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Deposition is the geological process in which sediments, soil and rocks are added to a landform or landmass. Wind, ice, water, and gravity transport previously weathered surface material, which, at the loss of enough kinetic energy in the fluid, is deposited, building up layers of sediment.
Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. [1] It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles.
Sediment transport is the movement of solid particles , typically due to a combination of gravity acting on the sediment, and the movement of the fluid in which the sediment is entrained.
However, the term is more particularly applied to the deposition of sediments, and in the strictest sense, it applies only to the mechanical deposition of sediment particles from an initial suspension in air or water. Sedimentation results in the formation of depositional landforms and the rocks that constitute the sedimentary record. [6]
A diagram of various depositional environments. In geology, depositional environment or sedimentary 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.
Soft sediment deformation (possibly a seismite) in Dead Sea sediments, Israel. Soft-sediment deformation structures or SSD, is a consequence of the loading of wet sediment as burial continues after deposition. The heavier sediment "squeezes" the water out of the underlying sediment due to its own weight. There are three common variants of SSD:
The physical process of sedimentation (the act of depositing sediment) has applications in water treatment, whereby gravity acts to remove suspended solids from water. [1] Solid particles entrained by the turbulence of moving water may be removed naturally by sedimentation in the still water of lakes and oceans.
Dune shapes determine whether sediment is deposited, simply moves across surface (a bypass system), or erosion takes place. Wet systems are characterized by a water table near the depositional surface, which exerts a strong control on deposition, bypass, or erosion.