ELSEVIER

Sedimentary
Geology
Sedimentary Geology 100 (1995) 5-20

Whither stratigraphy?
Andrew D. Miall
Department of Geology, Universityof Toronto, TorontoM5S 3BI, Canada
Received 1 February 1995; revised version accepted 12 May 1995

Abstract
There have been three revolutions in sedimentary geology. The first two began in the 1960s, consisting of the
development of process-response sedimentary models and the application of plate-tectonic concepts to large-scale
aspects of basin analysis. The third revolution, that of sequence stratigraphy, began in the late 1970s and helped to
draw together the main results of the first two: the knowledge of autogenic processes learned through facies analysis,
and the understanding of tectonism implicit in the unravelling of regional plate kinematics. Developments in the use
of seismic-reflection data and the evaluation of a hypothesis of global eustasy provided considerable stimulation for
stratigraphic research.
Current developments in the field of sequence stratigraphy are focusing on three areas. (1) Elaboration of the
sequence-architecture models for various configurations of depositional environment and sea-level history. (2)
Exploration of various mechanisms for sequence generation, especially tectonism and orbital forcing. (3) Attempts to
improve the level of precision in stratigraphic correlation and to refine the geological time scale, as a means to test
the model of global eustasy.
The growth in the power of computers and our knowledge of physical and chemical processes has led to the
evolution of an entirely new way of evaluating earth history, termed quantitative dynamic stratigraphy. Mathematical
modelling and numerical simulation of complex earth processes are now possible, and require the collection and
integration of a wide array of quantitative and qualitative data sets. Applications include the study of the
geodynamic evolution of sedimentary basins, modelling of stratigraphic sequences and global climates, studies of
Milankovitch cycles (cyclostratigraphy) and simulation of fluid flow through porous media. The Global Sedimentary
Geology Program has brought many of these areas of study together in multidisciplinary, global-scale studies of the
sedimentary history of the earth. The results of these studies have wide application to many problems of importance
to the human condition, including the past history of global climate change and other environmental concerns. The
study of stratigraphy is at the centre of the new view of the earth, termed earth-systems science, which views earth as
an 'organic' interaction between the lithosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.

I. Introduction
T h e science o f s t r a t i g r a p h y has u n d e r g o n e
e n o r m o u s c h a n g e s d u r i n g t h e last t h r e e d e c a d e s ,
with an e x p l o s i o n o f k n o w l e d g e r e g a r d i n g t h e
physics a n d c h e m i s t r y o f s e d i m e n t a t i o n a n d t h e

n a t u r e o f crustal a n d m a n t l e processes. F o r the

100th v o l u m e o f Sedimentary Geology it s e e m s
a p p r o p r i a t e to offer this b r i e f review o f d e v e l o p m e n t s in s t r a t i g r a p h y , to d e m o n s t r a t e t h e b r o a d
scientific b a s e o f t h e discipline, a n d to p o i n t o u t
w h e r e t h e s t r a t i g r a p h i c d a t a b a s e a n d strati-

0037-0738/95/$09.50 1995 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

SSDI 0037-0738(95)00100-X

A.D. Miall/Sedimentary Geology 100 (1995) 5-20

graphic research methods may have application

to broader problems beyond the immediate purpose of the subject, which is to document the
sedimentary history of the earth. Several entirely
new fields of research have emerged in recent
years. In order to highlight these several key
terms are given in italics.

2. The first two revolutions in sedimentary geology

Stratigraphy has long been thought of as a

descriptive science, providing documentation of
past events on earth but without adding much to
our store of fundamental, theoretical knowledge
of global p r o c e s s e s - - a good example of the
'stamp collecting' variety of science that was derided by Lord Rutherford and his ilk, early in this
century. However, this is no longer the case. The
first modern revolution, in my view, was the explosion of knowledge of the physical and chemical processes of sedimentation that began in the
late 1950s and early 1960s, stimulated and, in
large measure, carried out by petroleum geologists, such as the famous Shell Development
G r o u p in Houston, and the group led by Harold
Fisk at Esso. The emergence of the flow-regime
concept as a unifying theory to explain hydrodynamic sedimentary structures (Simons et al., 1965;
H a r m s and Fahnestock, 1965), and the detailed
documentation of sedimentary products and processes in carbonate environments, such as the
Bahamas Banks and the Persian Gulf (Ham,
1962), were among the many developments that
formed the basis for the revolution in the generation of process-response models in the 1960s and
1970s. The science of sedimentology matured
from a study of thin-section petrography, one of
its primary focuses in the 1930s, into an analysis
of facies, facies successions, and sedimentary processes, and of regional stratigraphic patterns
(Dunbar and Rodgers, 1957; Potter, 1959; Pettijohn, 1962; Potter and Pettijohn, 1963; Krumbein
and Sloss, 1963). Textbooks edited by Reading
(1978) and Walker (1979) were amongst the first
to synthesize the new developments in the field
of facies analysis and p r o c e s s - r e s p o n s e models,

