Peter W. Skelton – författare

Carbonate platforms are attracting growing interest as significant components in the history of global climatic and oceanic change, especially those of the Cretaceous "greenhouse" world. The current primary literature in the early-21st century is scattered and relatively inaccessible, so this volume provides the first general survey of the South Tethyan region of integrated carbonate, evaporite and siliciclastic facies, together with up-to-date reviews of topics that are especially relevant to their investigation. The regional surveys cover Egypt (including Sinai), Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. They emphasize the stratigraphy and character of rudist and coral formations, which form the most distinctive platform component, as well as touching on such aspects as eustatic and tectonic context, palaeoecology, diagenesis and resource implications. The general topics covered include modern methods of chemo- and biostratigraphical correlation of platform successions, variation in the nature of platform facies with respect to climatic, oceanic and palaeographic settings, and the palaeoecology and evolution of rudist bivalves.A key source for those working on Cretaceous stratigraphy, palaeogeography and palaeoclimatology, and Tethyan biotas, as well as petroleum geologists concerned with the region.

This volume arises from the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) on 'North African Cretaceous rudist and coral formations and their contributions to carbonate platform development , which was held in Tunisia, on 13-18 May, 2002. It was convened by M. El Hedi Negra (Universite 7 Novembre de Carthage, now Universite de Tunis El Manar, Tunisia) and Eulalia Gili (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain). The aims of the ARW were: (1) to review and critically assess currently available data on rudist/coral formations in North African Cretaceous carbonate platforms, and their correlations, and to integrate these data with other studies around the Mediterranean; (2) to place the findings in a global context, noting both similarities with other regions of platform development as well as local differences, and (3) exploring possible reasons for these; and to help promote the creation of a vibrant peri-Mediterranean collaborative research community, embracing researchers from the entire region, to carry forward this ambitious research programme. Twenty-two presentations (oral and poster) provided both topical reviews (covering rudist evolution, and ecology, mineralogical changes, applications of strontium isotope, and graphic correlation methods, and platform typology) as well as regional syntheses (Tunisian reservoirs, Moroccan platform history, Tunisian platforms and rudist/coral facies, Algerian platforms, and Egyptian platforms). Fifteen of these presentations are expanded here as papers. The workshop was attended by 24 academic staff, 4 geologists from the oil industry, plus several observers and students.

This volume arises from the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) on ''North African Cretaceous rudist and coral formations and their contributions to carbonate platform development , which was held in Tunisia, on 13-18 May, 2002. It was convened by M. El Hedi Negra (Universite 7 Novembre de Carthage, now Universite de Tunis El Manar, Tunisia) and Eulalia Gili (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain). The aims of the ARW were: (1) to review and critically assess currently available data on rudist/coral formations in North African Cretaceous carbonate platforms, and their correlations, and to integrate these data with other studies around the Mediterranean; (2) to place the findings in a global context, noting both similarities with other regions of platform development as well as local differences, and (3) exploring possible reasons for these; and to help promote the creation of a vibrant peri-Mediterranean collaborative research community, embracing researchers from the entire region, to carry forward this ambitious research programme. Twenty-two presentations (oral and poster) provided both topical reviews (covering rudist evolution, and ecology, mineralogical changes, applications of strontium isotope, and graphic correlation methods, and platform typology) as well as regional syntheses (Tunisian reservoirs, Moroccan platform history, Tunisian platforms and rudist/coral facies, Algerian platforms, and Egyptian platforms). Fifteen of these presentations are expanded here as papers. The workshop was attended by 24 academic staff, 4 geologists from the oil industry, plus several observers and students.