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CH.

5- Sedimentation: Rocks Formed by Surface Processes


Surface Processes of the Rock Cycle
• Materials moved from a source area, which sediment particles are created to a
sink area, where they are deposited in layers
• Important surface processes of the rock cycle
o Weathering: physical or chemical
o Erosion: processes that dislodge particles of rock produced by weathering
and move them away from the source area
 Occurs most commonly when rainwater runs downhill
o Transportation: sediment particles are moved to sink areas
 Occurs when water, wind, or the moving ice of glaciers transport
particles to new locations downhill or downstream
o Deposition: sediment particles settle out as water currents slow, winds die
down, or glacier edges melt to form layers of sediment in sink areas.
o Burial: layers of sediment accumulate in sink areas on top of older,
previously deposited sediments, which are compacted and progressively
buried deep within sedimentary basin
o Diagenesis- physical and chemical changes- caused by pressure, heat, and
chemical reactions- by which sediments buried within sedimentary basis
are lithified (converted into sedimentary rock)

Weathering and Erosion: The Source of Sediments


 Siliciclastic Sediments- sediment formed from clastic particles produced by
the weathering of rocks and physically deposited by running water, wind, or ice
o Most clastic particles are produced by the weathering of common rocks
composed largely of silicate materials
o Varying intensities of weathering can produce different sets of minerals in
sediments derived from the same parent rock
 Chemical and Biological Sediments
o Chemical sediments- a sediment formed at or near its place of
deposition from dissolved materials that precipitate from water
 Ex. Evaporation of seawater often leads to the precipitation of
gypsum or halite
o Biological Sediments- form near their place of deposition, but are the
result of mineral precipitation by organisms
 Ex. Mollusks and corals, precipitate minerals as they grow
 Ex. After organisms die, their shells or skeletons accumulate on the
seafloor as sediments
• Directly controls mineral precipitation
• Indirectly- occurs outside organisms or even away from
 Bioclastic sediments- a shallow water sediment made up of
fragments of shells or skeletons directly precipitated by marine
organisms and consisting primarily of two calcium carbonate
minerals- calcite and aragonite-in variable proportions
 Transportation and Deposition: The Downhill Journey to Sedimentary Basins
o Currents as transport agents
 Water: transport capacities of rivers,
 Air currents: move smaller quantities of sediments
• Stronger current, faster it flows, the larger particles it can
transport
 Current strength, particle size, and sorting
o Deposition starts when transformation stops
 Strong currents (faster than 50 cm/s) carry gravel, and smaller
particles, common in mountainous terrain
 Moderately strong currents (20-50 cm/s) lay down sand beds,
common in most rivers
 Weak currents (slower than 20cm/s) carry muds composed of the
finest clastic particles (slit and clay)
o Sorting- tendency for variations in current velocity to segregate sediments
according to size
o Abrasion- reduces particles size and rounds off edges
o Transported intermittently

Sedimentary Basins: The Sinks for Sediments


Subsidence- depression or sinking of a broad area of crust relative to the
surrounding curst, induced partly by the weight of sediments on the crust but
driven mainly by plate tectonic processes
Sedimentary Basins- regions of variable size where the combination of
sedimentation and subsidence has formed thick accumulations of sediments and
sedimentary rocks
 Rift Basins and Thermal Subsidence Basins
o Rift basin- deep, narrow, and long, with thick successions of sedimentary
rocks and extrusive and intrusive igneous rocks
o Thermal subsidence basins- a sedimentary basin that develops in the later
stages of plate separation as lithosphere that was thinned and heated
during the earlier rifting stage cools, becomes more dense, and subsides
below sea level
o Continental shelf- a broad, flat, submerged platform, consisting of a thick
layer of flat-lying shallow-water sediment, that extends from the shoreline
to the edge of the continental slope.
 Flexural Basins- a type of sedimentary basin that develops at a convergent
boundary where one lithospheric plate pushes up over the other and the weight of
the overriding plate causes the underlying plate to bend or flex downward
Sedimentary Environments- an area of sediment deposition characterized by a
particular combination of climate conditions and physical, chemical, and biological
processes
Characteristics
• Type and amount of water
• Type and strength of transport agents
• Topography
• Biological activity
• Plate tectonic settings of sediment source areas and sedimentary basins
• The climate
Continental Sedimentary Environments
• Lake environments- fresh or saline water, transport agents are smallish
waves and moderate currents
• Alluvial environments- channel of a river, boarders and associated
wetlands, and the flat valley floor on either side of the channel that is
covered by water when the river floods (floodplain)
• Desert environments- arid climate, wind transports sand and dust,
organisms have little effect
• Glacial Environments- cold climate, moving masses of ice, little biological
activity
 Shoreline Sedimentary Environments
• Delta- where rivers enter lakes or ocean
• Tidal Flats- where areas exposed at low tide are dominated by tidal currents
• Beaches- strong waves deposit sand or gravel
- mostly siliciclastic
 Marine Sedimentary Environments
• Continental shelf environments- shallow waters, gentle currents,
siliciclastic or biological carbonate particles, may be chemical if climate is
arid and arm of sea evaporates
• Organic reefs- carbonate structures, built up on continental shelves or on
oceanic volcanic islands
• Continental margin and slope environments- deeper waters, sediments
deposited by turbidity currents, siliciclastic or carbonate
• Deep-sea environments- deep, no waves or tidal currents, carbonate
sediments
 Siliciclastic VS Chemical and Biological Sedimentary
Environments
• Siliciclastic sedimentary environments- dominated by siliciclastic
environments
o All continental sedimentary environments, transitional zones, marine
environments
o Terrigenous sediments- sediments of siliciclastic environments, orgin
on land
• Chemical and biological sedimentary environments-
characterized by chemical and biological precipitation
o Carbonate environments- marine settings where
calcium carbonate is main sediment
 Most common
o Siliceous environments- unique deep sea
sedimentary environments, siliceous sediments
o Evaporite environments- warm sea, and part of sea
evaporates rapidly, then chemical sediments form
Sedimentary Structures- include all kinds of features formed at the time of deposition
 Cross Bedding- consists of beds deposited by wind or water and inclined at angles
as much as 35 from the horizontal

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