Environments

most environments in which sediments accumulated

are familiar
rivers, lakes, coast, shallow marine, deep sea etc.

one task of a sedimentologist is to interpret

sedimentary rocks and re-construct the environment they have been deposited = Facies analysis (interpretation of strata in terms of
depositional environment)

Facies

The facies concept refers to the sum of characteristics of a sedimentary unit, commonly at a fairly small (cm-m) scale

Lithology Grain size and shape Color Composition Biogenic content Sedimentary structures

Lithofacies physical and chemical processes active at the time of deposition Biofacies (macrofossil content) Ichnofacies (trace fossils) ecology during and after deposition

Facies and depositional environments

Facies analysis is the interpretation of strata in terms of

depositional environments (or depositional systems), commonly based on a wide variety of observations

Facies associations constitute several facies that occur in

combination, and typically represent one depositional environment (note that very few individual facies are diagnostic for one specific setting!) associations with a characteristic vertical order

Facies successions (or facies sequences) are facies Walthers Law (1894) states that two different facies found

superimposed on one another and not separated by an unconformity, must have been deposited adjacent to each other at a given point in time

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Facies analysis
simple tasks: belemnites open marine hermatypic corals shallow marine, photic zone, warm

waters

trace fossils typical traces for certain environments complex tasks: cross bedding all environments with flowing water (delta,

river, marine, desserts) lagoonal??)

wave ripples shallow water (but marine, lacustrine,

Paleocurrents
= knowledge about the direction of flow of the water at the time of deposition
paleogeographic reconstructions linking facies of different depositional environments

Paleocurrent analysis is part of the facies analysis (provides additional information about the environment)

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Paleocurrent indicators
Unidirectional indicators ( direction of flow) flow axis indicators ( no differentiation between up

or down stream)

Examples??

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Measuring paleocurrents
Problems with cross stratification:
a 3-dimensional outcrop is needed (two faces!) trough cross stratification is curved

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Provenance
information of the source of the sediment

examination of the clast types characteristics in petrology or chemistry clues to the geographic location of the source area information about timing and processes of erosion -> information about uplifted areas (orogenies)

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Provenance studies
easy in coarser clastic sediments (lithology of the lithic

clasts can still be recognized)

becomes harder with the maturity of the sediment (quartz

can be from various source rocks, mixing of different provenances during transport)
heavy minerals are good indicators for the origin of

sandstones
clay minerals (kaolinite granite; smectite basaltic

rocks)

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tab 5.1

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The various environments

marine terrestrial marine: coastal, shallow marine (shelf), deep marine,

lagoon
terrestrial: lacustrine, fluviatile, playa, delta, deserts

etc.

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characteristic facies sequences or associations for individual environments

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5-35 m

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5-50 m

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10-50 m

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5-50 m

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10-100 m

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Summary
1) describe lithofacies (and biofacies and ichnofacies) of each bed 2) interpret process of deposition 3) group individual facies into facies associations or facies sequences 4) Interpret environment

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Reading, H.G. (Editor), 1996. Sedimentary Environments. Processes, Facies and

Stratigraphy. Blackwell, Oxford, 688 pp.

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