including the many facies models that began to

appear at this time.
This revolution was built on the Lyellian basis
of 'uniformitarianism', which at first placed undue emphasis on slow, evolutionary, steady-state
processes of the type that can be observed all
around us every day. It took some time for the
importance of rare convulsive or catastrophic
events to become apparent, because our first-hand
knowledge of such events is so incomplete (Ager,
1980, 1993; Dott, 1983; Hsfi, 1983; Clifton, 1988).
The gradual piecing together of the evidence for
the terminal Cretaceous impact event since the
classic p a p e r by Alvarez et al. (1980) has had a
significant effect on our views of sedimentology
(and many other sciences), as noted later in this
paper.
The second revolution, that of plate tectonics,
began at about the same time, but carried different kinds of implications for sedimentary geologists. That the structure, stratigraphy and facies
of sedimentary basins could be reliably related to
plate-tectonic evolution was suggested by Dewey
and Bird (1970), and was thoroughly explored by
Dickinson (1974) in a paper that still makes for
useful reading. From these studies geologists
learned the importance of horizontal plate motions for the generation of vertical movements of
the earth's crust. The power to make logical
predictions of stratigraphy from plate kinematics
- - t h e documented passage of a tectonic plate
through various tectonic events and climatic
z o n e s - - b e c a m e apparent in papers such as that
by Berger and Winterer (1974). Another new
field, that of geodynamics, developed from investigations relating plate tectonics to deeper crustal
and mantle processes. The classic study of
McKenzie (1978) was amongst the most important in this field. It was the first fully quantitative
model that related basin subsidence to crustal
processes, in this case the crustal attenuation and
thermal changes accompanying continental rifting. This p a p e r provided the basis for the predictive modelling of stratigraphic architecture in response to regional tectonic and eustatic controls,
a subject to which I return below.
Studies such as these provided descriptive
stratigraphy with an underpinning of theoretical

A.D. Miall / Sedimentary Geology 100 (1995) 5-20

knowledge about basinal c o n t r o l s - - t h e surface

environmental aspects that comprise the study of
sedimentology--and the deeper crust and mantle
processes that are the realm of geophysics. In the
1960s the science of stratigraphy began the move
away from the descriptive and qualitative to the
predictive and quantitative. The foundations for a
powerful new technique were beginning to appear, that of numerical modelling of earth processes aided by graphic simulation, as discussed
later in this paper.
Facies analysis concerns itself with local and
small-scale characteristics of the sedimentary
record. Plate tectonics and its related study, that
of geodynamics, help to explain sedimentary patterns on a continental and global scale. In the
1960s facies analysis focused the attention of sedimentologists on local sedimentary controls, the
so-called autogenic processes, such as the meandering of rivers and the progradation of carbonate platforms in response to the local distribution
of sediment and energy. Plate tectonics helped us
to understand the larger scale of controls, the
allogenic mechanisms of tectonism, sea-level
change and climate.
The combination of plate tectonics, geodynamics, and sedimentology became a powerful one,
forming the basis of what came to be known in
the 1970s as basin analysis, the study of the origin
and development of sedimentary basins, including
their depositional and structural history (Miall,
1990; Allen and Allen, 1990). Vast numbers of
regional basin studies have been undertaken, using the techniques that evolved at this time.
Although it overlaps in time and, to some
extent, scientifically, with the third revolution, the
Decade of North American Geology project
(DNAG) of the Geological Society of America
and the Geological Survey of Canada, which was
planned as a major commemoration of the centenary of the Geological Society of America in
1988, is in large measure a product of the explosion of research techniques and energy that took
place in the 1960s and 1970s, of which basin
analysis was an important part. D N A G succeeded
in bringing together hundreds of scientists to
generate a modern synthesis of the geological
history of the continent and its adjacent oceans,

and has resulted in a collection of some 28 regional volumes, 6 volumes of field guides, and
various other products. The European Geotraverse has been a similarly ambitious project
(Blundell et al., 1992). In both cases stratigraphy
and basin analysis form a large part of the research product.

3. Sequence stratigraphy: the third revolution in

sedimentary geology
Many of our ideas regarding the relationships
between sedimentation, sea level, and tectonics
emerged in the nineteenth century and the early
part of the twentieth century through the work of
such individuals as Suess, Gressly, Walther, Barrell, and Grabau. However, modern concepts of
sequence stratigraphy essentially began with the
work of Wheeler (1958, 1959), Sloss et al. (1949),
and Sloss (1963). Wheeler attempted to systematize our concepts of time, as applied to the
stratigraphic record, while Sloss and his colleagues searched for regional order in the wealth
of descriptive stratigraphic detail from the North
American continent, and found a pattern of continent-wide transgression and regression pointing
to repeated sea-level changes. As pointed out by
Ross (1991), all the basic ideas that form the
modern framework of sequence stratigraphy were
essentially in place by the early 1960s, but the
revolution did not take place then, partly because
sedimentologists became engrossed with the process-response model, and in part because of a
lack of the necessary regional stratigraphic data.
One of Sloss's graduate students, Peter Vail,
began to apply what he had learned about regional stratigraphy to the interpretation of regional data sets while working for Exxon Corporation in the 1960s and early 1970s. He was
amongst the first to make use of reflection seismic data for the interpretation of large-scale
stratigraphic architecture (and certainly the first
to publish such ideas), at a time when the
petroleum industry had been devoting large resources to the seismic method primarily for the
purpose of exploring the structural geology of
basins. The results exploded on the stratigraphic

A.D. Miall / Sedimentary Geology I00 (1995) 5-20

scene in 1977 with the publication of the now

famous A A P G Memoir 26 (Payton, 1977). Vail's
work contained two important new concepts,
firstly, that stratigraphic architecture, on a large
scale, could be related to cycles of rising and
falling sea level and, secondly, that these cycles
could be correlated globally, suggesting that global
sea-level change, or eustasy, is the major controlling process. It was pointed out most clearly by
Carter et al. (1991) that these concepts are independent, and need to be considered so by working geologists. This is a point of some importance,
because, while the sequence-architecture approach to stratigraphy has become a powerful
and increasingly discriminating method of analysis, the global-eustasy model is becoming increasingly controversial.

