Sedimentary Structures &

Depositional Environments

Depositional Environments

Sedimentary Structures - Types of Bedding

Parallel bedding
Typically form in
environments where the
sediments are able to settle
from a suspension to a
point on the bottom without
a significant current
Lake deposits
Slow moving
rivers/streams
Low velocity currents
Some types of ashfalls
or very fine grained
wind deposits

Sedimentary Structures - Types of Bedding

Cross bedding
Result of deposition of
sediment in a wave-like
manner at the sedimentfluid interface
Moderate flow rate
streams/rivers
Majority of wind
deposits
3 types
Tabular
Wedge-shaped
Trough
Tabular

Wedge?

QuickTime and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.

More on cross-bedding
Ripples - distance from crest to crest is less than 0.3 m
Dunes/Megaripples - > 0.3 m crest to crest

Cycle of erosion and deposition

Sedimentary Structures - Graded Bedding

Similar to parallel bedding except
grain size changes systematically
from bottom to top
Occurs when sediments are
transported in suspension as well as
along the bed
Turbidity currents often form graded
beds, other processes can form them
too

Sedimentary Structures - Other Structures

Mudcracks - indicate
periodic drying
Varve - seasonal, thin lake
bedding
Trace fossils - molds,
impressions, tunnels, etc
Color - red (iron oxides,
oxidizing environment),
black (organic matter in
reducing environment),
grays/greens (iron in
reducing environment)

Depositional Environments
Ultimate repository for sediments is the
ocean basin
On continents, these include:

Streams (alluvial)
Lakes (lacustrine)
Swamps (paludal)
Deserts
Glacial

 Characteristics of Depositional Environments (Table

5.1 - Textbook) determined by:
Type of transporting agent
Flow characteristics
Water body characteristics

Temperature, pressure, oxygen content, pH

Organisms
Type of sediments

Facies Models for Depositional

Environments
Sedimentary Facies: Lithology or group of
lithologies characterizing by a specific set of
depositional conditions or environment.
Commonly relies on the presence of characteristic
types and proportions of lithologies, well as the
recognition of characteristic vertical successions in
lithology, grain-size, and/or sedimentary
structures.

Facies Models for Depositional

Environments
a. Continental Settings
Piedmont
Alluvial fans
Braided rivers

Flood Plain
Meandering rivers
Fresh-water deltas

b. Marine Settings
Marine deltas
Neritic (continental shelf or epeirogenic seas)
Continental slopes and rises

Abyssal basins

Piedmont Alluvial fan deposits

Piedmonts form by coalescing alluvial fans along the break
in slope of mountain belts, commonly along fault scarps
separating mountain ranges from intervening basins.
In general, alluvial fans are characterized by rapid changes
in flow regimes associated with punctual events such as
storms.
Immediately following a storm, transport processes will be
very active, at other times there is little surface water
runoff and the fan is in active.
Coarse clastic sediments move during flood stages
associated with storms, but water movement ceases rapidly
after storms, and the last water typically seeps into the
porous coarse sediment, before it can deposit its silt load.

Alluvial Fan Deposits

Alluvial fan deposits are
characterized by an abundance
of coarse gravels (including
large boulders) and sands,
with only minor silt seams.
Bedding is crudely developed,
and there are frequent abrupt
vertical and lateral facies
changes due abrupt variations in
water discharge and the small
size and frequent migration of
stream channels.

Alluvial Fans to Braided Rivers

Fluvial Depositional Environments

Rivers/Streams
Types of rivers
Braided - variable but usually high flow rate and high carrying
capacity
Often form in areas where the flow is highly variable, i.e, arid
environments where the river may be dry most of the year except
during periods of intense rain or in glacial environments
The rapid flow rate can carry large clasts
Deposition is usually poorly sorted conglomerates and sandstones

Fluvial Depositional Environments

Meandering Streams/Rivers
Active streams that flow in definite channels
Usually a more consistent flow rate (although variations obviously
occur)
Channels meander due spiral turbulent flow patterns
Tend to have moderately good to well sorted sandstone deposits in
stream channel and siltstone deposits on the flood plain

Meandering River

Meandering River

Meandering River

Depositional Environments - Lacustrine

Notre Dame du Lac

Lake - landlocked body of water occupying a
morphological basin
Inflow exceeds outflow

Key point is that lakes dont really flow, therefore, any

stream or river that runs into a lake suffers a sudden loss in
current velocity and thereby, a sudden loss in carrying
capacity
Areas near an inlet may have courser sediments, but the
majority of the lake bed is usually covered in fine-grained
clay and siltstones
Type of sediments also depends upon the oxygen levels in
the lake - lakes can easily turn anoxic, which leads to
formations of organic rich sediments
Tend to be fine-grained and well-sorted

Fine-grained lake sediments

Depositional Environments - Paludal

Swamp deposits
Swamps tend to be anoxic
Plant and organic matter tend to be preserved
Coal and other organic rich sediments are usually interpreted to be
the remains of ancient swamps

Depositional Environments - Deltas

Important depositional environment
Very active
Rapid buildup of sediments, can built new land along the open sea
coast, can change rapidly

Lobate body consisting of sediment that has been transported to the

end of a channel by a current of water and deposited mostly or
entirely subaqueously at the margin of a standing body of water
into which the channel discharged or is currently discharging into
Deltas can form in lakes where a inlet stream or river meets the
lake
Deltas can form at the continent-ocean interface where a river
discharges into the sea
Deltas tend to have well-sorted sediments usually of sand and finer
particles, occasionally, swamp-like deposits can form as well
Very complex environments

