Soft computing methodologies for spectral analysis in cyclostratigraphy

In this paper we present some soft computing methodologies for time-series analysis applied to cyclostratigraphy. An application to some stratigraphic signals to detect Earth orbital (Milankovic') periodicities which are expe cted to be recorded in Cretaceous shallow water carbonate sequences outcrop ping in Southern Apennines (Italy), is described. The results obtained with classical spectral analysis techniques, based on the modified periodogram, are compared to the results of our methods based on neural nets and geneti c algorithms. The aim of these cross comparisons is to find the most reliab le, fast and accurate methodology to identify orbital periodicities in nois y and segmented stratigraphic signals. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Scien ce Ltd.