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Tectonic subsidence, flexure and global changes of sea level

Nature volume 297, pages 469–474 (1982)Cite this article

Abstract

Tectonic models for the evolution of passive continental margins predict that following rifting, sediments should progressively onlap basement at the edge of a margin as the lithosphere cools and increases its flexural rigidity with age. The pattern of modelled onlap is strikingly similar to that used by Vail and colleagues to estimate sea-level rise through geological time. This similarity suggests that major portions of stratigraphical sequences at margins may have a tectonic, rather than eustatic, control. The patterns of onlap used by Vail and colleagues may be widespread, however, because several widely separated passive margins rifted at similar times, but they are unlikely to be worldwide.

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  1. Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory and Department of Geological Sciences, Columbia University, Palisades, New York, 10964, USA

    A. B. Watts

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Watts, A. Tectonic subsidence, flexure and global changes of sea level. Nature 297, 469–474 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/297469a0

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