Mississippi River Delta

Ganges River Delta

Tigris/Euphrates Delta

Depositional Environments - Deserts

Hot, arid conditions are conducive to wind-blown deposits
Large cross-bedded dunes are common desert deposits
Tend to be well-sorted sandstones

Depositional Environments - Shallow Marine

Shallow marine environments tend to have abundant life, including

coral reefs
Coral reefs are composed predominantly of CaCO3 corals
Eventually, reefs undergo lithification to form limestones
Shallow marine sediments can also be part of deltaic complexes
Shallow marine is also home to many shelled organisms
Great Barrier Reef

Depositional Environments Deep Marine

Deep marine sediments are typically very fine-grained
claystones
Only clay (and possibly some silt) is fine enough to remain
in suspension long enough to get to the deep ocean
Tend to be very flat, foliated claystones and shales
Color of the shales is controlled by the oxygen levels in the
deep ocean

Principles of Stratigraphy

Stratigraphy
Nicolas Steno 1667
Law of Superposition: in a sequence of layered rocks,
any layer is older than the layer next above it
Principle of Original Horizontality: layers of
sediment are originally deposited horizontally
Principle of Lateral Continuity: sediments initially
extend laterally in all directions

Stratigraphy

Stratigraphy is the study of

successions of stratified (layered
rocks) in time and space. In its
classical days, stratigraphy involved
simply the study of lithostratigraphy, that is the succession
of rock types in stratigraphic
sections.
Strata were grouped according to
lithologic affinity into the following
litho- stratigraphic hierarchy:
Supergroup
Group
Formation
Member
Bed

Stratigraphy
Formations are the basic
building block of lithostratigraphy, in effect the
unit that can be mapped in
the field. They are vaguely
defined as any unit that can
be recognized according to
its lithologic character. Over
short distances, lithologic
formations can commonly be
correlated between
stratigraphic sections.
Distinctive units that occur
over wide distances, such as
isochronous volcanic ash
beds, provide particularly
useful correlations.

Key Terms in Stratigraphy

Subdivisions of Formations:
Member - rock unit that have a limited lateral extent and
are consistently related to one formation
Bed - if the bed has particularly distinctive lithology,
fossil content or chemistry it may be given a name within
the formation
Groups are related formations
Lithology - field characteristics of a rock
Sedimentary Facies: Lithology or group of lithologies
characterizing by a specific set of depositional conditions or
environment.

Vertical Changes in Sedimentary Sequences

Contact - boundary between two different

lithologic units
Conformable - little to no time between deposition of
lower unit and the overlying unit
Unconformable - significant break in sedimentation
between the two units
Angular unconformity - angle between beds below
unconformity and beds above
Disconformity - angle of bedding the same between beds
above and below disconformity, but erosion occurs making the
surface non-flat
Paraconformity - angle of bedding is the same (paralle)
between beds above and below paraconformity
Nonconformity - deposition of sediments on nonstratiform
rocks (igneous or metamorphic rock)

Stratigraphic correlations

Stratigraphic correlations
Stratigraphic correlations can be based on:

physical changes - lithostratigraphy

fossil assemblage - biostratigraphy
changes in age - chronostratigraphy
changes in magnetism - magnetostratigraphy
changes in position relative to unconformities allostratigraphy
relationships to worldwide unconformities - sequence
stratigraphy

Stratigraphic Correlation Problems

Lithologic correlations work well, however, only over
relatively short distances. When attempts are made to
correlate spatially distant stratigraphic sections, it becomes
apparent that lithologic beds are typically diachronous, and
lithologic boundaries do not represent constant time lines.

Correlation problems
There are a number of resolutions to the correlation
problem; these include:
biostratigraphy, which uses fossils to correlate between
sections;
recognition of isochronous marker horizons such as
bentonite (altered volcanic ash) layers.
In recent years, however, attention has focused on
sequence stratigraphy, which uses the cyclic nature of
stratgraphic successions to correlate between sections.

Sequence Stratigraphy -Parasequences

The parasequence is the basic unit of

sequence stratigraphy. A parasequence
is an outcrop scale (meters to 10s of
meters) conformable succession of
sedimentary rocks that typically
represents a single shallowing upward
cycle, bounded by marine flooding
surfaces.

A parasequence thus represents a

single episode of sediment
progradation (the seaward movement
of shoreline), typically lasting 10s to
100s of thousands of years.

Parasequences

Parasequences are terminated

by marine flooding events
possibly associated with
fluctuations in glaciation driven
by external Milankovich
cycles, or reflect tectonic
subsidence.

Milankovich cycles:
~100,000 & 400,000 yrs - cycle
of orbital eccentricity
~100,000 yrs - cycle of tilt of
orbital plane to the ecliptic
41,000 yrs - cycle of tilt of
rotation axis
21,000 yrs - chandler wobble of
rotation axis

Vertical Changes in Stratigraphy

Cross-cutting relationships
Cross-cutting relationships
Any unit that has a boundary that cut across other strata must be
younger than the rock it cuts

Included fragments
Clasts in a clastic rock are older than the rock strata in which they
are found

ABSOLUTE
GEOLOGICAL
TIME SCALE

Absolute Geological Time scale

Radioactive Decay Schemes

Radioactive Decay Half lives