Marine transgression

Marine transgression is the landward migration of a shoreline as relative sea level rises, allowing marine environments to cover previously exposed land.

Relative sea level: The height of the sea surface relative to a nearby land surface, shaped by both water level and land movement. Transgression occurs when relative sea level rises against the coast.
Eustatic sea-level change: A change in global mean sea level caused by changes in ocean-water volume or ocean-basin capacity. Global sea-level rise can drive transgression across many coasts.
Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway: A vast inland sea that repeatedly flooded central North America during the Cretaceous Period. Its expansion records major transgressive episodes across the continent.
Marine regression: The seaward movement of a shoreline as relative sea level falls or sediment builds outward. Regression is the directional opposite of transgression.
Shoreline migration: The movement of a shoreline across the landscape in response to changes in sea level, sediment supply, or tectonics. Transgression is the landward direction of shoreline migration.
Isostatic adjustment: The vertical response of Earth’s crust to changing loads, including ice, water, and sediment. Crustal uplift or subsidence changes local relative sea level.
Sauk megasequence: A continent-scale stratigraphic sequence deposited during early Paleozoic marine flooding of North America. Its basal deposits record extensive marine advance over older continental surfaces.
Progradation: The seaward growth of a depositional system as sediment accumulates beyond its previous limit. Progradation can move a coast seaward despite stable or rising sea level.
Accommodation space: The space available for sediment to accumulate, commonly created by subsidence or rising relative sea level. Rising sea level creates room for marine sediments to advance across land.
Tectonic subsidence: The downward movement of Earth’s crust caused by tectonic processes. Subsidence can make the sea advance even without global sea-level rise.

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