Cyclic stratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy, and stratigraphic modeling from 1964 to 1989: Twenty-five years of progress?

Abstract

The evolution of concept development in stratigraphy between 1964 and 1989 is reviewed by comparing and contrasting the contents of the golden book volume on cyclic stratigraphy (Merriam, 1964) with the present volume. Although separated by more than 25 years, both volumes treat strikingly similar subject material with an emphasis on cyclic stratigraphy, time stratigraphy, and the genetics of basin fill. The collection of papers found in the earlier volume reflects the culmination of work from the most prominent stratigraphers of the 1940's through the early 1960's, a period strongly affected by the principles of sequence stratigraphy. Workers from this generation established many of the fundamental stratigraphic concepts that we view as modem. During the mid-1960's and 1970's emphasis shifted to research on facies models, and with few exceptions stratigraphic cyclicity, sequence stratigraphy, and the genetics of basin fill processes were scarcely considered. With the advent of seismic stratigraphy, in the late 1970's, sequence stratigraphy was reborn, and with it a new generation of researchers focusing on the genetics of basin fill. The earlier book and the present volume reflect two distinct episodes of stratigraphic concept development related to two separate episodes in the history of sequence stratigraphy. In contrast to the authors of the golden book, genetic stratigraphers in the present volume have the advantage of computer-based stratigraphic modeling tools. Armed with these tools and the body of knowledge about facies models accumulated in the past 25 years, the geologic community is poised to make great strides in the development of powerful predictive models for sedimentary basin evolution.