UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA

GY 402: Sedimentary Petrology

Lecture 9: Walthers Law

Last Time
Sedimentary Facies 1. What are facies 2. Defining characteristics of facies 3. Facies and depositional environments

Sedimentary Facies
There are literally dozens of different depositional environments that cover every imaginable marine and non-marine situation. And in most cases, there are multiple varieties of each basic environment of deposition. For example, rivers come in at least 3 flavors: 1) Meandering 2) Braided 3) Anastimosing

Sedimentary Facies
Why do sedimentologists collect all this data in the first place? Ultimately, it is in order to interpret the environment of deposition of the sediment/sedimentary rocks.

http://earthsci.org/mineral/rockmin/sed/clastics.gif http://earthsci.org/mineral/rockmin/sed/clastics.gif

Sedimentary Facies
Defining characteristics for facies include:
Grain size Lithology Mineralogy Paleontology Sedimentary and biogenic structures Palaeocurrent orientations Obvious sedimentary trends Bedding (Bed thickness) Lamination Bedding contacts Lateral variations Anything else that you can think of

Sedimentary Facies
Facies can, and will, repeat vertically through a sedimentary sequence, but may vary in character as a result of environmental and/or evolutionary change through time e.g., fossil content. offshore (10m) shoreface (5m)

swash zone (0m) shoreface (5m)

Sedimentary Facies
Facies may also change laterally through a deposit as a result of changing environments with distance at the same time.

Then they determine which depositional environment best fits this variety of facies. This is called: Facies Modeling

http://geology.isu.edu/Digital_Geology_Idaho/Module2/Belt_SedStruct_sml.jpg http://geology.isu.edu/Digital_Geology_Idaho/Module2/Belt_SedStruct_sml.jpg

Facies Modeling
Facies modeling is best done back at your lab/office where you can think about your data. And drink a few beers to help you think about your data.

Prograding Open Beach

Todays Agenda

1. Walthers Law 2. Sequence stratigraphy 3. Markov Chain Analysis

Walthers Law

Walthers Law
Named after Johannes Walther (18601937), a German geologist, who in 1894, noted a fundamental relationship between the vertical and lateral distribution of facies.

Walthers Law
Sedimentary environments that started out side-by-side will end up overlapping one another over time due to transgressions and regressions.

Walthers Law
Sedimentary environments that started out side-by-side will end up overlapping one another over time due to transgressions and regressions. The result is a vertical sequence of beds. The vertical sequence of facies mirrors the original lateral distribution of sedimentary environments.

Walthers Law
Sedimentary environments that started out side-by-side will end up overlapping one another over time due to transgressions and regressions.

Walthers Law
But Walther's Law can only apply to sections without unconformities.

Tan and white layers of Mesozoic Era Period Pio Nono Formation in Georgia's Coastal Plain Province.

http://itc.gsw.edu/faculty/daskren/fallline.htm http://itc.gsw.edu/faculty/daskren/fallline.htm

Walthers Law
And Walther's Law can only apply to a section without subdividing diachronous boundaries [e.g., transgressive surfaces (TS), maximum flooding surfaces (mfs) etc.]

Sequence Stratigraphy
First utilized by the petroleum industry to interpret depositional surfaces on seismic sections. Now used by all geologists to explain vertical and lateral changes in sediment rock distribution.

http://strata.geol.sc.edu/exerices/seismic/07SeqNo_LST_TST_HST.jpg http://strata.geol.sc.edu/exerices/seismic/07SeqNo_LST_TST_HST.jpg

Sequence Stratigraphy
First utilized by the petroleum industry to interpret depositional surfaces on seismic sections. Now used by all geologists to explain vertical and lateral changes in sediment rock distribution.

http://strata.geol.sc.edu/exerices/seismic/07SeqNo_LST_TST_HST.jpg http://strata.geol.sc.edu/exerices/seismic/07SeqNo_LST_TST_HST.jpg

The 3 controls are: 1) sea level position, 2) sediment input, 3) accommodation space.

Sequence Stratigraphy
Changes in sea level and sediment supply produce changes in the stacking of sedimentary packages.

Here sediment supply keeps up with sea level changes

Sequence Stratigraphy

Here sediment supply exceeds sea level change.

Sequence Stratigraphy

Here sea level changes exceeds sediment supply.

