Insights into a million-year-scale Rhenohercynian carbonate platform evolution through a multi-disciplinary approach: example of a GIvetian carbonate record from Belgium

In this paper we formulate answers to three important questions related to Givetian carbonate records and their use for reconstructing million-year past palaeoenvironmental changes. First, we provide detailed illustrations of the fascinating diversity that shaped a significant shallow reefal platform during the early- to late-Givetian in the Rhenohercynian Ocean; secondly we improve the sedimentological model of the extensive Givetian carbonate platform in the Dinant Basin and thirdly we evaluate the application of magnetic susceptibility (MS) as a tool for long-term trend correlations and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. These goals are reached by making sedimentological, geophysical and geochemical study of the La Thure section. Through the early-late Givetian interval we discerned eighteen microfacies ranging from a homoclinal ramp to a discontinuously rimmed shelf and then a drowning shelf. The comparison of these sedimentological results with those published in the south of the Dinant Syncline allowed us to provide an up to date model of the vertical and lateral environmental development for one of the largest Givetian carbonate platforms in Europe. This comparison also increased the knowledge on the facies belts distribution into the Dinant Basin and allowed us to highlight the Taghanic Event. Palaeo-redox proxies reveal a substantial change in the oxygenation level, from oxygen-depleted to more oxic condition, between middle and late Givetian. We demonstrated the relationship between variation in MS values and proxies for siliciclastic input (such as Si, Al). The La Thure is considered as a key section for the understanding of internal shelf settings bordering Laurussia’s south-eastern margin.