Sequence Stratigraphy

Important because it places strata into a predictable, cronostratrigraphic framework and relates them to accommodation space

Accommodation space equation

Space is created by changing in tectonic subsidence and Eustasy

T+E=S+W

Space is filled with water and sediments

T: Tectonic subsidence E=rate of Eustatic sea level rise S: sedimentation rate W: water depth

Hierarchy
1) Depositional sequence (bounded by sequence boundary)
2) System tracts: a linkage of contemporaneous depositional systems
3) Parasequence set (stacking patterns: progradational, aggradational, retrogradational)
4) Parasequence (bounded by flooding surfaces) 5) Flooding surface

Depositional system
A 3D assemblage of lithofacies genetically linked and coexisting today (fluvial, delataic, barrier-island)

Depositional sequence
A relative conformable succession of genetically related strata bouned by unconformities (i.e. sequence boundary) or related conformities. Important: every depositional sequence is the record on one cycle of relative sea level Important: every Depositional sequence is bounded above and below by unconformities or correlative conformities.

System tract (subdivision of the depositional system)

Genetically associated stratigraphic units that were deposited during specific phases of the relative sea-level cycle (Posamentier, et al, 1988) and represented in the rock record as three-dimensional facies assemblages. They are defined on the basis of bounding surfaces, position within a sequence, and parasequence stacking pattern (Van Wagoner et al., 1988)

Sequence boundary HST TST TS LST Sequence boundary

The key vertical succession in all depositional sequences:

From bottom to top: 1) Sequence boundary 2) Low Stand system Track (LST) 3) Transgressive surface 4) Transgressive system track (TST) 5) Maximum flooding surface 6) Highs stand system track (HST)

Origin and scale of Parasequences

Because shallow water facies within a parasequence will pinch out laterally in a downdip direction and deeper water facies within a parasequence will pinch out in an updip direction, the facies composition of a single parasequence changes predictably updip and downdip. Thus, a single parasequence will be composed of deeper water facies downdip and shallower water facies updip, as would be expected.

Parasequences
Example of siliciclastic wave dominated shoreline: 1) bioturbated offshore mudstones, 2) pass through the storm beds of the transition zone or lower shoreface, 3) continue through the trough crossbedding of the shoreface, 4) pass upwards into the seaward inclined laminae of the foreshore, 5) and be capped by a backshore or coastal plain coal bed.

System tracks and parasequences are arranged into parasequence sets (stacking pattern)
A succession of genetically related parasequences that form a distinctive stacking pattern (example: progradatioal, retrogradational, aggradational)

Stacking patterns Sedimentation>accomodation

Stacking patterns Sedimentation=accomodation

Stacking patterns Sedimentation<accomodation

Rate of sediment supply < Rate of accommodation

Increasing rate of accommodation

Retrogradational Parasequence

Rate of sediment supply > Rate of accommodation

Aggradational Parasequence

Accommodation vs Sediment Supply

di Se

en

ts

l pp u

y=

om cc A

n tio a od
Progradational Parasequence

Sediment bypass

Loss of accommodation

Increasing rate of sediment supply

Sequence Boundary

Regional Incision
96_0118_13

(modified from Shanley and McCabe, 1996)

Hierarchy of surfaces
Sequence boundary (Depositional sequence) Transgressive surface (System tract) Maximum flooding surface (Parasequence)

Seismic sequence
A depositional sequence is a relatively conformable succession of seismic reflectors bounded at its top and base by sequence boundaries (unconformities and their correlative conformities) (Vail, et al., 1977). Within this package of reflectors it is sometimes possible to identify reflector geometries representing a succession of genetically linked deposition systems (Systems Tracts) which are interpreted to have been deposited between eustatic-fall inflection points (Posamentier, et al., 1988).

Base discordant
onlap

downlap

Type of truncations
(progradational sequence; regression= r.sea level fall) (retrogradational sequence; Transgression=r. sea level rise)

Erosional Sequence Boundary

(Cretaceous Mancos Shale near Woodside, Utah)

Tidal influence

HST TST LST Sequence boundary

HST

Low Stand system Tract