Early labechiid stromatoporoids of the Yeongheung Formation (Middle Ordovician), Yeongwol Group, mideastern Korean Peninsula: Part I. Environmental distribution

Abstract

This study examines depositional facies and environmental significance of early labechiid stromatoporoids in the Yeongheung Formation (late Middle Ordovician), Yeongwol Group in the mideastern part of the Korean Peninsula. The formation is composed of five depositional facies: lime mudstone to wackestone (LM/W), peloidal, intraclastic and bioclastic packstone to grainstone (P/G), laminated dolomitic lime mudstone (LMdl), algal laminite (La), and oolitic packstone to grainstone (P/Go). Three types of shallowing upward cycles in the succession are identified, including subtidal (LM/W-P/G), subtidal to peritidal (LM/W-P/G-LMdl-La), and peritidal cycles (LMdl-La). The stromatoporoids occur exclusively in the packstone to grainstone (P/G) facies of the subtidal cycle. These early labechiids inhabited on a grainy substrate under moderate- to high-energy conditions, conforming to the previous notion that stromatoporoids primarily occupied level-bottom or reefs, surrounded by grainy calcareous sediments during the Middle Ordovician.