Sequence Stratigraphy
First published: 2008
Brief summary
Teaching resource on sea-level, accommodation and sedimentation cycles.
Article
Sequence stratigraphy examines sedimentary successions in terms of genetically related packages of strata bounded by unconformities or their correlative surfaces. It interprets how deposition responds to changes in accommodation space and sediment supply.
Accommodation is the space available for sediment to accumulate and is influenced by relative sea level, subsidence, uplift and compaction. When accommodation increases faster than sediment supply, shorelines tend to move landward; when sediment supply exceeds accommodation creation, they tend to move basinward.
The framework identifies surfaces and systems tracts associated with transgression, regression, maximum flooding and relative sea-level fall. Outcrop, core, well-log and seismic data are used to trace these elements through a basin.
Sequence stratigraphy supports regional correlation and reconstruction of basin history. Repeated sequences can reflect eustatic change, tectonics, sediment supply or combinations of these controls, so the presence of stacked sequences does not by itself demonstrate a strictly periodic cause.
Source details and credits
- Source / publisher: University of Georgia
- Source type: Teaching resource
- URL type: WWW
- Credits: University of Georgia
- URL: https://strata.uga.edu/sequence/