3.1. The sequence-architecture model

Developments in the field of sequence stratigraphy have revolutionized the regional study of
sedimentary rocks during the last decade. Sequence-architecture models predict the distribution of sedimentary facies based on the response
of depositional environments to changes in base
level. These models have provided a powerful
basis for regional subsurface stratigraphic prediction and correlation, and have become widely
used in the field of petroleum geology. Early
sequence studies evolved from the model of global
eustasy, in which it was hypothesized that sequence stratigraphies around the world were controlled primarily by global changes in sea level
(Vail et al., 1977). If this is indeed the case, it
permits us to build a global stratigraphic template
for correlation based on regional stratigraphic
successions.
However, these developments in sequence
stratigraphy have proved controversial (Kerr,
1980), and this has stimulated a considerable
body of research into basin subsidence processes,
the causes of sea-level change, and the response
of depositional systems to the various allogenic
forcing processes: tectonism, eustasy and climate
change. Early sequence-architecture models
(Posamentier et al., 1988) proved to be simplistic.
In the case of fluvial deposits the response of

rivers to base-level change and to other influences, such as climate change and tectonism, is
much more complex than had been suggested,
and sequence models for this environment are
therefore still evolving (Miall, 1991; Schumm,
1993; Wescott, 1993; Shanley and McCabe, 1994;
Blum, 1994). Studies of carbonate sedimentation
on continental platforms and slopes show that
carbonate environments respond very differently
to sea-level change than do clastic environments,
and are very sensitive to other controls, such as
changes in water temperature and suspendedsediment concentration. Architectural models
must be adapted, accordingly. In particular, carbonate sedimentation is most active during sealevel highstands, developing thick platform deposits and slope debris aprons (the products of
'highstand shedding'), in contrast to clastic deposits, the thickest accumulations of which are
commonly those deposited on the continental
slope during lowstand (James and Kendall, 1992;
Schlager, 1992). The architectural implications of
erosion and oceanward sediment transport during
falling base level, is also a recent addition to the
body of sequence concepts, leading to modifications in our understanding of the timing of
beach-barrier systems and submarine fans (the
'forced regressions' and 'falling-stage systems
tracts' of Posamentier et al., 1992; Hunt and
Tucker, 1992).
The original sequence models were developed
for extensional continental margins, and it is now
being shown that in other types of tectonic setting, especially foreland basins, sequence architecture and composition are quite different (Swift
et al., 1987; Jordan and Flemings, 1991; Posamentier and Allen, 1993).

3.2. The global eustasy model and other allogenic

mechanisms of sequence generation
The question of global eustatic control of sequence architecture has led to two distinct developments. One critical test of global eustasy is to
explore the global correlation of sequence successions, and this has stimulated a renewal of interest in the global time scale, the data upon which
it is based, and the accuracy and precision with

A.D. Miall / Sedimentary Geology 100 (1995) 5-20

which it can be applied. Considerable effort is

being extended to develop new techniques of
chronostratigraphic dating and correlation, such
as the use of strontium isotope concentrations,
which vary systematically through time (Williams,
1990; Smalley et al., 1994). Increasingly refined
results are being obtained from magnetostratigraphy (see MacFadden, 1990, and the special issue
of the Journal of Geology to which this is the
introduction), and biostratigraphy, especially by
the use of graphic correlation methods (see review in Miall, 1994). The global time scale is
undergoing constant iterative refinement and updating through the integrated use of new data
bases (e.g., see the Cenozoic time scale of
Berggren et al., 1985 and the Mesozoic time scale
of Gradstein et al., 1994. Time scales are reviewed in detail by Harland et al., 1990), and this
is providing the basis for increasingly sophisticated tests of the global eustasy model. For example, Aubry (1991) carried out a detailed examination of early Eocene events, and concluded that
there was no clear signal of global eustasy in the
stratigraphic record. Miall (1991, 1992, 1994) argued that the chronostratigraphic record is still
too imprecise to permit reliable tests of global
correlation of the higher-frequency cycles: those
of 1-10 m.y. duration, the so-called 'third-order'
sequences that constitute the main basis for recent versions of the Exxon curves (Haq et al.,
1987). However, late Cenozoic glacioeustatic fluctuations have generated systematic variations in
oxygen isotope concentrations in the Milankovitch band (Shackleton and Opdyke, 1973),
and this is providing the basis for a reliable time
scale for the last few million years of geologic
history (Imbrie et al., 1984; Williams, 1988, 1990),
and for the growth of a new discipline, that of
cyclostratigraphy (discussed below).
The second development has been a renewed
interest in the deep structure of the earth and the
fundamental mechanisms that control sea-level
change and the elevation of the continents. On
most continents deep reflection-seismic experiments, that were begun in the 1970s by government-industry consortia (e.g., Oliver, 1982), have
produced profiles of the continental crust that
reveal the structural complexity of orogens and

