Sediment Production

The carbonate factory produces sediment through the settling of biological particles down to the sea floor. As shown above each type of biological niche grows in a specific environment and creates a certain type of sediment. Despite how much sediment is produced by the factory there are a number of features that can change how much sediment actually stays in place.

1. Waves: on protected factories the waves have little effect upon sediment erosion however when the factory is exposed to the full onslaught of wave energy the delicate parts of the factory are easily ripped off and sediment can be drawn away from the shelf.
2. Tides: act on a daily cycle to both bring sediment and nutrients into the factory and draw the factory towards the shore and to remove sediments and water away from the factory and into deeper water. Tides also change the depth of the water column above the carbonate factory and thus allowing light to go further down into the system.
3. Storms: are a high energy event that typically act to harm the carbonate factory production. Storms can increase the amount of terrigenous sediment brought onto the carbonates as well as do a huge amount of damage to the carbonate factory itself. One example are the hurricanes that hit the carribean coral reefs each year. Luckily the larger the energy of the storm typically it's cyclicity is over longer time scales.
4. Oceanic Currents: often times brings more nutrients and oxygenated waters to the carbonate factories and encourage growth but they also can bring more terrigenous sediments to the area or even suck carbonate sediments away from the platform.

 

Another Factor that influences the carbonate factory sediment production is cycles of high sea level vs low sea level. This is very similar to tidal changes but on a much larger scale.

Times of high sea level generally allow the factories to be below the depth of the wave base and circulation. This prevents errosion or mixing of the sediments due to normal energy wave abrasion to the carbonate factory and results in a time of high sediment accumulation.

Times of low sea level expose the carbonate factory to the zone of wave energy circulation and can even place the factory above the water level. This results in erosion and lithification of the carbonate sediments and can be seen in the sediment record.

Index to carbonate shelf sediments below or to link back to USC website on sequence stratigraphy click here

Evolution	Lag time	Antecedent Topography
Biology	Climatic Zone	Siliclastic Influx
Temperature & Salinity	Sea Level	Clastic Input
Tectonism	Platform Morphology	Stratigraphic Succession
Water Depth & Turbidity	Subsidence	Lithofacies
Circulation	Carbonate Growth Potential	Eustatic Response

 

Proceed on to the carbonate platform question set.