Contributions Toward an Integrative, Process-Based Model of Stratigraphy Formation

SEQUENCE is being designed to rapidly simulate the first-order evolution of continental margin morphology over long geologic time periods. To meet this requirement, the shelf and slope component models for SEQUENCE are 1-D, Eulerian, finite-difference models that produce 2-D, dip-line simulations of shelf and slope evolution. Both are relatively fast and encompass the physiographic provinces in their entirety, using annual to multi-year time steps, and distance steps of tens of meters. The shelf model simulates the formation of shelf strata under the combined effects of sediment supply, waves, and a long-term, net-offshore current. The slope model simulates episodic failure and/or the bypassing of sediments to the deep sea.