oa The Application of Phytolith Stratigraphy to ‘Barren’ Red-beds

Significant oil and gas reserves occur in so-called “barren red-beds” in several regions around the world. Although red-beds occur throughout the geological timescale, examples with an economic interest are the Late Carboniferous, Permian and Early Triassic of Europe (Barren Measures, Rotliegendes, Bunter; Doornenbal and Stevenson, 2010), the Triassic of the United States, and the Permian–Carboniferous of the Middle East. These sediments are generally deposited in nonmarine environments under arid climate conditions. In terrestrial basins, biostratigraphic analysis of plant microfossils (pollen and spores) is often effective in constraining static geological models. Unfortunately, such organic-walled microfossils are not preserved in red-bed deposits due to oxidation, hampering stratigraphic correlation on both local (field) and regional scale.