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

Increasing rate of accommodation

Rate of sediment supply <

Rate of accommodation
Retrogradational
Parasequence

Rate of sediment
supply > Rate of
accommodation
Aggradational
Parasequence

di
Se

en

ts

pl
p
u

y=

m
co
c
A

Accommodation
vs
Sediment Supply

n
io
t
a
od
Progradational
Parasequence

Sediment bypass

Increasing rate of
sediment supply

Loss of accommodation

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