| Lithoherms:
These are deep-water reefs that form on the lower slope and are dominated
by submarine cementation (lithification). They are composed of lime mud,
lime sand, and skeletal debris. Ahermatypic coral can be present. They may
be modern analogs for Waulsortian mounds in the ancient record that are
composed of lime mud and skeletal material with stromatactoid structure
(cavities that may have formed through decay of an animal and later filled
with geopetal sediment and sparry cement). Mullins and Neumann (1979) described
lithoherms west of Little Bahama Bank, in water depths of 600 to 700 m,
that formed a near-continuous belt of ahermatypic coral lithoherms 200 km
long, 10 to 15 km wide, and up to 70 m thick. One must be careful to differentiate
these deep-water reefs from shallow-water reefs in the ancient record.
(Click
on picture to see photo example.) |
