Effects of Sea-level Change on Erosion

The ocean surface represents the master base level for continental erosion and sedimentation. Given a sufficient p eriod of time, in the absence of tectonic processes, continents would presumably be eroded flat to about sea level. It is not surprising, therefore, that most tectonically quiet areas on continents tend to have low elevations and are often flat, whereas tectonically active areas, mostly mountain belts, have high elevations and steep slopes (Fig. 6-2 and 

High and low stands of sea level are directly recorded as sedimentary coastal onlap sequences and as erosional terraces. These records are complicated in regions of crustal instability, and the rate and nature of crustal deformation determines whether evidence of short-term or long-term sea-level fluctuations are preserved and how easily this evidence is interpreted. Because continental basement warps and fractures through time, and because evidence of sea level is erased by erosion, the interpretation of this evidence to produce sea-level curves for the Phanerozoic is a subject of considerable debate. 

GLOBAL TECTONIC AND VOLCANIC ACTIVITY OF THE LAST ONE MILLION YEARS 

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