INTRODUCTION i

A Color Guide to the

Petrography of
Carbonate Rocks:
Grains, textures, porosity, diagenesis

Peter A. Scholle
Director, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources,
New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology, Socorro, NM 87801

Dana S. Ulmer-Scholle
Senior Research Scientist, New Mexico Institute of Mining &
Technology, Socorro, NM 87801

AAPG Memoir 77

Published by
The American Association of Petroleum Geologists
Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.A.
2003
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 About the AuthorS
♦
Peter A. Scholle received his B.S. in Geology from Yale University in 1965. After
spending a year on a Fulbright-DAAD fellowship at the University of Munich in Ger-
many, and another year at the University of Texas at Austin (mainly taking petrography
classes from Bob Folk), he went to Princeton University, receiving his Ph.D. in geology
in 1970. His dissertation work, on deep-water carbonate turbidites in the Italian Apen-
nines, was supervised by Al Fischer.
Peter’s professional career has covered a wide range of employment, including state
and federal government, the petroleum industry, and academia. He worked for five years
for various oil companies (Cities Service, Gulf and Chevron) and consulted for other oil
companies for many years. Nine years were spent with the U. S. Geological Survey in
Reston (VA) and Denver (CO), including three years as chief of the Oil and Gas Branch.
He taught at the University of Texas at Dallas for three years and was Albritton Profes-
sor of Geology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas from 1985 to 1999. At SMU,
he taught courses in geology, environmental science, and oceanography and developed
computer-based instructional media. He also had the good fortune to teach field seminars
in carbonate sedimentology and reef ecology in places such as the Cayman Islands, Bar-
bados, and the Bahamas. Since 1999, he has been at the New Mexico Institute of Min-
ing and Technology in Socorro where he is the State Geologist and Director of the New
Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (the state geological survey).
Peter also devoted much of his time in those jobs to carbonate research and writing. His major interests were (and remain) in deep-
water carbonates (especially chalks) as well as the diagenesis and petroleum potential of Permian carbonate and evaporite deposits
in many areas of the world. He has worked in nearly 30 countries and has written, coauthored, or edited eight books, more than 150
papers and abstracts, 23 CD-ROMs, and a number of other computer or audio-visual products. Peter has been a member of AAPG
and SEPM since 1976-77; he is a GSA Fellow and a member of IAS, AASG, AIPG, and several local societies. He was an AAPG
Distinguished Lecturer (1975-76) and received the AAPG President’s award twice, the Sproule Memorial Award, and the AAPG Cer-
tificate of Merit. He served as president and special publications editor of SEPM and is now an honorary member of that society.

