Sedimentology

Sedimentology
Sedimentology is the study of the processes of formation, transport and deposition of material that accumulates as sediment in continental and marine environments and eventually forms sedimentary rocks. Or Sedimentology: the scientific study of sedimentary rocks and the processes by which they form. Stratigraphy: is the science deals with stratified rocks and their interpretation in terms of mode of origin and geologic history. Or Stratigraphy is the study of rocks to determine the order and timing of events in Earth history: it provides the time frame, dynamic evolving environments, evolution of life, plate tectonics through time and global climate change.

Assignment-I 1. Outline the basic descriptive parameters needed to characterize sedimentary rocks in detail. 2. Design a study that uses texture, mineralogy, and sedimentary structures to infer the history of a sedimentary rock.

UNIT-I Sedimentary core: A core sample is a cylindrical section of a naturally occurring medium consistent enough to hold a layered structure. Most cores are obtained by drilling into the medium, for example the earth, with a hollow steel tube called a corer. or A drill bit can be designed such that it cuts an annulus of rock away leaving a cylinder in the centre, a core, that can be brought up to the surface.

Core sample. The product of a Diamond rig

SIDEWALL SAMPLING GUN

Core bullets

Formation rock

Core sample

The core is then usually cut vertically to provide a smoothsurfaced slab of rock that is typically 90mm to 150mm across, depending on the width of the borehole being drilled.

Cores cut in this way provide a considerable amount of detail of the lithologies present, the small-scale sedimentary structures, body and trace fossils.

Cores cut by a drill bit and brought to the surface provide information about subsurface strata.

TYPES OF DRILLING

Collection of cores in Oceans and Seas -ODP

1. Auger drilling

Collection of Cores in Onland

2. Percussion rotary air blast drilling (RAB) 3. Track mounted Reverse Circulation rig (side view).

4. Diamond core drilling

An oil rig

All the coring methods are classified into three types (oil companies): (1) Conventional coring method (2) Wire line coring method (3) Side wall coring method When the driller wants to remove core from a conventional core drill, the entire core barrel has to be removed from the hole. This is time-consuming, as each rod has to be removed one at a time. With wireline drilling, a barrel of core can be removed from the bottom of the hole without removing the rod string. When the driller wants to remove the core, an overshot is lowered on the end of a wireline. The overshot attaches to the back of the core barrel inner tube and the wireline is pulled back and the inner tube disengages itself from the barrel.

Core preservation Procedure: Usually, a sample is first taken from the core catcher and given to the paleontological laboratory for initial age assessment Then the core is placed on a long horizontal rack outside the laboratory. For safety monitoring, small (~5 cm3) plugs of sediment are usually taken. Gas samples may also be taken by shooting the core liner, typically at voids, and withdrawing gas into a syringe (referred to as vacuum-seal tube samples).

 Next, the core is marked into section lengths, each section is labeled, and the core is cut into sections Each section is sealed at the top and bottom by attaching color-coded plastic caps blue to identify the top of a section and clear at the bottom. Cores are split lengthwise into working and archive halves. Softer cores are split with a wire or saw, depending on the degree of induration.

Core Preservation Types: Liquid Nitrogen Core Preservation Dry Ice Core Preservation Chilled Core Preservation

Core preservation using liquid nitrogen is the fastest way to freeze core and preserve fluid saturations. This technique is used most often when core pore fluid saturations are the most critical parameter required.

Core preservation using dry ice is the second fastest way to freeze core and preserve fluid saturations. This technique is used when fluid saturations and physical properties are of equal importance. The Chilled Core Preservation method is used to preserve volatile and semi-volatile hydrocarbons during transport to the laboratory and to keep fluids from migrating in high-permeable materials.

How do you describe a Core ? Visual core description is done on the archive half, after non-destructive physical properties (color reflectance, line scan images) have been carried out.

Core graphic illustrations

CORE-DESCRIBING PROCEDURES Basic core descriptions comprise graphic descriptions and smear-slide analyses in which percentages of components are noted at selected intervals.

SMEAR-SLIDE PREPARATION:
1. SELECT CORE INTERVALS TO BE SAMPLED.

