Neritic Carbonate Sediments In A Temperate Realm

This book is the first comprehensive documentation and interpretation of modern neritic carbonate sediments on the southern Australian continental margin, the largest cool-water carbonate depositional system on the globe. The approach is classical but the information is new. A brief chapter of introduction is followed by a section that describes the setting of the continental margin in terms of the regional geology, its evolution through time, the climate, and the complex oceanography. The setting is further explored in chapter 3 that outlines the Pleistocene history of sedimentation in this region. This is particularly important since many of the surficial sediments have a partial older history. The following section on the carbonate factory describes in detail the nature of the animals and plants that determine the nature of the sediments and the environmental conditions that control their distribution. The shelf itself cannot be discussed in isolation and thus a short chapter on the marginal marine environment is presented. The core of the book comprises two chapters that document the suite of depositional facies and their composition and then the suite of depositional environments where these sediments are found. The variety of deposits in this vast area is such that three chapters are devoted to the character of the materials on the southwestern shelf the south Australian sea and the southeastern shelf. The diagenesis that affects these sediments is tackled in a chapter after all the attributes are documented because they are intimately linked to different controls. The book finishes with a summary chapter that also addresses the various controls on sedimentation and models the effects to be expected when these are changed outside those present in the current realm. Audience: The book is an invaluable source of information about this vast region and will be a critical reference for researchers, graduate students, and professionals engaged in marine and environmental research. It will be of particular importance for geologists interpreting the ancient rock record.

This textbook provides an overview of the origin and preservation of carbonate sedimentary rocks. The focus is on limestones and dolostones and the sediments from which they are derived. The approach is general and universal and draws heavily on fundamental discoveries, arresting interpretations, and keystone syntheses that have been developed over the last five decades. The book is designed as a teaching tool for upper level undergraduate classes, a fundamental reference for graduate and research students, and a scholarly source of information for practicing professionals whose expertise lies outside this specialty. The approach is rigorous, with every chapter being designed as a separate lecture on a specific topic that is encased within a larger scheme. The text is profusely illustrated with all colour diagrams and images of rocks, subsurface cores, thin sections, modern sediments, and underwater seascapes. Additional resources for this book can be found at: www.wiley.com/go/james/carbonaterocks

This book documents and interprets the onshore Cenozoic temperate carbonate depositional system along the southern margin of Australia. These strata, deposited in four separate basins, together with the extensive modern marine system offshore, comprise the largest such cool-water carbonate system on the globe. The approach is classic and comparative but the information is a synthesis of recent research and new information. A brief section of introduction outlines the setting, modern comparative sedimentology offshore, and structure of the Cenozoic onshore. The core of the book is a detailed analysis and illustration of the four Eocene to Pleistocene successions. Deposits range from temperate carbonates, to biosiliceous spiculites, to marginal marine siliciclastics. Each unit is interpreted, as much as possible, based on our understanding of the modern offshore depositional system. A subsequent part concentrates on diagenesis both before and after the late Miocene uplift. It turns out that alteration in the two packages is entirely different. The preceding attributes of each succession are then interpreted on the basis of controlling factors such as tectonics, oceanography, climate, and glaciation of nearby Antarctica. This research has revealed new implications for the interpretation of specific attributes of cool-water carbonate sedimentology that could only be discovered from the rock record. Insights concerning cyclicity, reef mounds, biosiliceous deposition, and trophic resources are detailed in the next section. The concluding part focuses on global comparisons, especially the Mediterranean and New Zealand.

This United Nations report examines the current state of knowledge of the world's oceans, for policymakers, and provides a reference for marine science courses.

We live in a world where the loss of sea ice and thawing of coastal grounds in the north, and renewed marine transgression and an increase in the frequency of extreme weather events globally, are becoming commonplace. This volume presents a timely examination of coasts, the geological environment at particular risk, as global warming brings on this new reality. In 23 papers, low lying, mainly siliciclastic coasts are reviewed, described and analysed, under a variety of climates in quasi-stable tectonic settings along passive, trailing-continental edges from Polar Regions to the Tropics. Examples include coast of the Arctic seas, temperate to tropical eastern shores of the Americas, western Portugal, Mediterranean, Persian Gulf, South Africa and Australia. The entire coastal zone (landscape) is considered ranging from geophysical processes and products to biological entities including the adaption of Native People in various climatic zones. Knowledge of the state of the coasts now, and how the coastal plain has evolved since Late Pleistocene, is crucial for any realistic planning for the future.

Selected papers and abstracts of the symposium held August 6 through 9, 2011, Billings, Montana

This book provides an up-to-date overview of the Quaternary geological and geomorphological evolution of the Coorong Coastal Plain region and its significance in a global context for understanding long-term records of Quaternary sea-level changes. The Coorong Coastal Plain in southern Australia is a natural laboratory for examining the response of coastal barrier landscapes to relative sea-level changes. The region provides direct evidence of coastal sedimentation during successive interglacials over the past 1 million years, as well as more recent volcanism. The region has received international focus and attracted scientists from around the World, with interests in long-term coastal evolution, sea-level changes, Quaternary dating methods and geochronology, soil development, temperate carbonate sedimentation, karst geomorphology and geologically recent volcanism.

Ecology of Australian Temperate Reefs presents the current state of knowledge of the ecology of important elements of southern Australian sub-tidal reef flora and fauna, and the underlying ecological principles. Preliminary chapters describe the geological origin, oceanography and biogeography of southern Australia, including the transitional temperate regions toward the Abrolhos Islands in the west and to Sydney in the east. The book then explains the origin and evolution of the flora and fauna at geological time scales as Australia separated from Antarctica; the oceanography of the region, including principal currents, and interactions with on-shelf waters; and the ecology of particular species or species groups at different trophic levels, starting with algae, then the ecological principles on which communities are organised. Finally, conservation and management issues are discussed. Ecology of Australian Temperate Reefs is well illustrated with line drawings, figures and colour photographs showing the many species covered, and will be a much valued reference for biologists, undergraduates, and those interested and concerned with reef life and its natural history. 2014 Whitley Award Commendation for Marine Ecology.