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GS 704 Sequence Stratigraphy
(700 Level Course)
Lecture #2
Jan 16 2017
Textbooks:
Principles of Sequence Stratigraphy
Octavian Catuneanu
Sequence Stratigraphy
Emery and Myers
Recap
• Introduction SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHY‐
• AN OVERVIEW Sequence Stratigraphy in the
Context of Interdisciplinary Research
• HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF SEQUENCE
STRATIGRAPHY
• Sequence Models SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHIC
APPROACH
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Today
• Tectonics and Eustasy as drivers of
sedimentation
• Accommodation potential and sediment
supply
• Sea Level, Base Level, Relative Sea Levels
• Hierarchy of stratal units
• Terminologies
Eustasy as a primary driver
• Seismic Stratigraphy by Vail – 1970’s
• First Seismic profile integration with global sea‐
level cycle‐ Vail‐Mitchum‐Thomson – 1977
Tectonics as primary driver of Stratigraphic Cyclicity:
• Tectonics by A. Wegener “The Origin of
Continents and Oceans” – 1915
• Seafloor spreading was validated later in the late
1950s and early 1960s
• Tectonostratigraphy – 1980’s
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GLOBAL‐EUSTASY MODEL
Pitfalls and Remedy
• The major weakness of both schools of
thought:
– Both imply an interpretation of sequences on
basis of the main allogenic control on
accommodation – BIASED interpretation !
• sequence stratigraphy : interpretation artifact
not an empirical, data based method ?
• blend of eustasy and tectonics, the concept of
“relative sea level” – 1990’s
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Current Understanding: Exxon
• “Each stratal unit is defined and identified
– only by physical relationships of the strata, including lateral
continuity and geometry of the surfaces bounding the units,
vertical stacking patterns, and lateral geometry of the strata
within the units.
– Thickness, time for formation, and interpretation of regional or
global origin are not used to define stratal units...,
– [which ie. Stratal units]... can be identified in well logs, cores, or
outcrops and used to construct a stratigraphic framework
regardless of their interpreted relationship to changes in
eustasy”
(VanWagoner et al., 1990).
Eustatic Sea Level Changes
• Eustasy: global sea level independent of local
factors
– the position of the sea surface with reference to a
fixed datum including the center of the earth or a
satellite in fixed orbit around the earth
CAN IT BE CCURATELY MEASURED BASED ON
OBSERVATIONS?
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Timescales of Sea Level Change
• 1st order (100–1000 my):
– Eustatic
– Related to supercontinental cycles
• 2nd order (10–100 my)
– Primarily Eustatic
– Global Tectonics e.g. spreading rates
– “Sloss sequences”
• 3rd order (1–10 my)
– Eustatic and Regional factors
– Subsidence/Uplift
• 4th order (0.1–1 my)
– Climate related/ Glacial cycles
– Volume of water on land vs. oceans
– Intrinsic and Extrinsic factors
– How much will the SL rise if you melt all land ice today?
Uplift and Subsidence:
Tectonic Drivers
• Uplift: Raising of Earth’s surface w.r.t. a datum
Can you think of instances ?
• Subsidence: Lowering of Earth’s surface w.r.t a
datum
Examples?
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Relative sea level:
a blend of eustasy and tectonics
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Base Level
This is the surface to which sediment accumulation fills up to or erodes down to and is
related to continental erosion.
Dynamic surface controlled by
erosion
sediment deposition
tectonic movement
eustasy.
Base Level
• Level along the equilibrium profile below which
sediment will be deposited and above of which
sediment will be eroded
• In aeolian systems, the base level is the water
table
• In shallow‐marine environments, there is a
specific base level for the individual coastal zones
(e.g. high and low tide, fairweather and storm
wave base)
• However, the sea level can be effectively taken as
the base level
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Regional vs Local Base Level
Equilibrium Profile
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Base Level Rise and Fall
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Accommodation Space
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Coe (2003)
Transgression vs Regression
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Transgression and Regression
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HIERARCHY OF STRATAL UNITS
• Lamina: Smallest megascopic layer in a
sedimentary sequence
• Laminaset: Group or set of conformable laminae
that compose distinctive structures within a bed
• Bed: Layer of sedimentary rocks bounded above
and below by bedding surfaces
• Bedset: Two or more superposed beds
characterized by the same composition, texture
and sedimentary structures
• Campbell (1967)
HIERARCHY OF STRATAL UNITS
• Parasequence: A relatively conformable
succession of genetically related beds or bedsets
bounded by marine flooding surfaces and their
correlative surfaces.
• Parasequence set: A succession of genetically
related parasequences that form a distinctive
stacking pattern,
• bounded, in many cases, by major marine
flooding
• surfaces and their correlative surfaces.
• Van Wagoner et al. (1988)
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A Simple Parasequence
Coe (2003)
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“Sequence”
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“Sequence”
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Hierarchy of Stratal Units
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Hierarchy of Stratal Units
Hierarchy of Stratal Units
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Hierarchy of Stratal Units
Systems Tracts
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Hierarchy of Stratal Units
Hierarchy of Stratal Units
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Bounding Surfaces
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