Long-term tectonic influence on sequence architecture and stacking pattern revealed by hiatal shell bed features: Pleistocene succession of the Canoa Basin (central Ecuador)

Facies and sequence stratigraphic analyses combined with taphonomic and paleoecological observations of condensed shell concentrations associated with key stratal surfaces, reveal two different architectures for high-frequency depositional sequences of the Pleistocene upper Canoa and Tablazo Fm. This vertical change is clearly due to the progressive uplift of the Canoa Basin and the consequent formation of a less deeply embayed, more exposed configuration of successive interglacial coastlines