Lesson 5: Sedimentary Structures Flashcards
why do we need to study sedimentary structures?
- textures of the sediments can give us a clue on:
- depositional environment
- provenance - sedimentary structures can further elaborate or describe the manner of the transportation media:
* Energy
* Depth
* Flow directions
* Post-depositional events
9 kinds of bedding and bedforms
- bed
- laminae
- varves
- laminated beds
- graded bedding: normal, reverse
- massive beddings
- cross-bedding: tabular, trough
- flaser cross bedding
- lenticular bedding
- hummocky cross stratification
At least 1 cm thick, lenticular/tabular
beds
refers to those with lenses
lenticular beds
examples of resources commonly found with lenticular bedding
petroleum and coal resources (in swamps)
beds that are less than 1 cm thick
laminae
contact between beds is of erosional in nature
alamgamation surface, the beds (above and belown) between the surface are called amalgamation beds
what are amalgamation beds comparable to?
unconformities, diastem (period of nondeposition/erosion)
beds or laminae which features seasonal variation
varves
how to tell seasonal changes in varves
darker shades: organic matter; rainy season, deposited in wet conditions
lighter shades: dry season
For fine grained clastics and evaporites, results from suspension settling
laminated beds
explain laminated beds
more of settling action. if water carrying suspended solids and ions (esp in evaporites) becomes stagnant, the load will get deposited sa floor.
for larger particles like sandstones, mostly result of traction (bedload or bouncing)
“finering” upwards indicates:
- a sequence of a “sinking” basin
- turbidity currents
normal grading
explain normal grading for sinking basins
the floor of the basin is going down = particulate matter is slowly becoming finer
“coarsening” upwards (mud to conglomerate upwards) indicates:
- basin being filled with sediments, transitioning deep to shallow to subaerial environments (becoming shallower)
reverse grading
explain normal grading bc of turbidity currents
occurs between continental rise and slope, indicative of submarine landslides/canyons/currents
example of stratigraphic column that has a reverse grading
cagayan valley stratigraphic column (deep marine: finer; sands: fine, well-sorted sa beach depth; floodplains
bedding that has no internal structures, poor sorting, rare with coarser sediments, only really for finer sediments
massive beddings
what kind of deposits are mostly in massive beddings
finer deposits like sandstorm deposits or “loess”
structureless clay-sized silts (windblown sediments)
loess
the type of cross bedding depends on?
the initial surface
cross bedding is applicable to what other structures?
dunes and ripple marks
explain how cross bedding is formed
abrupt changes in wind/water direction and velocity causes carried sediments to get deposited in the lee side (steeper side) creating cross beds, while the stoss side (gentler slope) is getting eroded