Carbonate mounds are unique sedimentological features common during much of the Phanerozoic but unknown in the Holocene.
Many mounds exhibit unusual diagenetic fabrics and biologic communities unknown elsewhere.
Despite decades of research, mound origins, diagenesis, and paleogeologic significance remain enigmatic. In this session we will explore frontiers of mound research in sedimentology, diagenesis, paleontology, and the interfaces among these disciplines. This session will focus on innovative techniques pertaining to integrated stratigraphy, and how these can be applied in solving problems of exploration and development in sedimentary basins. These techniques include the development of integrated stratigraphic data sets comprising high-resolution biostratigraphic zonal schemes, ecostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, sedimentary geochemistry, sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy, and tectonostratigraphy. The study of impact debris in the stratigraphic record is of prime importance to trace accretionary events in the sedimentary record, to identify their origin, and to evaluate their possible role in Earth's biotic and climatic evolution throughout geologic time.