Sedimentary Processes and the Temporal Resolution of Sedimentary Strata

An appealing strategy for reconstructing the timing and tempo of paleoenvironmental change from sedimentary strata is to linearly interpolate between marker beds known age. This method requires significant assumptions, but more advanced age modeling methods are usually not feasible. We used experiments explore how changes in processes invalidate these assumptions affect estimates time strata. When changed favor widespread deposition, we found that measuring systematically overestimated duration resulting (time dilation) misestimated beginning end geologic intervals (phase shifting). simple models must be strata, evidence transient spatial sediment dispersal may help identify sections dilated shifted time, better resolve