2. ENTER CORE DATA AND SAMPLE INTERVALS ON SMEARSLIDE DESCRIPTION SHEET. ENTER CORE DATA AND SAMPLE INTERVALS ON SMEAR-SLIDE DESCRIPTION SHEET USING A DIAMOND PEN, WRITE CRUISE, CORE NUMBER AND INTERVAL BELOW TOP OF CORE ON GLASS SLIDES. WASH SLIDES IN IVORY SOAP and blot with paper towels make the DRY SLIDE 3. LIGHTLY SCRAPE SURFACE OF CORE WITH A METAL SPATULA, at interval selected to remove superficial contamination

4. REMOVE MINUTE SAMPLE, THE SIZE OF A PENCIL POINT, FROM THE CORE with a spatula or toothpick. 5. MARK THE SAMPLE LOCATION ON THE VISUAL CORE DESCRIPTION FORM OR DIGITIZED CORE PHOTOGRAPH. 6. ADD 2 OR 3 DROPS OF DISTILLED WATER TO SEDIMENT ON SLIDE AND SPREAD WITH A SPATULA . 7. PLACE SLIDE ON A HOT PLATE AT MEDIUM HIGH SETTING and allow it to become reasonably hot. 8. ADD A STRIPE (3 DROPS OR SO) OF NORLAND OPTICAL ADHESIVE AND APPLY COVER SLIP.

9. PLACE SLIDE ON SHEET OF PAPER OR CARDBOARD AND SLIDE UNDER ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT SET ON LONG WAVE- LENGTH.

The measured graphic parameters from the core are: 1. Texture (average grain size-horizontal axis) 2. Lithology 3. Sedimentary structures 4. Fossils 5. Diagenetic features 6. Contacts between units 7. They may also contain additional descriptions : Core color, Contacts, induration, inclusions, Age data are added if available.

Texture (Grain-Size) - Naming of Clastic Sediments Preliminary determination of grain-size from gross observations of the whole core. Inspect smear slides to more precisely determine relative proportions of sand, silt and clay. Refer to Wentworth's (1922) classification to define grain-size classes and Shepard's (1954) ternary diagram to assign primary sediment names to clastic sediments, (sand, silt, clay, sandy clay, silty sand, etc.) Wentworth Size Classes
Cobble - 64-256mm Pebble - 4-64mm Granule - 2-4mm Sand - .06-2mm (.06 rounded from .0625) Silt - .06 - .004mm (.0039 rounded to .004) Clay - Less than .004

Lithology : Smear-slide analyses are the primary source of lithologic information: fossil and mineral content and generalized grain size data, and designation of sediment type are included in the lothology. Generally in cores of uniform lithology, take a smear slide from the top and middle of each 150cm core segment, in the case of longer piston cores, from the top, middle and bottom of cores 150cm or shorter. Age - Add age to description, if known. Be sure to add source or basis for the age determination, (e.g. Age on basis of radiolarian faunas.

Shepard Ternary Diagram

Sedimentary Structures. Describe internal and external structures, including their dimensions, orientations, spatial variation, etc. If difficult to see, collect a sample for laboratory analysis. Direction Indicators. Record direction azimuth separately for each structure. If regional dip exceeds approximately 15, a correction is required to obtain the true paleocurrent azimuth.

Physical State Terms for physical state of the core are subjective, but make some indication of whether the core is sloppy, soft, firm, friable, indurated or lithified. indurated: hard and implies some diagenetic change, lithified: cemented or recrystallized, and hard rock .

Bedding Geometry. Thickness, including lateral variation. Are beds sheet-like, lenticular, etc.? Nature of upper and lower boundaries (erosional, sharp, gradational, etc...) Some common descriptors of core features include : Pockets, denote structures that are a cm or so in one dimension and often contain coarser sediments. Inclusions usually denotes something signigicantly different from the ground mass introduced into the sediment. Nodules usually indicates rounded, hard lithified pebble-sized material, most commonly used to described manganese inclusions. Micronodules often refer to iron oxide or iron/manganese nodules seen in smear slides.

Fossils. Identify body and trace fossils, and collect samples if possible. Record variation in size and shape, abundance and spatial distribution, orientation, sediment-fossil and fossilfossil associations, nature of preservation.

Ichnofossils Symbols are used to denote the location of clearly identifiable ichnofossils . Bioturbation The extent of general bioturbation is indicated in the Bioturbation column . Bioturbation is shown by the shading of a vertical bar to the right of the Graphic Lithology column. Using a scheme similar to that proposed by Droser and Bottjer (1986), five levels of bioturbation were recognized. Bioturbation intensity is classified as follows: 5 = abundant (>75%) 4 = common (50% 75%) 3 = moderate (10% 50%) 2 = rare (<10%) 1 = barren (none)

Color: Color is determined qualitatively using the Munsell rock color charts (Rock-Color Chart Committee, 1991) and is described immediately after the cores are split to avoid color changes. Core color changes with time, particularly as iron minerals oxidize with exposure to oxygen. Be sure to include date of description on graphic core sheet. Be careful not to lay the card directly on the sediment surface. That can be a source of contamination as you move the card along the core.

Contacts Note all contacts which may be owing to differences in color, texture, sediment type or desiccation or induration. Draw, and note whether contacts are distinct or gradational, convex, concave, irregular, angled,