RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Rapid marine transgressions and regressions of the Upper Permian Zechstein Sea JF Journal of the Geological Society JO Journal of the Geological Society FD Geological Society of London SP 155 OP 156 DO 10.1144/gsjgs.136.2.0155 VO 136 IS 2 A1 Smith, Denys B. YR 1979 UL http://jgs.lyellcollection.org/content/136/2/155.abstract AB Evidence bearing on the rates of transgression and regression of the early Zechstein Sea in NE England is reviewed and the hypothesis that this sea was formed virtually instantaneously when the Boreal Ocean broke into and flooded a chain of sub-sea-level inland drainage basins is restated. Subsequent formation of a thick marginal carbonate wedge was apparently followed by an unusually rapid marine recession, the cause of which is postulated as evaporative drawdown after renewed isolation of the Zechstein Sea. The possibility of other rapid Zechstein transgressions and recessions is briefly discussed.