Dana S. Ulmer-Scholle developed an early love of carbonate rocks and fossils while
growing up on the classic Upper Ordovician outcrops around Cincinnati, Ohio. She re-
ceived a B.S. degree in 1981 from the University of Cincinnati (under the tutelage of Drs.
Wayne Pryor and Paul Potter). While at the University of Cincinnati, an Amoco Fellow-
ship provided her with an opportunity to work at Amoco Oil and Gas Co. each summer
during her undergraduate career. Dana completed an M.S. degree at Southern Methodist
University in Dallas, TX, in 1983, working on the Mississippian Arroyo Peñasco Group
of New Mexico (with Robert Laury). After a stint working for ARCO Exploration Co.,
she returned to SMU for a Ph.D. (received in 1992). Her dissertation research, done with
Peter Scholle and Robert Laury, concentrated on evaporite-related diagenesis in upper
Paleozoic carbonate rocks from New Mexico, Wyoming and Greenland.
Dana has worked, or consulted, for a number of companies including ARCO
Exploration, ARCO International, Mobil Research, and Maersk Oil and Gas. She was
the technical editor for SEPM Special Publications from 1994-1997 and managed
SMU’s student computer labs for several years where she developed an interest in
computer-based learning. She had co-led student trips to the Cayman Islands as well as
AAPG Field Seminars (with Peter and Robert Goldstein) to the Permian Reef Complex
in West Texas/New Mexico and Mississippian and Pennsylvanian bioherms in New
Mexico. Dana is a Senior Research Scientist at the New Mexico Institute of Mining
and Technology and is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. She currently teaches
carbonate-related courses including petrography, depositional/diagenetic models, and field studies. Her research interests continue
to include carbonate sedimentology and diagenesis, petrography, low-temperature isotope and trace element geochemistry, fluid
inclusion analysis, and fluid flow histories in carbonate rocks. Since arriving at New Mexico Tech, however, she has also become
involved in environmental investigations that include heavy-metals bioremediation.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction .............................................................................vi
Primary Constituents
Skeletal Grains/Bioclasts
1. Microbes and Calcareous Algae ...................................1
Calcimicrobes and cyanobacteria ....................................................2
Marine green algae ........................................................................12
Charophytes ...................................................................................18
Red algae .......................................................................................22
,,
Phylloid algae ................................................................................28
2. Foraminifers .....................................................................33
Agglutinated forms ........................................................................36
Small calcareous benthics..............................................................38
Large benthics ...............................................................................41
Encrusting forms............................................................................46
Planktics ........................................................................................48
3. Other Micro- and Nannofossils ..................................51
Calpionellids ..................................................................................52
Coccolithophores/calcareous nannoplankton ................................54
Calcispheres ...................................................................................60
Tunicate spicules ...........................................................................63
Radiolarians ...................................................................................64
Diatoms and other siliceous algae .................................................67
Dinoflagellates and related groups ................................................72
4. Annelids and Related Groups .....................................75
Serpulids and sabellariids ..............................................................76
Cornulites, tentaculites and styliolinids .........................................80
5. Sponges and Related Groups ......................................83
Archaeocyaths ...........................................................................84
Sponges..........................................................................................88
Stromatoporoids.............................................................................96
6. Corals, Octocorals, and Hydrozoans .....................101
Tabulate corals .............................................................................102
Rugose corals ..............................................................................107
Scleractinian corals ......................................................................113
Octocorals ....................................................................................118
Hydrozoans ..................................................................................121
7. Bryozoans ........................................................................123
8. Brachiopods ....................................................................141
9. Mollusks ...........................................................................153
Gastropods ..................................................................................154
Bivalves (pelecypods) .................................................................160
Cephalopods ................................................................................170
Scaphopods .................................................................................174
 10. Echinoderms ......................................................................177
Echinoids .....................................................................................178
Crinoids .......................................................................................184
Blastoids ......................................................................................189
Holothurians ................................................................................190
.
Asteroids and ophiuroids .............................................................190
11. Arthropods .........................................................................193
Trilobites .....................................................................................194
Ostracodes ...................................................................................198
.
Barnacles .....................................................................................202
12. Problematica.................................................................207
Receptaculitids ............................................................................208
Nuia .............................................................................................209
Palaeoaplysina ............................................................................209
Tubiphytes ...................................................................................211
Lithocodium ................................................................................212
Hensonella...................................................................................213

13. Vertebrate and Plant Remains.................................215

Vertebrate bones, teeth, and scales ..............................................216
Conodonts ....................................................................................219
Woody plant remains ...................................................................222
..
Spores, pollen, and organic matter .............................................224
Non-skeletal Grains
14. Ooids, Pisoids and Other Coated Grains............227
Ooids ...........................................................................................228
Pisoids and other coated grains ...................................................241
15. Intraclasts and Extraclasts .......................................245
16. Pellets and Peloids ...........................................................253
17. Non-carbonate Constituent Grains ......................259
Terrigenous grains .......................................................................260
Glauconite ...................................................................................261
Phosphate ....................................................................................262
........
Iron minerals ...............................................................................263

