Methods for calculating ancient eustatic change amplitudes according to reef fabric- facies are proposed, with a new method for determining sediment-loading subsidence. Compared with methods based on non-reefal deposits, these methods are more accurate in restoration of original sediment thickness, determination of sediment-loading subsidence, as well as restoration of ancient water depth. According to the reef in Guangxi, China, the amplitude of sea-level rise during Middle Permian (Neoschwagerina-Yabeina zone) is 249.5 m. According to the coeval reef of the Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico and Texas, the coeval sea-level rise is 247 m. With these effective methods available, it is feasible to establish more accurate eustatic curve of Phanerozoic.
The amplitude of pre-Quaternary sea level drop, H, can be calculated by usingthe formula H = D + To, where To is the original thickness from the top of the tidal deposits onthe reef core to the bottom of the tidal deposits on the reef front, or to the bottom of the ancientmeteoric vadose zone, or to the edge of the mixed-water dolostone zone. The identity and similaritybetween the sea-level drop amplitudes calculated from different reefs far away from each otherindicates that such sea-level changes are eustatic rather than relative changes. Evidence of anend-Permian sea-level drop has been found on the Changxingian (i.e. the end of the Palaeofusulinazone) reefs at Ziyun in South China, including algal laminated deposits, sabkha-related dolostone,desiccation cracks, dissolution collapse breccia. According to calculation based on the meteoricdissolution zone of the reef-core sequence at Ziyun, Guizhou province, the amplitude of thesea-level drop at the end-Permian is about 89.3 m. Calculation via the dolomitized upper part of theChangxingian reef in Lichuan, Hubei Province, yields an 88.9 m amplitude of the sea-level drop atthe end-Permian. Comparison shows that the sea-level drop recorded in the two distantly locatedreefs may be of eustatic type. So the amplitude of the sea level drop of the Tethys Sea at theend-Permian might be at least 89.3 m.
WU Yasheng and FAN Jiasong Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029
