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Integrated facies and micropaleontological analyses of the late Piacenzian to early Gelasian, middle shelf to lower shoreface succession of the Strongoli area, southern Italy, reveal a hierarchy of transgressive–regressive sequences. In particular, higher rank sequences up to ca. 40 m thick, composed of transgressive systems tract, highstand systems tracts and falling stage plus lowstand systems tracts, are composed of 10–11 lower rank sequences 2.5–4 m thick. Some micropaleontological parameters were defined: distal/proximal (D/P; ratio between distal and proximal benthic foraminifera); fragmentation (Fr; percentage of fragmentation of benthic foraminifera); P/B (ratio between planktonic and benthic foraminifera); abundance (total count of individuals); diversity (sum of the recognized species). Among these parameters, the D/P and Fr are suitable, if used in conjunction, to recognize uncertainty intervals containing the maximum flooding surface (between the D/P maxima and Fr minima) and the maximum regressive surface (between D/P minima and Fr maxima). Moreover, combining these parameters with the sedimentological evidence, it is possible to recognize transgressive and regressive trends of different hierarchical ranks. The present results are an example illustrating how an integration of different types of data allows the recognition of high-frequency sequences in shelf settings associated with minor shoreline shifts, which would otherwise have been unrecognized on the basis of only one kind of data. The present integrated approach, therefore, provides a way to improve the resolution of sequence stratigraphic analyses.

Modern, tide‐dominated and tide‐influenced coastlines are characterized by a range of environments, including deltas, estuaries and lagoons. However, some tide‐dominated basins and related sedimentary units in the rock record, such as the semi‐enclosed, shallow, Utah–Idaho Trough foreland basin of the Jurassic Curtis Sea, do not correspond to any of these modern systems. Persistent aridity caused the characteristic severe starvation of perennial fluvial input throughout this basin, in which the informal lower, middle and upper Curtis, as well as the underlying Entrada Sandstone, and the overlying Summerville Formation were deposited. Wave energy was efficiently dissipated by the shallow basin's elongated morphology (approximately 800 × 150 km), as its semi‐enclosed morphology further protected the system from significant wave impact. Consequently, the semi‐enclosed, shallow‐marine system was dominated by amplified tidal forces, resulting in a complex distribution of heterolithic deposits. Allocyclic forcing strongly impacted upon the system's intrinsic autocyclic processes as the lower Curtis was deposited. Short‐lived relative sea‐level variations, along with uplift and deformation episodes, resulted in the accumulation of three parasequences, each separated by traceable flooding and ravinement surfaces. The subsequent transgression, which defines the base of the middle Curtis, allowed for the shallow‐marine part of the system to enter into tidal resonance as a consequence of the flooded basin reaching the optimal configuration of approximately 800 km in length, corresponding to an odd multiple of the quarter of the tidal wavelength given an average minimum water depth of 20–25 m. This resonant system overprinted the effects of allocyclic forcing and related traceable stratigraphic surfaces. However, the contemporaneous and neighbouring coastal dune field sedimentary rocks of the Moab Member of the Curtis Formation, characterized by five stacked aeolian sequences, as well as the supratidal deposits of the Summerville Formation, lingered to record allocyclic signals, as the Curtis Sea regressed. This study shows that a tide‐dominated basin can enter into tidal resonance as it reaches its optimal morphological configuration, leading to the overprinting of otherwise dominant allocyclic processes by autocyclic behaviour. It is only by considering the sedimentological relationships of neighbouring and contemporaneous depositional systems that a full understanding of the dynamic stratigraphic history of a basin alternatively dominated by autocyclic and allocyclic processes can be achieved. This study shows that (a) a tide‐dominated basin can enter into tidal resonance as it reaches its optimal morphological configuration, leading to the overprinting of otherwise dominant allocyclic processes by autocyclic behaviour. (b) It is therefore required to extend the research focus to neighbouring and contemporaneous depositional systems in order to fully understand the dynamic stratigraphic history of a basin alternatively dominated by auto‐ and allocyclic processes.

