Tectonic signatures in carbonate platform sequences and diagenesis proximal and distal to convergent margins

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The current state of knowledge about carbonate platform systems is dominated by modern and ancient examples from relatively tectonically stable geologic settings such as found along continental trailing margins; in the interior of foreland basins distant from convergent margins; and, on oceanic platforms within plate interiors. The proposed study will investigate the depositional stability, stratigraphic geometry, and diagenesis of carbonate platforms in response to local and regional tectonism. Two geologic regions allow study of tectonic signatures at different distances from convergent (subducting) plate boundaries. (1) In central Canada (SE Ontario), a Late Ordovician (450 million years) carbonate platform overlies a regional (200 km long) fault system within the underlying and shallowly buried ( Research outcomes will be of interest to the global geological community. The research will expand on the current limited knowledge about tectonic sensitivity of carbonate depositional systems, and contrasting platform architecture in proximal to distal positions from collisional plate boundaries. The study will help characterize a potential tectonic gradient of depositional instability directed into the plate interior from convergent boundaries, and address the impact of reactivation of inherited structure on stratigraphic patterns in younger sedimentary systems. Dispersal of results will be through geological conferences and peer-reviewed journals (national, international). There will be community-level interest in the Ontario-based project because the ancient fault system underlies many rural and urban communities, and lies adjacent to the active Western Quebec Seismic Zone. Such proximity underscores potential fault reactivation as a modern, not just ancient, geological consequence.