Contents

• Introduction • Sea-level change

• Sequence stratigraphy – concepts
• Sedimentology – concepts• Marine sequence stratigraphy
• Fluvial environments • Nonmarine sequence stratigraphy
• Basin and reservoir modeling
• Deltaic environments
• Reflection
• Coastal environments
• Offshore marine environments

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 Coastal environments

• The classification of deltas can be extended to include those

depositional coastal environments that are in large part fed by
marine sediments
• Wave-dominated shorelines
• Tide-dominated shorelines
• Depending on the balance between sediment supply and
accommodation, coastal environments can be regressive
(progradation) or transgressive (retrogradation)

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 Coastal environments

• Waves can be subdivided into swell waves that travel long

distances, and sea waves that are generated more locally
• Waves that approach a shoreline consisting of unconsolidated
sediment will produce a series of environments (oscillatory wave
zone, shoaling wave zone, breaker/surf/swash zone) with
characteristic bedforms (symmetric ripples – asymmetric ripples
or dunes – plane beds)
• Long-shore currents and rip currents can lead to sediment
transport along the shoreline and away from the shoreline
respectively, with associated unidirectional bedforms (commonly
dunes)

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 Coastal environments

• Reflective shorelines have steep, coarse-grained foreshores

and lack breaking waves and associated bars away from the
shoreline
• Dissipative shorelines are low-gradient, fine-grained, barred
systems where waves may be entirely attenuated
• Many coasts can alternate from more reflective to more
dissipative conditions during fairweather and storm conditions,
respectively
• The high-energy shoreline tends to trap coarse-grained (sandy
to gravelly) sediment in what is known as the littoral energy
fence; escape of sediment to the shelf occurs by means of:
• River mouth bypassing (floods)
• Estuary mouth bypassing (ebb currents)
• Shoreface bypassing (storms)
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Berm at Bakkhali Beach

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Foreshore Beach Asym. Ripples Bakkhali

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 Coastal environments

• Reflective shorelines have steep, coarse-grained foreshores

and lack breaking waves and associated bars away from the
shoreline
• Dissipative shorelines are low-gradient, fine-grained, barred
systems where waves may be entirely attenuated
• Many coasts can alternate from more reflective to more
dissipative conditions during fairweather and storm conditions,
respectively
• The high-energy shoreline tends to trap coarse-grained (sandy
to gravelly) sediment in what is known as the littoral energy
fence; escape of sediment to the shelf occurs by means of:
• River mouth bypassing (floods)
• Estuary mouth bypassing (ebb currents)
• Shoreface bypassing (storms)
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 Coastal environments

• Tides are formed by the gravitational attraction of the Moon and

Sun on the Earth, combined with the centrifugal force caused by
movement of the Earth around the center of mass of the Earth-
Moon system
• Semi-diurnal or diurnal tidal cycles are essentially caused by
the Earth’s rotation relative to the Moon
• Neap-spring tidal cycles are mainly caused by the alignment of
the Moon and the Sun relative to the Earth
• Semi-annual tidal cycles are driven by the interplay of various
cyclicities (including the elliptic orbit of the Moon)
• Tidal currents are modulated by the configuration of oceans and
seas, and typically lead to a pattern of circulation; even in small
tidal basins flood currents tend to dominate in different areas
than ebb currents

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 Coastal environments

• Tide-influenced sedimentary structures can take different

shapes:
• Herringbone cross stratification indicates bipolar flow
directions, but it is rare
• Mud-draped cross strata are much more common, and are the
result of alternating bedform migration during high flow velocities
and mud deposition during high or low tide (slackwater)
• Tidal bundles are characterized by a sand-mud couplet with varying
thickness; tidal bundle sequences consists of a series of bundles
that can be related to neap-spring cycles
• Tidal rhytmites can form in fine-grained facies that aggrade
vertically, to a large part from suspension, and consist of commonly
very thin (mm-scale), but distinct laminae

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Laminated sandstone with tidal bundles
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 Coastal environments

• Tide-influenced sedimentary structures can take different

shapes:
• Herringbone cross stratification indicates bipolar flow
directions, but it is rare
• Mud-draped cross strata are much more common, and are the
result of alternating bedform migration during high flow velocities
and mud deposition during high or low tide (slackwater)
• Tidal bundles are characterized by a sand-mud couplet with varying
thickness; tidal bundle sequences consist of a series of bundles
that can be related to neap-spring cycles
• Tidal rhytmites can form in fine-grained facies that aggrade
vertically, to a large part from suspension, and consist of commonly
very thin (mm-scale), but distinct laminae