continental margins down to depths of tens of

kilometres, typically to the Mohorovicic discontinuity. Amongst the surprise discoveries, the existence of extensional and compressional detachment surfaces cutting to the base of the crust at
steep angles from the horizontal, and the overthrusting of continental margins by tens to hundreds of kilometres in collisional orogens (Allmendinger et al., 1987; Mooney and Braile, 1989;
Blundell et al., 1992).
A variety of tectonic mechanisms has been
explored by theoretical studies, numerical simulation and the accumulation of careful regional
case studies. A new field, called computational
geodynamics, has emerged "in which computer
models of mantle convection are used in the
interpretation of contemporaneous geophysical
observations like seismic tomography and the
geoid as well as of time-integrated observations
from isotope geochemistry" (Gurnis, 1992). These
developments are of great significance, and their
implications for stratigraphy have yet to be fully
realised. Gurnis (1988, 1990, 1992) developed the
concept of dynamic topography, in which the
earth's elevation and that of the oceans is related
to the thermal properties of the mantle. The heat
that accumulates beneath supercontinents can
generate continental-scale upwarps of up to 1 km
over periods of 100 m.y., whereas subduction of
cold oceanic slabs and the downwelling that occurs as continental fragments converge generates
regional continental depression of several hundred metres. These processes are the explanation
for e p e i r o g e n y - - t h e vertical motions of the contin e n t s - - a feature commonly interpreted from the
stratigraphic record (e.g., Sloss, 1963; Bond, 1976,
1978), but hitherto unexplained. To determine
their effects on sea level at a given location they
must be integrated with changes in sea level itself
(eustasy), the causes of which are discussed later.
In another series of developments it has been
shown that horizontal, in-plane stresses generated
by the kinematics of plate-tectonics impose longwavelength, low-amplitude flexural effects on
continental and oceanic plates, leading to regional tilts and broad upwarps and downwarps
(Cloetingh et al., 1985; Cloetingh, 1988; Cloetingh and Kooi, 1990). Periodic brittle failure of

A.D. Miall/ Sedimentary Geolo~' 100 (1995) 5-20

10

leading to periodic draw-down of sea levels. Even

without sea-level change, orbital forcing can generate significant stratigraphic cyclicity by its effects on oceanic and atmospheric circulation,
evapotranspiration, and organic productivity (Perlmutter and Matthews, 1990).

the crust u n d e r a continuously applied compressive stress in converging plate environments may
lead to periodic adjustments to the flexural load
in adjacent basins (Peper et al., 1992; Waschbusch
and R o y d e n , 1992), and this may prove to be one
of the most important mechanisms for the develo p m e n t of high-frequency stratigraphic sequences
(those of 104-106-year duration). In fact, the
' n e e d ' for eustasy as a m e c h a n i s m to g e n e r a t e
sequences is receding (e.g., Peper, 1994; Yoshida
et al., in prep.), and this makes global correlation,
as a test of eustasy, even m o r e important.
A t the same time, a rigorous evaluation of
early ideas about orbital forcing--the so-called
Milankovitch effects--has confirmed that the
processes are real (Berger et al., 1984), and much
work on the geological record is d e m o n s t r a t i n g
that sequences in the Milankovitch b a n d have
developed at many times in the geological past
(Fischer, 1986; D e Boer and Smith, 1994). Orbital
forcing profoundly affects climate, and at certain
times climate c h a n g e has been severe e n o u g h to
trigger major episodes of continental glaciation,

Table 1
Stratigraphic cycles and their causes
Type ~'
Terminology
First-order
Second-order

Supercycle (Vail et al., 1977);

sequence (Sloss, 1963)

3.3. Causes" of first- to ftfth-order stratigraphic

cycles
T h e subdivision of stratigraphic cycles into five
broad classes, based on duration, derives from
the work of Vail et al. (1977). A s u m m a r y of this
classification is shown in Table 1, with notes on
causal mechanisms. These notes are expanded on
in this section. It must be emphasized that the
five-fold subdivision is quite arbitrary, and is used
nowadays purely for convenience in referring to
the time scales of the various cycle types. Ideas
about the causal mechanisms are still actively
evolving, and it is b e c o m i n g clear that many are
not independent. For example, mantle convection
drives both vertical motions of the crust and

Duration,
(m.y.)
200-400
10-100

Probable causes
Major eustatic cycles caused by formation and
breakup of supercontinents.
(1) Eustatic cycles induced by volume changes
in global mid-ocean spreading centres.
(2) Regional extensional downwarp and crustal
loading.

Third-order

Mesothem (Ramsbottom, 1979);

megacyclothem (Heckel, 1986)

1-10

Regional cycles caused by intra-plate stresses.

Most are probably not of global extenl.

Fourth-order

Cyclothem (Wanless and Weller, 1932);

major cycle (Heckel, 1986)

0.2-0.5

(1) Milankovitch glacioeustatic cycles, astronomical

forcing.
(2) Regional cycles caused by flexural loading,
especially in foreland basins.

