Ground penetrating radar for facies architecture and high-resolution stratigraphy: Examples from the Mesoproterozoic in the Chapada Diamantina Basin, Brazil

Measured vertical sections and radar stratigraphy indicate high-frequency cyclic successions of estuarine and shoreface intervals are present at the base of the Tombador Formation. The shoreface intervals are composed of heterolithic strata and offshore tidal bars deposits. The heterolithic shoreface strata exhibit tabular geometry that can be easily identified throughout the outcrop and in the subsurface. Such intervals represent the end of high-frequency transgressive cycles, and hence they are potential candidates for including the maximum flooding surfaces and for defining genetic sequences. Therefore, GPR proved to be an independent method for studying facies architecture and the establishment of a high-resolution stratigraphic framework even in the Precambrian.