Straits and Seaways: Controls, Processes and Implications in Modern and Ancient Systems

Book excerpt: Straits and seaways represent key connections of oceans and seas between emerged landmasses, regulating water, sediment and biota exchanges, and influencing local and global climate. A good understanding of the dynamic evolution of straits and seaways is therefore fundamental to accurately reconstruct the paleoecology, sedimentology and stratigraphy of interconnected basins, to reconstruct past Earth’s system climate dynamics, and to exploit different types of resources. This book provides a comprehensive collection of articles dealing with both ancient and modern case studies, bringing together different but complementary disciplines, such as marine geology and process sedimentology and stratigraphy. With the contents covering the evolution, geomorphology, stratigraphy, sedimentology, oceanography, paleogeography and influence on climate of straits and seaways, the book is of interest to earth scientists in many fields.