Fifth-order

Minor cycle (Heckel, 1986)

0.01-0.2

( 1) Milankovitch glacioeustatic cycles, astronomical

forcing.
(2) Regional cycles caused by flexural loading,
especially in foreland basins.

Hierarchy modified from Vail et al. (1977).

A.D. Miall / Sedimentary Geology 100 (1995) 5-20

causes variations in the volume of the ocean

basins, which affects eustasy. The resulting effects on sea level at a given point are complex.
First-order cycles are now thought to be caused
by the thermal effects related to the formation
and breakup of supercontinents. Worsley et al.
(1984, 1986) and Veevers (1990) discussed the
Phanerozoic record, and Hoffman (1991) presented a plate-tectonic scenario for the assembly
and dispersal of the major continents that would
allow us to extend the interpretation back to
about 1 Ga. The most important stratigraphic
effect of these long-term plate-tectonic movements is the variation in the long-term rate and
global extent of sea-floor spreading. Lengthy, active spreading centres are thermally elevated and
displace ocean waters onto the continents. The
breakup and dispersion of supercontinents therefore tends to be accompanied by rising sea levels,
such as those that characterized the earth during
the rapid opening of the Atlantic, Indian and
Southern Oceans during the Cretaceous. Plate
collisions lead to the development of a new supercontinent, a lull on seafloor spreading (with a
consequent global sea-level lowstand), and the
gradual buildup of heat beneath the new continental mass, leading eventually to the initiation
of a new round of rifting and continental dispersal. The work of Gurnis (1988, 1990, 1992), who
has explored the implications of these mantle
processes for the vertical motion of the continents (dynamic topography), has been referred to
briefly above.
The interregional cycles of Sloss (1963) are the
classic examples of second-order cycles. There is
increasingly convincing evidence that many of
these are global in scope, and are generated by
cycles of eustatic sea-level change lasting several
tens of millions of years (see review in Miall,
1990, Ch. 8). The primary mechanism is probably
variations in global sea-floor spreading rates superimposed on the first-order cycle discussed
above. Such variations reflect continental-scale
adjustments to spreading patterns in response to
plate rifting and collision events. The mechanism
was first suggested by Hallam (1963), and Pitman
(1978) is credited with the theoretical research
that led to general acceptance of the idea, al-

11

though in detail the process is far more complex

than first described by Pitman (Kominz, 1984;
Gurnis, 1992).
Cycles of base-level change can also be generated by crustal movements at continental margins. On extensional margins crustal thinning and
post-rift cooling leads to subsidence on a time
scale of tens of millions of years (McKenzie,
1978; Watts, 1981). Second-order clastic wedges
are also generated by flexural loading during convergent and strike-slip tectonics, especially in
foreland basins, where wedges of nonmarine
'molasse' spanning several millions of years to
more than 10 m.y. are common (Beaumont, 1981;
Jordan, 1981; Allen and Homewood, 1986). Tectonic cycles generated by regional plate-tectonic
events are regional to continental in scope, not
global, as demonstrated by several regional studies (e.g., Welsink and Tankard, 1987; Hubbard,
1988).
The processes which lead to second-order eustatic sea-level changes, such as changing rates of
sea-floor spreading, also lead to tectonic adjustments of the continents (e.g., initiation of the
rifting-thermal subsidence cycle, and subsidence
over cold subducting slabs), so that actual changes
in sea level in any given basin may have multiple
causes that are not necessarily readily interpretable in terms of eustasy. Much work remains
to be done to document and correlate these cycles globally in order to evaluate the various
mechanisms.
Third-order cycles form the main basis for the
Exxon global cycle chart (Haq et al., 1987), but
the existence of a global framework of such cycles
has been questioned (as discussed above), and no
satisfactory mechanism of synchronous global
change on a third-order time scale has been developed. An increasing body of evidence is indicating that cycles of this type can be generated by
tectonic mechanisms, and are therefore likely to
be regional to continental in extent, but not global.
If this is the case they cannot be used as the basis
for a global stratigraphic time scale. The intraplate-stress theory of Cloetingh (1988) is finding widespread application in the study of thirdorder (106-year) stratigraphic cyclicity. For example, Cloetingh and Kooi (1990) developed a

12

A.D. Miall / Sedimentary Geology 100 (1995) 5-20

paleostress curve for the U.S. Atlantic margins

based on studies of regional plate kinematics.
These indicate changes in plate configuration and
rotation poles at about 2-16 m.y. intervals. Such
changes would have resulted in changes in the
in-plane stress and in the flexural response of the
continents, resulting in regional transgressions
and regressions. In the case of foreland basins, it
has long been known that flexural loading by
nappes and thrust-sheet stacks is the main cause
of long-term (10V-year) basin subsidence (Price,
1973; Beaumont, 1981; Jordan, 1981), but it is
now being suggested that intraplate stress may
act on much shorter time scales in response to
load changes brought about by movement of individual structures. Tectonic cyclicity may therefore
be generated with a 104-106-year periodicity
(Peper et al., 1992; Heller et al., 1993; Peper,
1994). As Karner (1986) noted, basin margin and
interior regions should experience opposite baselevel movements, which would not be the case for
cycles generated by eustatic sea-level change. This
offers an excellent opportunity to test generative
mechanisms through careful dating and correlation of the stratigraphic record but, as noted
above, except in certain special cases this is still
beyond our ability.
Fourth- and fifth-order cycles', are common in
the late Cenozoic record, and also in the late
Paleozoic stratigraphy of the northern hemisphere (the cyclothems of Wanless and Weller,
1932). They have long been attributed to
glacioeustatic processes, those of Late Paleozoic
age being related to the widespread Gondwanan
glaciation of the same age range (Wanless and
Shepard, 1936; Crowell, 1978). J. Croll was the
first to realize, in 1864, that variations in the
earth's orbital behaviour may affect the distribution of solar radiation received at the surface of
the earth by latitude and by season, and the
Serbian mathematician Milutin Milankovitch carried out the necessary calculations in the 1930s.
Emiliani (1955) was the first to obtain direct
observational evidence for the processes, in the
form of variations in the marine Pleistocene oxygen isotope record. As noted above, orbital forcing, the so-called Milankovitch processes, are now
universally accepted as the cause of high-

