Epeiric seas (also known as epicontinental seas) are shallow seas that develop over vast regions when craton interiors are flooded during high sea-level periods. Epeiric seas were common in the geological past, showing great variability in terms of size, tectonic setting, connection with adjacent oceans, sediment composition, and organic-matter preservation, as well as transport processes in marine basinal settings. The paucity of modern analogues with only a handful of examples developed in present times makes it difficult to understand the many factors that control the dynamics of ancient epeiric seas and how these systems evolved over time. Thus, the characterization of any ancient epeiric sea requires a basin-scale description of its stratigraphic record to first understand the main sedimentological and biological process, but also the reconstruction of morphological, hydrological, and hydrographical key attributes. Moreover, to fully understand the dynamics within a given epeiric sea it is also important to reconstruct the characteristics of drainage areas and major fluvial systems providing freshwater and siliciclastic sediments to the marine realm. In particular, most of my previous research has been developed in epeiric seas and consequently, I am particularly interested in unraveling the general characteristics of these environments due to their large importance in the geological past.

Peer-reviewed publications:

Remírez, M., Schwarz, E., Gilleaudeau, G., Veiga, G., Algeo, T., 2025. Seas to lakes and vice-versa: A test of facies versus elemental salinity proxies. Chemical Geology, in press.

Isla, M., Schwarz, E., Caracciolo, L., Remírez, M., Veiga, G., Finzel, E., 2025. Documenting a coastal sediment routing tract in the sedimentary record: Implications for coastal palaeogeography and sand distribution patterns. Sedimentology, in press. 

Schwarz, E., Remírez, M., Lazo, D.G., Veiga, G.D., Isla, M.F., Echevarria, C., Toscano, A.G., Garberoglio, R.M., 2022. A review on depositional systems and bioevents of the Valanginian-Hauterivian Neuquén interior Sea: basin-scale paleogeographic reconstructions in SW Gondwana and controls on the dynamics of epeiric seas. Earth Science Reviews, 234, 104224. 

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