Facies patterns of a tectonically-controlled Upper Triassic platform-slope carbonate depositional system (Carnian Prealps, Northeastern Italy)

Summary Upper Triassic (Middle-Upper Norian) shallow-water carbonates of the Dolomia Principale and its deep-water counterparts (Forni Dolomite) have been studied in the Carnian Prealps (northeastern Italy). The Dolomia Principale was a storm-dominated carbonate platform; in the Mt. Pramaggiore area, along a well-preserved 3.5 km-long platform-to-basin transition, the inner platform facies of the Dolomia Principale, characterized by m-scale shallowing upward cycles, give way seaward to open marine storm-dominated shallow subtidal lagoon deposits with frequent hardgrounds and evidence of microbial stabilization of the bottom sediment. The margin of the Dolomia Principale platform was colonized by meter-scale stromatolites and serpulid-microbial mounds that thrived due to the local highly stressed environment, characterized by drastic salinity fluctuations and turbid waters, that excluded the Upper Triassic coral-sponge communities. The Forni Dolomite slope-basin complex was characterized by an upper slope facies with debris flows, megabreccias, turbidites and serpulid-microbial mounds. The lower slope and basinal facies show thinning and fining trends. After restoring the original geometry of the slope, the depositional angles of the clinoforms range between 11 and 36 degrees, reflecting closely the coarse-grained character of the Forni Dolomite slope complex, which can be interpreted as a slope apron that, as a model, can be extended to steeply inclined carbonate slopes. The onset of synsedimentary extensional tectonics at the Middle-Late Norian boundary affected the platform-slope depositional system via: 1) localized inner platform collapses and the formation of an intraplatform anoxic depression at Mt. Valmenone, 2) a switch from platform lateral progradation during the Middle Norian to vertical aggradation in the Late Norian, reflected in an increase in platform relief, steeper foreslope angles and coarser-grained slope facies, and 3) controlling the spatial orientation of the margin of the Dolomia Principale.