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Mississippian (Early Carboniferous) stromatolite mounds in a fore-reef slope setting, Laibin, Guangxi, South China

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Abstract

The Mississippian (Early Carboniferous) is generally a period of scarce carbonate buildups in South China. This study documents outcrops of stromatolite mounds at Mengcun and Helv villages, in Laibin City, Guangxi Province, South China. The stromatolite mounds contain various stromatolite morphologies including laminar, wavy-laminar, domal or hemispheroidal, bulbous, and flabellate-growth columns. Intramound rocks are brachiopod floatstone and dark thin-bedded laminated micrite limestone. Individual stromatolites at Mengcun village are generally 3–6 cm thick and morphologically represent relatively shallow-water laminar (planar and wavy-undulated stromatolites) and deeper-water domal, bulbous and columnar forms. Where mounds were formed, the stromatolites continued growing upward up to 60 cm thick. Thrombolitic fabrics also occur but are not common. Stromatolite microscopic structure shows the bulk of the lamination to consist of wavy microbialite and discrete thin micritic laminae. These mounds are intercalated in deep-water fore-reef talus breccia, packstone formed as a bioclastic debris flow and thin-bedded limestone containing common chert layers of the Tatang Formation (late Viséan). Further evidence supporting the deep-water setting of the stromatolite mounds are: (1) a laterally thinning horizon of brachiopod floatstone containing deep-water, small, thin-shelled brachiopods, peloidal micritic sediments and low-diversity, mixed fauna (e.g., thin-shelled brachiopods, tube-like worms and algae) that have been interpreted as storm deposits, (2) common fore-reef talus breccias, (3) lack of sedimentary structures indicating current action, (4) preservation of lamination with sponge spicules, and (5) lack of bioturbation suggesting that the stromatolites grew in a relatively low energy, deep-water setting. The stromatolite mounds are the first described stromatolite mounds in Mississippian strata of South China and contain evidence that supports interpretations of (1) growth history of Mississippian microbial buildups and (2) environmental controls on stromatolite growth and lithification.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported financially by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 40872078) and the Important Direction Project of Knowledge Innovation program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KZCX3-SW-234). The fieldwork was assisted by Profs. Zhou, H.L. and Zhang, Z.X. from the Geological Institute of Guangxi Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resource.

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  1. Department of Marine Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 510301, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Jian-Wei Shen

  2. Key Laboratory of Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology and Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 510301, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Jian-Wei Shen

  3. Department of Geology, University of Regina, Regina, SK, S4S 0A2, Canada

    Hairuo Qing

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Shen, JW., Qing, H. Mississippian (Early Carboniferous) stromatolite mounds in a fore-reef slope setting, Laibin, Guangxi, South China. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 99, 443–458 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-008-0392-2

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