Conference Agenda

Assessing time in the geologic record is one of the big challenges in geosciences and essential for any analysis of rates of change in the Earth System. The smallest lithostratigraphic units to assess or correlate the stratigraphic position of change is a bed (or its surfaces) and rhythmically alternating beds are often used for cyclostratigraphic or astrochronological assessments of geologic time. All approaches follow the principles that sedimentary layers or beds are deposited sequentially and preserve a temporal, ecological, and environmental record. In sediments containing carbonates, though, their straightforward application is challenged due to the impact of diagenetic processes. Early diagenetic transformations, including dissolution, cementation, and differential compaction, can alter or obscure original information, or even introduce features that mimic original environmental, ecological, depositional or lithification characteristics. Here, I summarise the variety of current theories on diagenetic bedding in carbonate successions, their impact on the record of original environmental processes and cycles, and how they challenge traditional stratigraphic assumptions. Further, I summarise approaches to integrate the “diagenetic nightmare” into stratigraphic assessments. With first results of an approach on quantifying diagenetic overprint and evaluating how time is distributed within the smallest lithostratigraphic unit, i.e., a bed, the aim is to infer how time is ultimately recorded in carbonate sedimentary rocks and to improve the reconstruction of time in the geologic record.