Heterogeneous diagenetic patterns in the Pleistocene Ironshore Formation of Grand Cayman, British West Indies

Abstract

The Ironshore Formation on Grand Cayman consists of six unconformity-bounded units (A to F) that developed in response to repeated transgressive–regressive cycles during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. Corals and matrices in limestones from the Rogers Wreck Point (RWP), offshore George Town (GT), and western onshore (WO) areas are characterized by complex diagenetic fabrics that reflect marine (bioerosion, micrite envelopes, internal sediments, fibrous high-Mg calcite, acicular aragonite, isopachous prismatic calcite cements), freshwater phreatic (circumgranular cements, even/random blocky calcite cements), and vadose (meniscus calcite cements, blocky calcite cements) diagenesis. Throughout these limestones, the matrices have undergone more meteoric diagenetic alteration than the corals. Overall, however, no systematic stratigraphic patterns exist to the distribution of these diagenetic fabrics and it is generally impossible to link the different phases of diagenesis with specific unconformities that cap each unit. These heterogenous patterns of diagenetic features can be attributed to many intrinsic and extrinsic factors, including the original compositions of the different components in the limestones, the porosity and permeability of the substrate, the nature of the diagenetic fluids, climate, and the duration of exposure during each lowstand. Integration of available data, however, indicates that maximum diagenesis took place during the lowstands denoted by the unconformities at the top of Unit C (Marine Isotope Stage 7) and Unit D (Marine Isotope Stage 5e) when long periods of exposure were accompanied by wet climates with high annual rainfalls.