frequency (104 S-year) periodicity (Berger et al.,

1984; De Boer and Smith, 1994). In fact, as noted
above, cyclostratigraphy is becoming the basis for
a new standard of geologic time for the late
Cenozoic.
However, as discussed earlier, it is now known
that tectonic processes can drive cycles of baselevel change with a periodicity within the range of
what is commonly (but in this case misleadingly)
referred to as the Milankovitch time band. In
fact, as demonstrated by Algeo and Wilkinson
(1988), many autogenic and allogenic processes
generate cycles that can be demonstrated to have
time spans within the Milankovitch time range.
Where glacial processes cannot be directly proven
by isotopic signatures, it is unwise to attribute
stratigraphic cyclicity to orbital forcing mechanisms without rigorous testing of cyclic spectra
(Fischer, 1986). Attempts to relate calculated cycle durations to specific orbital parameters are
questionable for the distant geologic past because
of the wide margin of error in dating techniques,
and uncertainty regarding changes over time in
the orbital frequencies. Berger and Loutre (1994)
provided a discussion of the latter point.

4. The new quantitative dynamic stratigraphy

In the preface to his book (Cross, 1990), Timothy Cross noted many of the same developments
touched on in this review, and stated that "the
history of these developments indicates an increased focus among earth scientists to formulate
more exacting and quantitative relations among
processes and responses of complex natural systems. It also indicates a progressive expansion in
the types of variables, processes and responses
included in stratigraphic or sedimentary basin
m o d e l s - - t h e r e is a trend toward combining models formulated within traditional subdisciplines
and integrating them in more comprehensive
models of basin evolution." Cross suggested that
we are in the midst of an evolving form of stratigraphic analysis which he termed quantitatiue dynamic stratigraphy, and this became the title of
his book and the basis for a new acronym: QDS.
Cross defined QDS as "the application of mathe-

A.D. Miall / Sedimentary Geology 100 (1995) 5-20

matical, quantitative procedures to the analysis of

geodynamic, stratigraphic, sedimentologic and hydraulic attributes of sedimentary basins, treating
them as features produced by the interactions of
dynamic processes operating on physical configurations of the earth at specific times and places."
As described by Cross and Harbaugh (in Cross,
1990), quantitative models permit the working
through of complex geological relationships that
are beyond the power of intuition to fully understand, and allow for the rapid testing of new
ideas. There are two important types of model,
forward models, that simulate sets of processes
and responses, given predetermined input variables, and inverse models, that use the structure
of a forward model to simulate a specific result,
such as an observed basin architecture (Cross and
Harbaugh, in Cross, 1990). The following paragraphs describe some of the main areas of current QDS research.
(1) Models of basin subsidence mechanisms
based on mantle thermal behaviour, plate kinematics, crustal rheology, and local structural geology. This is the oldest and most mature area of
quantitative stratigraphic research. The main
breakthrough in the development of a fully operational basin model was that of McKenzie (1978),
who focused attention on the crustal attenuation
that occurs during continental extensional tectonics, and its thermal and mechanical consequences. A methodology termed backstripping
was developed to account for the incremental
burial, loading and compaction of sediments during basin evolution (Steckler and Watts, 1978;
Sclater and Christie, 1980), and this permitted
the development of sophisticated numerical models for basin subsidence, thermal evolution and
petroleum generation (Watts, 1981, 1989; Royden
et al., 1980). The same principles were soon applied to basins generated by supracrustal (flexural) loading (Beaumont, 1981; Jordan, 1981), and
became increasingly elaborate with the use of
two- and three-dimensional numerical modelling
programs (Quinlan and Beaumont, 1984; Beaumont et al., 1988; Stockmal et al., 1986).
(2) Stratigraphic simulations that build sequences based on models of the three main controlling parameters, subsidence, sea-level change