This study focuses on the stratigraphic sequences and the bounding surfaces in the upper Cambrian Series 3 to Furongian Gushan and Chaomidian formations in the Shandong region, China. The bounding surfaces are compared with those of the coeval succession in the Taebaek area, Korea. According to the vertical arrangement of the facies associations and the identification of the bounding surfaces, three stratigraphic sequences are recognized, representing dynamic changes in accommodation versus sedimentation. The bounding surfaces can be traced in the Shandong region for about 6,000 km 2 in area, but cannot be correlated with those of the Taebaek area (eastern margin of the platform, about 1,000 km apart). Surface 1 is characterized by an abrupt facies change from carbonate to shale, representing a distinct drowning surface. The drowning surface is also diagnosed in the Taebaek area but highly diachronous. Surface 2 is a cryptic subaerial unconformity, reflected by an erosion surface, missing of a trilobite biozone ( Prochuangia Zone), and an abrupt increase in carbon isotope value. It is not identified in the Taebaek area where the Prochuangia Zone is present. Surface 3 is a marine flooding surface, indicated by a subtle transition from flat-bedded microbialite to domal microbialite (or grainstone). It may be correlated with that in the Taebaek area, which is, however, represented by an abrupt facies change from sandstone to limestone-shale alternation. The high variability of the sequence-bounding surfaces is indicative of variable regional factors such as topographic relief, carbonate production, siliciclastic input, and hydrodynamic conditions. It suggests that the sequence-bounding surfaces are invalid for a basin-scale correlation, especially in an epeiric carbonate platform.

The cost of drilling exploration and production wells is high and the price of crude oil in the capital market is fluctuating, therefore, there is the need to mitigate the risk of improper investigation of time/age-dependent reservoir rocks continuity within a field. Sequence stratigraphic analysis was carried out in OSP field with the aim of identifying and correlating hydrocarbon reservoirs that are deposited contemporaneously. Key stratigraphic surfaces (maximum flooding surfaces and sequence boundaries) were interpreted from biostratigraphic, well log and seismic data. Biostratigraphic interpretation subdivide the study area into three floral subzones—P780, P820 and P830. Three maximum flooding surfaces dated 10.4 Ma, 9.5 Ma and 7.4 Ma and four sequence boundaries dated 10.6 Ma, 10.35 Ma, 8.5 Ma and 6.7 Ma were identified. Three depositional sequences (sequences 1–3) were identified from the integration of the biostratigraphic, well log and seismic data. The identified key stratigraphic surfaces and depositional sequences were employed in the delineation and correlation of the hydrocarbon reservoirs which were found to fall within the highstand and lowstand systems tracts. Sequence stratigraphic correlation technique aided the local arrangement and geometries of reservoirs within the field and in locating potential reservoirs.

The results of ecostratigraphy can directly serve sequence stratigraphy. The habitat type curve is useful not only in the analysis of sequences and parasequences, but also in demonstration of the process of regional sea level change. The various biological surfaces usually coincide with or relate to the boundaries of sequences or system tracts. The ecostratigraphic framework composed of coenozones, community sequences and ecotracts with good timing completely corresponds to the sequence stratigraphic framework of the sedimentary basin. Therefore, through establishment of the habitat type curve in individual section, recognition of the various biological surfaces, regional ecostratigraphic correlation and the formation of an ecostratigraphic framework of the sedimentary basin, ecostratigraphy plays an important role in the study of sequence stratigraphy and the reconstruction of regional and even global sea level changes.

Three economically important case histories serve as illustrations of the integration of analyses of depositional environments, sequence stratigraphic architecture, and porosity evolution during diagenesis, as a means of maximizing effectiveness of reservoir production and/or modelling: (1) the Paleozoic Madison Formation of central Wyoming, (2) the Upper Jurassic Smackover Formation of the central Gulf of Mexico, and (3) the Tertiary Malampaya buildup, offshore Philippines. The three embody a broad range of geologic contexts (e.g., icehouse versus greenhouse during deposition) and different approaches for optimizing development programs (e.g., use of surface analogs, 3D seismically based reservoir modelling). High drilling costs during development of the deep (23,000ft.) Madden Field in the Wyoming Madison Formation (due to high temperature, pressure, and H2S content of the gas) mandated high efficiency during development. Meticulous evaluation of a surface outcrop analog and maximized collection of analog data were the primary means of assuring optimal reservoir development. The Upper Jurassic Smackover trend in the central Gulf of Mexico illustrates revitalization of a mature petroleum fairway through application of sequence stratigraphic interpretation. Previously overlooked lowstand siliciclastic slope fans become geographically and stratigraphically predictable reservoir targets when understood in their proper sequence stratigraphic framework. The 3D seismic grid over the drowned isolated Oligocene–Miocene Malampaya platform, offshore Philippines, is integrated with geologic and petrophysical data from sparse well control and field-wide depositional and diagenetic models in order to develop a reservoir simulation model of the reservoir.