The Lower Carboniferous Reef Limestones of Northern England

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Abstract
The Lower Carboniferous rocks of northern England show two main facies, the distribution of which is related to the behavior of the floor on which the system rests. Certain areas were relatively stable, and on these the clear-water massif facies was deposited. In other areas the floor subsided more rapidly, and muddy-water basin facies resulted. The reef facies is found at the margins of the massifs in narrow tracts between the two main types and at certain places within the basins. A twofold division is therefore made into basinal reefs and marginal reefs. The problems connected with the reef limestones include distribution, conditions of deposition, lithology and fauna, tectonics, and erosional history. The classic theories are summarized, and brief accounts are given of typical areas. The basinal reefs seem to have been formed as moundlike accumulations of organic debris, but marginal reefs have several origins. Their tectonic and erosional histories are examined. A feature common to all types is their fauna, which is unlike the normal facies. The difficult problem of correlation between the goniatite zones of the reef limestones and the coral-brachiopod zones of the normal limestones is also considered.

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