The Creation and Interpretation of Sedimentary Strata on Continental Margins By Charles A. Nittrouer and Joseph H. Kravitz. Reproduced by permission of the authors. Published in Oceanography volume 9, number 3. Continental margins are complex regions of the Earth, because they are the interface between terrestrial and marine environments.
Many natural processes occurring on land or in the ocean combine to influence continental margins.
However, such investigation is worth the effort, because the record of processes operation on continental margins is frequently preserved in the strata formed at the seabed. As stated above, a goal of the program is better interpretation of the high-resolution sedimentary record preserved on shelves and slopes. Another general goal is better prediction of strata, in space and time. For example, what data about a location are needed to predict past or future strata forming there. To develop approaches for obtaining stratigraphic insights by interpolating between time scales and extrapolating to other margins.