18. Matrix
Micrite, microspar, and micritic precipitates ...............................265

19. Primary Sedimentary Fabrics/Structures......273

Burrows .......................................................................................274
Borings.........................................................................................276
Geopetal fabrics ...........................................................................278
Fenestral fabrics...........................................................................279
Laminations .................................................................................281

Carbonate Classification
20. Carbonate Rock/Sediment Classifications............283
Folk (1959/1962)..........................................................................284
Dunham, Embry and Klovan, Wright ..........................................286
Examples .....................................................................................288
 21. Carbonate Porosity Types and Classification ...293
Diagenesis
22. Diagenetic Processes and Terminology ...............303
23. Syngenetic/Eogenetic Marine Diagenesis...........313
Bio-alteration and micrite envelopes ...........................................315
High-Mg calcite cements .............................................................317
Aragonite cements .......................................................................319
Hardgrounds.................................................................................322
Internal sediment .........................................................................323
Botryoidal cements ......................................................................324
Other cements ..............................................................................327
24. Eogenetic Meteoric Diagenesis ..............................331
Vadose fabrics ..............................................................................333
Phreatic fabrics ............................................................................339
Calcrete/caliche/paleosol/paleokarst fabrics................................343
Travertines and other fabrics .......................................................348
25. Mesogenetic/Telogenetic Burial Diagenesis .....351
Mechanical and chemical compaction features ...........................354
Fractures ......................................................................................362
Cements .......................................................................................364
Paragenetic relationships .............................................................367
26. Dolomite and Siderite ...............................................371
Dolomite ......................................................................................373
Baroque (saddle) dolomite ..........................................................386
Leached and/or calcitized dolomite .............................................388
Siderite .........................................................................................391
27. Sulfates and Chlorides ..............................................393
28. Silica Replacement and Cementation .................407
29. Other Diagenetic Materials.....................................417
Sulfides and oxides ......................................................................419
Fluorite.........................................................................................422
Phosphate and glauconite ............................................................423
Authigenic feldspar ......................................................................425
Hydrocarbons...............................................................................425

30. Techniques ...........................................................................429

Staining, peels, impregnation, and illumination techniques ........430
Cathodoluminescence microscopy ..............................................435
Epi-fluorescence microscopy.......................................................437
Fluid inclusion studies .................................................................438
SEM X-ray dispersive analysis....................................................441
Electron microprobe analysis ......................................................442
X-ray diffraction analysis ............................................................443
Stable isotopic geochemistry .......................................................444
Strontium isotope geochemistry ..................................................446

