So. Egenhoff et al., Facies architecture of an isolated carbonate platform: tracing the cycles of the Latemar (Middle Triassic, northern Italy), SEDIMENTOL, 46(5), 1999, pp. 893-912
The 720-m-thick succession of the Middle Triassic Latemar Massif (Dolomites
, Italy) was used to reconstruct the lagoonal facies architecture of a smal
l atoll-like carbonate platform. Facies analysis of the lagoonal sediments
yields a bathymetric interpretation of the lateral facies variations, which
reflect a syndepositional palaeorelief. Based on tracing of lagoonal flood
ing surfaces, the metre-scale shallowing-upward cycles are interpreted to b
e of allocyclic origin. Short-term sea-level changes led to subaerial expos
ure of wide parts of the marginal zone, resulting in the development of a t
epee belt of varying width. Occasional emergence of the entire lagoon produ
ced lagoon-wide decimetre-thick red exposure horizons. The supratidal tepee
belt in the backreef area represented the zone of maximum elevation, which
circumscribed the sub- to peritidal lagoonal interior during most of the p
latform's development. This tepee rim, the subtidal reef and a sub- to peri
tidal transition zone in between stabilized the platform margin. The asymme
tric width of facies belts within individual metre-scale cycles was caused
by redistribution processes that reflect palaeowinds and storm paths from t
he present-day south and west. The overall succession shows stratigraphic c
hanges on a scale of tens of metres from a basal subtidal unit, overlain by
three tepee-rich intervals, separated by tepee-poor units composed of subt
idal to peritidal facies. This stacking pattern reflects two third-order se
quences during the late Anisian to early middle Ladinian.