Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-m9pkr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-09T08:23:54.343Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Do seismic reflections necessarily have chronostratigraphic significance?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

John C. Tipper
John C. Tipper
Affiliation:
Geologisches Institut der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Albertstraβe 23B, D-7800 Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Many seismic reflections from within sedimentary successions are thought to be generated along stratal surfaces because those surfaces are laterally continuous and have marked acoustic impedance contrasts. As stratal surfaces are isochronous, those reflections are then also taken as being chronostratigraphically significant. In contrast, seismic reflections are thought not to be generated along the boundaries of lithostratigraphic units because those boundaries are discontinuous and gradational. Nevertheless, synthetic seismic analysis shows that seismic reflections should in many circumstances be expected to follow lithostratigraphic unit boundaries, not stratal surfaces. As these lithostratigraphic unit boundaries will generally be diachronous, seismic reflections from within sedimentary successions should evidently not be treated as necessarily having chronostratigraphic significance.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 130 , Issue 1 , January 1993 , pp. 47 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barusseau, J. P. 1979. Le rôle géologique des courants profonds. Océanis 5, 735–52.Google Scholar
Biddle, K. T., Schlager, W., Rudolph, K. W. & Bush, T. L. 1992. Seismic model of a progradational carbonate platform, Picco di Vallandro, the Dolomites, Northern Italy. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 76, 14–30.Google Scholar
Campbell, C. V. 1979. Model for beach shoreline in Gallup Sandstone (Upper Cretaceous) of northwestern New Mexico. New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Circular 164, 32 pp.Google Scholar
Christie-Blick, N., Mountain, G. S. & Miller, K. G. 1990. Seismic stratigraphic record of sea-level change. In Sea-Level Change. Studies in Geophysics, pp. 116–40. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences Press.Google Scholar
Cross, T. A. & Lessenger, M. A. 1989. Seismic stratigraphy. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 16, 319–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curray, J. R. 1964. Transgressions and regressions. In Papers in Marine Geology (ed. Miller, R. L.), pp. 175–203. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Demarest, J. M. II, & Kraft, J. C. 1987. Stratigraphic record of Quaternary sea levels: implications for more ancient strata. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication no. 41, 223–39.Google Scholar
Everts, C. H. 1987. Continental shelf evolution in response to a rise in sea level. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication no. 41, 49–57.Google Scholar
Frazier, D. E. 1974. Depositional episodes: their relationship to the Quaternary Stratigraphic framework in the northwestern portion of the Gulf basin. University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology Circular 74– 1, 28 pp.Google Scholar
Galloway, W. E. 1989 a. Genetic Stratigraphic sequences in basin analysis. I. Architecture and genesis of flooding-surface bounded depositional units. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 73, 125–42.Google Scholar
Galloway, W. E. 1989 b. Genetic Stratigraphic sequences in basin analysis. II. Application to northwest Gulf of Mexico Cenozoic basin. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 73, 143–54.Google Scholar
Jackson, R. G. II, 1975. Hierarchical attributes and a unifying model of bed forms composed of cohesionless material and produced by shearing flow. Geological Society of America Bulletin 86, 1523–33.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meckel, L. D. Jr., & Nath, A. K. 1977. Geologic considerations for Stratigraphic modeling and interpretation. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 26, 417–38.Google Scholar
Miall, A. D. 1984. Principles of Sedimentary Basin Analysis. New York: Springer-Verlag, 490 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miall, A. D. 1988. Reservoir heterogeneities in fluvial sandstones: lesions from outcrop studies. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 72, 682–97.Google Scholar
Neidell, N. S. & Poggiagliolmi, E. 1977. Stratigraphic modeling and interpretation – geophysical principles and techniques. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 26, 389–416.Google Scholar
Nummedal, D. & Swift, D. J. P. 1987. Transgressive stratigraphy at sequence-bounding unconformities: some principles derived from Holocene and Cretaceous examples. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Special Publication no. 41, 241–260.Google Scholar
Oczlon, M. S. 1990. Ocean currents and unconformities: the North Gondwana Middle Devonian. Geology 18, 509–12.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Payton, C. E. (ed.) 1977. Seismic Stratigraphy – applications to hydrocarbon exploration. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 26. Tulsa, Oklahoma: AAPG, 516 pp.Google Scholar
Popenoe, P., Henry, V. J. & Idris, F. M. 1987. Gulf trough – the Atlantic connection. Geology 15, 327–32.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheriff, R. E. 1977. Limitations on resolution of seismic reflections and geologic detail derivable from them. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 26, 3–14.Google Scholar
Stamp, L. D. 1922. An outline of the Tertiary geology of Burma. Geological Magazine 59, 481–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swift, D. J. P. 1968. Coastal erosion and transgressive stratigraphy. Journal of Geology 76, 444–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tipper, J. C. 1987. On the directional nature of Stratigraphic correlation. Geological Magazine 124, 149–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tipper, J. C. 1989. Computer modelling of seismic facies: implications for seismic and sequence stratigraphy. In Correlation in Hydrocarbon Exploration (ed. Collinson, J. D.), pp. 45–51. London: Graham and Trotman.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tipper, J. C. 1990. Correlation in mosaic environments. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 147, 487–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vail, P. R., Hardenbol, J. & Todd, R. G. 1984. Jurassic unconformities, chronostratigraphy, and sea-level changes from seismic stratigraphy and biostratigraphy. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 36, 129–44.Google Scholar
Vail, P. R., Todd, R. G. & Sangree, J. B. 1977. Seismic stratigraphy and global changes of sea level. Part 5. Chronostratigraphic significance of seismic reflections. American Asssociation of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 26, 99–116.Google Scholar
Walker, R. G. & Eyles, C. H. 1991. Topography and significance of a basinwide sequence-bounding erosion surface in the Cretaceous Cardium Formation, Alberta, Canada. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 61, 473–96.Google Scholar