Reeve et al. (2022) address the stratigraphic record of continental breakup by focusing on a set of stratigraphic unconformities from a proxima l sector of the NW Australian continenta l margin, inboard from the Exmouth Plateau. They suggest that such unconfor mities can potentially document a well-defined three-stage process: end of the synrift phase, formatio n of a wide continent-ocea n transitio n zone (COTZ) and generatio n of 'true' Penrose-type oceanic crust. We counterargue that continental breakup is a protracted event that can only be understood via seismic-and chronostratigraphic correlations of strata, and their composing sequences, across and along rifted margins. Tying proxima l stratigraphic unconfor mities to magnetic anomalies outboard from the study area in Reeve et al. ( 2022) is This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as
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