Karagodin Y.N. 

The article is devoted to the explanation of necessity of changing suite’s paradigm of basin stratigraphy to sequence stratigraphic one. It is the result of crisis of stratigraphy, which is based on ‘regional’, ‘local’, ‘lithostratigraphic’ and ‘special’ subdivisions (terminology of Stratigraphic Code of Russia, 2006). Geologists who make research in Western Siberian oil and gas bearing basin began to feel the main features of the crisis during last years. There is no doubt that they refer not only to this basin but also to other world basins. Western Siberia is the main region for oil and gas recovery now and in nearest feature in Russia. The crisis is very conspicuous in Western Siberia due to the intensive building of oil-pipe lines in this area.

The majority of geologists consider the suite as ‘the principle straton’ of basin stratigraphy along with its age gliding character (like the formation) which doesn’t perform a function of correlation. In this regard it doesn’t differ from formation, which doesn’t need this function. The main function of suite is used for mapping. It must be noted that the suite is supposed not to have only a mapping function but a correlation function too. But the majority of suites of oil and gas bearing Mesozoic deposits don’t perform that function. It is the result of crisis, which is obvious now for many geologists.

It is very inconvenient for geologists to use a big number of suites and its names, which quantity is still increasing. The reason of it is absence of logical and non-contradictory definition of suite as a straton. As a result there are no rules and principals for their identification. Formulations, recommendations and regulations of Stratigraphic Code (1992, 2006) allow everybody to identify them easily and in any way one likes.

Consciously or unconsciously trying to save suites, geologists invented a new straton – horizon. It is the horizon that should perform a function of correlation of regional stratigraphic units. There is no term of straton in International Stratigraphic Code. Horizon is unable to perform a correlation function like majority of suites fail to do it too. Since horizon is identified only in stratigraphic volume and within the limits of suite’s boundaries, or represent illogical combination of suites or their parts without any rules of integration. When the term horizon came into being, a crisis situation didn’t get better it is only getting worse and worse. For one group of geologists it is intentional and deliberate deception, for others – it is a self-deception connected with an imaginary convenience of representing geological data. Thus many monographs with descriptions of stratigraphy, paleogeography, tectonics, etc. according to horizons appeared.

When clinoforms (clinocyclites), which refer to the main petroleum reserves in Malm and Neocomian deposits in Western Siberia, were recognized as stratons, it showed necessity of finding the way out from the crisis. But the clinoform structure of Neocomian and Jurassic deposits is not reflected in new ‘specified’ schemes (2004–2005).

And finally, stratigraphic schemes of adjacent systems (Cretaceous and Jurassic) can’t be correlated with each other. An attempt to build Cretaceous scheme (which haven’t published yet) to accepted Jurassic one has led to the realization of basin stratigraphy crisis and the necessity of changing suite’s paradigm to sequence stratigraphic paradigm.

There are several reasons of crisis. One of the main reasons is an absence of non-contradictory definition of straton – the basic term of stratigraphy. Since there is no non-contradictory definition, i.e. there is no logical and non-contradictory classification of stratons even in official stratigraphic documents and instructions (Stratigraphic Code 1977, 1992, 2006; Additions…, 2000 and etc.). There are no common logical and non-contradictory rules of their identification.

The reasons of the crisis depend on the fact that basic definitions of stratigraphy are not regarded from the viewpoint of system approach. The total neglect of system methodology and the absence of attempts of usage its principals, laws, rules in the official stratigraphic documents and in the majority of publications and textbooks, is probably the foundation of the crisis. The author has made an attempt to compose a quasi-hierarchic code of sequence-stratigraphy principals and rules, which allow making identification of stratons-systems and revealing regularities unambiguously. They allow predicting ‘events’, and this fact is of prime importance for geology.

A list of the main quasi-hierarchic principals can be represented in the following way: principals of consistency and conformity (succession), recurrence, tetra-aspectance, straton-system, monovariance, ‘immunity’ (inviolability, stability and relative isochronism), classification and minimization, reproducing (‘mass production’, ‘replication’), predictability, quantumability and incompleteness of geological record, integrity (Todo, Shufard, etc.), intensity (connection of elements within one system), summarizing, ‘degeneracy’, duality and dimorphism, hierarchy (nesting), seniority, coordination, calibration, idealization, abstracting, symbolization.

There are explanations, comment, rules of their realization and important regularities in the petroleum geology, which are deduced on its basis for every mentioned principals in this article.

The given principals began to be realized by the examples of oil and gas bearing basins in the series of books ‘System model of stratigraphy of Eurasian oil and gas bearing basins’, supported by Russian fund of fundamental investigations (the editor-in-chief is academician of Russian Academy of Sciences A.N. Dmytrievsky).