Abstract
The carbonate platform of the upper Wetterstein Formation (Cordevol) of the Drau Range (Austria) shows a distinct facies differentiation which depends on the palaeotopography. Although most areas of the platform were permanently flooded, a periodically emergent palaeotopographic high (‘Bleiberg facies’) occurred near to the centre of the platform. The resulting cyclic sequences are composed of subtidal and intertidal to supratidal carbonates and emersion horizons. Typical shallowing upward cycles occur, as well as deepening upward, symmetrical and ‘incomplete’ cycles. These types of cycles, with long-term emersion phases, can be explained by eustatic sea-level oscillations. It can be shown, due to an excellent lithostratigraphy based on distinct emersion horizons, that the cycle-type varies along a marker bed while the vertical distance between the emersion horizons is retained. Therefore the cycles cannot be explained by eustatic sea-level oscillations alone; local events which produce a local relief are necessary.
A compiled profile of the Bleiberg facies is simulated with the help of a one-dimensional, parametric computer model. The quantification of some parameters which result from this simulation is used to verify and quantify the effects of relief on sedimentation.
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Zeeh, S. The unusual cyclicity of the Triassic (Carnian) Bleiberg facies of the Wetterstein Formation (Drau Range, Austria). Geol Rundsch 83, 130–142 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00211897
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00211897