The Upper Permian Zechstein basin of Central and North-Western Europe
became a model of chemical precipitation of evaporites several decades
ago and as such is a classical one in the literature. Due to the
initial success of the chemical approach to the evaporites,
sedimentary aspects were but rarely discussed, similarly as in other
ancient carbonate/evaporite basins. The studies in the last decade
revealed the value of looking at evaporites as sediments rather than
as chemical precipitates, and this approach resulted in a rapid
increase of sedimentological observations and papers. Two basins
attracted special attention: the Miocene basin of the Mediterranean
and the Upper Silurian basin of Michigan. This volume presents papers
on the third ancient carbonate/evaporite basin which was often
referred to in the works on the two men- tioned basins.
The thick cyclical Zechstein evaporite series (up to 1500 m and
more) lies between thick red clastic deposits of mainly desert origin
of the Upper Rotliegendes (Lower Permian) at the bottom and the
similar series of the Buntsandstein (Lower Triassic) deposits at the
top. Due to the cyclicity, the characteristical Zechstein members are
easily correlated over the basin and furthermore, one may expect that
the conclusions reached from the sedimentological study of particular
sites within the Zechstein basin have general implications.
Apart from the limited well-exposed outcrops representing mainly the
primary near-shore zone with classical buildups in England and
Thuringia, the majority of information derives from the
sub-surface. As the three-dimensional characteristics are well
defined, such situation favours the sedimentary modelling. Therefore,
when this book was at an initial stage of its editing, we planned to
complete it with a summary, being a synthesis of developments in the
Zechstein sedimentology, and presenting the general sedimentological
model of carbonate/evaporite basin development. But although our
knowledge of the sedimentary evolution, of particular parts of the
Zechstein basin, of the diagenesis in evaporitic sequences, of the
depositional environment as well as of some general points has been
considerably increased, many important problems remained and new
arose.
Füchtbauer, H. 8: Peryt, T.M.: Introduction (with 1 figure in the text) 1
Smith, D.B.: The shelf-edge reef of the Middle Magnesian Limestone
(English Zechstein Cycle 1) of north-eastern England —— a summary
(with 1 figure in the text) 3
Smith, D.B.: The evolution of the English Zechstein basin (with 2
figures and 1 table in the text) 7
Fuzesy, L.M.: Origin of nodular limestones, calcium sulphates and
dolomites in the Lower Magnesian Limestone in the neighbourhood of
Selby, Yorkshire, England (with 3 figures in the text) 35
Kaldi, J.: The origin of nodular structures in the Lower Magnesian
Limestone (Permian) of Yorkshire, England (with 8 figures and 1 table
in the text) 45
Harwood, G.M.: Calcitized anhydrite and associated sulphides in the
English Zechstein First Cycle Carbonate (EZl Ca) (with 8 figures in
the text) 61
Vaughan, D.J. & Turner, R: Diagenesis, magnetization and
mineralization of the Marl Slate (with 10 figures in the text) 73
Taylor, J.C.M.: Origin of the Werraanhydrit in the U.K. Southern North
Sea — a reappraisal (with 8 figures in the text) 91
Colter, V.S. & Reed, G.E.: Zechstein 2 Fordon Evaporites of the Atwick
No. 1 borehole, surrounding areas of N .E. England and the adjacent
southern North Sea (with 4 figures in the text and on 1 folder) 115
Clark, D.N.: The sedimentology of the Zechstein 2 Carbonate Formation
of Eastern Drenthe, The Netherlands (with 28 figures in the text and
on 1 folder) 131
Clark, D.N.: The diagenesis of Zechstein carbonate sediments (with 19
figures and 1 table in the text) 167
Clark, D.N. & Tallbacka, L.: The Zechstein deposits of southern
Denmark (with 24 figures in the text and on 1 folder) 205
Füchtbauer, H.: Composition and diagenesis of a stromatolitic bryozoan
bioherm in the Zechstein 1 (northwestern Germany) (with 9 figures in
the text) 233
Paul, J.: Upper Permian algal stromatolite reefs, Harz Mountains
(FR. Germany) (With 14 figures in the text) 253
Magaritz, M. 8: Schulze, K.-H.: Carbon isotope anomaly of the Permian
Period (with 5 figures in the text) 269
Peryt, T.M. & Wazny, H.: Microfacies and geochemical development of
the basin facies of the Zechstein Limestone (Cal) in western Poland
(with 16 figures and 1 table in the text) 279
Oszczepalski, S.: Paleogeography, sedimentation and mineralization of
the Z1 carbonate series (Zechstein) in the western part of the
Fore-Sudetic Monocline (western Poland) (with 9 figures and 1 table in
the text) 307
Index 325
