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Middle Devonian (Givetian) supratidal sabkha anhydrites from the Moesian Platform (Northeastern Bulgaria)

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Abstract

The Middle Devonian (Givetian) anhydrites from deep wells in the Moesian Platform (Northeastern Bulgaria) are commonly distinguished into nodular and contorted structures. The latter includes a great variety of non-bedded (nodular, nodular-mosaic, mosaic and mosaic to massive), bedded (bedded nodular, bedded nodular-mosaic and bedded-mosaic to massive) and distorted (distorted nodular-mosaic, distorted mosaic, distorted bedded-mosaic, and “ropy bedded”) types. Microscopically, the anhydrite types are characterized by felted, subfelted and microcrystalline (aphanitic) microfabrics. The associated carbonate lithofacies and the synsedimentary/early diagenetic anhydrite features suggest that these sediments were formed in an arid peritidal setting with well distinguished subtidal (ostracod mudstones and wackestones, paleosiphonoclad wackestones and packstones and ostracod-peloidal packstones and grainstones), intertidal (microbial mats) and supratidal (sabkha anhydrites) zones. The described nodular and contorted anhydrites are interpreted as originated by similar mechanisms as those operating in recent sabkha settings in the Arabian Gulf. Most probably, they are the result of replacement/displacement intrasediment sulphate growth within the vadose and upper phreatic zones of the supratidal sabkha. The various nodular and contorted types are regarded as formed from incipient nodular structure and represent different stages of anhydrite nodule enlargement and growth deformation due to additional sulphate accumulation in the supratidal zone.

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Acknowledgments

Part of this paper is based on my Ph.D. dissertation at the Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. I am thankful to Prof. S. Yanev for the opportunity to use his thin-section collection, rock samples, and primary documentation. My gratitude also goes to the National Geofund of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism of Bulgaria for kindly giving a permission to study available well cores during my Ph.D. thesis work. This research was supported by the Bulgarian National Science Fund (Grant NZ-1501). The clarity of the final manuscript benefited from official journal reviews by two anonymous referees.

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  1. Geological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, G. Bonchev str. bl. 24, 1113, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Polina Vesselinova Andreeva

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  1. Polina Vesselinova Andreeva
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Correspondence to Polina Vesselinova Andreeva.

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Andreeva, P.V. Middle Devonian (Givetian) supratidal sabkha anhydrites from the Moesian Platform (Northeastern Bulgaria). Carbonates Evaporites 30, 439–449 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13146-015-0238-5

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