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Lower Triassic platforms in the Nanpanjiang Basin contain extensive oolites. Interior oolites are stacked in meter-scale cycles arranged into larger coarsening-upward sequences. Oolites thicken toward margins to include grainstones up to 50 m (164 ft) thick and contain giant ooids (up to 1 cm [0.4 in.]) and composite coated grains. Cross-bedding, ripples, and abraded ooids indicate deposition in high-energy shoals. Apparent layer-cake correlation across interiors indicates amalgamation of shoals. Thinner interior lenses represent spillover lobes. Ooids are interpreted to have originally been bimineralic with cortices of radial or micritic fabrics (high-magnesium calcite), alternating with coarse pseudospar or brickwork (originally aragonite). Distorted ooids formed by brittle compaction of micritic cortices around voids are interpreted to have been dissolved aragonite. Abundant potential nuclei indicate that limited supply was not a factor contributing to the large ooid size. High-energy and abnormally high-seawater CaCO3 saturation are interpreted to be causes of the giant ooids. Most previous reports of high CaCCO3 saturation caused by a minimal skeletal carbonate precipitation. We interpret similar seawater chemistry in the aftermath of the end-Permian extinction to explain the genesis of the giant ooids in the Early Triassic. The genesis of bimi-neralic ooids during an Early Triassic period of rapidly in-creasing pCO2 and low SODue to image rights restrictions, multiple line equation(s) cannot be graphically displayed. indicates that an increasing Ca/Mg ratio was the primary mechanism driving the change from aragonite to calcite seas. The architecture, textures, and diagenesis of the Lower Triassic oolites of the Nanpanjiang Basin provide useful analogs for coeval reservoirs in Sichuan and the Middle East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Nanpanjiang Basin of south China contains four exceptionally well-exposed, isolated Triassic carbonate platforms. Detailed mapping of two-dimensional transects and description of stratigraphic sections allow the reconstruction of facies architecture, sequence stratigraphy, and evolution of the platforms. Biostratigraphy, magnetic-susceptibility profiles, and volcanic-ash horizons allow chronostratigraphic correlation and, thus, a basinwide evaluation of mechanisms controlling platform evolution. A comparison of platform architecture demonstrates that southerly platforms have substantially greater thickness, backstepping geometry, pinnacle development, and earlier drowning that resulted from greater tectonic subsidence proximal to a probable convergent margin along the southern perimeter of the basin. Felsic volcanics thicken southward and contributed to the termination of the southernmost platform, indicating the development of a volcanic arc along the southern margin of the South China tectonic block. The northernmost isolated platform had greater longevity and lesser accumulation and lacks backstepping and pinnacle phases of development. Basin-margin intertonguing relationships, or lack thereof, demonstrate that earlier siliciclastic influx into the basin to the south and concurrent starved-basin conditions to the north impacted the evolution of platform-margin geometries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]