Sequence stratigraphy from “spot” outcrops—example from a carbonate-dominated setting: Devonian-Carboniferous transition, Dinant synclinorium (Belgium)

Abstract

The application of sequence stratigraphy appears to be perfectly valid in isolated “spot” outcrops, which usually are badly exposed and located in areas of strong tectonic overprint. The case study presented here is in a carbonate-dominated setting at the northern edge of the Cornwall-Rhenish basin, during latest Devonian and earliest Carboniferous times. The approach taken involved the analysis of facies and vertical facies evolutions, in combination with detailed biostratigraphy. The subsequent deduction of deepening and shallowing events, and the understanding of the sedimentary response to these events in different palaeogeographical positions, are the basis for lateral correlation of facies sequences. A similar trend in the changes of deepenings and shallowings throughout the area, regardless of lateral facies differentiation, indicates a relationship between bathymetric changes and relative sea-level changes, that is independent of local differences in the sedimentation or subsidence rates. The studied stratigraphic interval, with its apparently “abrupt” changes in facies or lithology, is the sedimentary response to six, gradually changing trends in the rate of relative sea-level fall and rise. End-Devonian, offshore highstand deposits (1) are capped by an unconformity surface or by a surface of submarine erosion and nondeposition, representing a sequence boundary (2). The overlying lowstand unit consists of a basal (3) and an upper (4) part. The basal part contains an oolitic and crinoidal sand shoals, associated with a transgressive lag deposit in offshore position; the upper, main part is a prograding wedge of shallow-marine crinoidal sands, intercalated with increasingly deeper-water shaly facies (higher-order fluctuation). This lowstand unit was deposited during the initial, slow phase of relative sea-level rise. It levelled the topographic relief before the final drowning during the subsequent rapid (near the rise inflection point) relative sea-level rise (5). The associated offshore shales are the deepest facies recorded. They are capped by a prograding unit deposited during a relative highstand (6). The reconstruction of a relative sea-level curve and the subsequent determination of the bounding surfaces, is not only the key to understanding the Devonian-Carboniferous stratigraphy but also a tool for lateral correlation of “spot” outcrops.