9/4/2013

BB
STRATIGRAPHY (ES 532)

CLASS 3

STRATIGRAPHIC SUCCESSIONS

Dr. Biplab Bhattacharya

Dept. of Earth Sciences, IIT Roorkee

1
9/4/2013

2
9/4/2013

3
9/4/2013

4
9/4/2013

5
9/4/2013

6
 9/4/2013

The study of short-period, high-frequency cycles

(e.g., Milankovitch Cycles) is commonly referred to as
CYCLOSTRATIGRAPHY.

7
 9/4/2013

Base Level
On land, base level is set by the equilibrium
profile of river systems.
In marginal marine settings, base level is often
the same as sea level
In the deep sea there is no base level and
sedimentation is controlled only by sediment
supply.
Changes in base level allow the sedimentary
record to ppreserve evidence of g
geological
g events:
Relative sea level change is the most important determinant
of changes in base level.
Local tectonic uplift or subsidence changes base level and
leads to erosion or accumulation.
Changes in water supply or sediment load affect the
15 equilibrium profile of a river and therefore the base level
downstream.

On land, base level is set by

Base Level the equilibrium longitudinal
profile of river systems, which
evolve to a characteristic
shape:
The parameters of the
curve for each river are
different. Changes in
these parameters will
cause the river to
aggrade or incise to
reach a new base level.

Parameters include
i) the elevation of the
headwaters, which
may change by uplift
or erosion;
ii) the elevation of the
mouth, which may
change by uplift or
sea-level change;
iii) the sediment supply,
iv) the water discharge,
v) the type of rock
16 being cut.

8
 9/4/2013

Base Level
A knickpoint (resistant
bed or lake) where the
form of the river is
interrupted leads to a
nested set of river profiles.
The placing of an artificial
knickpoint in a river by building a
dam has curious consequences,
both upstream and downstream.
A waterfall must retreat because it
is steeper than the equilibrium
gradient for the reach of the river
below the falls.
A sudden drop p in base-level leads to
the formation of river terraces

17

Relative Sea Level

Relative sea level is the depth of water relative to the local land
surface.
Relative sea level can change due to local vertical tectonic
motions or due to eustatic sea level variations (i.e. global
changes in the volume of ocean water or of the ocean
b i )
basins).

If there is a relative sea-level rise the shoreline will move

landward: this is referred to as transgression.

Movement of the shoreline seawards as a result of sedimentation

occurring at the coast is called a regression,

but if it is due to a relative sea-level fall it is known as a forced

regression.

9
 9/4/2013

Relative Sea Level

rising sea-level can result in Whether transgression or regression
transgression, stationary occurs controls the preservation
shorelines, or regression potential and vertical succession of
depending on sediment supply. environments like barrier islands

19

10
 9/4/2013

A drop in relative sea level always causes a

regression. A transgression hence requires rising
relative sea level.
However, rising sea-level can result in transgression,
stationary shorelines, or regression depending on
sediment supply.

This asymmetry results because sediment flux from

land is always positive, and because transgression
during sea-level fall would create unstable, over-
steepened long-valley profiles.

The sedimentary response to these changes in shoreline

can be preserved in strata as changes in facies going up
through a succession, changes that reflect either a
landward movement of the shoreline, transgression, or a
seaward movement of the shoreline, regression (forced or
otherwise).

11
9/4/2013

12
9/4/2013

13
 9/4/2013

The shape of the curve signifies that the base of the second cycle is at a higher
level than the base of the first. This means that there is an overall increase in
the amount of accommodation through time and this is required in order that
there may be a net accumulation of sediment. If the sea level at the bottom of
the second cycle fell to the same point as the first, and if there was erosion
during sea-level fall, then all the sediment deposited earlier in the second cycle
might be completely removed. A condition of net accommodation creation
though time is therefore required in order to preserve a cycle of sedimentation.

Causes of sea-level change

Relative sea level can change due to local or regional tectonics, which cause
vertical motions (uplift and subsidence). Global sea level can only change by
altering either the volume of sea water or the volume of the ocean basins
themselves.
On time scales of 103105 years, glaciation can quickly tie up and release
enough water to change global sea level by ~200 m.

14
 9/4/2013

Changes in the global configuration of continents and the working of plate

tectonics can affect global sea level by changing the volume of the oceans:

when continents are assembled into supercontinents, the area of shallow

shelves is greatly decreased and the mean age of the ocean crust is a
maximum, because there are few small oceans and one big one. This
should lead to a big fall in sea level (Permian through Jurassic regression?).
when continents rift, a new, shallow ocean is created at the expense
somewhere of an old, deep ocean. Sea level should rise.
an increase in spreading rate of the global ridge system leads with time to
increase in the volume of water displaced by the mid-ocean ridges and a
sea-level rise (cause of Cretaceous transgression?).

15