Atlas of Tropical Carbonates

This book is based on more than 35 years of research in the area of carbonate sediments and rocks of different geological ages in Venezuela. It includes examples from the Permian age (more than 250 million years ago) to the Quaternary environments belonging to modern ecosystems located on the south margin of the Caribbean Sea. It focuses on the description, mainly petrographic, of topics related to carbonate sediments and rocks in continental Venezuela and its Caribbean islands, including the age, type of sedimentary environments (both present and the past), facies and microfacies, texture and fabric, identification and description of skeletal and non-skeletal grains (e.g. foraminifera and ooids, respectively) and other constituents (e.g. dolomite crystals and cements), porosity types and their primary or secondary origin, diagenetic processes, and diagenetic minerals (e.g. phosphate, pyrite, glauconite). In addition, it offers exceptional examples of petroleum source rocks (Cretaceous black shales) and carbonate reservoirs (of Cretaceous, Oligocene and Miocene ages), with over 600 photographs (panoramic and close up on kilometer, meter and centimeter scales) and photomicrographs taken with a polarized microscope (on millimeter and micrometre scales). This book is not only an Atlas of Tropical Carbonates from Venezuela. The first chapter (by far the longest and not a photographic one) comprises an updated review of the geology of Venezuela (from Late Paleozoic to Modern Times) and its Petroliferous Basins. Furthermore, each photographic chapter is preceded by an introduction. These documents, in which both generalities and specifications about the main subject matter are discussed, have been written with the intention of being general references for carbonate rocks and sediments (not only for carbonate facies from Venezuela). The authors have intended this book for professors, researchers, and graduated students in the area of Geosciences, especially Geology and Geochemistry, and whose investigations are focused on sedimentology and stratigraphy. It is also a valuable resource for oil industry professionals, as well as biologists and ecologists who have interest in the study of modern coral reefs.