Abstract
The Cretaceous of Brazil is widely known for vast carbonate platforms that developed along the Brazilian east coast. An onshore well drilled and logged in Sergipe State on a structural low allowed the recovery and study of a continuous 439-m core section that records an interval aged from the late Albian to the early Turonian. The section is characterized by calcilutites, marls, and shales, with occasional carbonate breccias. Ten sedimentary microfacies were recognized that indicate deposition in a deep-marine paleoenvironment constantly affected by gravitational flows. These deposits were influenced by climatic variation, as suggested by the alternation of micritic and clayey layers. The analysis of the vertical microfacies pattern, supported by well logs and geochemistry analyses, led to the subdivision of the core into three third-order depositional sequences. A long-term sea-level rise trend in the studied interval, which records the evolution of a partially protected carbonate-siliciclastic mixed platform to a distally steepened carbonate ramp, is proposed herein. The conclusion obtained by this study is important to the understanding of carbonate platform evolution, with the integrated approach of microfacies, geochemistry, and well logs proving to be essential in obtaining precise information when working with deep-marine deposits.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahr WM (1973) The carbonate ramp: an alternative to the shelf model. Trans Gulf Coast Assoc Geolo Soc 23:221–225
Alves T, Cooper M, Rios-Netto A (2016) Paleogene-Neogene calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy and paleoecological inferences from northern Campos Basin, Brazil (well Campos-01). J S Am Earth Sci 71:143–160
Andrade EJ (2005) Turonian inoceramids and biostratigraphy of the Sergipe Basin, northeastern Brazil: an integrated study of the Votorantim and Nassau quarries. Dissertation, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
Antunes RL (1997) Introdução ao estudo de nanofósseis calcários. Instituto de geociências, Rio de Janeiro
Bandeira AN Jr (1978) Sedimentologia e microfacies calcárias das Formações Riachuelo e Cotinguiba da Bacia Sergipe/Alagoas. Boletim Técnico da Petrobrás 21:17–69
Bengtson P (1983) The Cenomanian–Coniacian of the Sergipe Basin, Brazil. Fossils Strata 12:1–78
Berthou P-Y, Bengtson P (1988) Stratigraphic correlation by microfacies of the Cenomanian–Coniacian of the Sergipe Basin, Brazil. Fossils Strata 21:1–88
Burnett JA (1998) Upper Cretaceous. In: Bown PR (ed) Calcareous Nannofossil biostratigraphy. British micropaleontology society publications series. Kluwer Academic Publishers, London, pp 132–199
Campos Neto OPA, Souza Lima W, Gomes Cruz FE (2008) Bacia de Sergipe–Alagoas. Boletim de Geociências da Petrobras 15 [for 2007]:405–415
Carozzi AV (1989) Carbonate rocks depositional model. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River
El-Asmar HM, Assal EM, El-Sorogy AS, Youssef M (2015) Facies analysis and depositional environments of the Upper Jurassic Jubaila Formation, Central Saudi Arabia. J Afr Earth Sc 110:34–51
Embry AF, Klovan JE (1972) Late Devonian reef tracts on northeastern Banks Islands, Northwest Territories. Can Pet Geol Bull 19:730–781
Flügel E (2004) Microfacies of carbonate rocks, analysis, interpretation and application. Springer, Berlin
Friedman GM (1959) Identification of carbonate minerals by staining methods. J Sediment Petrol 29:87–97
Galloway WE (1989) Genetic stratigraphic sequences in basin analysis I: Architecture and genesis of flooding-surface bounded depositional units. Am Assoc Pet Geol Bull 73:125–142
Grabau AW (1904) On the classification of sedimentary rocks. Am Geol 33:228–247
Haq BU (2014) Cretaceous eustasy revisited. Global Planet Change 113:44–58
Hessel MHR (1988) Lower Turonian inoceramids from Sergipe, Brazil: systematics, stratigraphy and palaeoecology. Fossils Strata 22:1–49
Koutsoukos EAM (1989) Mid- to late Cretaceous microbiostratigraphy, paleo-ecology and paleogeography of the Sergipe–Basin, northeastern Brazil. Dissertation, Polytechnic South West
Koutsoukos EAM (1992) Late Aptian to Maastrichtian foraminiferal biogeography and palaeoceanography of the Sergipe Basin, Brazil. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 92:295–324
Koutsoukos EAM, Mello MR, Azambuja Filho NC (1991) Micropaleontological and geochemical evidence of mid-Cretaceous dysoxic–anoxic paleoenvironments in the Sergipe Basin, northeastern Brazil. In: Tyson RV, Pearson TH (eds) Modern and ancient continental Shelf Anoxia. Geological Society Special Publication 58:427–447
Koutsoukos EAM, Destro N, Azambuja Filho NC, Spadani AR (1993) Upper Aptian-lower Coniacian carbonate sequences in the Sergipe Basin, northeastern Brazil. In: Simo T, Scott RW, Masse J-P (eds) Cretaceous carbonate platforms. AAPG Memoir, pp 127–144
