Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Sedimentology and
Stratigraphy (EaES 350)
Instructor: Torbjörn Törnqvist
SES 2450
(312) 996-3159
tor@uic.edu
• Lectures
• Labs
• Poster presentation
• Field trips (Indiana Dunes; SW Wisconsin)
EaES 350 2
Grading
EaES 350 3
Literature
EaES 350 4
Introduction
Definitions
EaES 350 5
Introduction
EaES 350 6
Introduction
EaES 350 8
Introduction
EaES 350 9
Introduction
EaES 350 10
Introduction
EaES 350 11
Contents
EaES 350 12
Unconsolidated clastic sediments
EaES 350 13
Unconsolidated clastic sediments
EaES 350 14
Unconsolidated clastic sediments
Moment measures
• First moment: mean (cf. median, mode)
• Premier measure of the grain size
n
μ = ∑ xi /n
i=1
• Grain shape
• Roundness (well rounded to very angular)
• Sphericity (high or low)
• Clast/matrix proportion
• The matrix is the relatively fine-grained material that lies
between the relatively coarse-grained clasts
• Clast-supported sediments (clasts are in direct contact)
• Matrix-supported sediments (clasts are entirely surrounded by
matrix)
• Fabric
• Preferential orientation of particles in a sediment or tendency
of a rock to break in specific directions
EaES 350 16
Unconsolidated clastic sediments
• Sediment composition
• Detrital mineral grains (quartz, feldspar, mica, heavy minerals)
• Lithic fragments (polymineral grains or rock fragments)
• Detrital mineral grains dominate in silts, lithic fragments dominate
in gravels
EaES 350 17
Unconsolidated clastic sediments
Clay minerals
EaES 350 18
Sedimentary rocks
EaES 350 19
Sedimentary rocks
EaES 350 20
Sedimentary rocks
EaES 350 21
Sedimentary rocks
EaES 350 22
Sedimentary rocks
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Sedimentary rocks
EaES 350 24
Sedimentary rocks
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Sedimentary rocks
EaES 350 26
Sedimentary rocks
Evaporites
EaES 350 27
Sedimentary rocks
EaES 350 28
Diagenesis
EaES 350 29
Diagenesis
Compaction
EaES 350 30
Diagenesis
Compaction
EaES 350 31
Diagenesis
Cementation
EaES 350 32
Diagenesis
Cementation
EaES 350 33
Diagenesis
Dolomitization
EaES 350 34
Diagenesis
Coal formation
EaES 350 35
Diagenesis
Hydrocarbon formation
EaES 350 36
Sediment transport and deposition
Transport media
• Water
• Overland flow, channel flow
• Waves, tides, ocean currents
• Air
• Ice
• Gravity
• Rock falls (no transport medium involved)
• Debris flows, turbidity currents (water involved)
EaES 350 37
Sediment transport and deposition
EaES 350 38
Sediment transport and deposition
EaES 350 39
Sediment transport and deposition
gD2 (ρg − ρf )
vg =
18μ
EaES 350 40
Sediment transport and deposition
EaES 350 41
Sediment transport and deposition
EaES 350 43
Sediment transport and deposition
EaES 350 44
Sediment transport and deposition
Current ripples
EaES 350 45
Sediment transport and deposition
Dunes
EaES 350 46
Sediment transport and deposition
EaES 350 47
Sediment transport and deposition
Waves
EaES 350 48
Sediment transport and deposition
Tides
EaES 350 49
Sediment transport and deposition
Ocean currents
EaES 350 50
Sediment transport and deposition
Gravity flows
EaES 350 51
Sedimentary structures
EaES 350 52
Sedimentary structures
EaES 350 53
Sedimentary structures
Cross stratification
EaES 350 54
Sedimentary structures
Cross stratification
EaES 350 55
Sedimentary structures
Planar stratification
EaES 350 56
Sedimentary structures
EaES 350 57
Sedimentary structures
EaES 350 58
Sedimentary structures
Gravity-flow deposits
EaES 350 59
Sedimentary structures
EaES 350 60
Sedimentary structures
EaES 350 61
Sedimentary structures
EaES 350 62
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)
EaES 350 63
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
• Walther’s 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
EaES 350 64
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
EaES 350 65
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
EaES 350 66
Glacial/eolian/lacustrine
environments
Glacial environments
EaES 350 67
Glacial/eolian/lacustrine
environments
Glacial environments
EaES 350 68
Glacial/eolian/lacustrine
environments
Glacial environments
EaES 350 69
Glacial/eolian/lacustrine
environments
Eolian environments
EaES 350 70
Glacial/eolian/lacustrine
environments
Eolian environments
EaES 350 71
Glacial/eolian/lacustrine
environments
Lacustrine environments
EaES 350 72
Glacial/eolian/lacustrine
environments
Lacustrine environments
EaES 350 73
Glacial/eolian/lacustrine
environments
Lacustrine environments
EaES 350 74
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Fluvial environments
EaES 350 75
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Fluvial environments
EaES 350 76
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Fluvial environments
EaES 350 77
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Fluvial environments
EaES 350 78
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Fluvial environments
EaES 350 79
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Fluvial environments
EaES 350 80
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Fluvial environments
EaES 350 81
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Fluvial environments
EaES 350 82
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Fluvial environments
EaES 350 83
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Deltaic environments
EaES 350 84
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Deltaic environments
EaES 350 85
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Deltaic environments
EaES 350 86
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Deltaic environments
EaES 350 87
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Coastal environments
EaES 350 88
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Coastal environments
EaES 350 89
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Coastal environments
EaES 350 90
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Coastal environments
EaES 350 91
Fluvial/deltaic/coastal environments
Coastal environments
EaES 350 92
Shallow/deep marine environments
EaES 350 93
Shallow/deep marine environments
EaES 350 94
Shallow/deep marine environments
EaES 350 95
Shallow/deep marine environments
EaES 350 96
Shallow/deep marine environments
EaES 350 97
Shallow/deep marine environments
EaES 350 98
Shallow/deep marine environments
EaES 350 99
Shallow/deep marine environments
Lithostratigraphy
Lithostratigraphy
Biostratigraphy
Biostratigraphy
Chronostratigraphy
Chronostratigraphy
Chronostratigraphy
Magnetostratigraphy
Clastic environments
Carbonate environments
Sea-level change
Sea-level change
Seismic stratigraphy
Seismic stratigraphy
Cyclostratigraphy
Extension
Extension
Collision
Collision
Collision
Transtension
What is a model?
• Models are expressions of our ideas how things work
• Conceptual models (qualitative models)
• Physical models (experimental models)
• Flume-operated simulations of sedimentologic or stratigraphic
phenomena at scales ranging from bedforms to basins
• Mathematical models (computer models)
• Deterministic models (physically-based or process-based) have
one set of input parameters and therefore yield one unique
outcome
• Stochastic models have variable input parameters, commonly
derived from probability-density functions (pdf’s), and therefore
have multiple outcomes; as a consequence model runs must be
repeated many times (realizations) and subsequently ‘averaged’
Reservoir modeling
Reservoir modeling