13

and sediment transport. There are many different

approaches to such modelling, but most are geometrical exercises that do not attempt to simulate
the physics of sedimentary processes (Burton et
al., 1987; Jervey, 1988; Strobel et al., 1990;
Reynolds et al., 1991). That by Jordan and Flemings (1991) incorporates transport coefficients for
marine and nonmarine deposition and the determination of depositional slope by calculation
rather than setting it as an input variable. However, it treats subsidence simplistically, and does
not incorporate flexural loading as a feedback
into the model, a feature addressed by Reynolds
et al. (1991).
The most advanced models are now being used
to test specific tectonic hypotheses, such as the
role of short-term flexural loading and intraplate
stress in foreland-basin subsidence (Peper, 1994).
A different class of advanced models simulates
some of the actual physics of sedimentation in
simple continental-margin settings, for example,
the SEDSIM program of Tetzlaff (1990), which
makes use of bedload transport equations.
(3) Climate models that simulate global circulation and temperature distribution. An extensive
literature has developed in this field, particularly
since the success of the CLIMAP project in reconstructing global climates during the late Cenozoic ice ages (CLIMAP, 1976). Research has focused particularly on the Cretaceous (Barton et
al., 1981; Barron, 1983), and the late Paleozoic
climates of Pangea (Parrish, 1993). Of particular
interest are attempts to reconcile global models,
with their large cell sizes, with the details of local
topography and the documented record of ~'~,atigraphic events, such as climates deduced from
facies studies and paleoecology (e.g., Dubiel et
al., 1991) and wind directions obtained from paleocurrent analysis (e.g., Parrish and Peterson,
1988).
(4) Cyclostratigraphy, the construction of a
time scale and a stratigraphic record based on the
parameters of orbital forcing. As stated by Fischer et al. (1990) "only cyclostratigraphy can yield
the chronostratigraphic resolution and the insight
into ancient climates that are necessary to understand climatic change. At the same time, instrumental methods of scanning sedimentary se-

14

A.D. Miall/ Sedimentary Geology 100 (1995) 5 20

quences for variations in physical and chemical

characteristics have come into use, as have the
processing of large data sets and the analysis of
time series by computer." The principles are now
being applied to the late Cenozoic sedimentary
record, with the resulting development of very
refined sequence stratigraphies (e.g., Feeley et
al., 1990; Williams, 1990).
House (1985) suggested using calculated periodicities to calibrate time scales, and discussed
the use of interpreted Milankovitch cycles in the
Jurassic record to refine the geological time scale
determined by biostratigraphic and radiometric
means. At present this seems premature, because
of the uncertainties regarding orbital changes in
the past. In addition, as discussed earlier, there
remains considerable uncertainty regarding the
precision of the geological time scales within
which Milankovitch refinements are to be calculated. A method for independently testing the
periodicity of metre-scale cycles, termed the
gamma method, was devised by Kominz and Bond
(1990), and is providing a useful quantitative approach for the resolution of these problems.
(5) Flow models for the production of
petroleum from complex, heterogeneous reservoirs and the dispersion of contaminants in the
shallow subsurface. By using such methods as
finite-element modelling, standard hydrologic
methods for the calculation of flow through
porous media can now be applied to complex
stratigraphic units showing variations in porosity
and permeability in three-dimensions (e.g.,
Hoimyr et al., 1992; Lake and Malik, 1993). A
detailed knowledge of stratigraphic architecture
is required, which brings in sedimentary facies
analysis at a critical stage of project development
work, when decisions must be made regarding
placement of injection and extraction wells in the
petroleum reservoir or contaminated rock body.
Facies studies in core and outcrop (Miall and
Tyler, 1991), and 3-D seismic reflection data
(Brown, 1991), are critical components of such
architectural reconstructions. Continued monitoring of pressures and fluid compositions (termed
surceillance geology by production geologists) permits history-matching of the predicted with the
actual performance of the fluid system, and incre-

mental adjustment and improvement of the architectural model. For example, Hopkins et al. (1991)
used monthly fluid production data to test the
applicability of fluid-flow models to a water-injection production situation in estuarine sandbodies
of the Upper Mannville Sandstone of Alberta.
Blair et al. (1991) examined the flow of pentachlorphenol in groundwaters around a chemical
plant.
The value of these different kinds of models is
that they offer the opportunity to vary the input,
to experiment with relationships between the
variables and observe the outcome, lterative experimentation, increasing improvement of the
real-world test data sets, and ever more sophisticated numerical modelling, hold the promise for
orders-of-magnitude improvements in our knowledge about how the earth works. New programs
for inverse modelling are evolving that permit the
iterative adjustment of forward models for the
simulation of specific sets of geological conditions. These promise to provide unique solutions
for complex problems. For example, The longstanding problem of determining the relative importance of variations in subsidence, sediment
supply and sea-level change in the construction of
given basin stratigraphies (Burton et a[., 1987)
may be on the verge of resolution (Lessenger,
1993; T. Cross, pers. commun., 1995).

5. D i s c u s s i o n

The research described here has led to a close

symbiotic relationship between the specialties of
stratigraphy, tectonics, and crustal geophysics,
with geophysical theoreticians, climatologists and
numerical modellers making increasing use of
stratigraphic data sets as inputs and constraints
on new dynamic models. The test of global eustasy has also put pressure on specialists in the
field of chronostratigraphy to upgrade and integrate their data, involving the studies of stable
and radiogenic isotopes, the earth's magnetic
field, and biostratigraphy. The field of stratigraphy has therefore considerably extended its reach,
and now represents a major interdisciplinary science tackling questions about the earth's past on

