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Cyclic Sedimentation: A Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Alan J. Wells
Alan J. Wells
Affiliation:
Broekmolenweg 20, Delft, Netherlands.
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Abstract

The well-known Carboniferous cyclothems of North America and Europe are discussed as examples to illustrate the great extent and lateral variation of sedimentary cycles. Very many other instances of cyclic sedimentation, in rocks of most ages, in many parts of the world, are also characterized by a more or less regular lateral migration of simultaneously existing depositional environments, caused by repeated transgressions and regressions of the sea over an epicontinental platform. Theories of varying complexity which have sought to explain cyclic sedimentation are briefly summarized, and it is suggested that the two basic requirements are a slowly subsiding sedimentary basin and more or less regular eustatic changes of sea level. The former will decide the geographical location. The latter could be a natural, periodic and world-wide consequence of the combination of the continuous effects of sedimentation and sostatic or orogenic movements of the sea floor.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 97 , Issue 5 , October 1960 , pp. 389 - 403
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1960

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