Contents

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Contents

• Introduction
• Unconsolidated clastic sediments
• Sedimentary rocks
• Diagenesis
• Sediment transport and deposition
• Sedimentary structures
• Facies and depositional environments
• Glacial/eolian/lacustrine environments
• Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
• Shallow/deep marine environments

• Stratigraphic principles
• Sequence stratigraphy
• Sedimentary basins
• Models in sedimentary geology
• Applied sedimentary geology
• Reflection

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Facies and depositional environments

• The facies concept refers to the sum of
  characteristics of a sedimentary unit, commonly
  at a fairly small (cm-m) scale
• Lithology
• Grain size
• Sedimentary structures
• Color
• Composition
• Biogenic content
• Lithofacies (physical and chemical
  characteristics)
• Biofacies (macrofossil content)
• Ichnofacies (trace fossils)

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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!)
• Facies successions (or facies sequences) are
  facies associations with a characteristic
  vertical order
• 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 and depositional environments

• Standardized facies codes have been proposed
  (e.g., by Andrew Miall), but they are frequently
  critized
• Sedimentary logs are one-dimensional
  representations of vertical sedimentary
  successions
• Architectural elements are the two- or
  three-dimensional building blocks of a sediment
  or a sedimentary rock
• The three-dimensional arrangement of
  architectural elements is known as sedimentary
  architecture
• Facies models are schematic, three-dimensional
  representations of specific depositional
  environments that serve as norms for
  interpretation and prediction

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Facies and depositional environments

• Standardized facies codes have been proposed
  (e.g., by Andrew Miall), but they are frequently
  critized
• Sedimentary logs are one-dimensional
  representations of vertical sedimentary
  successions
• Architectural elements are the two- or
  three-dimensional building blocks of a sediment
  or a sedimentary rock
• The three-dimensional arrangement of
  architectural elements is known as sedimentary
  architecture
• Facies models are schematic, three-dimensional
  representations of specific depositional
  environments that serve as norms for
  interpretation and prediction

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Facies and depositional environments

• Soils are formed by physical, chemical, and
  biological processes that act at the land surface
  and lead to the development of A-, B-, and
  C-horizons
• Paleosols are fossil soils that are increasingly
  important in the facies analysis of continental
  strata
• Paleoenvironmental indicators (e.g., climate)
• Indicators for sedimentation rates that have been
  temporarily halted or strongly reduced

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• Reading, H.G. (Editor), 1996. Sedimentary
  Environments. Processes, Facies and
• Stratigraphy. Blackwell, Oxford, 688 pp.