A new explanation and geological significance of transgression and regression in sequence stratigraphy

Transgressions and regressions are main manifestations of the sea-level changes. As the most fundamental phenomena and processes in the earth history, they are the essential construction mechanism of the sequence stratigraphy, and favourable for the reconstruction of the sequence stratigraphic frameworks and models, and disposition of genetic stratigraphic units and classification of the models. Referenced from the previous results of research, the authors in this study have proposed two types of transgressions including normal transgression and rapid transgression, and three types of regressions including highstand normal regression, lowstand normal regression and forced regression. The present paper focuses on the identification and explanation of the abovementioned transgressions and regressions in sequence stratigraphy and their geological implications for the basin analysis and stratigraphic correlation.