Global Cyclostratigraphy: An Application to the Eocene Green River Basin

Global cyclostratigraphy is a process-response model that hindcasts a basin's stratigraphic character by integrating climate and tectonics into a globally synchronous framework. The evolution of depositional environments throughout a basin's history is recreated by superimposing short- to long-term, orbitally driven, climatically controlled stratigraphic variations onto the very long-term, tectonically controlled evolution of basin morphology.

The global nature of this model predicts an interesting difference in the timing of sediment delivery to lacustrine and marine systems in mid-latitudes. In lacustrine systems, runoff and sediment flux are directly linked to lake level. However, in marine systems the phase relationship of runoff and sediment flux to sea level is latitudinally dependent because changes in the sum of worldwide runoff (especially ice storage/melting) affect sea level while changes in local runoff affect sedimentation.

The application of global cyclostratigraphic concepts to the Eocene Green River Basin predicts the general stratigraphic succession and characteristics of the basin. The general evolution of the stratigraphy from fluvial (Wasatch Formation) to lacustrine (Green River Formation) to fluvial (Bridger Formation), and the higher frequency variations within these formations (deep lake–shallow lake, oil shale–trona/marl, braided–meandering rivers) confirm the model's power to infer and provide a context for otherwise conflicting geological observations.