Keynote Speech - Validation of Numerically Generated Stratigraphic Architecture

The preserved architectures of sedimentary successions serve as a valuable archive from which to determine factors that governed the form and evolutionary behaviour of the geomorphic landform systems that prevailed at the time of sediment accumulation, and their mechanisms of preservation. Deciphering the significance of this sedimentary archive represents an active research avenue that has potential for gaining a better understanding of the complex and interdependent relationship between extrinsic (allogenic) and intrinsic (autogenic) controls on sediment accumulation and long-term preservation. Forward numerical stratigraphic modelling represents a long-established and extensively used approach to discern and quantify the relative roles of allogenic controls, such as sea-level, baselevel, tectonic and climatic changes, from autogenic controls, driven by processes such as channel migration, avulsion and lobe switching. However, some fundamental problems remain to be resolved. Perhaps chief amongst these is how to effectively incorporate field-derived data – which are typically collected in a qualitative or semi-quantitative form – into numerical stratigraphic modelling workflows, such that model results can be conditioned and validated.