Concepts in Stratigraphy

Chapters 13-18

Stratigraphic Concepts

Basic Concepts Lithostratigraphy Sequence Stratigraphy

Sea level and sediment supply

Biostratigraphy Other Types of Stratigraphy

Basic Principles

Steno (1669): Principal of original horizontality

Sediments deposited as essentially horizontal beds Each layer of sedimentary rock (sediment) in a tectonically undisturbed sequence is younger than the one beneath it and older than the one above it

Principal of superposition

Younger

Older Younger

Older

Basic Principles

Hutton (1700s)

Principle of Uniformitarianism: The processes that shaped Earth throughout geologic time were the same as those observable today The present is the key to the past Sometimes there are environments/conditions that do not have good modern analogues

Basic Principles

Walther (1884)

Walthers Law: Only those facies and faciesareas can be superimposed primarily which can be observed beside each other at the present time

Only applies to conformable successions i.e., no major breaks in sedimentation Vertical successions do not always reproduce horizontal sequence of environments

Shalier (fining) upward succession

Several km, 10s of km Foreshore sandstones 10s of m Shoreface sandstones Interbedded sandstones/shales Distal shales

Basic Principles

Stratigraphic bodies can be laterally continuous or discontinuous Vertical boundaries can be abrupt or gradational Lateral boundaries may be abrupt, gradational, interfingering/intertonguing

Contacts

Boggs 2001

Unconformities

Stratigraphic surfaces across which there is evidence for a significant time gap

Angular unconformities angular discordance between strata above and below Disconformities erosion surface shows significant relief, no angular discordance Paraconformities no relief on erosion surface, no angular discordance Nonconformities sedimentary strata above an igneous body

Unconformities

Angular Unconformity Disconformity Paraconformity Nonconformity

Boggs 2001

Stratigraphy

Lithostratigraphy - units based on lithology Biostratigraphy units based on fossil content Magnetostratigraphy units based on magnetic properties (reversals) Chemostratigraphy based on chemical properties Seismic stratigraphy based on seismic reflections

Stratigraphy

Sequence stratigraphy based on surfaces generated by the interplay of tectonics, eustacy and sediment supply Other types of stratigraphic analyses

Lithostratigraphy

Formation

Fundamental unit of lithostratigraphic classification A body of rock identified by lithic characteristics (composition, colour, sedimentary structures, fossils, etc) and stratigraphic position

Lithostratigraphy

Formation

Generally considered to be tabular in geometry Large enough to be mappable at the Earths surface or traceable in the subsurface Existing formations range from a few m to several 1000s of m thick Traceable for a few km or several 1000 km

Todilto Entrada

Chinle

Cardium Fm
Coarsening-upward Sandier-upward Shoaling-upward

Kaskapau Fm

Lithostratigraphy

Members

Subdivisions of formations Possess characteristics that distinguish it from other parts of the formation Not all formations are subdivided into members

Lithostratigraphy

Groups

Two or more formations related lithologically Component formations may change laterally (e.g., due to facies changes) Assemblage of related or superimposed groups Sometimes useful for regional syntheses especially in Precambrian studies

Supergroups

Stratigraphy of the Montreal Area

Problems with Lithostratigraphy

Different facies represent different depositional environments As laterally contiguous environments shift with time, facies boundaries shift so that the facies of one environment lie above those of another environment

Walthers Law

Timelines cross lithologic boundaries

A Transgressive Facies Model

Recall that facies are sediments that represent a particular environment During a transgression, the coarse (sandstone), fine (shale) and carbonate (limestone) facies migrate in a landward direction

Wicander and Monroe (2001)

Wicander and Monroe (2001)

On a regional scale (California-Arizona), their ages are different

Wicander and Monroe (2001)

Lithostratigraphy

One of the reasons for undertaking (litho)stratigraphic analyses is to make correlations between different areas/outcrops Unfortunately, lithology-based correlations can be ambiguous/incorrect

