ALBERT

Note: Contents I Review of Current Concepts 1 Introduction 1.1 Sequence Stratigraphy: A New Paradigm? 1.2 From Sloss to Vail 1.3 Problems and Research Trends: The Current Status 1.4 Stratigraphic Terminology 2 Methods for Studying Sequence Stratigraphy 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Erecting a Sequence Framework 2.2.1 The Importance of Unconformities 2.2.2 Facies Cycles 2.2.3 Stratigraphic Architecture: The Seismic Method 2.3 Methods for Assessing Regional and Global Changes in Sea Level, Other Than Seismic Stratigraphy 2.3.1 Areas and Volumes of Stratigraphic Units 2.3.2 Hypsometric Curves 2.3.3 Backstripping 2.3.4 Sea-Level Estimation from Paleoshorelines and Other Fixed Points 2.3.5 Documentation of Meter-Scale Cycles 2.4 Integrated Tectonic-Stratigraphic Analysis 3 The Four Basic Types of Stratigraphic Cycle 3.1 Introduction 3.2 The Supercontinent Cycle 3.3 Cycles with Episodicities of Tens of Millions of Years 3.4 Cycles with Million-Year Episodicities 3.5 Cycles with Episodicities of Less Than One Million Years 4 The Basic Sequence Model 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Terminology 4.3 Depositional Systems and Systems Tracts 4.4 Sequence Boundaries 4.5 Other Sequence Concepts 5 The Global Cycle Chart II The Stratigraphic Framework 6 Cycles with Episodicities of Tens to Hundreds of Millions of Years 6.1 Climate, Sedimentation, and Biogenesis 6.2 The Supercontinent Cycle 6.2.1 The Tectonic-Stratigraphic Model 6.2.2 The Phanerozoic Record 6.3 Cycles with Episodicities of Tens of Millions of Years 6.3.1 Intercontinental Correlations 6.3.2 Tectonostratigraphic Sequences 6.4 Main Conclusions 7 Cycles with Million-Year Episodicities 7.1 Extensional and Rifted Clastic Continental Margins 7.2 Foreland Basin of the North American Western Interior 7.3 Other Foreland Basins 7.4 Forearc Basins 7.5 Backarc Basins 7.6 Cyclothems and Mesothems 7;7 Carbonate Cycles of Platforms and Craton Margins 7.8 Evidence of Cyclicity in the Deep Oceans 7.9 Main Conclusions 8 Cycles with Episodicities of Less Than One Million Years 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Neogene Clastic Cycles of Continental Margins 8.3 Pre-Neogene Marine Carbonate and Clastic Cycles 8.4 Late Paleozoic Cyclothems 8.5 Lacustrine elastic and Chemical Rhythms 8.6 Clastic Cycles of Foreland Basins 8.7 Main Conclusions III Mechanisms 9 Long-Term Eustasy and Epeirogeny 9.1 Mantle Processes and Dynamic Topography 9.2 Supercontinent Cycles 9.3 Cycles with Episodicities of Tens of Millions of Years 9.3.1 Eustasy 9.3.2 Dynamic Topography and Epeirogeny 9.4 Main Conclusions 10 Milankovitch Processes 10.1 Introduction 10.2 The Nature of Milankovitch Processes 10.2.1 Components of Orbital Forcing 10.2.2 Basic Climatology 10.2.3 Variations with Time in Orbital Periodicities 10.2.4 Isostasy and Geoid Changes 10.2.5 The Nature of the Cyclostratigraphic Data Base 10.2.6 The Sensitivity of the Earth to Glaciation 10.2.7 Glacioeustasy in the Mesozoic? 10.2.8 Nonglacial Milankovitch Cyclicity 10.3 The Cenozoic Record 10.4 Late Paleozoic Cyclothems 10.5 The End-Ordovician Glaciation 10.6 Main Conclusions 11 Tectonic Mechanisms 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Rifting and Thermal Evolution of Divergent Plate Margins 11.2.1 Basic Geophysical Models and Their Implications for Sea-Level Change 11.2.2 Some Results from the Analysis of Modern Data Sets 11.3 Tectonism on Convergent Plate Margins and in Collision Zones 11.3.1 Magmatic Arcs and Subduction 11.3.2 Tectonism Versus Eustasy in Foreland Basins 11.3.2.1 The North American Western Interior Basin 11.3.2.2 The Appalachian Foreland Basin 11.3.2.3 Pyrenean and Himalayan Basins 11.3.3 Rates of Uplift and Subsidence 11.3.4 Discussion 11.4 Intraplate Stress 11.4.1 The Pattern of Global Stress 11.4.2 In-Plane Stress as a Control of Sequence Architecture 11.4.3 In-Plane Stress and Regional Histories of Sea-Level Change 11.5 Basement Control 11.6 Other Speculative Tectonic Hypotheses 11.7 