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 Coastal environments

• Beach-ridge strandplains and chenier plains result from

coastal progradation in sand- and mud-dominated settings
respectively; both are dominantly fed by sediments transported
by long-shore currents
• Tidal flats occur in a wide variety of settings (e.g., directly
facing the open sea/ocean, in lagoons behind barrier islands,
near tidal inlets) and contain a supratidal zone, an intertidal
zone, and tidal channels
• Tidal channels can be extremely deep and dynamic and are
commonly filled with large-scale cross-stratified tidal-bundle
sequences and/or laterally accreted heterolithic (sandy and muddy)
strata
• Intertidal environments include sandy to muddy tidal flats where
tidal rhytmites may form, commonly bordered by salt marshes or
mangroves where muddy facies or peats accumulate
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Animation

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 Coastal environments

• Beach-ridge strandplains and chenier plains result from

coastal progradation in sand- and mud-dominated settings
respectively; both are dominantly fed by sediments transported
by long-shore currents
• Tidal flats occur in a wide variety of settings (e.g., directly
facing the open sea/ocean, in lagoons behind barrier islands,
near tidal inlets) and contain a supratidal zone, an intertidal
zone, and tidal channels
• Tidal channels can be extremely deep and dynamic and are
commonly filled with large-scale cross-stratified tidal-bundle
sequences and/or laterally accreted heterolithic (sandy and muddy)
strata
• Intertidal environments include sandy to muddy tidal flats where
tidal rhytmites may form, commonly bordered by salt marshes or
mangroves where muddy facies or peats accumulate
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 Coastal environments

• Barrier islands form in transgressive settings where beach

ridges get separated from the mainland by a lagoon
• Lagoons commonly accumulate relatively fine-grained (muddy)
facies, especially when tidal range is low
• Washovers bring sheets of relatively coarse-grained (sandy) facies
into the lagoon during storms
• Tidal inlets vary in number, width, and depth dependent on the
tidal range; they are associated with flood-tidal deltas and ebb-tidal
deltas
• Barrier island shorelines can exhibit shoreface retreat or in-place
drowning; prolonged shoreface regression ultimately leads to
filling of the back-barrier lagoon

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 Coastal environments

• Barrier islands form in transgressive settings where beach

ridges get separated from the mainland by a lagoon
• Lagoons commonly accumulate relatively fine-grained (muddy)
facies, especially when tidal range is low
• Washovers bring sheets of relatively coarse-grained (sandy) facies
into the lagoon during storms
• Tidal inlets vary in number, width, and depth dependent on the
tidal range; they are associated with flood-tidal deltas and ebb-tidal
deltas
• Barrier island shorelines can exhibit shoreface retreat or in-place
drowning; prolonged shoreface regression ultimately leads to
filling of the back-barrier lagoon

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 Coastal environments

• Estuaries are transgressed, drowned river valleys where fluvial,

tide, and wave processes interact; they are characterized by a
net landward movement of sediment in their seaward part
• Tide-dominated estuaries contain tidal sand bars at the seaward
end, separated from the fluvial zone by relatively fine-grained tidal
flats (e.g., salt marshes); fluvial channel deposits exhibit
heterolithic characteristics and sometimes tidal-bundle sequences
• Wave-dominated estuaries have a coastal barrier with a tidal inlet
and flood-tidal delta, separated from a bayhead delta by a central
basin where fine-grained sediments (muds) accumulate

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 Coastal environments

• Estuaries are transgressed, drowned river valleys where fluvial,

tide, and wave processes interact; they are characterized by a
net landward movement of sediment in their seaward part
• Tide-dominated estuaries contain tidal sand bars at the seaward
end, separated from the fluvial zone by relatively fine-grained tidal
flats (e.g., salt marshes); fluvial channel deposits exhibit
heterolithic characteristics and sometimes tidal-bundle sequences
• Wave-dominated estuaries have a coastal barrier with a tidal inlet
and flood-tidal delta, separated from a bayhead delta by a central
basin where fine-grained sediments (muds) accumulate

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 Coastal environments

• Estuaries are transgressed, drowned river valleys where fluvial,

tide, and wave processes interact; they are characterized by a
net landward movement of sediment in their seaward part
• Tide-dominated estuaries contain tidal sand bars at the seaward
end, separated from the fluvial zone by relatively fine-grained tidal
flats (e.g., salt marshes); fluvial channel deposits exhibit
heterolithic characteristics and sometimes tidal-bundle sequences
• Wave-dominated estuaries have a coastal barrier with a tidal inlet
and flood-tidal delta, separated from a bayhead delta by a central
basin where fine-grained sediments (muds) accumulate

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