Quantitative correlation of Lower Silurian carbonate facies in Lithuania: insights from carbon isotopes and cross-recurrence plots

 

Authors: Želvys T, Cichon-Pupienis A, Stankevič R, Garbaras A, Radzevičius S

Published in: Bulletin of Geosciences, volume 100, issue 4; pages: 607 - 615; Received 4 July 2025; Accepted in revised form 10 December 2025; Online 31 December 2025

Keywords: Llandovery, Wenlock, δ13Ccarb, recurrence plots,

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Carbon isotope data from the Ledai – 179 borehole


 

Abstract

The practice of formalizing chemostratigraphic units and defining isotopic zones based on excursions has become widespread. For more than three decades, stable carbon isotopes have played an important role in the solution of Silurian stratigraphy. δ13Ccarb data supplement other stratigraphical proxies, allowing the subdivision of geological sections and more precise correlation. In this paper we provide new δ13Ccarb data from the Silurian section of the Ledai-179 borehole, which is located in central Lithuania. The lower Silurian geological succession of Ledai-179 well is composed of carbonate and sulfate deposits. Two positive carbon isotope excursions were identified in the Ledai-179 borehole: Ireviken and Mulde. In this study, we employed stable carbon isotope data from Ledai-179 and Jočionys-299 (Eastern Lithuania) boreholes and the cross recurrence plot as additional tools to compare two time series (Telychian-Homerian interval) in a data-point-wise manner. The results indicate that stable carbon isotope data exhibit sufficient temporal and spatial coherence to serve as a reliable additional tool for correlating geological sequences.

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