Primary dolomite in the Late Triassic Travenanzes Formation, Dolomites, Northern Italy: Facies control and possible bacterial influence

In the late Carnian (Late Triassic), a carbonate-clastic depositional system including a distal alluvial plain, flood basin and sabkha, tidal flat and shallow carbonate lagoon was established in the Dolomites (Northern Italy). The flood basin was a muddy supratidal environment where marine carbonates and continental siliciclastics interfingered. A dolomite phase made of sub-micrometre euhedral crystals with a mosaic microstructure of nanometre-scale domains was identified in stromatolitic laminae of the flood basin embedded in clay. This dolomite is interpreted here as primary and has a nearly stoichiometric composition, as opposed to younger early diagenetic (not primary) dolomite phases, which are commonly calcian. This primary dolomite was shielded from later diagenetic transformation by the clay. The stable isotopic composition of dolomite was analyzed along a depositional transect. The δ13C values range between ca -6‰ and +4‰, with the most 13C-depleted values in dolomites of the distal alluvial plain and flood basin, and the most 13C-enriched in dolomites of the tidal flat and lagoon. Uniform δ18O values ranging between 0‰ and +3‰ were found in all sedimentary facies. It is hypothesized that the primary dolomite with mosaic microstructure nucleated on extracellular polymeric substances secreted by sulphate reducing bacteria. A multi-step process involving sabkha and reflux dolomitization led to partial replacement and overgrowth of the primary dolomite, but replacement and overgrowth were facies-dependent. Dolomites of the landward, clay-rich portion of the sedimentary system were only moderately overgrown during late dolomitization steps, and partly retain an isotopic signature consistent with bacterial sulphate reduction with δ13C as low as -6‰. In contrast, dolomites of the marine, clay-free part of the system were probably transformed through sabkha and reflux diagenetic processes into calcian varieties, and exhibit δ13C values of ca +3‰. Major shifts of δ13C values strictly follow the lateral migration of facies and thus mark transgressions and regressions. © 2014 International Association of Sedimentologists.