Lana MC (1990) Bacia de Sergipe–Alagoas: uma hipótese de evolução tectono-sedimentar. In: Raja Gabaglia GP, Milani EJ (eds) Origem e Evolução de Bacias Sedimentares. Editora Gávea, Rio de Janeiro, pp 311–332
Leventhal JS (1982) An interpretation of carbon and sulfur relationships in Black Sea sediments as indicators of environments of deposition. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 47:133–137
Leventhal JS (1995) Carbon-sulfur plots to show diagenetic and epigenetic sulfidation in sediments. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 59:1207–1211
Mello M, Koutsoukos E, Hart M, Brassell S, Maxwell JR (1989) Late Cretaceous anoxic events in the Brazilian continental margin. Org Geochem 14:529–542
Mutti E, Tinterri R, Benevelli G, di Biase D, Cavanna G (2003) Deltaic, mixed and turbidite sedimentation of ancient foreland basins. Mar Pet Geol 20:733–755
Nieto LM, Rodríguez-Tovar FJ, Molina JS, Reolid M, Ruiz-Ortiz PA (2014) Unconformity surfaces in pelagic carbonate environments: a case from the middle Bathonian of the Betic Cordillera, SE Spain. Ann Soc Geol Pol 84:281–295
Ojeda HAO, Fugita AM (1976) Bacia Sergipe/Alagoas: geologia regional e perspectivas petrolíferas. In: Congresso Brasileiro de Geologia. Porto Alegre, SBG, vol 28, pp 137–158
Poupon A, Gaymard R (1970) The evaluation of clay content from logs. SPWLA 11th Annual Logging Symposium, Conference paper: 1970-G
Read JF (1982) Carbonate platforms of passive (extensional) continent margins: types, characteristics and evolution. Tectonophysics 81:195–212
Savrda CE, Bottjer DJ (1991) Oxygen-related biofacies in marine strata: an overview and update. In: Tyson RV, Pearson TH (eds) Modern and Ancient Continental Shelf Anoxia. Geological Society Special Publication, pp 201–219
Schaller H (1970) Revisão estratigráfica da Bacia de Sergipe/Alagoas. Boletim Técnico da Petrobras 12 [for 1969]:21–86
Schlanger SO, Jenkyns HC (1976) Cretaceous oceanic anoxic events: causes and consequences. Geol Mijnbouw 55:179–184
Seeling J, Bengtson P (2002) Palaeobiogeography of the upper Cenomanian-lower Turonian macroinvertebrates of the Sergipe Basin, northeastern Brazil. In: Wagreich M (eds) Aspects of the Cretaceous Stratigraphy and Palaeobiogeography. Schriftenreihe der Erdwissenschaftlichen Kommissionen der Österreichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, vol 15, pp 151–168
Spence GH, Tucker ME (1997) Genesis of limestone megabreccias and their significance in carbonate sequence stratigraphic models: a review. Sed Geol 112:163–193
Tucker ME (1985) Shallow-marine carbonate facies and facies models. In: Brenchley P, Williams BPJ (eds) Sedimentology, recent developments and applied aspects. Geological Society Special Publication, London, pp 147–169
Walter S (2000) Palaeoenvironmental analysis of the upper Cenomanian and lower Turonian limestone beds in the Sergipe Basin, northeastern Brazil, based on microfacies analysis, micropalaeontology, and stable isotopes, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
Walter S, Herrmann AD, Bengtson P (2005) Stratigraphy and facies analysis of the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary succession in the Japaratuba area, Sergipe Basin, Brazil. In: Bengtson P (eds) Mesozoic palaeontology and stratigraphy of South America and the South Atlantic, Part II. J South Am Earth Sci 19:273–283
Wilson JL (1975) Carbonate facies in geologic history. Springer, New York
Young JR, Bown PR, Less JA (2017) Nannotax3 website. International nannoplankton association. http://www.mikrotax.org/Nannotax3/. Accessed 21 April 2017
Acknowledgements
This research was carried out in association with the ongoing R&D project registered as ANP 20225-9, “PRESALT—Geological characterization of carbonate reservoirs from the pre-salt interval of Santos Basin, correlates (Sergipe–Alagoas Basin) and analogues” (UFRJ/Shell Brasil/ANP), sponsored by Shell Brasil. We thank Votorantim Cimentos S.A., Laranjeiras unit, for the drilling authorization at its facilities. We furthermore thank the reviewers Peter Bengtson and Herbert Volk for the critical reading, careful recommendations, and constructive criticism that greatly improved this paper. PFD thanks CNPq (process 310164/2017-6) for the research Grant.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Valle, B., Dal’ Bó, P.F., Mendes, M. et al. Stratigraphic evolution of a Brazilian carbonate platform during the Cretaceous: the late Albian–early Turonian of the Sergipe–Alagoas Basin. Facies 65, 1 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-018-0543-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-018-0543-2