Home | Session 4 | Shallow Marine Pg 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Shallow Marine Environments and Paleoenvironments: Reefs, Beaches and Basins

Presented by Carol Tang
California Academy of Sciences

But despite some new deep-sea studies, most studies are focused on the shallow environments. The shelf has the most variety of environments and support most of the biodiversity in the oceans.

• Clastic sediments
  • Weathered from land (e.g. sands, muds, clays)
    
    
• Biogenic sediments
  • Mediated by organisms
  • Cherts (silica)
  • Carbonates (calcium carbonate)
    • Ooze in deep sea
    • Reefs in shallow environments
      
      
• Carbonates
  • Away from terrestrial input (because the organisms would be buried and because clastics dilute carbonates)
  • Warm, clear waters where organisms can be productive
  • Complex biology and geology interactions
  • Examples:
    • Bahamas
    • Great Barrier Reef
      
      
• Reef defintion
  • Biological build-ups with relief above sea floor

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updated April 1, 2002

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