Continental-Margin Seismic Stratigraphy: Assessing the Preservation Potential of Heterogeneous Geologic Processes Operating on Continental Shelves and Slopes

THE STRATAFORM research program (Nittrouer and Kravitz, 1995) consists of three interrelated areas of multidisciplinary research (Nittrouer and Kravitz, 1996, this issue).The "stratigraphic sequences project" is attempting to understand creation of preserved stratigraphy along continental edges as the product of geological processes acting on a wide range of spatial and temporal scales.That goal is to be achieved by linking short-term (i.e., acting over hours to centuries) biological and physical processes (e.g., bioturbation, storms) to sequence stratigraphic architecture and facies, through remote sensing and coring• STRATAFORM's stratigraphic emphasis is on the upper -100 m of section and the last -10 ~ years of Earth's history.The two "natural laboratories" chosen by STRATAFORM, the New Jersey and northern California margins, are characterized by different modern depositional regimes.The former study area is relatively quiescent; however, sequence stratigraphic geometries representing a variety of depositional inputs are well-developed for sediments within the space/time interval of STRATAFORM interest.Geometries and associated facies record the history of sea-level variation and continentalmargin progradation.An extensive seismic data-