Glossary.....................................................................................................449
Index .............................................................................................................461
viii PETROGRAPHY OF CARBONATE ROCKS
INTRODUCTION
Carbonate petrography — the study of limestones, dolomites
and associated deposits under optical or electron microscopes
—greatly enhances field studies or core observations and can
provide a frame of reference for geochemical studies. Petrography
is an especially powerful tool because it enables the identification
of constituent grains, the detailed classification of sediments and
rocks, the interpretation of environments of deposition, and the
determination of the often complex history of post-depositional
alteration (diagenesis). The last of these, the ability to determine
the timing of diagenetic events such as cementation or secondary
porosity development relative to the emplacement of hydrocarbons
or metallic ores, makes petrography an important component of
geochemical and sedimentologic studies in energy- and mineral-
resource exploration applications as well as in academic research.
The petrographic study of carbonate rocks is particularly
useful because carbonate grains, unlike clastic terrigenous ones,
normally are produced in close proximity (from less than a meter
to hundreds of meters) to the site of their ultimate deposition.
In addition, carbonate grains are formed mainly by organisms,
and thus the grains convey ecological information about the
environment of formation as well as stratigraphical information on
the age of the deposit.
In some ways, carbonate petrography is not a very complex
undertaking, especially when compared to the petrography of
clastic terrigenous deposits. Most carbonate rocks are dominated
by just one or two common carbonate minerals (mainly calcite and
dolomite) plus a limited number of accompanying minerals —
silica, detrital grains, phosphate, glauconite, and a few evaporite
precipitates. The diagram below shows the general compositions
of the full spectrum of carbonate minerals found in modern and
ancient strata.
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In other ways, however, carbonate petrography can be quite
complicated. Many different organisms produce carbonate
material and that requires learning how to recognize a wide
variety of shell morphologies and wall structures. The changing
assemblages of organisms through time (see diagram near the
end of this introduction), coupled with the randomness of thin
section cuts through complex shell forms, add to the difficulty of
identifying skeletal grains. Furthermore, because many primary
carbonate grains are composed of unstable minerals (especially
aragonite and high-Mg calcite), diagenetic alteration commonly
is quite extensive in carbonate rocks. The variability of inorganic
and biogenic carbonate mineralogy through time, however,
complicates prediction of patterns of diagenetic alteration.
This book is designed to help deal with such challenges. It
is by no means a complete treatise or textbook — that would
be essentially impossible in a single volume. It does, however,
include a wide variety of examples of commonly encountered
skeletal and nonskeletal grains, cements, fabrics, and porosity
types. It also encompasses a number of noncarbonate grains, that
occur as accessory minerals in carbonate rocks or that may provide
important biostratigraphic or paleoenvironmental information in
carbonate strata. With this guide, students and other workers
with little formal petrographic training should be able to examine
thin sections or acetate peels under the microscope and interpret
the main rock constituents and their depositional and diagenetic
history.
Carbonate petrography is primarily a qualitative skill. One must
learn to recognize the distinguishing characteristics of skeletal
grains of various ages, cut in various orientations, and preserved
in various stages of alteration. There are no simple diagnostic
tests (such as measuring birefringence or an optic figure) that
can be used to identify a bryozoan, for example. It is simply a
question of experience. Comparison of grains in thin sections with
photographs of identified grains, in this and other books, allows
geologists to readily identify the majority of the rock-forming
grains in their samples. A selected bibliography is provided to
permit the interested reader to pursue details that are only briefly
covered in this book and to supplement the interpretive aspects
of petrographic work. A chart is also provided at the end of this
chapter to facilitate accurate estimation of abundances of grains.
For greater accuracy, however, quantitative point counting or
image analysis should be done and references to these methods are
provided in the Techniques chapter.
Most pictures in this book were chosen to illustrate typical rather
than spectacular, but unusual, examples of grains and fabrics.
For example, grains that were originally composed of aragonite
normally undergo wholesale diagenetic alteration and extensive
destruction of primary structural features. Therefore, we show
examples of these grains in their extensively altered state because
that is the norm for what the user will encounter. Introductory
text in each chapter provides the reader with details about original
grain mineralogies in order to help the reader anticipate such
preservation problems. Examples also were specifically chosen
from a variety of countries, basins, and units to provide a sense
of the global consistency of carbonate fabrics. Furthermore,
examples have been included from rocks of Precambrian to

