Lacustrine Carbonate Depositional Systems
Summary
Lacustrine carbonate depositional systems encompass the accumulation of carbonate minerals within lake environments, driven by a combination of physico-chemical and biological processes. These settings range from freshwater to saline and alkaline lakes, where fluctuations in temperature, pH, salinity and nutrient supply dictate precipitation of calcite, aragonite and associated clay minerals. Microbial mats and algal communities often mediate carbonate trapping and binding, producing laminated microbialites, stromatolites and peloidal textures. Variations in hydrology and climate lead to cyclic facies sequences, from mud-dominated marl beds to oolitic sands and evaporitic limestones. Such records provide critical archives of palaeohydrology, atmospheric carbon cycles and regional tectonics. Moreover, lacustrine carbonates host significant hydrocarbon reservoirs in rift and foreland basins, while also serving as analogue systems for carbon capture and storage studies. Understanding the interplay of depositional mechanisms, diagenetic alteration and clay authigenesis in these basins is essential for reconstructing past environmental change and guiding resource exploration.
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Lacustrine Carbonate Depositional Systems publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in lacustrine carbonate depositional systems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Lacustrine carbonate depositional system: A sedimentary environment in lakes where carbonates precipitate under varying chemical and biological influences.
Authigenic: Minerals formed in situ within sediments during or shortly after deposition rather than transported.
Spherulite: A polycrystalline, radiating aggregate of mineral fibres, commonly calcite, formed under high supersaturation.
Mg-smectite: A group of magnesium-rich clay minerals (e.g., stevensite, saponite) that form by co-precipitation or alteration in alkaline lake waters.
Diagenesis: Post-depositional physical, chemical and biological changes that alter sediment composition and texture.
Supersaturation: A state in which dissolved ions exceed equilibrium solubility, driving mineral nucleation and growth.
References
- Effects of salinity, organic acids and alkalinity on the growth of calcite spherulites: Implications for evaporitic lacustrine sedimentation. The Depositional Record (2021).
- Paleoenvironmental Implications of Authigenic Magnesian Clay Formation Sequences in the Barra Velha Formation (Santos Basin, Brazil). Minerals (2022).
- The role of phosphate on non-skeletal carbonate production in a Cretaceous alkaline lake. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (2022).
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