Sequence Stratigraphy

Ultimately, sedimentary packages are bounded by specific surfaces (reflectors in the seismic lines), and this is where/when Walthers Law breaks down

Walthers Law
But even with these limitations, Walthers Law offers powerful predictive capabilities, especially for basic facies modeling. Consider the adjacent sequence

Walthers Law

SS: Scoured contact

Walthers Law

SS: Scoured contact A: laminated red shale

Walthers Law

SS: Scoured contact B: rippled siltstone A: laminated red shale

Walthers Law

C: Cross-stratified c-quartz arenite SS: Scoured contact B: rippled siltstone A: laminated red shale

Walthers Law

D: Parallel laminated f-quartz arenite C: Cross-stratified c-quartz arenite SS: Scoured contact B: rippled siltstone A: laminated red shale

Walthers Law

E: Trough cross bedded vc-quartz arenite D: Parallel laminated f-quartz arenite C: Cross-stratified c-quartz arenite SS: Scoured contact B: rippled siltstone A: laminated red shale

Walthers Law
F: massive c-quartz arenite E: Trough cross bedded vc-quartz arenite D: Parallel laminated f-quartz arenite C: Cross-stratified c-quartz arenite SS: Scoured contact B: rippled siltstone A: laminated red shale

Walthers Law
G: rippled c to vc-quartz arenite F: massive c-quartz arenite E: Trough cross bedded vc-quartz arenite D: Parallel laminated f-quartz arenite C: Cross-stratified c-quartz arenite SS: Scoured contact B: rippled siltstone A: laminated red shale

Walthers Law
Recall that facies repeat in a sedimentary sequence. If you determine the number and variety of transitions, you can start to understand the means by which facies shifted during deposition.

Walthers Law
Below are the observed facies transitions for the outcrop(s) in question. The problem is that you really dont know which are random.

All data in these slides from Walker (1979)

Walthers Law
Enter statistics (Markov Chain Analysis). Add up the number of transitions from each facies to every other facies and put in a 9 x 9 matrix (one row/column per facies)

Walthers Law
SS SS A B C D E F G
2 5 1 1 2 4 1 2 4

A
12

B
2 6

C
1 3 2

1 2 1 2 1 1 1

1 2

Walthers Law
SS SS A B C D E F G
.667 1.00 .333 .500 .154 .308 .077 .286 .571

A
.800

B
.133 .462

C
.067 .231 .154

.077 .154 .143 .667 .500 .077 .077

.077 .154

.333

Then calculate the observed transition probabilities (each row =1.00).

Walthers Law
Next calculate transition probabilities for a random sequence

Rij =

nj N-ni

Where Rij is the random probability of transition from facies i to j, ni and nj are the number of occurences of facies i and j and N is the total number of occurrences of all facies

Walthers Law
SS SS A B C D E F G
.280 .259 .237 .222 .215 .222 .226 .315 .288 .270 .262 .270 .274 .220 .206 .200 .206 .210 .127 .123 .127 .129 .062 .063 .065 .032 .032 .065

A
.320

B
.245 .260

C
.151 .160 .148

D
.075 .080 .074 .068

E
.038 .004 .037 .034 .032

F
.075 .080 .074 .068 .063 .062

G
.094 .100 .093 .085 .079 .077 .079

Now its a matter of simple math. Observed random transitions

Walthers Law
SS SS A B C D E F G
-.13 +.05 -.24 +.11 -.22 +.45 +.77 -.24 -0.0 -.27 -.26 -.27 -.27 +.35 -.21 -.20 -.20 -.21 -.13 +.38 -.13 -.13 -.06 -.06 -.06 -.03 -.03 -.07

A
+.48

B
-.11 +.20

C
-.08 +.07 +.01

D
-.08 -.08 +.08 +.08

E
-.04 +.04 +.04 -.03 -.03

F
-.08 -.08 +.00 -.07 +.60 +.44

G
-.09 -.02 +.06 -.09 -.08 -.08 +.25

Positive transitions occur in nature, high positive transitions dominate.

Walthers Law

Walthers Law

Upcoming Stuff
Homework
1) Finish practice sedimentary section exercise (due Thursday) 2) Grain Size Results: Due Thursday 3) Grain Size Introduction/Methods-redo: Due Friday

Todays Lab
1) Bogus Sedimentary section 4) St Stephens Quarry composite section; exchange data!

Thursday:
No lecture. Flume activity (time to play!)