Holocene age because of the enormous evolutionary changes in
organisms (and, therefore, carbonate deposits and their alteration)
through time.
In terms of the overall costs of energy exploration or academic
geoscience today, the financial investment needed for petrographic
work is relatively insignificant. A basic polarizing microscope
can be purchased currently for $2000 to $25,000 depending on
optical quality, accessories, and other factors. Thin sections can
be purchased for $8 to $20 each from a number of commercial
labs. Acetate peels (see technique section of the bibliography)
can be made in any office in minutes from polished rock slabs,
and can provide a remarkable amount of information. Outcrop
samples, conventional cores, sidewall cores, and cuttings samples
all can be examined microscopically, although the quality of
textural information decreases with decreasing sample size. Even
the investment of time involved in petrographic work need not
be great relative to the potential for problem solving. Few other
techniques are as valuable and accurate for the identification of
preserved, destroyed, or created porosity, or the prediction of
depositional and diagenetic trends.
Research conducted over the past several decades has outlined
many principles of deposition and diagenesis in carbonate
sediments. Facies models have been established for modern (as
well as ancient) reefs and other bank-margin deposits, for tidal-flat
and sabkha sedimentation, for basinal deposition, and for other
environments. Diagenetic studies have pointed out the influence of
syndepositional marine cementation, early freshwater diagenesis,
and later subsurface compaction-dissolution phenomena. This
work has clearly shown that, although carbonate depositional and
diagenetic patterns may be complex, commonly there is a large
volume of information recorded in the rocks, which can be used to
decipher this record.
Petrography, when used in close conjunction with well-log
analysis, seismic interpretation, regional geology, and other
studies, can be an invaluable tool for applying these recently
developed principles of carbonate sedimentology to ancient
rocks. Furthermore, it is best applied by the explorationist who
is deeply involved in techniques other than petrography, for that
person is in the best position to ask the right questions — questions
that petrography may be able to answer. That is the goal of this
volume.
Explanation of Captions
Each photograph in this book has a description in standard
format. The first lines give the stratigraphic unit (including
geologic age) and state or country of origin. Sample localities
are in the United States of America unless otherwise noted.
This is followed by a description of the photograph. The
last line of the caption gives the type of lighting used, any
staining or impregnation of the thin section, and the scale of the
photograph. The following caption abbreviations are used:
PPL - plane-polarized light
XPL - cross-polarized light
PXPL - partially cross-polarized light
INTRODUCTION ix
RL - reflected light
GP - gypsum plate (Quartz Red I plate) inserted
OS - organic matter stained
AS - calcite stained red with Alizarin Red S
AFeS - stained with a combination of Alizarin Red S and
potassium ferricyanide
CYS - stained with Clayton Yellow for Mg-calcite
BSE - blue- or green-dyed epoxy filling porosity
CL - cathodoluminescence photomicrograph
FL - fluorescence photomicrograph
MP - microprobe (back-scattered electron image)
SEM - scanning electron micrograph image
Mac - macroscopic photograph of rock slab or outcrop
Photographic Scales
All dimensions are given as HA = xx where HA is the full
horizontal axis of the photograph (including, for the sake
of uniformity, any borders within the picture area). L and
R are used where left and right pictures occupy the frame;
T and B refer to top and bottom pictures. Dimensions are
given in micrometers (µm) or millimeters (mm). There are
1000 micrometers in a millimeter.
Acknowledgments
Enormous thanks go to Philip W. Choquette, Alfred G. Fischer,
Robert L. Folk, Noel P. James, L. Greer Price, and William D. Raatz
