Transport Mechanisms and Genesis of Limestone Clast Conglomerates with Examples from Cambrian of East Tennessee: ABSTRACT

Abstract

Limestone clast conglomerates are common sedimentary features of most Cambrian strata. Cambrian researchers have considered many of these conglomeratic deposits to have formed from erosion and redeposition of partially lithified sediments by storm currents in shallow subtidal and intertidal environments. Analysis of conglomeratic beds from the Middle and Late Cambrian (Maryville Limestone and Nolichucky Shale) in east Tennessee suggests that other, more dominant, processes were responsible for their genesis and transport. The proposed processes may serve as an alternative explanation for limestone clast conglomerates deposited elsewhere in Cambrian sequences. As the authors gain a greater understanding of transport mechanisms and their resultant sedimentary features, many of the conglomeratic beds that were once thought to be the result of storms may be reinterpreted as mass-gravity flows. Differentiating between these various types of transport mechanisms may be crucial to paleo-environmental interpretation.