Aspects of the stratal architecture of forced regressive deposits

Forced regression refers to the process of seaward migration of a shoreline in direct response to relative sea-level fall. Recognition criteria for forced regressive deposits include: (1) presence of a significant zone of separation between successive shoreface deposits, (2) the presence of sharp-based shoreface/delta front deposits, (3) the presence of progressively shallower clinoforms going from proximal to distal, (4) the occurrence of long-distance regression, (5) the absence of fluvial and/or coastal plain/delta plain capping the proximal portion of regressive deposits, (6) the presence of a seaward-dipping upper bounding surface at the top of the regressive succession, (7) the presence of increased average sediment grain size in regressive deposits going from proximal to distal and (8) the presence of ‘foreshortened’ stratigraphic successions.

The principal factors driving the stratal architecture of forced regressive deposits include: (1) the gradient of the sea floor progressively exposed by falling relative sea-level, (2) the ratio of the sediment flux to the rate of relative sea-level fall, (3) the ‘smoothness’ of relative sea-level fall, (4) the variability of sediment flux and (5) the changes of sedimentary process that occur as sea-level falls and progressively more of the shelf is subaerially exposed.

Forced regressive deposits are grouped into attached v. detached, and smooth-topped v. stepped-topped. Attached deposits are defined as successive downstepped stratigraphic units whose shoreface/delta front deposits are generally in contact with each other. In contrast, detached deposits are defined as successive downstepped stratigraphic units whose shoreface/delta front deposits are generally not in contact with each other. Rather, in this instance a zone of sedimentary bypass exists. Stepped-top forced regressive deposits are characterized by a succession of horizontally topped though downstepping stratigraphic units. In contrast, smooth-topped forced regressive deposits are characterized by a seaward-dipping, albeit smooth, upper bounding surface. The bounding surfaces of forced regressive deposits commonly are expressed as a ravinement surface at the top and an unconformity to correlative conformity at the base.

Seismic stratigraphy of the Gulf of Cádiz continental shelf: a model for Late Quaternary very high-resolution sequence stratigraphy and response to sea-level fall

Single-channel, very high-resolution seismic profiles allow detailed study of the Late Quaternary stratigraphic architecture of the Gulf of Cádiz continental margin, Southern Spain. The Late Quaternary stratigraphy of this area comprises fourth-order Type 1 composite depositional sequences, generated by asymmetric relative sea-level changes of 100–110 ka duration. The composite fourth-order sequences consist of forced regressive, lowstand, transgressive and highstand systems tracts. Volumetrically, the forced regressive and lowstand systems tracts are the most important components. The fourth-order composite sequences are themselves comprised of composite fifth-order sequences formed in response to asymmetric relative sea-level changes with a duration of 22–23 ka. Sediments within the forced regressive and lowstand systems tracts dominate the 5th-order sequences; their transgressive and highstand deposits are either (i) perched above present-day sea-level and so not recorded in marine seismic data, (ii) restricted to outer-mid-shelf positions, or (iii) may be absent from the shelf altogether at the resolution of this study (e.g.<0.5 m thick). The fifth-order sea-level falls were themselves modulated by minor cycles, generating very high-frequency (sixth-order) sequences. These very high-order sequences are recognized for the last 80 kabp, and their development is attributed to asymmetric relative sea-level cycles operating on time scales of: 10–15 ka (Heinrich events), 4–4.5 ka. (P cycles), 2.3–0.97 ka. (Dansgaard-Oeschger oscillations h cycles) and 500–50 a. (c cycles). We have developed a depositional model that accounts for the very high-frequency hierarchy of Late Quaternary depositional sequences observed in the Gulf of Cadiz marine seismic record and incorporates the age of well-constrained highstand coastal deposits that are exposed along the southern Iberian coastline. The model developed serves to illustrate the evolution and importance of depositional systems during falling relative sea-level and forced regression. Development of the forced regressive systems tract appears to be particularly significant within Quaternary strata. This is because the Quaternary was strongly influenced by a high-amplitude, high-frequency glacioeustatic signal characterized by rapid sea-level rises, very short highstands, and gradual relatively long-term sea-level falls suggesting that forced regressive deposits are likely to predominate in continental margin successions subject to low rates of subsidence.

