regression) (Posamentier and Allen, 1999; Catuneanu,
2002). In case of forced regression former seafloor is
emerged – converted into land. The relative sea-level
change is an effect of eustatic change and/or tectonic/isostatic vertical movement of the Earth’s crust (von
Bubnoff, 1954; Seibold and Berger, 1993). The opposite
of regression is “transgression,” which occurs if the relative sea-level rises and former land is submerged. During
regression, the emerged seafloor is exposed to erosional
processes (truncation) and incision by fluvial systems.
Only minor amounts of terrestrial sediments accumulate
so that in the geological record, times of regression are
marked by sedimentary hiatuses. A marine transgression
following the period of sea-level low-stand hiatus leads
to a new accumulation of marine sediments covering
the erosional surface discontinuously and forming an
unconformity. Because of the petrophysical contrast,
the unconformities can be traced within seismic recordings as synchronous reflectors (sequence stratigraphy,
seismic stratigraphy). Relative sea-level changes
bound cycles in the Earth’s history (Einsele, 1992)
which can be hierarchically ordered on time spans from
hundreds of millions years to millennia (Suess et al.,
1906; von Bubnoff, 1954; Posamentier et al., 1988; Vail
et al., 1991).
Bibliography
Catuneanu, O., 2002. Sequence stratigraphy of clastic systems: concepts, merits, and pitfalls. Journal of African Earth Sciences,
35(1), 1–43.
Einsele, G., 1992. Sedimentary Basins. Berlin/Heidelberg:
Springer, p. 628.
Posamentier, H. W., and Allen, G. P., 1999. Siliciclastic Sequence
Stratigraphy: Concepts and Applications. SEPM Concepts
Sedimentol. Paleontol. Ser. vol. 7, Tulsa, Oklahoma: Society
for Sedimentary Geology.
Posamentier, H. W., Jervey, M. T., and Vail, P. R., 1988. Eustatic
controls on clastic deposition. I. Conceptual framework. In:
Wilgus, C. K., Hastings, B. S., Kendall, C. G. St. C.,
Posamentier, H. W., Ross, C. A., Van Wagoner, J. C. (eds.),
Sea Level Changes - An Integrated Approach. SEPM Special
Publication No 42. pp. 110–124, Tulsa, Oklahoma: Society for
Sedimentary Geology.
Seibold, E., and Berger, W. H., 1993. The Sea Floor – An Introduction to Marine Geology. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer.
Suess, E., Sollas, W. J., and Sollas, H. B. C., 1906. The Face of the
Earth. Oxford: Clarendon.
Vail, P. R., Audemard, I. P., Bowman, S. A., Eisner, P. N., and PerezCruz, C., 1991. The stratigraphic signatures of tectonics, eustasy
and sedimentology – an overview. In Einsele, G. (ed.), Cycles
and Events in Stratigraphy. Berlin: Springer.
von Bubnoff, S., 1954. Grundprobleme der Geologie. Berlin:
Akademie Verlag.
Cross-references
Marine Transgression
Relative Sea-level (RSL) Cycle
Sea-Level
Sedimentary Sequence
Sequence Stratigraphy
MARINE SEDIMENTARY BASINS
Paul Mann
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences,
University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
Synonyms
Active margin basins; Oceanic basins; Passive margin
basins; Submarine basins
Definition
Marine sedimentary basins are any modern basin that is
currently below sea-level and influenced by marine sedimentary processes and sedimentation. Many ancient
marine sedimentary basins are now deformed and uplifted
into modern, mountain chains as part of ongoing or
ancient orogenic – or mountain-building – processes.
The modern marine sedimentary basins of the world’s
ocean basins can be subdivided into continental shelves,
slopes, rises, abyssal plains, and oceanic trenches in passive margin settings (Figure 1). As these topics have been
defined and discussed by other authors of the encyclopedia, I will focus on the origin of the main tectonic classes
of marine sedimentary basins in active margin settings that
include those produced in rift, collisional, subduction, and
strike-slip environments, along with bolide impacts into
marine environments (Figure 1).
Actively subsiding environments of modern marine
sedimentary basins are commonly found near continent–
ocean boundaries and land–sea interfaces, and for that reason, these basins can exhibit rapid alternations between
marine and continental depositional systems.
A common sequence of events in the life stages of a
basin is to move from initial subsidence with filling by
continental sediments to marine incursion as the basin
moves below sea-level – often as the consequence of
accelerated tectonic subsidence – and back to continental
sedimentation as the basin either moves above sea-level as
the result of tectonic deformation or eventually fills to
capacity as the rate of continental and marine sedimentation exceeds its rate of subsidence.
The examples below illustrate basins near continent–
ocean boundaries and near land–sea interfaces that are in
the process of sedimentary transitions from nonmarine to
marine or vice versa (Figure 1).
