Review of Carbonate Classification Systems
Kelly K. Rose
Abstract
Classification of carbonate rocks has been an issue since the early 1900's. However, demand for one classification system was not strongly voiced until the 1950's. In 1961, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) held a symposium to address the topic. Rather than having a single system be accepted by consensus, two separate concepts, Folk's and Dunham's, emerged and are still widely used today. Since the 1960's, debate about carbonate classification has decreased, as most workers have adopted either Folk or Dunham's system. Unfortunately, this leads to a dual system, which causes several problems. The primary difficulties relate to conflicts in communication, and over-reliance on descriptive features, with little attention paid to such matters as genesis.