Abstract The approximately 300-m (984.2 ft)-thick Oligo–Miocene carbonates of the Perla field consist of an overall deepening-upward sequence predominantly composed of larger benthic foraminifera and red algae (oligophotic production) with a minor contribution from shallow-water (euphotic) carbonate components (green algae and corals). Two types of facies successions occur. In the lower part, lithofacies persistently occur in transgressive-regressive sequences bounded by erosional surfaces (Type 1). In Type 1 successions, the interactive analysis of the skeletal components and textures, along with the order of the facies succession (Walther’s Law) permit the establishment of the depositional model, the architecture of the building blocks, and their stacking patterns. Deposited in a context of tectonic subsidence, the building blocks progressively onlapped with backstepping configuration onto a paleoisland. In the upper part, volumetrically less important, lithofacies recurrence is sporadic, while fining-upward successions are common. They commonly have gray-black coloration (pyrite, phosphate, and glauconite) and planktonic foraminifers and nannofossils are abundant (Type 2). They are interpreted as gravity-flow deposits deposited below a chemocline. This requires a younger carbonate factory updip of the cored area, consistent with the subsidence, to supply the rhodolith-rich deposits of the upper part of the Perla limestone. A gentle distally steepened ramp model (distal bulge) is considered. Nevertheless, waves fail to explain the facies distribution in the Perla ramp; the turbulence induced by breaking internal waves is the best candidate to explain the facies distribution in the outer ramp.

Abstract The spectrum of carbonate-platform types, their heterogeneities, and their architecture is complex. Each platform succession has a distinctive and unique character that is a response to the particular geotectonic context and the physical, chemical, and biological conditions to that specific Phanerozoic window. Each succession has a distinct depositional profile, facies-belt distribution, and platform architecture, and it is expressed by the order of the basic accretional units and their stacking patterns. Critical differences between platform types are often the result of differences in their ecological accommodation. End members include (A) low-relief carbonate ramps that match a shelf equilibrium profile and are composed of either loose, fine-grained sediments produced in shallow, well-illuminated areas but shed downdip, or sediment produced and accumulated (sometimes as a distal bulge) in the deeper part of the depositional profile (poor-light or no-light zones), (B) open-shelf platforms involving large-skeleton metazoans with a marked to moderate capacity to build a platform margin above the shelf equilibrium profile, (C) rigid rimmed platforms with biotic components capable of accumulating to sea level with a maximum ecological accommodation, and (D) platforms with steep, massive and thick marginal slopes characteristic of many Paleozoic and some Mesozoic settings. Interpretation of carbonate platforms and prediction of their facies heterogeneities involves analyzing and integrating geometrically related data. Analysis involves iterative and successive backstripping of sediment accumulation from youngest to oldest. This is reassembled to determine the genetic character of the carbonate sequences, cycles, parasequences, and/or beds as products of changes in physical and ecological accommodation. This reassembly considers the evolution of the biota involved, and the resulting changes in ecological requirements, the hydrodynamic setting, the physical accommodation, and the ecological accommodation (capacity of building up above a certain hydrodynamic energy level). The limits to this analytical strategy are tied to the knowledge of the ecology of ancient biota, while its advantage is that it formulates new questions that lead to more realistic interpretations and enhanced predictions of lithofacies heterogeneities.

Abstract Tertiary (Palaeogene and Neogene) deposits crop out widely across both the Iberian peninsula and the Balearic Islands (Fig. 13.1 ), and record a dramatic sequence of events during plate convergence. The anticlockwise rotation of an initially isolated Mesozoic Iberian plate was followed by late Cretaceous– Cenozoic interaction with both the European and African plates. This ultimately created two great Alpine mountain belts (Pyrenean-Basque-Cantabrian and Betic-Balearic) (Fig. 13.1 ), each of which generated major Cenozoic foreland basins (Ebro and Guadalquivir). Away from these mountain belts, two large Cenozoic intraplate depressions (Duero and Tajo basins) flank a central horst (Central Range). Another important group of depocentres occurs within a string of Neogene grabens situated along the eastern side of mainland Spain (Fig. 13.1 ), forming part of a long-lived and still-active extensional system linking the Valencia trough with the Rhine and Rhone grabens in Germany and France. Further SE, Neogene extension propagated from the Valencian trough into the southern Betic orogen and created a series of basins from Alicante to Granada and beyond. Tertiary sedimentary rocks in Spain were thus deposited during and after Alpine compression in the Iberian area. This chapter summarizes the main characteristics of these sediments, moving broadly from north to south, a direction reflecting the diachronous shift in Cenozoic Alpine deformation from the Pyrenees to the Betic-Balearic region.