Lithologic Correlation

Boggs, 2001

Problems with Lithostratigraphy

Quest: Find/define timelines that will permit depositional histories to be defined with precision Timelines: stratigraphic surfaces generated by the interplay of tectonics, eustacy (global sea level) and sediment supply Use links between sea level, sediment supply and other factors to develop predictive models

Cyclicity

Examination of the stratigraphic record shows that, in many places, the sedimentary record contains evidence for nested orders of cyclically deposited sediments

Cycles mm- to km thick Days to 100s of millions of years

Calcite (dark) and Anhydrite (light)

Castille Fm. of the Permian reef complex near Carlsbad, New Mexico

Pennsylvanian Paradox Group - Utah

Cretaceous Mesaverde Group New Mexico

Cyclicity

Much of the sedimentary record displays evidence for repetitive transgressive/regressive episodes Transgressions and regressions caused by the interplay of:

Global sea level change (eustasy) Tectonic subisdence/uplift Changes in sediment supply

Option 1: Global sea level rises and falls

Eustatic Sea level changes (Eustasy)

Option 2: Crust rises and falls

Tectonic Sea level changes (e.g., isostacy)

Option 3: Tectonic movements and global sea level change simultaneously

Relative Sea Level

We define relative sea level to include the combined effects of eustasy and tectonic movements

In practice in can be difficult/impossible to distinguish between the two

Eustasy + High Subsidence Relative Sea Level ->

Eustasy + Moderate Subsidence

Eustasy Time ->

By Adding Sediment, We Can Cause Changes in Water Depth (Regression) Without Changes in Sea Level

Water Depth

Relative Sea Level Subsidence/Uplift Eustatic Sea Level

Sediment Accumulation

Center of the Earth

Mechanisms

As relative sea level rises and falls, the shoreline will move landward or basinward

Transgression - Regression

Transgression: landward movement of the shoreline Regression: basinward movement of the shoreline

Factor #1 Global (Eustatic) Sea-level Change

Center of the Earth Earths Surface Remains Fixed Global Sea Level Changes

Factor #2 Regional/Local Subsidence/Uplift

Center of the Earth Global Sea Level Remains Fixed Earths Surface Changes

Cyclical Sedimentation
Whether an area will see transgression or regression depends upon the interplay of two factors:
Rate of sediment supply (clastic, carbonate) Rate at which accommodation space is made available/removed

Cyclical Sedimentation
Accommodation space: Space available for sediment to accumulate vertically Approximately equal to water depth in marine settings
Changes in relative sea level create/remove accomodation space

Other types of accommodation (e.g., fluvial base level)

Progradation: a type of regression however caused that includes sediment deposition Retrogradation: a type of transgression that includes sediment deposition

Curtis, 1970

Pennsylvanian Paradox Group - Utah

Cyclicity

Different levels of cyclicity may be stacked

Recognized by differences in thickness Represent processes that act on different time scales

Sed supply > Accommodation

Sed supply < Accommodation

Sed supply = Accommodation

Van Wagoner et al., 1988

SW

NE

Coastal Plain Shoreface Marine Limestone

2nd Order Sequence 3rd Order Sequence 4th Order Sequence

Cyclicity - Mechanisms

Sea-level changes on periods of many 10s to 100s of millions of years are known as 1st Order Cycles

Eustatic Related to supercontinent cycle make-up and break-up of Pangea Easy to correlate (biostratigraphy, seismic stratigraphy, absolute dating, etc.)

Cyclicity - Mechanisms

2nd Order Cycles: changes of sea level over 10s of millions of years

Primarily eustatic Related to global tectonic factors (e.g., spreading rates) Sloss Sequences Easy to correlate (biostratigraphy, absolute dating, seismic stratigraphy, etc.)

Comparison between global sea level (deduced from distribution of sedimentary rocks) and spreading rates (ocean crust accretion). Tectonic factors cause sealevel changes on periods of 10s to 100s of millions of yrs.

