Stratigraphy of the Gorstian and Ludfordian (upper Silurian) Hemse Group reefs on Gotland, Sweden

ABSTRACT

The Hemse Group is one of the least understood stratigraphic units of the Silurian sequence of Gotland, Sweden. New results from airborne transient electromagnetic (ATEM) measurements in combination with previously published data from field studies and geophysical investigations shed new light on carbonate platform development during the early- to mid-Ludlow Hemse Group. ATEM reveals a transgressive phase that began near the Wenlock-Ludlow boundary, which resulted in deposition of marls and corresponds roughly to the Hemse limestone units a-c and the Hemse Marl NW. In this phase little or no reef development occurs. The end of the transgressive phase coincides with the weak Linde Event. The following highstand favoured extensive reef growth forming a reef barrier system of both fringing reefs and more rampiform settings with stromatoporoid biostromes and occasional biohermal buildups. The Kuppen-Snabben Unconformity Complex marks an erosional (karstic) sequence boundary and rocky shoreline and the transition from a rampiform setting with reef biostromes towards a more rimmed setting with patch reefs.

KEYWORDS:

• Unconformity
• rocky shorelines
• facies associations
• ramps
• Silurian
• Gotland
• geographic model

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to express their gratitude to Mike Keeling for access to his unpublished material. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for critically reading and improving the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.