Tectonics
The movement of plates across the planet controls both the rate and style of subsidence and the characteristics of the carbonate platform's foundaFormation');">Formation. Due to the inactive nature of passive margins the amount of sediment accumulation and the space it grows in has stayed the same through the geologic past. However each platform must respond to it's own unique tectonic setting, resulting in the various platform morphologies seen in the oceans today.
As plates move around the planet it is easy for platforms to move from climatic zone to climatic zone. The movement happens slowly enough so that the faunal assemblages can respond to the new sea water temperatures, depths and sediment accumulation rates.
Additionally tectonics can play a role in the amount of terrigenous clastic sediments that enter a platform's area by controlling what type of tectonic activity is happening near the platform's location.
Index to carbonate shelf sediments