Forward modeling of bank-margin carbonate diagenesis

We have applied forward modeling to investigate deposition and early diagenesis resulting from the interaction of high-frequency glacioeustatic sea-level fluctuation with bank-margin carbonates in a subsiding basin. The model output yields lithologies predicted by the static model, but the relation of these lithologies to any particular subaerial exposure surface is obscured by the complexity of glacioeustatic sea-level history. The geologic history of our synthetic stratigraphic sequences could not be unraveled by traditional stratigraphic and sedimentologic study methods. Forward modeling is the preferred approach to analysis of carbonate sequences.