Revision of the Plio-Pleistocene Cycles and Their Application to Sequence Stratigraphy and Shelf and Slope Sediments in the Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

ABSTRACT The ages, cycles and correlation of the Pliocene and Pleistocene have been discussed and argued for decades. The revision of the Pliocene-Pleistocene sequence chronostratigraphy presented in this paper is based on data obtained from more than 100 wells in the south additions and deepwater areas, offshore Louisiana and Texas, Gulf of Mexico. The high resolution biostratigraphic data, combined with well-log sequence stratigraphic interpretations and correlations of the seismic record sections through a two-way-time log or synthetic seismogram permits the Pliocene and Pleistocene series to be divided into 14 fourth order sequences and seven third order sequences. We have discussed and illustrated the most important events that have led up to this detailed revision of the Plio-Pleistocene. This documentation is very important because most of these papers have been published in journals that have not been readily available to most geologists and geophysicists.