Effect of diagenetic variation on the static and dynamic mechanical behavior of coral reef limestone

Coral reef limestone at different depositional depths and facies differ remarkably on the textural and mineralogical characteristics,owing to the complex sedimentary diagenesis.To explore the effects of pore structure and mineral composition associated with diagenetic variation on the mechanical behavior of reef limestone,a series of quasi-static and dynamic compression tests along with microscopic examinations were performed on the reef limestone at shallow and deep burial depths.It is revealed that the shallow reef limestone(SRL)is classified as a porous aragonite-type carbonate rock with high porosity(55.3±3.2)%and pore connectivity.In comparison,the deep reef limestone(DRL)is mainly composed of dense calcite-type calcium carbonate with low porosity(4.9±1.6)%and pore connectivity.The DRL strengthened and stiffened by the tight grain framework consistently displays much higher values of the dynamic compressive strength,elastic modulus,brittleness index,and specific energy absorption than those of the SRL.The gap between two types of limestone further increases with an increase in strain rate.It appears that the failure pattern of SRL is dominated by the inherent defects like weak bonding interfaces and growth lines,revealed by the intricate fracturing network and mixed failure.Likewise,although the preexisting megapores in DRL may affect the crack propagation on pore tips to a certain distance,it hardly alters the axial splitting failure of DRL under impacts.The stress wave propagation and attenuation in SRL is primarily controlled by the reflection and diffusion caused by plenty mesopores,as well as an energy dissipation in layer-wise pore collapse and adjacent grain crushing,while the stress wave in DRL is highly hinged on the insulation and diffraction induced by the isolated megapores.This process is accompanied by the energy dissipation behavior of inelastic deformation resulted from the pore-emanated microcracking.

A machine learning-based strategy for predicting the mechanical strength of coral reef limestone using X-ray computed tomography

Different sedimentary zones in coral reefs lead to significant anisotropy in the pore structure of coral reef limestone(CRL),making it difficult to study mechanical behaviors.With X-ray computed tomography(CT),112 CRL samples were utilized for training the support vector machine(SVM)-,random forest(RF)-,and back propagation neural network(BPNN)-based models,respectively.Simultaneously,the machine learning model was embedded into genetic algorithm(GA)for parameter optimization to effectively predict uniaxial compressive strength(UCS)of CRL.Results indicate that the BPNN model with five hidden layers presents the best training effect in the data set of CRL.The SVM-based model shows a tendency to overfitting in the training set and poor generalization ability in the testing set.The RF-based model is suitable for training CRL samples with large data.Analysis of Pearson correlation coefficient matrix and the percentage increment method of performance metrics shows that the dry density,pore structure,and porosity of CRL are strongly correlated to UCS.However,the P-wave velocity is almost uncorrelated to the UCS,which is significantly distinct from the law for homogenous geomaterials.In addition,the pore tensor proposed in this paper can effectively reflect the pore structure of coral framework limestone(CFL)and coral boulder limestone(CBL),realizing the quantitative characterization of the heterogeneity and anisotropy of pore.The pore tensor provides a feasible idea to establish the relationship between pore structure and mechanical behavior of CRL.

Meso-mechanical anisotropy and fracture evolution of reef limestones from the Maldives Islands and the South China Sea

Reef limestone is a biogenic sedimentary rock widely distributed in coral reef areas, acting as an important foundation for coast construction. Due to its special biogenic origin, reef limestone is different from conventional rocks both in terms of rock structure and mechanical properties. In this study, mesoscale uniaxial compression experiments with five different loading directions were conducted on two kinds of reef limestones from the Maldives Islands and the South China Sea, respectively. The real-time high-resolution videos and images of failure processes were recorded simultaneously to investigate the fracture evolution and fracture surface roughness of reef limestones. It demonstrated that the reef limestones belonged to extremely soft to soft rocks, and their uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) values fluctuated with high discreteness. The mesoscale mechanical properties of reef limestones were highly anisotropic and mainly controlled by pore structure. The occurrence of dissolution pores in reef limestone tended to intensify mechanical anisotropy. With the integration of the fracture initiation and propagation features of reef limestones, it is supposed that the intrinsic mechanism of anisotropy was probably attributed to the differences in coral growth direction and dissolution. Furthermore, the quantified fracture surface roughness was revealed to have a good consistency with density and UCS for the reef limestones from the South China Sea. The findings are helpful for providing theoretical and experimental references for engineering construction in coral reef areas.

Sedimentary and environmental history of the Late Permian Bonikowo Reef(Zechstein Limestone, Wuchiapingian), western Poland

The Bonikowo Reef occurs in the central part of the Zechstein Limestone Basin in western Poland and was growing on the topmost edges of tilted blocks and/or on the top of uplifted horsts of the BrandenburgeWolsztynePogorzela High. Its size is ca. 1.6 km^2. The Bonikowo Reef shows the thickest reef section（90.5 m） recorded in the High. The Zechstein Limestone unit is represented mostly by limestones, often thoroughly recrystallized, although the macrotextures and biota of the boundstone are identifiable in most cases. The drillcore section is a mixture of boundstones（microbial and bryozoan）, wackestones, packstones and grainstones, which often co-occur. The δ^13 C and δ^18 O values for both calcite（avg. 3.8 ± 0.8‰ and-3.4 ± 1.7‰, respectively） and dolomite（avg. 3.5 ± 0.7‰ and-5.2 ± 1.3‰, respectively） are transitional between the values previously reported for condensed sequences of the basinal facies and larger reef complexes. The biofacies of the Bonikowo Reef are very similar to those recognized in other reefs of the BrandenburgeWolsztynePogorzela High, which owe their origin to the destruction of bryozoan boundstones. The biota composition is typical and characteristic of other Zechstein Limestone reefs. However, the Bonikowo Reef demonstrates the importance of microbialites, laminar and nodose encrustations, in the growth and cohesion of the Zechstein Limestone reefs. Such encrustations abound within the Zechstein Limestone although, in many cases, the real nature of the encrustations is difficult to ascertain. These laminated encrustations show great similarity to Archaeolithoporella that is one of the most important Permian reefbuilding organisms. The encrustations considered to represent Archaeolithoporella were also previously recorded in the Zechstein Limestone of western Poland and in its stratigraphic equivalent, the Middle Magnesian Limestone of Northeast England. The lower part of the sequence shows great biofacies variability that reflects common environmental changes. The major part of the section is represented by slope depositsgrading upward into the reef, which reflects the prograding nature of reef margin. The progradation rate for the Bonikowo Reef is estimated at 400 m/My.