Abstract
First research on carbonate depositional environments dates back to the middle of the nineteenth century, when Nelson (1853) described the general morphology of the Bahamas and realized the origin of calcareous eolianites. However, systematic studies on carbonate sediments and particularly their modern analogues remained scarce until the 1950th and 1960th. Then, pioneer work on the modern (sub-) tropical carbonate depositional environment, that was triggered by research groups of several large petroleum companies, ignited a boom in carbonate research (among others: Ginsburg 1956, 1957; Ginsburg and Lloyd 1956; Lowenstam and Epstein 1957; Newell and Rigby 1957; Wells 1957; Purdy 1961, 1963; Imbrie and Purdy 1962).
