Cores and outcrop sections of Late Triassic, cycle platform carbonates in Hungary will be studied to determine why some cycles record a transgressive (Lofer-type) succession, whereas other cycles record a regressive succession of facies. Fischer plots will be used to define relative, long-term (3rd order) sea level curves, which will be compared to published Late Triassic curves. Cyclic sections will be examined using spectral analysis to define if any dominant periodicities occur, and if so, what were likely causes. Computer modeling will simulate facies successions, cycle stacking patterns, possible subsidence rates, likely amplitude and periods of 3rd to 5th order sea level fluctuations, possible ranges of sedimentation rates, and likely emergence times of cycles during sea level lowstands. The diagenesis of the succession will be studied to determine the relationship, if any, of high and low frequency sea level fluctuations to the diagenetic record preserved the rocks, and the relationship of the numerous cycle-capping disconformities, and Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic unconformities. The work will define how faithfully a shallow carbonate platform's sedimentary diagenetic record records its sea level and tectonic history.