A.D. Miall / Sedimentary Geology 100 (1995) 5-20

a broad front. We are assembling an increasingly

precise record of the geological past, including
the history of regional and global sea-level change,
regional plate kinematics and its effects on structural geology and basin evolution, and the evolution of global climates.
The discipline of stratigraphy now requires the
practitioner to acquire, evaluate and integrate
diverse data sets of varying quality and type, from
the descriptive to the rigorously numerical. It is a
perfect example of the geological art, which draws
on all the 'basic' physical sciences, and requires
an imaginative brain trained in many techniques
of widely varying type, including the quantitative
(e.g., statistics, numerical modelling) and the
qualitative (e.g., pattern recognition). This is a
unique range of skills, leaving limited room for
independent work by narrow specialists. The future of stratigraphy will depend on the abilities of
generalists, and on coordinated group projects by
a wide range of individuals. Are there implications for this research beyond the field of stratigraphy?
The improvements in techniques and the documented record it has generated are of great
value in the field of petroleum exploration and
production, from the initial stages of frontierbasin exploration to the design of field-scale enhanced production programs for heterogeneous
reservoirs. Exploration programs are guided by
improved knowledge of what to look for in frontier regions, and a wider range of interpretive
skills is available to make sense out of the results.
The principles of sequence stratigraphy quickly
became a standard methodology in the industry
during the 1980s. Programs for frontier exploration and exploitation have become much more
successful, efficient, and cost-effective in recent
years, as practical applications of the research
described here became available; but these successes are in danger of disappearing as a result of
the 'downsizing' that has been the fashion in the
major corporations during the last few years; research departments have been amongst the first
to be eliminated.
Many areas of environmental geology also
make use of stratigraphic research methods and
data bases. For example, the migration of toxic

15

wastes from landfill sites and chemical plants can

be investigated using principles that are very similar to those used in enhanced petroleum recovery.
The Global Sedimentary Geology Program
(GSGP) has brought much of the new data and
the new research techniques together in focused
attacks on selected intervals of geological time,
first the Cretaceous (Ginsburg and Beaudoin,
1990) and, more recently, the late Paleozoic
(Klein, 1994), two periods when the earth was in
very different plate-tectonic and climatic configurations than at the present day. During the Cretaceous, global sea levels reached an all-time high
and the earth's climate was in a 'greenhouse'
condition, while during the late Paleozoic the
earth's continents had assembled into the Pangea
supercontinent, sea levels were low, and the climate was in the 'icehouse' condition. Integrated
studies of the type sponsored by GSGP are of
considerable relevance to studies of present-day
global change, including the current fears regarding dramatic climate change triggered by human
interference. Not only does the stratigraphic
record contain detailed analogs of a wide spectrum of past conditions, but a study of this record
can yield invaluable insights on how the earth's
climate system works. What are the major controlling mechanisms? How do they interact? How
fast do they interact? What are the major sensitivities that lead to change? and is anything we do
now likely to have an effect on the earth's climate
in the immediate future?
Another field of research that has had a significant effect on our view of earth history and how
we go about investigating it is the bolide-impact
hypothesis for the extinction of the dinosaurs.
What started life as a category of enquiry in the
realm of amateur speculation became a serious
concern with the discovery of the famous iridium
layer in Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary clays (A1varez et al., 1980). From this beginning has grown
new theory about the nature of catastrophic
events in earth history (Hsfi, 1983), new evidence
for many other extinction events and new ideas
about the importance of such events in the evolution of life (Raup and Jablonski, 1986), and a
multidisciplinary investigation into the nature of

16

A.D. Miall / Sedimentary Geology 100 (1995) 5-20

bolide impacts and their consequences, culminating in the discovery of a crater in Mexico that
may be the location of the terminal Cretaceous
impact event (Hildebrand et al., 1991).
The nature of m o d e r n stratigraphic data bases,
the research techniques that have evolved, and
the kinds of questions that stratigraphers can now
ask and answer, place stratigraphy at the very
centre of earth-system science, a new, multidisciplinary approach to the study of the earth that
emphasizes " t h e interactions between the different parts of the E a r t h - - t h e atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and the solid E a r t h - - a n d
about the balance in the global environment that
exists as a result of those interactions" (Skinner
and Porter, 1995). In many respects the emergence of the concept of earth-system science is
validating the power of the Gaia hypothesis: the
view of the earth as an 'organic' self-regulating
entity (Schneider and Boston, 1991).
So, whither stratigraphy? The answer at present seems to be an increasing refinement of our
abilities to collect precise data and to integrate it
more effectively based on dynamic models of
sedimentary processes. This will lead to a far
more sophisticated understanding of complex
earth systems, with consequent improvements in
our ability to predict outcomes of importance to
the h u m a n condition. Stratigraphy is no longer
'stamp collecting' but, like the so-called ' h a r d '
physical sciences, now consists of sets of rigorously acquired data and quantitative, testable hypotheses. It has come of age.
Will the earth develop a runaway greenhouse
effect? Will we run out of nonrenewable energy?
Can toxic waste dumps and poisonous landfills be
cleaned up? How did life really begin? What is
the danger of another bolide impact of the magnitude that wiped out the dinosaurs? If you want
answers to these questions, ask a stratigrapher.
The data are in our files.

Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Bob Ginsburg and Tim Cross
for commenting on an early draft of this paper.

However, a review such as this is very much a

personal commentary, and I remain responsible
for any errors and omissions.

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