Marine transgression

Short description: Geologic event in which sea level rises relative to the land

Maps of transgression and regression at the Belgian coast

A marine transgression is a geologic event during which sea level rises relative to the land and the shoreline moves toward higher ground, which results in flooding. Transgressions can be caused by the land sinking or by the ocean basins filling with water or decreasing in capacity. Transgressions and regressions may be caused by tectonic events such as orogenies, severe climate change such as ice ages or isostatic adjustments following removal of ice or sediment load.

During the Cretaceous, seafloor spreading created a relatively shallow Atlantic basin at the expense of deeper Pacific basin. That reduced the world's ocean basin capacity and caused a rise in sea level worldwide. As a result of the sea level rise, the oceans transgressed completely across the central portion of North America and created the Western Interior Seaway from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean.

The opposite of transgression is regression in which the sea level falls relative to the land and exposes former sea bottom. During the Pleistocene Ice Age, so much water was removed from the oceans and stored on land as year-round glaciers that the ocean regressed 120 m, which exposed the Bering land bridge, between Alaska and Asia.

## Characteristic facies

Cross-sectional diagrams illustrating the shift of sedimentary facies during transgression (onlap) and regression (offlap)

Sedimentary facies changes may indicate transgressions and regressions and are often easily identified, because of the unique conditions required to deposit each type of sediment. For instance, coarse-grained clastics like sand are usually deposited in nearshore, high-energy environments; fine-grained sediments however, such as silt and carbonate muds, are deposited farther offshore, in deeper, lower energy waters.[1]

Thus, a transgression reveals itself in the sedimentary column when there is a change from nearshore facies (such as sandstone) to offshore ones (such as marl), from the oldest to the youngest rocks. A regression will feature the opposite pattern, with offshore facies changing to nearshore ones.[1] The strata represent regressions less clearly, as their upper layers are often marked by an erosional unconformity.

These are both idealized scenarios; in practice identifying transgression or regressions can be more complicated. For instance, a regression may be indicated by a change from carbonates to shale only, or a transgression from sandstone to shale, and so on. Lateral changes in facies are also important; a well-marked transgression sequence in an area where an epeiric sea was deep may be only partial farther away, where the water was shallow. One should consider such factors when interpreting a specific sedimentary column.

## See also

* Sea level rise - Rise in sea levels due to climate change
* Earth:Ingression coast - Coast shaped by penetration of the sea
* Earth:Marine band (geology) - Bed of rock containing marine fossils
* Earth:Raised beach, also known as Marine terrace - Emergent coastal landform
* Earth:Sequence stratigraphy - Study and analysis of groups of sedimentary deposits
* Biology:Submerged forest - Remains of trees beneath a body of water

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Monroe, James S., and Reed Wicander. The Changing Earth: Exploring Geology and Evolution, 2nd ed. Belmont: West Publishing Company, 1997, pp. 112 - 113 ISBN 0-314-09577-2

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Coastal geography

Landforms|

* Anchialine pool
* Archipelago
* Atoll
* Avulsion
* Ayre
* Barrier island
* Bay
* Baymouth bar
* Bight
* Bodden
* Brackish marsh
* Cape
* Channel
* Cliff
* Coast
* Coastal plain
* Coastal waterfall
* Continental margin
* Continental shelf
* Coral reef
* Cove
* Dune
* cliff-top
* Estuary
* Firth
* Fjard
* Fjord
* Förde
* Freshwater marsh
* Fundus
* Gat
* Geo
* Gulf
* Gut
* Headland
* Inlet
* Intertidal wetland
* Island
* Islet
* Isthmus
* Lagoon
* Machair
* Marine terrace
* Mega delta
* Mouth bar
* Mudflat
* Natural arch
* Peninsula
* Reef
* Regressive delta
* Ria
* River delta
* Salt marsh
* Shoal
* Shore
* Skerry
* Sound
* Spit
* Stack
* Strait
* Strand plain
* Submarine canyon
* Tidal island
* Tidal marsh
* Tide pool
* Tied island
* Tombolo
* Windwatt

Beaches|

* Beach cusps
* Beach evolution
* Coastal morphodynamics
* Beach ridge
* Beachrock
* Pocket beach
* Raised beach
* Recession
* Shell beach
* Shingle beach
* Storm beach
* Wash margin

Processes|

* Blowhole
* Cliffed coast
* Coastal biogeomorphology
* Coastal erosion
* Concordant coastline
* Current
* Cuspate foreland
* Discordant coastline
* Emergent coastline
* Feeder bluff
* Fetch
* Flat coast
* Graded shoreline
* Headlands and bays
* Ingression coast
* Large-scale coastal behaviour
* Longshore drift
* Marine regression
* Marine transgression
* Raised shoreline
* Rip current
* Rocky shore
* Sea cave
* Sea foam
* Shoal
* Steep coast
* Submergent coastline
* Surf break
* Surf zone
* Surge channel
* Swash
* Undertow
* Volcanic arc
* Wave-cut platform
* Wave shoaling
* Wind wave
* Wrack zone

Management|

* Accretion
* Coastal management
* Integrated coastal zone management
* Submersion

Related|

* Bulkhead line
* Grain size
* boulder
* clay
* cobble
* granule
* pebble
* sand
* shingle
* silt
* Intertidal zone
* Littoral zone
* Physical oceanography
* Region of freshwater influence

* Category
* Commons

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Geologic principles and processes

Stratigraphic principles|

* Principle of original horizontality
* Law of superposition
* Principle of lateral continuity
* Principle of cross-cutting relationships
* Principle of faunal succession
* Principle of inclusions and components
* Walther's law

Petrologic principles|

* Intrusive
* Extrusive
* Volcanic
* Exfoliation
* Weathering
* Pedogenesis
* Diagenesis
* Compaction
* Metamorphism

Geomorphologic processes|

* Plate tectonics
* Salt tectonics
* Tectonic uplift
* Subsidence
* Marine transgression
* Marine regression

Sediment transport|

* Fluvial processes
* Aeolian processes
* Glacial processes
* Mass wasting processes

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