Oceanography and reefs of recent and Paleozoic tropical epeiric seas

Summary The Java Sea, one of the few modern tropical epeiric seas, is used as an analogue to examine oceanography, stratigraphy, and reefs of Devonian strata in the Appalachian and Michigan Basins. Nearshore patch reefs and offshore “pinnacle” reefs occur in both the Java Sea and the Emsian-Eifelian Onondaga Formation in the Appalachian Basin. Nearshore patch reefs also occur in the Eifelian Formosa Reef Limestone in the Michigan Basin. The Java Sea is characterized by quasi-estuarine circulation, in which runoff and rainfall exceed evaporation. Nutrient and organic matter influx from land and from estuarine upwelling contribute to organic rich facies during transgressions and sea level highstands. Similarly, we propose that high runoff from the Appalachian Mountains and from the Laurentian craton contributed to slightly reduced salinity in the Appalachian basin, including possible density stratification during Middle Devonian highstands. By contrast, the Michigan Basin was characterized by antiestuarine circulation, in which evaporation exceeded combined runoff and rainfall. Contemporaneous Emsian-Eifelian strata in the Michigan Basin are dolomite and dolomitic limestone, rather than cherty and muddy limestone typical of the Appalachian basin. Reef composition generally reflects oceanographic circulation regime within the epicontinental seas we examine. Nearshore reefs of the modern Java Sea and the Onondaga Formation (Appalachian Basin) are dominated by multilobate submassive, dendroid, and phaceloid corals, and virtually no platy corals or tabular stromatoporoids. Multilobate and phaceloid corals are better able to accommodate muddy sedimentation. By contrast, offshore pinnacle reefs of the Java Sea and nearshore reefs of the Formosa Reef Limestone are dominated by platyAcropora (modern) or tabular and laminar stromatoporoids (Devonian). The scarcity of tabular stromatoporoids, and the dominance of phaceloid corals and dendritic branching corals, in the Onondaga Formation (Appalachian Basin) are herein explained by localized high productivity conditions driven by quasi-estuarine circulation, rather than cool water. Quasi-estuarine circulation or localized topographic upwelling leading to highly productive coastal environments may be responsible for other Paleozoic examples of apparent cool-water carbonate deposition within the tropics, including the Ordovician of Eastern Canada.