CHAPTER 5: DEPOSITIONAL

ENVIRONMENTS AND TECTONIC SETTINGS

BY: Barsisa T.
 DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS
Depositional environments are specific areas or
environments where sediment is deposited.
•Asedimentary environment is the place where
sediment is deposited and encompasses the physical,
chemical and biological conditions that exist .
•A sedimentary environment is a geographic location
characterized by a particular combinations.
•Environmental conditions include; the kind and
amount of water (ocean, lake, river, arid land), the
topography (lowland, mountain, coastal plain, shallow
ocean, deep ocean), and the biological activity.
 Cont’d
•Sedimentary environments… may be affected or determined
by climate as well as tectonics.
•For example, a desert environment implies an arid climate and
a glacial environment a cold climate.
•Sedimentary environments are often grouped by their locations
on the continents, near shorelines, or in the oceans.
Types of sedimentary environments:
 Continental(above sealeve)
• Alluvial Fans
• Fluvial (river)
• Lakes (Lacustrine)
• Glacial
• Wind (eolian)
 Cont’d . .
 Transitional (shoreline)
• Tidal flats
• Beaches
• Barrier islands
• Lagoons
• Deltas
 Marine(below sea level)
• Shallow (to about 200 meters)
• Organic reefs
• Deep (seaward of continental shelves)
1,Continental (Terrestrial) Sedimentary Environment
 This system is more familiar with us because of
our experience with streams, rivers, lakes, and
dunes, and other sub aerial features.
 Have low preservation potential because they
are above the base level of erosion.
 Base level of erosion on Earth’s surface is the
level above which sediments must eventually
erode and below which they can accumulate.
 These environments are built around rivers,
deserts, lakes and glaciers.
I, Alluvial Fans:
 Are fan-shaped deposits of gravel, sand, and mud that
accumulate in dry basins at the bases of mountain ranges.
• Require high relief and an adjacent low-lying area for collection
of sediment.
• Generally occur in areas of active tectonism where high gradient
stream crosses into an open valley and flow becomes less
constrained.
•Sediments on alluvial fans are typically poorly sorted and include
abundant gravel-size detritus.
•Commonly associated with faults
 Cont’d . .
.

Alluvial fan
 Cont’d . .
•On the basis of depositional
. process, alluvial fans can be
divided into debris-flow- dominated fans and stream-flow-
dominated fans.
Type 1 fans (debris-flow dominated):
•debris flow dominated fans occur in areas with a ready source
of mud (i.e., areas with exposed fine-grained sedimentary or
volcanic sections).
•debris flow deposits are characteristically poorly sorted and
lacking in sedimentary structures.
•show interbedding of fine and coarse material that reflects the
extreme ranges in flood magnitudes on these fans.
Type 2 fans (stream-flow dominated):
• tend to form in areas of perennial flow
 Cont’d . . .
• formerly were considered "wet fans" or "humid fans"
• tend to be better sorted and display a more uniform grain size
•progradation or outbuilding of fan causes common
upward thickening and coarsening
 Two types of stream-flow processes are operative: sheetflood
and incised channel flow.
Sheetflood: is a broad expanse of unconfined, sediment-laden
runoff water moving downslope, commonly produced by
catastrophic discharge.
Incised-channel flow: takes place through channels, 1-4 m
high, incised into the upper fan.
•These channels facilitate downslope movement of sediment-
gravity flows and sheetfloods.
 Cont’d . .
•After deposition by debris-flow
. or stream-flow processes occurs,
subsequent surficial reworking can take place by:
 discharge from rainfall or snowmelt, eolian (wind) activity, and
 bioturbation by plants and animals.
Debris flow and sheet flood
 Distinguishing Characteristics of Alluvial
Fans
Debris-flow-dominated fans: are characterized by lobes
of poorly sorted, coarse sediment, commonly witha
muddy matrix.
Stream-flow sediments: constitute more sheet like
deposits of gravel, sand, and silt that may be moderately
well sorted , cross-bedded, laminated, or nearly
structureless

.
II. Eolian (wind) environments:
Areas of windblown sand near beaches or in arid, desert environments.
•Large areas of the desert environment may indeed be
carpeted by windblown, or eolian, sand.
• Such areas that cover more than about 125 km2 are called
sand seas or ergs; smaller areas are called dune fields.
Eolian Cross Sets
 Cont’d . .
Aeolian Environments:.
• Large areas of sand dunes are known as ergs.
• Desert and dunes provide a special sandy environment.
 III. Fluvial(river) environments:
 are river channels, river bars and adjacent flood plains
•An alluvial environment encompasses a river channel, the borders
of the channel, and the flat valley floor on either sides of the
channel that is covered by water when the river floods.
•Because rivers are ever present on the continents, alluvial deposits
are widespread.
•Organisms are abundant in the muddy flood deposits and are
responsible for organic sediments.
• Deposits of rivers and associated environment
• Widespread in sedimentary rock record
• Morphological components:
• Valleys
• Channels
• Floodplains
 Cont’d . .
• Drainage basins .
• Headlands – erosional (generally…)
• Coastal plain – depositional (generally…)

Valley: Area Floodplain: Flat

between tops of area, about level
slopes on both with the top of the
sides of the river channel.
Inundated during
high discharges.