Sediment Supply and the Importance of Big Rivers 11.8 Environmental Change 11.9 Main Conclusions IV Chronostratigraphy and Correlation: Why the Global Cycle Chart Should Be Abandoned 12 Time in Sequence Stratigraphy 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Hierarchies of Time and the Completeness of the Stratigraphic Record 12.3 Main Conclusions 13 Correlation, and the Potential for Error 13.1 Introduction 13.2 The New Paradigm of Geological Time? 13.3 The Dating and Correlation of Stratigraphic Events: Potential Sources of Uncertainty 13.3.1 Identification of Sequence Boundaries 13.3.2 Chronostratigraphic Meaning of Unconformities 13.3.3 Determination of the Biostratigraphic Framework 13.3.3.1 The Problem of Incomplete Biostratigraphic Recovery 13.3.3.2 Diachroneity of the Biostratigraphic Record 13.3.4 The Value of Quantitative Biostratigraphic Methods 13.3.5 Assessment of Relative Biostratigraphic Precision 13.3.6 Correlation of Biozones with the Global Stage Framework 13.3.7 Assignment of Absolute Ages 13.3.8 Implications for the Exxon Global Cycle Chart 13.4 Correlating Regional Sequence Frameworks with the Global Cycle Chart 13.4.1 Circular Reasoning from Regional Data 13.4.2 A Rigorous Test of the Global Cycle Chart 13.4.3 A Correlation Experiment 13.4.4 Discussion 13.5 Main Conclusions 14 Sea-Level Curves Compared 14.1 Introduction 14.2 The Exxon Curves: Revisions, Errors, and Uncertainties 14.3 Other Sea-Level Curves 14.3.1 Cretaceous Sea-Level Curves 14.3.2 Jurassic Sea-Level Curves 14.3.3 Why Does the Exxon Global Cycle Chart Contain So Many More Events Than Other Sea-Level Curves? 14.4 Main Conclusions V Approaches to a Modern Sequence-Stratigraphic Framework 15 Elaboration of the Basic Sequence Model 15.1 Introduction 15.2 Definitions 15.2.1 The Hierarchy of Units and Bounding Surfaces 15.2.2 Systems Tracts and Sequence Boundaries 15.3 The Sequence Stratigraphy of Clastic Depositional Systems 15.3.1 Pluvial Deposits and Their Relationship to Sea-Level Change 15.3.2 The Concept of the Bayline 15.3.3 Deltas, Beach-Barrier Systems, and Estuaries 15.3.4 Shelf Systems: Sand Shoals and Condensed Sections 15.3.5 Slope and Rise Systems 15.4 The Sequence Stratigraphy of Carbonate Depositional Systems 15.4.1 Platform Carbonates: Catch-Up Versus Keep-Up 15.4.2 Carbonate Slopes 15.4.3 Pelagic Carbonate Environments 15.5 Main Conclusions 16 Numerical and Graphical Modeling of Sequences 16.1 Introduction 16.2 Model Design 16.3 Selected Examples of Model Results 16.4 Main Conclusions VI Discussion and Conclusions 17 Implications for Petroleum Geology 17.1 Introduction 17.2 Integrated Tectonic-Stratigraphic Analysis 17.2.1 The Basis of the Methodology 17.2.2 The Development of an Allostratigraphic Framework 17.2.3 Choice of Sequence-Stratigraphic Models 17.2.4 The Search for Mechanisms 17.2.5 Reservoir Characterization 17.3 Controversies in Practical Sequence Analysis 17.3.1 The Case of the Tocito Sandstone, New Mexico 17.3.2 The Case of Gippsland Basin, Australia 17.3.3 Conclusions: A Modified Approach to Sequence Analysis for Practicing Petroleum Geologists and Geophysicists 17.4 Main Conclusions 18 Conclusions and Recommendations 18.1 Sequences in the Stratigraphic Record 18.1.1 Long-Term Stratigraphic Cycles 18.1.2 Cycles with Million-Year Episodicities 18.1.3 Cycles with Episodicities of Less Than One Million Years 18.2 Mechanisms 18.2.1 Long-Term Eustasy and Epeirogeny 18.2.2 Milankovitch Processes 18.2.3 Tectonic Mechanisms 18.3 Chronostratigraphy and Correlation 18.3.1 Concepts of Time 18.3.2 Correlation Problems, and the Basis of the Global Cycle Chart 18.3.3 Comparison of Sea-Level Curves 18.4 Modern Sequence Analysis 18.4.1 Elaboration of the Basic Sequence Model 18.4.2 Numerical and Graphical Modeling of Stratigraphic Sequences 18.5 Implications for Petroleum Geology 18.6 The Global-Eustasy Paradigm: Working Backwards from the Answer? 18.6.1 The Exxon Factor 18.6.2 Conclusions . 18.7 Recommendations References Author Index Subject Index