Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
Where the river water is nearly equal in density to the basin water, the delta is characterized by homopycnal flow, in which the river water rapidly mixes with basin water and abruptly dumps most of its sediment load. Where the river water has a higher density than basin water, typically from a heavy load of sediment, the delta is characterized ...
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]
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:
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.
Physical movement of water and sediments alter the thickness and topography of the sediment-water interface. Sediment resuspension by waves, tides, or other disturbing forces (e.g. human feet at a beach) allows sediment pore water and other dissolved components to diffuse out of the sediments and mix with the water above. [5]
Beach sands and river channel deposits are examples of fluvial transport and deposition, though sediment also often settles out of slow-moving or standing water in lakes and oceans. Desert sand dunes and loess are examples of aeolian transport and deposition. Glacial moraine deposits and till are ice-transported sediments.
In geography and geology, fluvial sediment processes or fluvial sediment transport are associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by sediments. It can result in the formation of ripples and dunes , in fractal -shaped patterns of erosion, in complex patterns of natural river systems, and in the development of ...