The falling stage systems tract: recognition and importance in sequence stratigraphic analysis

Until recently, sequence stratigraphic models have attributed systems tracts to periods of relative sea-level rise, highstand and lowstand. Recognition of a discrete phase of deposition during relative sea-level fall has been limited to a few studies, both in clastic and carbonate systems. Our work in siliciclastic ramp settings suggests that deposition during relative sea-level fall produces a distinctive falling stage systems tract (FSST), and that this is the logical counterpart to the transgressive systems tract. The FSST lies above and basinward of the highstand systems tract, and is overlain by the lowstand systems tract. The FSST is characterized by stratal offlap, although this is likely to be difficult or impossible to recognize because of subsequent subaerial or transgressive ravinement erosion. The most practical diagnostic criteria of the FSST is the presence of erosive-based shoreface sandbodies in nearshore areas. The erosion results from wave scouring during relative sea-level fall, and the stratigraphically lowest surface defines the base of the FSST. Further offshore, shoaling-upward successions may be abruptly capped by gutter casts filled with HCS sandstone, reflecting increased wave scour on the shelf during both FSST and LST time. The top of the FSST is defined by a subaerial surface of erosion which corresponds to the sequence boundary. This surface becomes a correlative submarine conformity seaward of the shoreline, where it forms the base of the lowstand systems tract. Differentiation of the FSST and LST may be difficult, but the LST is expected to contain gradationally-based shoreface successions because it was deposited when relative sea level was rising. Internally, the FSST may be an undifferentiated body of sediment or it may be punctuated by internal regressive surfaces of marine erosion and ravinement surfaces which record higher-frequency sea-level falls and rises superimposed on a lower-frequency sea-level fall. The corresponding higher-order sequences are the building blocks of lower-order sequences. The addition of a falling stage systems tract results in a significant reduction in the proportion of strata within a sequence that are assigned to the classical highstand and lowstand systems tracts.

Many outcrop and subsurface cross-sections use an overlying ravinement, or maximum flooding surface as datum. Those surfaces might be flat, but they are not horizontal. Both dip seaward at slopes that generally are steeper than the fluvial system responsible for creating the sequence boundary. When a section is restored to such a datum, the falling stage systems tract will appear to record stratigraphic climb, whereas in fact it does not.

Depositional response to Quaternary fourth-order sea-level fluctuations on the Latium margin (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy)

More than 10 000 km of high-resolution seismic profiles permit detailed study of six fourth-order seismic stratigraphic sequences deposited during the last million years on the Latium continental shelf, Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy. Sedimentation occurred on a relatively young passive margin characterized by a narrow and relatively steep shelf where sediment storage capacity in adjacent subaerial basins was limited. The Late Pleistocene deposits are locally tilted and eroded to different levels along the sea-floor so that carefully placed seafloor gravity cores help constrain the age of the seismic sequences by the dating of micro-fauna. Correlation with a deep well located on the coast constrains the basal third-order sequence boundary on the shelf. The seismic and a limited core database make it possible to: (1) detail variability in the architecture, stratal patterns and bounding surfaces of the sequences across the shelf and adjacent continental slope; (2) define a hierarchy of seismic units and their bounding surfaces; (3) make a correlation with the published oxygen-isotope curves; (4) develop a detailed stratigraphic framework and model for the fourth-order sequences deposited during last 0.8 Ma; (5) define the effects of the long-lasting eustatic falls on margin sedimentation; (6) recognize volumetric partitioning of sedimentation between systems tracts.

The seismo-stratigraphic expression of the third- and fourth-order sequence boundaries varies greatly from the inner to the outer part of the margin. Where subsidence allowed the preservation of lowstand systems tract (LST) deposits on the shelf, they are bounded by erosional unconformities interpreted to reflect fourth-order glacioeustatically-driven cycles. Relatively thin (<10 m) lens-shaped bodies mark the transition from the unconformities to their correlative conformities and are interpreted to have been deposited during the eustatic minimum. The deposits bounded between correlative conformities show an upward loss in acoustic transparency thought to indicate upward-coarsening and regression within the sequences. Downdip on the continental slope, sequence boundaries are concordant surfaces correlative with unconformities on the shelf. However, these surfaces are locally scoured by channellized features, interpreted to record slope erosion related to the discharge of river bedload during lowstands.

There is marked asymmetry and volumetric partitioning between systems tracts; most of the Late Quaternary deposits that comprise the Latium continental margin are interpreted to have formed during forced regression and lowstand. Offshore of the northern and central Latium shelves forced regressive and lowstand deposits account for some 1000 km3of shelf and slope deposition during the last eustatic cycle. In contrast, sediments attributed to the transgressive and highstand systems tracts account for approximately 37 km3. High-frequency, high-amplitude asymmetric sea-level changes driven mainly by glacioeustasy are interpreted to have controlled deposition. Following classic three-fold sequence stratigraphic models, the unconformities created by shelf subaerial exposure and erosion represent sequence boundaries at the base of depositional sequences. However, if as is the case of the Latium margin during the Late Pleistocene, where a continental margin is formed almost exclusively of forced regressive deposits, each sequence basal boundary will paradoxically be situated above the forced regressive deposits that are deposited as the subaerial exposure surface forms, i.e. above the whole of its own depositional sequence. In this respect, the incorporation of a fourth forced regressive or falling stage systems tracts specific to times of base-level fall would help avoid this inconsistency.