topography) and intrinsic (presence or absence of frame-builders and binders; rate of production of biogenic sediment; sensitivity of reef-building organisms to light, salinity, and sediment influx; and the importance of marine cements in binding the reef-building community) factors that affect reef development. Although the intrinsic factors are not considered, each of the basic extrinsic factors is analyzed carefully in terms of its importance in understanding the development of this geologic classic. Results of these analyses are integrated in which six composite stratigraphic sequences, composed of thirty higher frequency stratigraphic sequences …