Channel:
“Trough” through
which water
runs.
 IV. Lakes (Lacustrine):
are bodies of nonmarine water, including freshwater
lakes on continental lowlands and saline lakes in isolated
basins.
•A lake environment is controlled by the relatively small
waves and moderate currents of inland bodies of fresh or
saline water.
•Fresh water lakes may be the sites of chemical
sedimentation of organic matter and carbonates.
•Saline lakes such as those found in deserts evaporate and
precipitate a variety of evaporite minerals such as halite.
• Open lakes have an outflow (i.e. a river)
•Sediments dominated by terrigenous particles and organic
 Cont’d . .
• Closed lakes have no outflow
.
 Solutes are not carried out of the basin
 Alkalinity can build up such that carbonates and
evaporites can precipitate.
•A lake can alternate between open and closed with
tectonic or hydrologic changes.
•Deposits in open lakes come mainly from rivers but may
also be deposited by wind, ice-rafting, and other
processes.
•Sedimentation in closed lake systems consists of
evaporite minerals, carbonate muds, sands, and silts.
• Lacustrine deposits are often rich in organic matter
V. Glacial environments:
Are the areas where sediment is deposited by glaciers.
•A glacial environment is controlled by the dynamics of
moving mass of ice and is characterized by a cold climate.
•Most obvious are the margins of ice, where sediment carried by
the glacier is dropped as the ice melts.
•Other subenvironments of a glacie are lakes and melt
water streams.
•Large masses of ice on land that show evidence of being
in motion or of once having moved.
Two types: valley glaciers, continental glaciers
Environmental Setting
It is divided into the following zones:
(1) the basal or subglacial zone, influenced by contact
the
withbed,
 Cont’d…
(2)the supraglacial zone, which is the upper surface of
the glacier,
(3) the ice-contact zone around the margin of the glacier, and
(4) the englacial zone within the glacier interior.
The glacial environment may range in size from very small
to very large.
Valley glaciers are relatively small ice masses confined within
valley walls of a mountain.
Piedmont glaciers are larger masses or sheets of ice formed at
the base of a mountain front where mountain glaciers have
debouched from several valleys and coalesced.
Ice sheets, or continental glaciers, are huge sheets of ice that
spread over large continental areas or plateaus.
Deposition:
“Drift” – material of glacial origin
Till: deposited directly by ice
Outwash: deposited by glacial melt water
Loess: deposited by wind
Glaciolacustrine: deposited in glacial lakes
Glaciomarine: deposited in the sea by/close to ice
Erratic: large boulder in till
 Cont’d . . .
• Glaciers leave deposits of eroded material called moraines.
•Moraines are given different names depending on their location
relative to the glacier.
• Moraines consist of a mixture of boulder to silt sized material.
•Internal movement of ice continues to carry the rock load along
and supply rock debris to the melting snout of the glacier.
•This process causes a ridge of unsorted sediment, called an end
moraine or terminal moraine, to accumulate in front of the
glacier.
•If the Lateral moraines, or marginal moraines, can accumulate
from concentrations of debris carried along the edges of the
glacier where ice is in contact with the valley wall.
Medial moraines may form where the lateral moraines of two
glaciers join.
•If the glacier retreats in pulses, it leaves a succession of end
moraines, called recessional moraines.
 2. Transitional sedimentary Environments
•Transitional environment is a setting lies along the boundary
between the continental and the marine depositional reams.
• It is a narrow zone dominated by river, wave, and tidal processes.
A wide variety of sediment types-including conglomerates,
sandstones, shales, carbonates, and evaporates- can accumulate in
these various Transitional environment environments.
•Marginal marine successions include a range of environments,
each deposited at or near sea level
• Very sensitive to changes in relative sea level
• The depositional environments are;
• Beaches
• Tidal flats
• Barrier islands
• Lagoons
• Deltas
 Cont’d
• Beaches are the most recognizable
… transitional environments.
•Beaches form where wave energy washes silt and clay away,
leaving larger sand particles behind.
•Silt and clay may then be deposited in other low energy
transitional environments such as tidal flats or in deep marine
environments.
 Cont’d
•Behind the beach area of this
… sand spit lies another
transitional environment, a tidal flat

Beach(sand)
Tidal flat (mud)
 Lagoons

Lagoons are coastal bodies of water that have very

limited connection to the open ocean.
Seawater reaches a lagoon directly through a channel to
the sea or via seepage through a barrier; fresh water is
supplied by rainfall or by surface run-off from the
adjacent coastal plain.
 Barriers

