UNIT 3

Unit III: Sedimentary Facies
Unit III: Sedimentary Facies

Concept of sedimentary facies,
Continental environments,
Marginal-marine environments,
Siliciclastic marine environments,
Carbonate and evaporite environments.
Concept of Facies
• Sedimentary Facies: Lithology or group of lithologies

characterizing by a specific set of depositional conditions or
environment.
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.
Major Sedimentary Environment
Boggs, 1995
Introduction: Fluvial
Three geomorphological zones can be

recognized within fluvial and alluvial
systems.
In the erosional zone the

streams are actively
down cutting, removing
bedrock from the valley
floor and from the valley
sides via downslope movement
of material into the stream bed.
In the transfer zone, the gradient is lower, streams and rivers are not
actively eroding, but nor is this a site of deposition.
The lower part of the system is the depositional zone, where sediment is
deposited in the river channels and on the floodplains of a fluvial system or
on the surface of an alluvial fan.
Alluvial Fan
 They serve as transfer systems for materials eroded from
mountain masses and destined for deposition in adjacent basins.
There is a decline in particle size away from the fan apex the
coarser materials are deposited near the fan apex
 -Proximal deposits
 -Medial deposits-Distal deposits
Litholog of Alluvial Fan
Cross Section: Alluvial Fan
The size of an alluvial fan depends on the following:
Area of the drainage basin
Climate
Rock lithology in the drainage basin
Tectonic activity
Space available for fan growth
Fan Deposits
River System
 Rivers are an important feature of most landscapes, acting as the

principal mechanism for the transport of weathered debris away from
upland areas and carrying it to lakes and seas, where much of the clastic
sediment is deposited.
 River systems can also be depositional, accumulating sediment within

channels and on floodplains.
 The grain size and the sedimentary structures in the river channel
deposits are determined by the supply of detritus, the gradient of the
river, the total discharge and seasonal variations in flow.
 Overbank deposition consists mainly of finer-grained sediment, and

organic activity on alluvial plains contributes to the formation of soils,
which can be recognized in the stratigraphic record as palaeosols.
 Water flows over the land surface also occur as unconfined sheet floods
and debris flows that form alluvial fans at the edges of alluvial plains.
 Water flow in rivers and streams is normally confined to channels which
are depressions or scours in the land surface that contain the flow.
 The overbank area or floodplain is the area of land between or beyond
the channels that (apart from rain) receives water only when the river is in
flood.
 Together the channel and overbank settings comprise the fluvial
environment.
INTRODUCTION
Alluvial is a more general term for land surface processes that involve the
flow of water. It includes features such as a water-lain fan of detritus (an
alluvial fan) that are not necessarily related to rivers.
An alluvial plain is a general term for a low-relief continental area where
sediment is accumulating, which may include the floodplains of individual
rivers.
The area of ground that supplies water to a river system is the catchment
area (sometimes also referred to as the drainage basin).
RIVER FORMS
Rivers in the depositional tract

can have a variety of forms, with
the principal variables being:
(a) How straight or sinuous the

channel is
(b) the presence or absence of

depositonal bars of sand or
gravel within the channel; Several types of river can be distinguished, based
on whether the river channel is straight or sinuous
(c) the number of separate (meandering), has one or multiple channels
channels that are present in a (anastomosing), and has in-channel bars (braided).
Combinations of these forms can often occur.
stretch of the river.
RIVER FORMS
A straight channel without bars is

the simplest form but is relatively
uncommon.
A braided river contains mid-

channel bars that are covered at
bank-full flow, in contrast to an
anastomosing river, which
consists of multiple, interconnected
channels that are separated by Several types of river can be distinguished,
areas of floodplain. based on whether the river channel is straight or
sinuous (meandering), has one or multiple
Both braided and anastomosing channels (anastomosing), and has in-channel
bars (braided). Combinations of these forms can
river channels can be sinuous, and often occur.
sinuous rivers that have
depositional bars only on the
insides of bends are called
meandering.
BREADED RIVER
 Rivers with a high proportion of sediment carried by rolling and saltation
along the channel floor are referred to as bedload rivers.
 Where the bedload is deposited as bars of sand or gravel in the channel
the flow is divided to give the river a braided form.
 Flow is generally strongest between the bars and the coarsest material
will be transported and deposited on the channel floor to form an
accumulation of larger clasts, or coarse lag.
Main morphological features of a braided river. Deposition of sand and/or gravel occurs on mid-
channel bars.
BREADED RIVER: Litholog
 A schematic graphic
sedimentary log of braided
river deposits.
 The deposits of gravelly
braided rivers are
characterised by crossbedded
conglomerate representing
deposition on channel bars.
 Sandy braided river deposits

typically consist of fining-
upward successions from a
sharp scoured base through
beds of trough and planar
cross-bedded, laminated and
cross-laminated sandstone.
MEANDERING RIVER
 In plan view the thalweg in a river

is not straight even if the channel
banks are straight and parallel: it
will follow a sinuous path, moving
from side to side along the length
of the channel.
 In any part of the river the bank

closest to the thalweg has
relatively fast flowing water against
A sandy river channel and adjacent overbank
it while the opposite bank has area: the river is at low-flow stage exposing
slower flowing water alongside. areas of sand deposited in the channel.
 Meanders develop by the erosion

of the bank closest to the thalweg,
accompanied by deposition on the
opposite side of the channel where
the flow is sluggish and the Flow in a river follows the sinuous thalweg
bedload can no longer be carried. resulting in erosion of the bank in places.
MEANDERING RIVER
 The river flow may also take a short-cut between meander loops when
the river floods: this may result in a new section of channel developing,
and the longer loop of the meander built becoming abandoned.
 The abandoned meander loop becomes isolated as an oxbow lake and
will remain as an area of standing water until it becomes filled up by
deposition from floods and/or choked by vegetation.
 The deposits of an oxbow lake may be recognised in ancient fluvial
sediments as channel fills made up of fine-grained sediment.
MEANDERING RIVER
The deposits of a meander bend

have a characteristic profile of
coarser material at the base,
becoming progressively finer-
grained up the inner bank.
A schematic graphic sedimentary log of

meandering river deposits.
Characteristics of fluvial and alluvial fan deposits
 lithologies – conglomerate, sandstone and mudstone

 mineralogy – variable, often compositionally immature
 texture – very poor in debris flows to moderate in river sands
 bed geometry – sheets on fans, lens shaped river channel units
 sedimentary structures – cross-bedding and lamination in channel
deposits
 palaeocurrents – indicate direction of flow and depositional slope
 fossils – fauna uncommon, plant fossils may be common in floodplain
facies
 colour – yellow, red and brown due to oxidising conditions
 facies associations – alluvial fan deposits may be associated with
ephemeral lake and aeolian dunes, rivers
Fluvial Sedimentary Structures
Biogenic Structures

UNIT 3

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

UNIT 3

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

UNIT 3

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Unit III: Sedimentary Facies

Unit III: Sedimentary Facies

• Sedimentary Facies: Lithology or group of lithologies

Three geomorphological zones can be

In the erosional zone the

 Rivers are an important feature of most landscapes, acting as the

 River systems can also be depositional, accumulating sediment within

 Overbank deposition consists mainly of finer-grained sediment, and

Rivers in the depositional tract

(a) How straight or sinuous the

(b) the presence or absence of

A straight channel without bars is

A braided river contains mid-

 Sandy braided river deposits

 In plan view the thalweg in a river

 In any part of the river the bank

 Meanders develop by the erosion

The deposits of a meander bend

A schematic graphic sedimentary log of

 lithologies – conglomerate, sandstone and mudstone

You might also like