Impact of carbonate producing biota on platform architecture: Insights from Miocene examples of the Mediterranean region

Different types of carbonate platforms formed in the Mediterranean during the Miocene: low-angle homoclinal-types of ramp, distally steepened ramps, flat-topped platforms and reef-rimmed shelves. The critical differences between these platforms result from differences in the capacities of the carbonate systems to accumulate sediments above hydrodynamic base level (ecologically controlled accommodation). The various depositional profiles and facies belt distributions resulted from the interplay between different sediment production and redistribution processes, and the internal architectures resulted from the response of each type of platform to changes in accommodation. Heterogeneities driven by high-frequency sea-level cycles are maximized in platforms ruled by shallow-water, euphotic, framework-dominated production and minimized in low-angle ramps, where sediment resulted from aphotic and oligophotic carbonate production. In the Mediterranean region, there is no direct relationship between type of platform and global temperature, as shown by the coeval occurrence of different platforms in similar latitudinal settings. Although temperature is a key-limiting factor, other paleoceanographic factors, such as trophic resources, may have also been, along with biological evolution, important factors influencing different types of carbonate-producing biotas. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.