Recognition of a cryptic maximum flooding surface in shallow marine carbonate sequences using geochemical (Y/Ho) proxy data

ABSTRACT Since diagnostic primary depositional sedimentary structures and depth‐dependent grain‐size trends are rarely preserved, building a comprehensive sequence stratigraphic framework for the vast majority of the Phanerozoic carbonate platform sequences is pending. Among the two most important sequence stratigraphic surfaces, while the subaerial unconformity can be reliably identified by either karst development or the appearance of siliciclastic materials, the demarcation of the maximum flooding surface remains difficult in lithologically uniform shallow marine carbonate sequences. The present study attempts to identify the globally documented maximum flooding surface within the body of the negative carbon isotope excursion of the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum recorded in the shallow marine carbonate platform sequences. The results show that, along with the carbonate microfacies, the yttrium to holmium ratio (Y/Ho ratio) of the carbonate fraction reliably records the sea‐level changes. A Y/Ho ratio between 70 and 80 demarcates the stratigraphic position of the maximum sea‐level state (the most open marine condition in the studied interval) and maximum flooding surface in the studied sections. Since the Y/Ho ratios remain relatively stable throughout diagenesis, they can be used for maximum flooding surface identification in shallow marine carbonate platform sequences. The possibility exists that the same method can also be applied to the mixed siliciclastic–carbonate systems.