October 9th, 2015

Topic 5: Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

(Interlude B and Chapter 6)

Review

Four classes of sedimentary rock:

Clasticloose rock fragments (clasts) cemented together.
Biochemicalcemented shells of organisms.
Organiccarbon-rich remains of once living organisms.
Chemicalminerals that precipitate directly from water
solutions.

Clastic

Biochemical

Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

Organic

2013, W. W. Norton

Chemical

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Top Hat Review

Table 6.1

Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Review

How do grain size and shape, sorting, sphericity and

angularity change as sediments move downstream?

Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Objectives

By the end of this lecture you

should know:
Select examples of
sedimentary structures and
the clues they provide about
the depositional environment.
Different types of depositional
environments and the
character of sedimentary
rocks that accumulate them.
What a sedimentary basin in
and how they form in the
context of plate tectonics.

Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Sedimentary Structures

Sedimentary structures refers to:

The layering of sedimentary rocks
Surface features on layers formed during deposition
Arrangement of grains within layers

Sedimentary structures provide evidence about

conditions at deposition.

Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Bedding and Stratification

A single layer of sediment or sedimentary rock with a

recognizable top and bottom is called a bed.

The boundary between two beds is called a bedding plane.

Several beds together constitute strata.

The layering in a sequence of beds is called bedding or
stratification.

Bedding and Stratification

Why does bedding form?

Bedding reflects changing conditions during deposition.

Changes in water depth, current velocity, climate, sediment
source and sediment supply causes bedding to form
These alter:

Sediment composition
Grain size
Sorting, etc.

Fig. 6.10b

Bedding and Stratification

If a sequence of strata (rock package) is distinctive

enough to be traced as a unit across a region it is called
a stratigraphic formation.
Formations are able to be mapped.
Formations are named for places they are best exposed.

Geologic maps display the distribution of formations.

Fig. 6.11a, b
Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Deposition in a Current

Many clastic sediments accumulate in moving fluids

Sedimentary structures can develop at the interface

between sediment and fluid.

Water or wind flowing over sediment creates bedforms.

Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Deposition in a Current

Ripple markscm-scale
ridges and troughs.

Develop perpendicular to
flow.
Commonly found on modern
beaches
Ripple marks can be
preserved
Found on bedding planes of
ancient sedimentary rocks

Dunessimilar to ripples
except much larger.

Fig. 6.13c

Range in size from tens of

cm (streams) to hundreds of
m (deserts).

Deposition in a Current

Cross bedscreated by ripple and dune migration.

Sediment moves up the gently sloping, upstream face of a
ripple or dune.
Sediment deposited on the steep downstream face (slip
face).

Ripples and dunes continually migrates downcurrent.

Fig. 6.13a, b

Bed Surface Markings

Occur during or after deposition while sediment is still

soft.
Mudcrackspolygonal desiccation (drying) features in
mud indicating alternate wet and dry conditions
Scour markstroughs eroded in soft mud by current flow

Fig. 6.15
Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Top Hat

Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Depositional Environments

The setting in which sediment accumulates

Two main categories of

depositional
environments include:

Terrestrial (nonmarine)
Deposited above
sea-level

Marine
Deposited at or
below sea level
Includes coastal
environments

Fig. 6.16
Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Terrestrial Environments

Sand-dune environments
wind-blown sand.
Result in well-sorted, well
rounded sandstones with
gigantic cross beds.

Glacial environmentsdue
to movement of ice.
Ice carries and dumps
every grain size.
Creates glacial till; poorly
sorted gravel, sand, silt,
and clay.

Terrestrial Environments

Mountain stream environments

Fast-flowing water carries
large clasts during floods.
During low flow, these cobbles
and boulders are immobile.
Coarse conglomerate is
characteristic of this setting.

Alluvial fansediments that

pile up at a mountain front.
Rapid drop in stream velocity
creates a cone-shaped wedge.
Sediments become
conglomerate and sandstone.

Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Terrestrial Environments

River (fluvial) environments

Sand and gravel deposited in channels.
Fine sand, silt, and clay are deposited on banks nearby flood
plains.

Fig. 6.16e
Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Terrestrial Environments

Lakelarge ponded
bodies of water.
Gravels and sands
deposited near shore.
Well-sorted muds
deposited in deeper
water.

Deltasediment piles up
where a river enters a
lake.

Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Marine Environments

Marine delta - sediment accumulates where a river enters

the sea.
Sediment carried by the river is dumped when velocity drops.
Deltas grow over time, building out into the basin.
Much more complicated than simple lake deltas.

Fig. 6.18a

Marine Environments

Coastal beach sandsconstant wave action

Well-sorted, well-rounded sandstone.
Beach ripples often preserved on bedding planes.

Fig. 6.18b
Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Marine Environments

Shallow-marine clastic deposits

finer sands, silts, muds.
Fine sediments deposited
offshore where energy is low.
Finer silts and muds turn into
siltstones and mudstones.

Shallow water carbonate

environments.
Warm, clear, marine water,
relatively free of clastic sediments.
Sediments are mostly shells of
organisms.
Source of limestones.

Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Marine Environments

Deep marine depositsfines settle out far from land.

Skeletons of planktonic organisms make chalk or chert.
Fine silt and clay lithifies into shale.

Fig. 6.20
Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Sedimentary Basins

Sediments vary in thickness across Earths surface.

Thin to absent in some locations.
Thicken to 1020+ km in sedimentary basins.

Sediments accumulates in special regions where the

Earths surface sinks (subsidence) providing a space in
which sediment collects.

Fig. 6.21

Basins are places that accumulate sediment.

Sedimentary Basins

Foreland basinscontinent side of collisional mountain

belt.
Flexure of the crust from loading creates a downwarp.
Fills with debris eroded off of the mountains.
Fluvial, deltaic, and lake sediments fill foreland basins.

Fig. 6.21
Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Sedimentary Basins

Rift basinsdivergent plate boundaries.

Crust thins by stretching.
Thinned crust subsides.
Sediment fills the down-dropped troughs.

Fig. 6.21
Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Top Hat

Essentials of Geology, 4th edition, by Stephen Marshak

2013, W. W. Norton

Chapter 6: Pages of Earths Past: Sedimentary Rocks

Schedule and Midterm Info

Week 6

Oct-12

Thanksgiving no lecture

Oct-14

In Class Review Activity

(to be handed in at the end of class- 1% of final grade)
Midterm 1: In Class
(40 multiple choice questions, 20% of final grade)

Oct-16

You will not be required to know the chemical formulas of the minerals
we learned about in Topic 3.

Check out the Midterm I Information document posted on D2L.

Office Hours: 09:00-09:50 Mo, We, Fr (excluding holidays) or by

appointment.
Office: ES 530 (open door policy)