A Look Back: 10 Years—A History of Monotony, or Simply a Tedious Record?

Facies patterns of many carbonate depositional systems are described as complex.  In this contribution from 10 years ago, Beavington-Penney et al. describe another end member—the extremely homogenous (even boring) succession of the middle Eocene Seeb Formation in Oman.  Outcrop description, petrographic characterization, and biofacies analysis reveal a ~250 m thick succession of nodular, indistinctly bedded shallow-subtidal sediment, which is largely acyclic. These results were interpreted to highlight the role of bioturbation and rhizoturbation in homogenizing the succession, and destroying evidence for surfaces and horizons that represent “missing time.” The data and interpretations suggest that slow accumulation rates and intense sediment re-working drive homogeneity, and that it is not only unpredictability that can be monotonous.

The middle Eocene Seeb Formation of Oman: an investigation of acyclicity, stratigraphic completeness, and accumulation rates in shallow marine carbonate settings

Simon J. Beavington-Penney, V. Paul Wright, and Andrew Racey