Along some coastlines a barrier of sediment separates

the open sea from a lagoon that lies between the barrier
and the coastal plain.
Beach barriers are composed of sand and/or gravel
material and are largely built up by wave action.
 Delta
A delta can be defined as a ‘discrete shoreline
protuberance’ formed at a point where a river enters
the ocean or other standing body of water.
It resemble the Greek letter Delta (Δ).
The ‘original’ delta is at the mouth of the River Nile
(Egypt).
The Original Delta: Nile
River
 Deltas are classified in terms of the dominant grain size
of the deposits and the relative importance of fluvial,
wave and tide processes.
A river dominated delta has large volume of sediment
tends to be lobate (a roundish and flattish projecting)
when there is moderate sediment supply and elongate
when the sediment supply is large (see page 161,
Sedimentary Geology).
 A tide dominated delta has many linear channels parallel
to the tidal flow and perpendicular to the shore.
A wave dominated delta is smoothly accurate; the wave
action reworks the sediment and make such deltas much
sandier than other types of delta (see page 161,
Sedimentary Geology).
The supply of the sediment is determined by;
• the nature of the hinterland,
• the climate influencing the weathering and erosion
processes and the discharge,
• the amount of water in the rivers,
• tectonic controls.
 3. Marine Sedimentary Environment
•The marine environment is that part of the ocean lying
seaward of the zone dominated by the shoreline processes.
•Water depth in the marine realm ranges from a few
meters to more than 10,000 m.
•Marine environments encompass a wide variety of
subenvironments, ranging from those affected by the
salinity of the water, such as evaporites, to physically
deposited sediments affected by currents.
•Because depth of water determines the kind of currents,
marine environments are usually subdivided on the basis
of water depth.
•Alternatively, they can be classified on the basis of
distance from land.
 A, Shallow Marine/ Clastic Marine
About 5 % of Earth’s surface is covered by sea water
that is less than 200m deep.
Those areas, known as Continental Shelves.
Which may stretch tens to hundreds of kilometres out
to sea before the water deepens down to the abyssal
depths of ocean basins.
The dominant processes are tidal and wind-driven
currents
are areas of accumulation of substantial amounts of
terrigenous (denoting marine sediment eroded from the
land) clastic material brought in by rivers from the
continental realm.
Limestones are common
Characteristics of Shallow Marine Sands
The grain assemblage is likely to be mature.
Texturally Matured.
Compositionally Matured: dominated by quartz grains.
Shallow seas are rich in marine life, including many
organisms that have calcareous shells and skeletons.
The remains of biogenic hard parts are a major component
of shelf carbonate deposits.
Greensands are shallow marine deposits rich in glauconite.
Shallow seas are environments rich in animal life, particularly
benthic organisms that can leave traces of their activity in the
sediments.
Primary sedimentary structures (wave ripples, hummocky
cross-stratification, trough cross bedding, and so on) are not
always preserved in shelf sediments because of the effects of
bioturbation.
Shelf sands have high porosity and permeability and usually
occur as isolated lenses or sheets in predominantly impermeable
shales, so they are good stratigraphic traps for hydrocarbons.
 B, Continental Slope and Rise Sediment
Between the nearly horizontal shelf and the deeper ocean
floor is an abrupt boundary called the Shelf- Slope break;
below the shelf – slope break is the steepest part of the
ocean floor, the continental slope.
Sediments deposited on the slope are moved down slope
by gravity and seldom remain on the slope.
The most important processes of sediment transport on
the continental rise is the turbidity current.
The resulting deposit is Turbidite.
 C, Pelagic Sediments /Marine Environment
Covers more than 50% of Earth’s crust.
Lies at a depth of 4 to 6 km or more, is mostly a flat,
feature less abyssal (depth of the ocean) plain with
occasional seamounts (sub marine mountain) and mid
ocean ridges.
The ocean basins are bordered by continental margins
that are important areas of terrigenous clastic and
carbonate deposition.
Sediment supplied to the ocean basins may be
reworked from the shallow marine shelf areas, or is
supplied directly from river and delta systems and
bypasses the shelf.
There is also intra-basinal material available in
ocean basins, comprising mainly the hard part of
plants and animals that live in the open oceans, and
airborne dust that is blown into the oceans.
 Composition of deep marine deposits

The main constituents of deep sea sediments are :

 Terrigneous clays from the continents
 Biogenic skeletal material of calcareous, siliceous, or
phosphatic marine organisms; and
 Minor amount of authigenic components that
develop diagenetically in deep sea muds and oozes.
The detrital material in deep-water deposits is highly
variable and directly reflects the sediment source area.
Sand, mud and gravel from a terrigenous source are
most common, occurring offshore continental margins
that have a high supply from fluvial sources.
Material that has had a short residence time on the shelf
will be similar to the composition of the river but
extensive reworking by wave and tide processes can
modify both the texture and the composition of the
sediment before it is redeposited as a turbidite.
Turbidites composed wholly or partly of volcaniclastic
material occur in seas offshore of volcanic provinces.