Abstract

The sequence stratigraphic model, although no longer focused on eustasy and accommodation, has been until recently based largely on observation and interpretation of outcrop and subsurface data. This approach may be restrictive if the current model places limits on what is observed and how observations are interpreted. To make progress in our understanding of strata, the sequence stratigraphic model and method should be tested against and fully incorporate theoretical and experimental results that provide new knowledge of (1) autogenesis, (2) intrinsic stratigraphic responses, (3) alluvial grade, and (4) scales appropriate to single depositional systems evolving with relative sea-level changes. More extensive inclusion of analogue and numerical experimental results could lead to significant modification and refinement of existing sequence stratigraphic models.