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Facies of Devonian fore reef limestones: a quantitative study (Iberg Reef, Harz Mts., Germany)

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Abstract

Facies in a 238-m-long core drilled through the fore reef of the Devonian (Givetian–Frasnian) Iberg Reef is largely characterised by detrital deposits. Fibrous, early marine cements are common. Stromatoporoids, corals, and crinoids are the dominant reef-building taxa. Brachiopods, cephalopods, and conodontophorids belong to the reef dwellers. Reef destroyers include gastropods and rare echinoids. Quantitative analysis of abundance data allows for dilineation of five facies including detritus-rich grainstones–rudstones, cement- and detritus-rich grainstones–rudstones, cement-rich rudstones, stromatoporoid rudstones, and crinoid grainstones. Time-series analysis indicates cyclic sedimentation that might have been related to mid–late Devonian third-order sea-level variations. However, the long-term (mid-Devonian to Early Carboniferous) development of the Iberg Reef including the post-reef seamount stage was presumably controlled by subsidence.

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Acknowledgements

We dedicate this paper to the memory of Dr. Jared Morrow who passed away much too early aged 50 in October 2010. Jared was a palaeontologist and stratigrapher specialising in the Devonian and on impact deposits that he visited all over the world. We are very grateful to Dr. Peter Königshof for identifying conodont samples from core 99/04 and for his comments on the manuscript. We thank the manager of the Winterberg limestone quarry of the Fels-Werke GmbH, Mr. Horenburg, for giving us the opportunity to study core 99/04. Stefanie Lode helped during sampling and cut and polished the core samples. Dr. David Storz is thanked for assisting with statistical analyses. The thoughtful reviews of Paul Copper and Hans-Georg Herbig greatly improved this paper.

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  1. Institut für Geowissenschaften, Goethe-Universität, Altenhöferallee 1, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Eberhard Gischler & M. Mesut Erkoç

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  1. Eberhard Gischler
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  2. M. Mesut Erkoç
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Correspondence to Eberhard Gischler.

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Dedicated to the memory of Dr. Jared R. Morrow (1959–2010)

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Gischler, E., Erkoç, M.M. Facies of Devonian fore reef limestones: a quantitative study (Iberg Reef, Harz Mts., Germany). Palaeobio Palaeoenv 93, 91–101 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-012-0108-2

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