Abstract: On all the Balearic islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera), the Upper Tortonian-Lower Messinian part of the post-orogenic sedimentary section is the Reef Complex. This unit is composed of carbonate rocks deposited as progradational reef-rimmed platforms with off-reef open-shelf, forereef-slope, reef-core and back-reef lagoon facies associations. The most extensive progradation of a Late Miocene carbonate platform in the western Mediterranean occurred on the Llucmajor Platform in the area of present-day southwestern Mallorca. Here as much as 20 km of basinward progradation took place during Late Tortonian and Early Messinian time. Core-hole data from the Llucmajor area show that the Reef Complex limestone and dolomite are up to 100 m thick and are spread over a platform of about 15 km by 20 km. The southern and western portions of the Llucmajor Platform coral-reef complex are superbly exposed in high vertical sea cliffs. The lithofacies units of the Reef Complex are defined on the basis of their lithology, constituents, stratification and geometric relationships. There are two main types of open-shelf lithofacies: (1) dolomitized grainstone-packstone with abundant red algae and (2) packstone-wackestone with planktonic foraminifers. Interfingering landward with the finer-grained open-shelf lithofacies are dolomitized skeletal grainstone, packstone, and wackestone of the reef-slope deposits. These slope deposits are characterized by basinward-dipping clinoforms of variable thickness and lateral extent, depending on configuration of the forereef platform. The slope rocks interfinger landward with massive coral-reef limestone and dolostone. The reef rocks interfinger landward with flat-lying lagoon lithofacies composed of partly dolomitized packstone, wackestone, and grainstone. The reef framework on the Llucmajor Platform is constructed mainly of only one to two genera of corals, Porites or Porites and Tarbellastraea. Along the southern part of the platform, depositional strike of the reef tracts was N35°W to N60°W, and progradation was toward the southwest. From the perspective of sea-cliff outcrops in this area, there are three main types of reef tracts: (1) discontinuous, mound-like Porites and Tarbellastraea reefs cropping out in the Vallgornera area, (2) more continuous Porites and Tarbellastraea reefs cropping out from Cala Beltrán to Els Bancals and (3) Porites reef tracts cropping out from Els Bancals to Cap Blanc. The youngest reefs of the Llucmajor Platform, which crop out along the western coast, are constructed of Porites and Tarbellastraea, and core data show that most reefs throughout the platform contain both these genera. The most complete sequence of the Porites-framework reef crops out on the high Cap Blanc sea cliff, where the reef is part of an aggradational sequence. Here there are three zones of coral morphology: (1) a lower zone of "dish coral", (2) a middle zone of "branching coral" and (3) an upper zone of "massive coral". The Reef Complex has a complicated stratigraphy of accretional units, reflecting several orders (probably 4th through 7th) of high-frequency oscillations in relative sea level. These fluctuations in sea level produced the most characteristic facies relationship within the Reef Complex: progradation with vertical shifts (upward and downward) of the reef-core and associated lithofacies. The complex architecture of the Llucmajor carbonate complex can only be adequately defined from the reef-core facies stacking patterns in the dip direction. Changes in stacking patterns allow definition of four systems tracts: "low stillstand," "aggradational," "high stillstand" and "offlapping." These systems tracts are identified in the accretional units of every scale, except the basic accretional unit, the "sigmoid." The fore-reef slope and off-reef open-shelf facies are mainly built up by aggradational systems tracts separated by condensed intervals of fine-grained distal slope and open-platform carbonates. These distally condensed intervals correlate landward with the high-stillstand, offlapping, and low-stillstand systems tracts. Progradation of the reef systems on the southern part of the platform was more extensive during sea-level falls on a gentle depositional profile. The subsequent sea-level rises created wide lagoons, which apparently enhanced carbonate production and downslope shedding of sediment. On steeper topographic gradients, relatively minor reef progradation took place during sea-level falls, and only small back-reef lagoons were created during the subsequent sea-level rises. Barrier reefs with extensive lagoons and patch reefs formed during relative sea-level rises of different orders of magnitude; fringing reefs developed during sea-level falls.