Sedimentary characteristics of the Silurian organic reefs from the Shiniulan Formation in southeastern Sichuan

In the light of outcrops, well logs and seismic profiles, the present paper gives a detailed exploration of the sedimentary facies in the Silurian Shiniulan Formation in southeastern Sichuan. The Silurian organic reefs in the Shiniulan Formation occur as knoll reefs and display chaotic reflection within the seismic profiles. In a planar view, the early platform-margin reef facies is dominantly made up of organic bank with a small amount of patch reefs. Till the late stage, abundant patch reefs occupy this facies. A carbonate ramp model for the organic reefs in the Shiniulan Formation shows that the organic reefs mostly appear as patch reef clusters on the carbonate ramps.