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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.
Robert J. Dunham published his classification system for limestone in 1962. [2] The original Dunham classification system was developed in order to provide convenient depositional-texture based class names that focus attention on the textural properties that are most significant for interpreting the depositional environment of the rocks.
In an aeolian environment, cross-beds often exhibit inverse grading due to their deposition by grain flows. Winds blow sediment along the ground until they start to accumulate. The side that the accumulation occurs on is called the windward side. As it continues to build, some sediment falls over the end. This side is called the leeward side ...
Normally graded beds generally represent depositional environments which decrease in transport energy (rate of flow) as time passes, but these beds can also form during rapid depositional events. They are perhaps best represented in turbidite strata , where they indicate a sudden strong current that deposits heavy, coarse sediments first, with ...
These structures are within sedimentary bedding and can help with the interpretation of depositional environment and paleocurrent directions. They are formed when the sediment is deposited. Cross-bedding Cross-bedding is the layering of beds deposited by wind or water inclined at an angle as much as 35° from the horizontal. [1]
The formation was formed by the erosion of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains, and deposition by fluvial processes as alluvial fans.The characteristic predominant red color and the composition of the Fountain reflect that of the granites and gneisses from which it was eroded.
Walther's law of facies, or simply Walther's law, named after the geologist Johannes Walther, states that the vertical succession of facies reflects lateral changes in environment. Conversely, it states that when a depositional environment "migrates" laterally, sediments of one depositional environment come to lie on top of another. [4]
A contact can be formed during deposition, by the intrusion of magma, [2] or through faulting or other deformation of rock beds that brings distinct rock bodies into contact. [3] The geologic subdiscipline of stratigraphy is primarily concerned with depositional contacts, [4] while faults and shear zones are of particular interest in structural ...