Continental and marine rift basins:
basins formed by stretching
The East African rift is the archetypal, continuous, and
branching continental rift formed by stretching of continental crust extending 4000 km across East Africa
(Figure 2a). Extension is linked to the rise of the mantlederived African superplume that became active in
mid-Cenozoic time. GPS results from Saria et al. (2014)
show east–west opening of the rifts relative to the African
MARINE SEDIMENTARY BASINS
481
2002). In case of forced regression former seafloor is
emerged – converted into land. The relative sea-level
change is an effect of eustatic change and/or tectonic/isostatic vertical movement of the Earth’s crust (von
Bubnoff, 1954; Seibold and Berger, 1993). The opposite
of regression is “transgression,” which occurs if the relative sea-level rises and former land is submerged. During
regression, the emerged seafloor is exposed to erosional
processes (truncation) and incision by fluvial systems.
Only minor amounts of terrestrial sediments accumulate
so that in the geological record, times of regression are
marked by sedimentary hiatuses. A marine transgression
following the period of sea-level low-stand hiatus leads
to a new accumulation of marine sediments covering
the erosional surface discontinuously and forming an
unconformity. Because of the petrophysical contrast,
the unconformities can be traced within seismic recordings as synchronous reflectors (sequence stratigraphy,
seismic stratigraphy). Relative sea-level changes
bound cycles in the Earth’s history (Einsele, 1992)
which can be hierarchically ordered on time spans from
hundreds of millions years to millennia (Suess et al.,
1906; von Bubnoff, 1954; Posamentier et al., 1988; Vail
et al., 1991).
Bibliography
Catuneanu, O., 2002. Sequence stratigraphy of clastic systems: concepts, merits, and pitfalls. Journal of African Earth Sciences,
35(1), 1–43.
Einsele, G., 1992. Sedimentary Basins. Berlin/Heidelberg:
Springer, p. 628.
Posamentier, H. W., and Allen, G. P., 1999. Siliciclastic Sequence
Stratigraphy: Concepts and Applications. SEPM Concepts
Sedimentol. Paleontol. Ser. vol. 7, Tulsa, Oklahoma: Society
for Sedimentary Geology.
Posamentier, H. W., Jervey, M. T., and Vail, P. R., 1988. Eustatic
controls on clastic deposition. I. Conceptual framework. In:
Wilgus, C. K., Hastings, B. S., Kendall, C. G. St. C.,
Posamentier, H. W., Ross, C. A., Van Wagoner, J. C. (eds.),
Sea Level Changes - An Integrated Approach. SEPM Special
Publication No 42. pp. 110–124, Tulsa, Oklahoma: Society for
Sedimentary Geology.
Seibold, E., and Berger, W. H., 1993. The Sea Floor – An Introduction to Marine Geology. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer.
Suess, E., Sollas, W. J., and Sollas, H. B. C., 1906. The Face of the
Earth. Oxford: Clarendon.
Vail, P. R., Audemard, I. P., Bowman, S. A., Eisner, P. N., and PerezCruz, C., 1991. The stratigraphic signatures of tectonics, eustasy
and sedimentology – an overview. In Einsele, G. (ed.), Cycles
and Events in Stratigraphy. Berlin: Springer.
von Bubnoff, S., 1954. Grundprobleme der Geologie. Berlin:
Akademie Verlag.
Cross-references
Marine Transgression
Relative Sea-level (RSL) Cycle
Sea-Level
Sedimentary Sequence
Sequence Stratigraphy
MARINE SEDIMENTARY BASINS
Paul Mann
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences,
University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
Synonyms
Active margin basins; Oceanic basins; Passive margin
basins; Submarine basins
Definition
Marine sedimentary basins are any modern basin that is
currently below sea-level and influenced by marine sedimentary processes and sedimentation. Many ancient
marine sedimentary basins are now deformed and uplifted
into modern, mountain chains as part of ongoing or
ancient orogenic – or mountain-building – processes.
The modern marine sedimentary basins of the world’s
ocean basins can be subdivided into continental shelves,
slopes, rises, abyssal plains, and oceanic trenches in passive margin settings (Figure 1). As these topics have been
defined and discussed by other authors of the encyclopedia, I will focus on the origin of the main tectonic classes
of marine sedimentary basins in active margin settings that
include those produced in rift, collisional, subduction, and
strike-slip environments, along with bolide impacts into
marine environments (Figure 1).
Actively subsiding environments of modern marine
sedimentary basins are commonly found near continent–
ocean boundaries and land–sea interfaces, and for that reason, these basins can exhibit rapid alternations between
marine and continental depositional systems.
A common sequence of events in the life stages of a
basin is to move from initial subsidence with filling by
continental sediments to marine incursion as the basin
moves below sea-level – often as the consequence of
accelerated tectonic subsidence – and back to continental
sedimentation as the basin either moves above sea-level as
the result of tectonic deformation or eventually fills to
capacity as the rate of continental and marine sedimentation exceeds its rate of subsidence.
The examples below illustrate basins near continent–
ocean boundaries and near land–sea interfaces that are in
the process of sedimentary transitions from nonmarine to
marine or vice versa (Figure 1).
Continental and marine rift basins:
basins formed by stretching
The East African rift is the archetypal, continuous, and
branching continental rift formed by stretching of continental crust extending 4000 km across East Africa
(Figure 2a). Extension is linked to the rise of the mantlederived African superplume that became active in
mid-Cenozoic time. GPS results from Saria et al. (2014)
show east–west opening of the rifts relative to the African
MARINE SEDIMENTARY BASINS
481