Cross-basin chronostratigraphic correlation of carbonate succession (Llandovery, Michigan Basin, USA) using global carbon δ13Ccarb isotope excursions

Correlating shallow shelf carbonates and their deep basin equivalents is a perennial challenge in the geosciences, with wide-ranging implications. This hurdle is well illustrated in the Llandovery succession of the Michigan Basin, USA, a 40- to 265-m-thick carbonate interval represented by three lithostratigraphic units: the Cataract, the Burnt Bluff, and the Manistique groups. Although extensively studied at various localities within the basin and across the region, the chronostratigraphic relationships between these units remain unknown. The current study presents a cross-basin chronostratigraphic framework for the Llandovery succession utilizing globally documented carbon (δ13Ccarb) isotope excursions (CIEs). From 10 drill cores and three quarry sites throughout the Michigan Basin, five CIEs were identified and chronostratigraphically constrained using conodont biostratigraphy and conodont 87Sr/86Sr data. The five excursions are interpreted to be the global CIEs: the (1) Hirnantian Isotope Carbon Excursion (HICE; Hirnantian Stage), (2) Early Aeronian, (3) Late Aeronian (Aeronian Stage), (4) Valgu (Telychian Stage), and (5) Ireviken (Sheinwoodian Stage). Most importantly, the HICE and the Ireviken CIEs bracket the Llandovery strata preserved in the basin. The new high-resolution δ13Ccarb data suggest that CIEs can be effectively used to correlate among shallow marine shelf carbonates and their deeper water equivalents. The new chronostratigraphic framework shows that CIE-based time horizons across the Michigan Basin cut across lithostratigraphic unit boundaries, which indicates that these lithostratigraphic units are diachronous in the Michigan Basin. In addition to refining the stratigraphy of the Llandovery succession of the Michigan Basin, particularly the timing of various key sedimentary deposits, the new chronostratigraphic framework can be used to: (1) constrain the timing of various regional tectonic phenomena, (2) identify multiple tectonically driven siliciclastic sediment pulses in the basin, and (3) predict various stratal relationships that may result in previously unknown stratigraphic traps and, therefore, new hydrocarbon plays within the basin. The results of the current study also show that δ13Ccarb trends across the shelf-to-basin transect are spatially and temporally variable and do not match those reported in Modern carbonate settings, which possibly suggests that such δ13Ccarb trends, to some extent, reflect variations in water circulation and water mass heterogeneity during deposition.