The Upper Devonian Bedford-Berea sequence provided an early basis for models of epeiric sedimentation, but controversy regarding the origin of the sequence has arisen in recent years. This study utilized outcrop and subsurface data to help resolve this controversy and to identify factors that control depositional architecture in foreland basins. The Bedford-Berea is a siliciclastic succession that was deposited in the Appalachian foreland basin during a relaxational phase of the Acadian orogeny. The sequence represents a spectrum of depositional systems ranging from alluvial valleys to an oxygen-deficient basin floor and formed in response to a major forced regression that separated...