SEDIMENTARY

ROCKS
• The Archives of Earth’s History
 Definition of Terms
■ alluvial fan - is a triangle-shaped deposit of gravel, sand, and even smaller pieces of sediment,
such as silt.
■ barrier island - are elongated islands of unconsolidated sediments (usually sand) trending
parallel to the shore
■ Bioturbation - the disturbance of sedimentary deposits by living organisms.
■ braided stream - form where the sediment load is so heavy that some of the sediments are
deposited as shifting islands or bars between the channels.
■ continental rise - is a sediment underwater feature found between the continental slope and the
abyssal plain.
■ continental shelf - is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively
shallow water known as a shelf sea.
■ continental slope - is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively
shallow water known as a shelf sea.
■ cross-bedding - is layering within a stratum and at an angle to the main bedding plane.
■ Delta - are wetlands that form as rivers empty their water and sediment into another body of
water.
 Definition of Terms
■ depositional environment - describes the combination of physical, chemical and biological processes associated with
the deposition of a particular type of sediment and, therefore, the rock types that will be formed after lithification, if the
sediment is preserved in the rock record.
■ Drift - is the name for all material of glacial origin found anywhere on land or at sea, including sediment and large rocks
(glacial erratic).
■ Fluvial - is a term used in geography and Earth science to refer to the processes associated with rivers and streams and
the deposits and landforms created by them.
■ graded bedding - is one characterized by a systematic change in grain or clast size from one side of the bed to the other.
■ meandering stream - has a single channel that winds snakelike through its valley, so that the distance 'as
the stream flows' is greater than 'as the crow flies. 
■ mud crack - are sedimentary structures formed as muddy sediment dries and contracts.
■ Outwash - deposit of sand and gravel carried by running water from the melting ice of a glacier and laid down in
stratified deposits.
■ Paleogeography - is the study of historical geography, generally physical landscapes.
■ playa lake - is either a basin or depression that formerly contained a standing surface water body, which disappeared
when evaporation processes exceeded recharge.
■ Progradation - refers to the growth of a river delta farther out into the sea over time.
 Sedimentary Rock Properties

■ Colour
■ Composition and Textures
■ Fossils (if present)
■ Thickness
■ Relationship to other rocks
 Sedimentary Rock Properties

COMPOSITION TEXTURE
• Size
• Size distribution
• Detrital/Clastic • Shape
• Carbonate • Arrangement

• Chemical
 Sedimentary Rock Properties

■ COMPOSITION AND
TEXTURE
 Sedimentary Structures

Laminations (or laminae)

• Layers less than 1 cm thick

• Form mostly as particles settle from
suspension
 Sedimentary Structures
Beds

• Layers more than 1 cm thick

• Form as particles settle from
suspension and from moving sediment
as sand in a stream channel
 Sedimentary Structures

Graded-bedding

• Individual layers with an upward

decrease in grain size
• Deposition by turbidity currents or
during the waning stages of floods
 Sedimentary Structures

Cross-bedding

• Layers deposited at an angle to the

surface on which they accumulated
• Deposition on a sloping surface at the
downwind side of a sand dune
 Sedimentary Structures

Ripple marks

• Small (<3 cm high) ridges and troughs on bedding planes

Two types:
1. Current ripple marks
2. Wave-formed ripple marks
 Current ripple marks

• Current ripple marks are small (<3 cm high)

sedimentary structures with an asymmetric
profile.
• Asymmetric ripple marks
• Result from deposition by water or air
currents flowing in one direction
 Wave-formed ripple marks

• Symmetric ripple marks; generally

with a sharp crest and broad though
• Formed by oscillating currents
(waves)
 Sedimentary Structures

Mud cracks

• Intersecting cracks in clay-rich

sediments
• Drying and shrinkage of mud along a
lakeshore, floodplain, or on tidal flats
 Sedimentary Structures

Biogenic Sedimentary Structures

(produced by organisms)

Trace fossils
• Tracks, trails, tubes, and burrows
• Indications of organic activity.
Intense activity results
in bioturbation involving disruption
of sediment
 Depositional Environments

