Narrow is normal: Exploring the extent and significance of flooded marine shelves in icehouse, transitional, and greenhouse climate settings

Abstract Marine shelves are a ubiquitous feature of modern Earth, developed across wide range scales in many sedimentary basins and representing the flooded portion basin-margin clinoform topsets. Analysis 80 clinoforms from 10 spanning Cenozoic Mesozoic icehouse, transitional, greenhouse climate settings indicates that normalized mean marine shelf width is 33% total measured topset length. The equivalent value for transitional 43%, 72% icehouse shelves. These values demonstrate were substantially narrower than equivalents, suggesting with persistent shelf-edge deltas consequence lower rates accommodation change intervals lacked large ice sheets required to drive high-amplitude high-frequency glacio-eustasy. Because climates have been dominant mode through Earth history, narrow probably form, conceptual models based on relatively may be poor predictors paleogeography, sediment routing, partitioning throughout much history.