Cyclicity - Mechanisms

3rd Order Cycles: changes of sea level over millions of years

Eustatic? No mechanism that seems to work throughout much of Phanerozoic Regional subsidence/uplift? Difficult to correlate globally (biostratigraphy, radiometric dating often not accurate enough) May be correlated regionally (biostratigraphy, seismic stratigraphy, etc.)

Cyclicity - Mechanisms

4th Order Cycles: changes of sea level over 100s of thousands of years

Eustatic? Milankovitch cycles, Glacial cycles doesnt work for all of Phanerozoic Changes in sediment supply/deltaic lobe switching/etc. - autocyclicity Quaternary 4th-order cycles may be correlated globally (isotopes, biostratigraphy) Local correlations, based on wireline logs, seismic data, outcrops, etc.

Cyclicity - Mechanisms

5th or Higher-Order Cycles

Climate (including Milankovitch), tectonic, autocyclic, etc.

Mechanisms of sea level change

Cyclicity

Most of the mechanisms just described are allocyclic driven by processes that are external to the sedimentary basin

E.g., climate, eustasy, tectonic movements

Some processes are autocyclic they occur within the sedimentary basin

E.g., delta lobe switching, channel avulsion, mass wasting

Holocene Mississippi Delta lobes (<10,000 yrs) generated by autocyclic lobe switching. Each lobe is 10 50 m thick

Cyclicity

Distinguishing between autocyclic and allocyclic drivers in the sedimentary record can be a challenge

Part of the fun for sedimentary geologists

Sequence Stratigraphy

Definition:
The analysis of stratigraphic successions in terms of genetically related packages of strata, bounded by discontinuities

Based (largely) on Sloss Sequences

Concepts elaborated on by Sloss students at Exxon in 1960s and 1970s (Peter Vail, etc.) Revised, tested, added to, as needed ever since (Van Wagoner, Posamentier, etc.)

White areas represent sequences of rocks that are separated by large-scale unconformities shown in brown

Western N.A.

Eastern N.A.

Sequence Stratigraphy

Key concepts:

Genetically related strata different environments, deposited contemporaneously Bounding discontinuities 3 principal types of surfaces (unconformities, flooding surfaces, maximum flooding surfaces) Relate sequence development to interplay of 3 first-order controls (global sea level, local tectonic movements, sediment supply)

Sequence Stratigraphy

Bounding discontinuities 3 principal types of surfaces (unconformities, flooding surfaces, maximum flooding surfaces)

Unconformity (Sequence Stratigraphy)

A surface separating younger from older strata along which there is evidence of subaerial erosion and truncation and subaerial exposure along which a significant hiatus is represented (Van Wagoner et al., 1988) - Starts to form when relative sea level starts to fall

Unconformity

Posamentier and Allen

Coal seam Unconformity Sequence boundary below incised valley fill (estuary) Horseshoe Canyon Formation - Drumheller
Estuarine Point Bar

Flooding Surface
Surface across which there is evidence of an abrupt deepening Formed during transgression
Shoreface erosion Ravinement surface Transgression surface Can remove 10-20 m of strata

Shoaling-upward succession: High-energy carbonate shelf

Flooding Surfaces

Regression Transgression

Maximum Flooding Surface

End of transgression, start of regression Shallowing-upward trend overlying a deepening-upward trend May be a surface of marine erosion or an interval of very slow deposition
Condensed section not really a surface

Recognition
Downlap surface log cross-sections Downlap surface seismic images Hot shales on gamma ray logs

t Ho

shale

Bhattacharya and Walker, 1994

Downlap Paleocene, Offshore N.S.

