Oligocene and Miocene Global Spatial Trends of Shallow-Marine Carbonate Architecture

Abstract

The present study provides the baseline status of the spatial distribution of carbonate platforms for the Oligo-Miocene interval. The resulting global trend quantitatively shows the decreasing growth potential of shallow-marine carbonates toward higher paleolatitudes. Such a global trend provides a geological context and external constraints for local and regional interpretations of specific case studies. Furthermore, the direct relationship between carbonate accumulations and paleoclimatic regions shows that, using such a qualitative and quantitative data set for calibration, paleoceanographic models could be utilized for the prediction of the global distribution of carbonate stratigraphic architecture.