Early‐Middle Permian Reef Frameworks and Reef‐building Models in the Eastern Kunlun Mountains

AbstractReef frameworks and building models of the Early‐Middle Permian in the eastern Kunlun Mountains have been verified through studies of reef‐building communities, palaeoecology and carbonate facies. The eastern Kunlun reefs are built mainly by 6 reef‐building communities, which include 11 major categories of frame‐building organisms and 6 categories of reef‐associated organisms. Eight types of reef‐frames have been distinguished and eleven kinds of rocks identified to belong to 6 reef facies. Three sorts of reefs classified by previous researchers, namely mudmounds, knoll reefs and walled reefs, are well developed in the study area. Such reef‐facies association and reef distribution show that there are 4 models of reef growth and development, i.e. the tidal‐bank knoll‐reef model, the plateau‐margin wall‐reef model, the composite wall‐reef model and the deep‐water mudmound model. The reefs are mainly constructed by calcareous sponge and calcareous algae, which are similar to all Permian reefs in other areas of South China and the world. Their great scales indicate a secular stable platform‐marginal environment.