Magnetic susceptibility evolution and sedimentary environments on carbonate platform sediments and atolls, comparison of the Frasnian from Belgium and Alberta, Canada

Magnetic susceptibility (MS) measurements on carbonate rocks are considered as a proxy for impurities delivered to the carbonate environments. In the absence of strong climatic or tectonic variations, bulk MS values have been linked to sea level variations, because sea-level fall increases clastic supply and therefore increases magnetic mineral deposition. In this paper we explore the relationship between the average magnitude of bulk MS, with shallowing-up sequences and facies evolution in different Devonian carbonate complexes. Similarities and differences between these parameters have been scrutinized in carbonate attached platform and detached platforms (mounds and/or atolls) from Belgium and Canada. In the carbonate attached platforms from Belgium and Canada, the MS patterns are directly related to depositional environment. Mean MS values increase from the most distal towards the most proximal facies and towards the top of the majority of fourth-order shallowing-up sequences. These trends are in agreement with theoretical background (MS increases with regression). In the Belgian detached platform, the average MS pattern generally shows an opposite behaviour of that observed in the attached carbonate platforms. Average MS decreases towards the most proximal facies and towards the top of a majority of the fourth-order shallowing-up sequences. This behaviour can be explained by the influence of sedimentary rate and water agitation during deposition. A high sedimentary rate will dilute the magnetic minerals in the atoll facies and the highwater agitation during deposition may be expected to have prevented the deposition of the magnetic grains. So, the combination of these two effects will result in the observed low values in the atoll crown and lagoonal facies. In the Canadian detached platform, MS is mainly negative. This means that the limestones are very pure. The technique does not appear to be appropriate in these rocks. The variations of average MS behaviour by platform type can imply difficulties in correlating carbonates from different settings. A comparison of time equivalent mound and platform deposits shows that after an important regressive surface, the MS values are increasing for the platform deposits and decreasing for the mound. So MS evolution can be in complete opposition (caused by highly different sedimentary rates) in different depositional settings. The MS signal preserved in carbonate rocks is probably mainly related to 1) varying clastic supplies; 2) varying carbonate accumulation rates (dilution of the magnetic minerals by high carbonate production) and 3) potentially diagenesis