• any area where sediment Three broad areas of deposition:

accumulates, but more specifically it
1. Continental Environments
entails a particular area where
physical, chemical, and biological 2. Transitional Environments
processes operate to yield a
distinctive kind of deposit. 3. Marine Environments
 Depositional Environments
Continental Environments

• takes place in fluvial systems (rivers and streams), lakes, deserts, and areas covered by or
adjacent to glaciers

1. Fluvial
2. Desert
3. Glacial
 FLUVIAL
(Braided and Meandering Streams)

Braided stream

• Mostly horizontally bedded

conglomerate and cross-bedded
sandstone; mud rocks not common
 FLUVIAL
(Braided and Meandering Streams)
Meandering stream

• Mostly mud rocks deposited on

floodplains; subordinate but
distinctive lenticular sandstones
deposited in point bars
 Desert
(Alluvial fan, Sand dune, Playa lake)

Alluvial fan

• Poorly sorted conglomerate from

debris flows and sandstone-
conglomerate-filled channels
 Desert
(Alluvial fan, Sand dune, Playa lake)

Sand dune

• Well sorted, rounded sandstone with

large-scale cross-beds
 Desert
(Alluvial fan, Sand dune, Playa lake)

Playa lake

• Laminated mudstone/siltstone;
evaporites, rock salt, rock gypsum,
and others
 Glacial
(Outwash and Moraines)
Outwash

• Much like braided stream deposits

Moraines

• Unsorted, nonstratified deposits of

sand and gravel
 Depositional Environments

Transitional

• Transitional environments include those in which both marine processes and processes
typical of continental environments operate
1. Delta (marine)
2. Barrier Island (Beach, Sand dunes, Tidal flat)
 Delta (marine)

• Mudrocks and sandstone in

coarsening upward sequences;
associated rocks of marine origin;
fossils of marine and land-dwelling
organisms
 Barrier Island
(Beach, Sand dunes, Tidal flat)

■ Beach
• Rounded sandstone with variable soring, commonly with
shells or shell fragments, wave-formed ripple marks,and
small-scale cross-bedding
■ Sand dunes
• Much like desert dunes but with sand-sized shell
fragments
■ Tidal flat
• Mudstone and sandstone in fining-upward sequences;
distinctive herringbone cross-bedding in sandstone
 Barrier Island
(Beach, Sand dunes, Tidal flat)

■ Beach
• Rounded sandstone with variable soring, commonly with
shells or shell fragments, wave-formed ripple marks,and
small-scale cross-bedding
■ Sand dunes
• Much like desert dunes but with sand-sized shell
fragments
■ Tidal flat
• Mudstone and sandstone in fining-upward sequences;
distinctive herringbone cross-bedding in sandstone
 Depositional Environments

Marine Environments

• Marine environments include the continental shelf, slope, and rise, and the deep seafloor

■ Continental shelf (Inner Shelf, Outer Shelf)

■ Continental slope and rise
■ Carbonate shelf
■ Deep-ocean basin
■ Evaporite environments
 Continental shelf
(Inner Shelf, Outer Shelf)

Inner Shelf - Mostly cross-bedded

sandstone with wave-formed ripples,
marine fossils, and bioturbation
Outer Shelf - Mostly mudrocks with
subordinate sandstone; marine fossils and
bioturbation
 Continental slope and rise

• Turbidite sequences in submarine

fans with graded bedding in
sandstone and mudrocks
 Carbonate shelf

• Limestone (dolostone). Limestone

varies from coquina (made of shell
fragments) to oolitic limestone to
micrite (carbonate mud). Cross-beds,
mud cracks, ripple marks common;
marine fossils.
 Deep-ocean basin

• Pelagic clay and calcareous and

siliceous oozes.
 Evaporite environments

• Rock salt and rock gypsum the most

common, but others including
potassium and magnesium salts may
be present.
 Paleogeography

• Deals with Earth’s geography of the

past.
 REFERENCES

Historical Geology 6th ed. – R. Wicander, J. Monroe (Cengage, 2010)