Reef Diagenesis, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1986

1 2 J. H. SCHROEDER and B. H. PURSER 1 Introduction A symposium convened during the Vth International Coral Reef Congress in Papeete, Tahiti, 1985, encouraged the editors to assemble this volume of case studies by participating and, especially, by nonparticipating scientists. An attempt was made to include case studies from various regions and geological periods, carried out on various scales from regional to ultrastructural. We hope to present an overall view of reef diagenesis. Although the volume focuses on reef diagenesis, fields also to be considered are biology, paleontology, and sedimentary facies distribution, as they provide the context and, to some extent, encompass the determinants of diagenetic processes. The scope has been limited to reef diagenesis because we feel that reefs have relatively clearly defined geometries, which facilitate the evaluation of diagenetic trends and the definition of diagenetic models. On the other hand, their many different components make reefs somewhat more complex than other deposits, and this creates difficulties in deciphering diagenetic histories; the study of reefs, therefore, is not the simplest manner of solving the many problems relating to carbonate diagenesis. An additional reason for evaluating reef diagenesis is the reservoir potential of these carbonate bodies. To illustrate the point, in the recent collection of 35 case studies of carbonate reservoirs (Roehl and Choquette 1985), reefs were involved in 15. The emphasis on porosity development in many studies of the present volume is therefore not of mere academic interest.

Reef Diagenesis: Introduction.- I Cenozoic Reefs.- Regional Distribution of Submarine Cements Within an Epicontinental Reef System: Central Great Barrier Reef, Australia.- Model of Reef Diagenesis: Mururoa Atoll, French Polynesia.- The Primary Surface Area of Corals and Variations in Their Susceptibility to Diagenesis.- Variation in Diagenetic Sequences: An Example from Pleistocene Coral Reefs, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia.- Internal Hydrology and Geochemistry of Coral Reefs and Atoll Islands: Key to Diagenetic Variations.- Diagenesis of a Miocene Reef-Platform: Jebel Abu Shaar, Gulf of Suez, Egypt.- Diagenetic Diversity in Paleocene Coral Knobs from the Bir Abu El-Husein Area, S Egypt.- II Mesozoic Reefs.- Diagenesis of Mid-Cretaceous Rudist Reefs, Valles Platform, Mexico.- A Comparative Study of the Diagenesis in Diapir-Influenced Reef Atolls and a Fault Block Reef Platform in the Late Albian of the Vasco-Cantabrian Basin (Northern Spain).- Micrite Diagenesis in Senonian Rudist Build-ups in Central Tunisia.- Diagenesis of Upper Jurassic Sponge-Algal Reefs in SW Germany.- Diagenesis of Upper Triassic Wetterstein Reefs of the Bavarian Alps.- III Paleozoic Reefs.- The Upper Permian Reef Complex (EZ 1) of North East England: Diagenesis in a Marine to Evaporitic Setting.- Diagenesis of Aragonitic Sponges from Permian Patch Reefs of Southern Tunisia.- Facies Relationships and Diagenesis in Waulsortian Mudmounds from the Lower Carboniferous of Ireland and N. England.- Early Lithification, Dolomitization, and Anhydritization of Upper Devonian Nisku Buildups, Subsurface of Alberta, Canada.- Marine Diagenesis in Devonian Reef Complexes of the Canning Basin, Western Australia.- Diagenetic History of the Union 8 Pinnacle Reef (Middle Silurian), Northern Michigan, USA.- Diagenesis of Silurian Bioherms in the Klinteberg Formation, Gotland, Sweden.- Conclusions The Diagenesis of Reefs: A Brief Review of Our Present Understanding.