Lithology, micropaleontology and chemical composition of calcareous rocks of Paleozoic through Cenozoic age (Surat Thani Province, central Peninsular Thailand): implications concerning the environment of deposition and the economic potential of limestones

Abstract

Marine and continental calcareous rocks of Paleozoic through Cenozoic age, central Peninsular Thailand, were subjected to an interdisciplinary study. In the basins under consideration, sediment input was rather high during the Early Paleozoic, moderate during the Mesozoic and rather low during the Late Paleozoic. An antithetic trend may be recorded for the ecological impact on carbonate productivity during these time periods. The Paleozoic and Mesozoic limestones underwent various types of post-depositional alteration (e.g. dolomitization, diagenesis, contact metamorphism, hydrothermal alteration). Mainly during the Cenozoic, supergene and hypogene karst processes were very intensive in the area and produced a great variety of terrestrial carbonates such as dripstones, tufa, and caliche. The results obtained during this environmental analysis also have economic implications for the end usages of the various marine and continental calcareous rocks.