An integrated sequence stratigraphic and chronostratigraphic analysis of the Pliocene, Tiburon Basin succession, Mejillones Peninsula, Chile

We present new findings from Pliocene marine sediments from the Mejillones Peninsula Tiburon Basin of the northern Chile continental margin that provide constraints for the global sea level record. Sedimentologic and sequence stratigraphic studies reveal facies associations of a continental shelf setting. Textural variations indicate that coarsening and fining up of the succession are due to relative sea level rise and fall, respectively. Magnetostratigraphy was integrated with bio- and tephro- stratigraphic data to construct a record of high-resolution chronology. The age model constrains the Tiburon Basin lower section between 4.2 Ma and 2.8 Ma. The record is likely to be controlled in part by sea level change with orbital periodicities of obliquity (∼ 40 ka of frequency) and, between 3.2 Ma and 2.9 Ma a high-amplitude sea level fall is correlated to global climatic deterioration and the onset of major Northern Hemisphere glaciations.