Sequence Stratigraphy

Unconformities used to divide the sedimentary record into depositional sequences Combinations of unconformities, flooding surfaces and maximum flooding surfaces are used to divide sequences into systems tracts

Advanced concepts in sequence stratigraphy (e.g., EPSC-425)

Sequence Stratigraphy

Different types of depositional environments preferentially form at different times on a relative sea-level cycle

E.g., estuaries r.s.l. rise, submarine fans r.s.l. lowstand Adding a 4th dimension to facies modeling Advanced concepts in sequence stratigraphy (e.g., EPSC-425)

Carbonate Sequence Stratigraphy

Many similarities to siliciclastic sequences BUT-> sediment typically produced locally Therefore need to consider relative rates of sediment production (not supply) and relative sea level

Carbonate Sequence Stratigraphy

Keep up

Carbonate production able to keep up with rise in sea level water never deepens Sea level rises, water deepens then carbonate aggradation catches up to s.l. Sea level rises, carbonate factory shut down water stays deep

Catch up

Give up (drowning)

Jones and Desrochers, Facies Models

Biostratigraphy

Characterization and correlation of rock units based on fossil content Based on the recognition that organisms have evolved Closely linked to paleontology

Biostratigraphy

Biostratigraphic units may or may not correspond to lithostratigraphic units

Oppel Zones small-scale units defined by the stratigraphic ranges of fossil species, irrespective of lithology

Lithostratigraphic units are time-transgressive One or the other may have better resolution

Characterized by the joint occurrence of species not found together above or below the zone Zones named after index fossil, one of the species present in the zone Subdivisions include interval zones, lineage zones, etc.

Oppel Zone defined by overlapping ranges of two or more taxa

Biostratigraphy

Eon Era

Period Quaternary

Epoch Holocene Pleistocene Pliocene Miocene

Biostratigraphy forms the basis of the Phanerozoic stratigraphic units

Cenozoic

Tertiary

Oligocene Eocene Paleocene

Periods, Epochs, Systems, etc. Units identified on basis of fossil content in portions of Europe beginning in early 1800s Later recognized elsewhere

Mesozoic

Cretaceous Jurassic Triassic Permian Carboniferous

Phanerozoic

Paleozoic

Devonian Silurian Ordovician Cambrian

Biostratigraphy

Macrofossil Groups Important for Biostratigraphy

Chronostratigraphy

Ages of strata and their time relations

Based on absolute dating methods radioactive isotopes (argon, uranium, carbon, etc.) Integrated with biostratigraphically defined units or other data to provide geologic time scale

http://www.geo.ucalgary.ca/~macrae/timescale/timescale.html

Magnetostratigraphy

Magnetic iron-rich minerals preserve the magnetic field direction at the time of their formation or deposition Because the earths magnetic field reverses, patterns of normal and reversed remnant magnetism can be preserved in sedimentary strata or volcanic rocks Generally applicable back to Jurassic

Basis of Magnetostratigraphy

Chemostratigraphy

Use of inorganic chemistry as a correlation tool Major element analyses, trace element analyses, and isotope ratios can all be used to correlate strata

18O over the last 150 000 yrs

Seismic Stratigraphy

Use of reflection seismic data to extract stratigraphic information Apply fundamental geologic principles (e.g., law of original horizontality, law of superposition) Also characterize reflection configuration, continuity, amplitude, etc.

Seismic stratigraphic units of the continental slope Offshore Nova Scotia Young (2005)

Seismic Stratigraphy

For more information on seismic methods, take 525 (Subsurface Mapping)

Summary

Lithostratigraphy definition of stratigraphic units based on lithology Traditional lithostratigraphy not ideal for understanding/defining earth history

Timelines cross lithostratigraphic contacts

Many stratigraphic successions show cyclicity

Different scales of cyclicity may be present

Summary

Sequence stratigraphy uses distinctive surfaces generated by changes in relative sea level and sediment supply

Unconformities, flooding surfaces, maximum flooding surfaces Recognizable in outcrop, logs, seismic data, etc. Adds fourth dimension to facies analysis Preferred technique for stratigraphic analysis

Summary

Other types of stratigraphic analyses useful for other purposes

Biostratigraphy Seismic stratigraphy Chronostratigraphy Chemostratigraphy Etc.