Short-lived early Cenomanian volcanic atolls of Mt. Carmel, northern Israel

Bialik, Or M.; Samankassou, Elias; Meilijson, Aaron; Waldmann, Nicolas D.; Steinberg, Josh; Karcz, Kul; Makovsky, Yizhaq

doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2020.105805

Scientific article

English

Short-lived early Cenomanian volcanic atolls of Mt. Carmel, northern Israel

Contributors

Bialik, Or M.; Samankassou, Elias

; Meilijson, Aaron; Waldmann, Nicolas D.; Steinberg, Josh; Karcz, Kul; Makovsky, Yizhaq

Published in

Sedimentary Geology, vol. 411, no. 105805

Publication date

2021

Abstract

Volcanic atolls host exceptionally important marine ecosystems in the modern oceans. Yet, due to limited exposures, fossil atolls are poorly constrained. Multiple drowned Cretaceous volcanic atolls have been reported in the Pacific, but less information exists regarding those in the Tethys. Here we report on two early Cenomanian age volcanic atolls outcropping in Mt. Carmel (northern Israel), along the eastern Levant margin. These atolls are a few kilometers in diameter and differ significantly in facies from their surroundings, which are dominated by chalky calcareous mudstone and wackestone. The atolls are composed of grainstone, floatstone, rudstone and bafflestone facies, which are dominated by molluscans, notably gastropods, rudists, oysters and other bivalves. Corals and green algae are absent throughout these atolls. The studied sections of these atolls display a full succession, beginning with aggradation and ending with drowning. Age constraints for the volcanic phases suggest that deposition occurred within a relatively short time interval (<1 Myr) and the sequence represents a keep-up to give-up transition, within rising global and local sea-level trends. The inability of these atolls to keep up with rising sea level is attributed here to a suppressed carbonate factory, either due to drowning, turbidity and/or nutrient excess. Our study sheds new light on the dynamics of carbonate buildups during the Late Cretaceous and their ability to persist.

Keywords

Cretaceous
Rudists
Atoll succession
Drowning
Levant

UNIGE affiliation entities

Faculté des sciences / Section des sciences de la Terre et de l'Environnement / Département des sciences de la Terre

UNIGE research groups

Sedimentology, Biostratigraphy and Micropaleontology

Citation (ISO format)

BIALIK, Or M. et al. Short-lived early Cenomanian volcanic atolls of Mt. Carmel, northern Israel. In: Sedimentary Geology, 2021, vol. 411, n° 105805. doi: 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2020.105805

Article (Published version)

Identifiers

PID : unige:151985
DOI : 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2020.105805

Additional URL for this publication

https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0037073820302207

Journal ISSN

0037-0738

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Creation

26/05/2021 19:18:00

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26/05/2021 19:18:00

Update

16/03/2023 00:40:28

Status update

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31/10/2024 22:13:07

Short-lived early Cenomanian volcanic atolls of Mt. Carmel, northern Israel

Contributors

Published in

Publication date

Abstract

Keywords

UNIGE affiliation entities

UNIGE research groups

Citation (ISO format)

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Identifiers

Additional URL for this publication

Journal ISSN

Technical informations

Creation

First validation

Update

Status update

Last indexation