Ordered hierarchy versus scale invariance in sequence stratigraphy

Sequence stratigraphy has been applied in a wide range of scales of time and space, from decimeter-thick layers formed within hours to kilometer-thick basin fills formed during hundreds of millions of years. The traditional approach to practice sequence stratigraphy in this wide range of scales is to subdivide the sediment piles into an ordered hierarchy of sequence cycles of different duration and different architecture. An alternative are scale-invariant models with fractal characteristics. Published data confirm two predictions of the ordered-hierarchy model: sequences of very short duration (<1 × 10