for reviewing the entire book or large portions thereof. Individual
chapters were reviewed by Jack A. Babcock (algae), Merlynd
and Galina Nestell (foraminifers), Jeremy Young (miscellaneous
microfossils), Stanley A. Kling (siliceous microfossils), Carl
W. Stock (stromatoporoids), Ronald A. Johns (sponges), James
E. Sorauf (corals), Roger J. Cuffey (bryozoans), Jed E. Day
(brachiopods), G. Lynn Brewster-Wingard (mollusks), Bruce R.
Wardlaw (conodonts), Leanne Pyle (skeletal grains), H. Curtis
Monger (soil fabrics), and Nelia W. Dunbar (techniques). Both
groups of reviewers caught many potential errors and made
excellent suggestions for improvements. Noel P. James was an
invaluable help in sending large numbers of pictures, in helping to
organize the book, and as a partner in the production of interactive
digital products that will supplement this volume. Roger J. Cuffey
(bryozoans), Reinhold R. Leinfelder (Lithocodium), Carl W. Stock
(stromatoporoids), and Graham R. Young (tabulate corals) were
wonderfully generous in providing materials for the digital projects
and allowing us to use them in this book — those sections owe much
to their guidance. Many other scientists also very kindly contributed
photographs (each acknowledged individually in specific figure
captions). Finally, we would like to express our appreciation to the
petrographers who spent many hours looking down a microscope
with us and whose teaching and research dedication made this
volume possible: A. G. Fischer, R. L. Folk, and R. G. C. Bathurst
for P. A. S. and P. E. Potter, R. B. Koepnick, and D. E. Eby for D. S.
U.-S. We can only hope that this book will aid another generation
of petrographers as effectively as we were helped.
Some photographs in this book have been electronically edited
or enhanced to accentuate contrast, improve focus, or remove
unwanted blemishes (air bubbles or scratches, for example).
None of the relevant structures, however, were altered.
x PETROGRAPHY OF CARBONATE ROCKS
Useful General References
These books provide general background information on
carbonate petrography, carbonate sedimentation, paleontology
and related subjects that are useful for working with carbonate
rocks and sediments under the microscope and interpreting their
origin and significance.
Adams, A. E., and W. S. MacKenzie, 1998, A Color Atlas of Carbonate
Sediments and Rocks Under the Microscope: New York, John Wiley
& Sons, 180 p.
Bathurst, R. G. C., 1975, Carbonate Sediments and their Diagenesis
[Developments in Sedimentology 12]: New York, Elsevier, 658 p.
Blatt, H., 1982, Sedimentary Petrology: San Francisco, W. H. Freeman &
Co., 564 p.
Boardman, R. S., A. H. Cheetham, and A. J. Rowell, eds., 1987, Fossil
Invertebrates: Palo Alto, Blackwell Scientific Publications, 713 p.
Brasier, M. D., 1980, Microfossils: Boston, George Allen & Unwin, 193 p.
Carozzi, A. V., 1989, Carbonate Rock Depositional Models: A Microfacies
Approach: Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall, 604 p.
Carozzi, A. V., 1993, Sedimentary Petrography: Englewood Cliffs,
Prentice-Hall, 330 p.
Cayeux, M. L., 1935, Les Roches Sédimentaires de France. Roches
Carbonatées (calcaires et dolomies): Paris, Masson, 436 p.
Cayeux, L., 1970, Carbonate rocks (limestones and dolomites)
Sedimentary rocks of France [translated and updated by A. V. Carozzi]:
Darien, CT, Hafner Publishing Company, 394 p.
Clarkson, E. N. K., 1998, Invertebrate Paleontology and Evolution [4th
Edition]: Oxford, Blackwell Science, 452 p.
Elf-Aquitaine with A. Reeckmann, and G. M. Friedman, 1982, Exploration
for Carbonate Petroleum Reservoirs: New York, John Wiley & Sons,
213 p.
Fischer, A. G., S. Honjo, and R. E. Garrison, 1967, Electron Micrographs
of Limestones and their Nannofossils: Princeton, NJ, Princeton
University Press, 141 p.
Flügel, E., 1982, Microfacies Analysis of Limestones: New York,
Springer-Verlag, 633 p.
Gubler, Y., J. P. Bertrand, L. Mattavelli, A. Rizzini, and R. Passega, 1967,
Petrology and petrography of carbonate rocks, in G. V. Chilingar,
H. J. Bissell, and R. W. Fairbridge, eds., Carbonate Rocks: Origin,
Occurrence and Classification: Developments in Sedimentology 9A:
New York, Elsevier, p. 51-86.
Harwood, G., 1988, Microscopical techniques: II. Principles of sedimentary
petrography, in M. Tucker, ed., Techniques in Sedimentology: Oxford,
Blackwell Scientific Publications, p. 108-173.
Horowitz, A. S., and P. E. Potter, 1971, Introductory Petrography of
Fossils: New York, Springer-Verlag, 302 p.
Johnson, J. H., 1951, An introduction to the study of organic limestones:
Colorado School of Mines Quarterly, v. 46 (2), p. 1-185.
Johnson, J. H., ed., 1952, Studies of organic limestones and limestone
building organisms: Colorado School of Mines Quarterly, v. 47, 1-94 p.
Lippmann, F., 1973, Sedimentary Carbonate Minerals: New York,
Springer-Verlag, 228 p.
Majewske, O. P., 1969, Recognition of Invertebrate Fossil Fragments in
Rocks and Thin Sections [Internat. Sed. Petrog. Series v. 13]: Leiden,
E. J. Brill, 101 p.
Milliman, J. D., 1974, Marine Carbonates. Part 1, Recent Sedimentary
Carbonates: New York, Springer-Verlag, 375 p.
Moore, C. H., 1989, Carbonate Diagenesis and Porosity [Developments
in Sedimentology, 46]: New York, Elsevier, 338 p.
Moore, C. H., 2001, Porosity Evolution and Diagenesis in a Sequence
Stratigraphic Framework [Developments in Sedimentology, 55]: New
York, Elsevier, 460 p.
Moore, R. C., C. G. Lalicker, and A. G. Fischer, 1952, Invertebrate Fossils:
New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 766 p.
Morse, J. W., and F. T. Mackenzie, 1990, Geochemistry of Sedimentary
Carbonates [Developments in Sedimentology, 48]: New York, Elsevier
Scientific Publ. Co., 696 p.
Murray, J. W., ed., 1985, Atlas of Invertebrate Macrofossils: New York,
John Wiley & Sons, 241 p.
Reeder, R. J., ed., 1983, Carbonates: Mineralogy and Chemistry:
Washington, D.C., Mineralogical Society of America, Reviews in
Mineralogy, Vol. 11, 394 p.
Scholle, P. A., 1978, A Color Illustrated Guide to Carbonate Rock
Constituents, Textures, Cements, and Porosities: Tulsa, OK, American
Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 27, 241 p.
Scoffin, T. P., 1987, An Introduction to Carbonate Sediments and Rocks:
New York, Chapman & Hall, 274 p.
Sorby, H. C., 1879, On the structure and origin of limestones: Proceedings
of the Geological Society of London, v. 35, p. 56-95. [The original
work in this field]
Tucker, M. E., and V. P. Wright, 1990, Carbonate Sedimentology: Oxford,
Blackwell Scientific Publications, 482 p.
Tucker, M. E., 1991, Carbonate Petrology: An Introduction: 2nd edition:
Oxford, Blackwell Scientific Publications, 272 p.
Wilson, J. L., 1975, Carbonate Facies in Geologic History: New York,
Springer Verlag, 471 p.
The following books are more limited in their temporal or
areal scope, but have many high-quality petrographic plates that
effectively show assemblages of organisms through time.
Bissell, H. J., 1970, Petrology and Petrography of Lower Triassic Marine
Carbonates of Southern Nevada, in [Int. Sed. Petrog. Ser., v. 14]:
Leiden, E. J. Brill, p. 27.
Carozzi, A. V., and D. A. Textoris, 1967, Paleozoic Carbonate Microfacies
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 INTRODUCTION xi

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A diagram summarizing the fluctuations in approximate diagram was adapted from Horowitz and Potter (1971 and other
diversity and abundance of the major groups of marine sources. It should be used only as a general guide to the types of
carbonate-producing organisms through time. The organisms likely to be encountered in rocks of any particular age.
xii PETROGRAPHY OF CARBONATE ROCKS

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Visual comparison charts for estimating abundances of

constituents in thin section, peels, and photographic or
digital images. Adapted from Baccelle and Bosellini (1965).
Other such charts can be found in Flügel (1982) and Swanson
(1981). All citations given at the end of Chapter 30 - Techniques.
F acing Page: Modern domal, subtidal to lower intertidal,
microbial stromatolites from Carbla Point, Shark Bay, West-
ern Australia. Stromatolite heads are 30-60 cm in diameter.