Sedimentary Rocks—The Archives of Earth History

Chapter 6

• How do we know whether sedimentary rocks were deposited on – continents—river floodplains or desert sand dunes?– at the water's edge?– in the sea?

• Sedimentary rocks– preserve evidence of surface depositional processes– and many contain fossils– These things give clues to the depositional

environment• Depositional environments are specific areas

– or environments where sediment is deposited

History from Sedimentary Rocks

• Delicate Arch– is one of several arches,

pillars, and spires in – Arches National Park – in the Jurassic-aged Entrada

Sandstone – which were formed by

weathering and erosion– along large fractures called

joints

Arches National Park, Utah

• Sedimentary rocks– preserve evidence – of the physical, chemical and biological processes – that formed them

• Some sedimentary rocks are resources, or contain resources– petroleum– natural gas– coal– phosphorus

Sedimentary Rocks

• For instance, phosphorous – from phosphorous-rich sedimentary rocks – is used in

• fertilizers• animal-feed supplements• metallurgy• matches• ceramics• preserved foods

Phosphorous

• Observation and data gathering– by visiting rock exposures (outcrops)– and carefully examining

• textures• composition• fossils (if present)• thickness• relationships to other rocks

• Preliminary interpretations in the field may be made– For example:

• red rocks may have been deposited on land• whereas greenish rocks are more typical of marine

deposits• (Caution: Exceptions are numerous!)

Investigating Sedimentary Rocks

• More careful study of the rocks is needed:– microscopic examination– chemical analyses– fossil identification– interpretation of vertical and lateral facies

relationships– comparison with present-day sediments

• When data have been analyzed, geologists make an environmental interpretation

Investigating Sedimentary Rocks

• Very common minerals in detrital rocks:– quartz, feldspars, and clay minerals

• Detrital rock composition tells – about source rocks, – not transport and deposition

• Quartz sand may have been deposited– in a river system– on a beach or– in sand dunes

Composition of Detrital Rocks

• Composition of chemical sedimentary rocks – is more useful in revealing environmental

information• Limestone is deposited in warm, shallow seas

– although a small amount also originates in lakes• Evaporites such as rock salt and rock gypsum

– indicate arid environments – where evaporation rates were high

Composition of Chemical Sedimentary Rocks

• Detrital grain size gives some indication – of the energy conditions – during transport and deposition

• High-energy processes – such as swift-flowing streams and waves – are needed to transport gravel

• Conglomerate must have been deposited – in areas where these processes prevail

• Sand transport also requires high-energy transport

• Silt and clay are transported – by weak currents and accumulate – only under low-energy conditions – as in lakes and lagoons

Grain Size

• Texture refers to the size, distribution, shape, and arrangement of clasts

• Sorting and rounding are two textural features – of detrital sedimentary rocks – that aid in determining depositional processes

• Rounding is the degree to which – detrital particles have their sharp corners and edges – warn away by abrasion

• Gravel in transport is rounded very quickly – as the particles collide with one another

• Smaller particles in suspension – are usually not as rounded

Sorting and Rounding

• All of these stones are rounded– and have lost their sharp

edges• The stone in the upper

left is also spherical

Rounding

• Sorting refers to the variation – in size of particles making up sediment or sedimentary rocks

• If the size range is not very great, – the sediment or rock is well sorted

• If they have a wide range of sizes, – they are poorly sorted

• Wind has a limited ability to transport sediment – But glaciers can carry any size particles– Glacial deposits are poorly sorted, wind deposits are well-

sorted

Sorting

• A deposit – of well rounded – moderately sorted

gravel

Rounding and Sorting

• Versus a deposit – of angular– poorly sorted gravel

• Sedimentary structures are – features that formed at the time of deposition or

shortly thereafter – and are manifestations of the physical and

biological processes – that operated in depositional environments

• Structures – seen in present-day environments – or produced in experiments – help provide information – about depositional environments of rocks – with similar structures

Sedimentary Structures

• Sedimentary rocks generally have bedding or stratification

Bedding

– Individual layers less than 1 cm thick are laminations

• common in mudrocks

– Beds are thicker than 1 cm

• common in rocks with coarser grains

• Some beds show an upward gradual decrease in grain size, known as graded bedding

Graded Bedding

• Graded bedding is common in turbidity current deposits– which form when

sediment-water mixtures flow along the seafloor

– As they slow, – the largest particles

settle out, – then smaller ones

• Cross-bedding forms when layers come to rest – at an angle to the surface – upon which they accumulate– as on the downwind side of a sand dune

• Cross-beds result from transport – by either water or wind

• The beds are inclined or dip downward – in the direction of the prevailing current

• They indicate direction of the flow of ancient currents

Cross-Bedding

• Individual beds are deposited at an angle

Cross-Bedding

• Horizontal bedding and cross-bedding in Upper Cambrian St. Peter Sandstone in Wisconsin

• Small-scale alternating ridges and troughs – known as ripple marks are common – on bedding planes, especially in sandstone

• Current ripple marks – formed from wind or water flow– and have asymmetry – indicating the original flow direction

• Wave-formed ripple marks – result from the to-and-fro motion of waves– and tend to be symmetrical

Ripple Marks

• Ripples with an asymmetrical shape

• The photo shows current ripples – that formed in a

small stream channel – with flow from right

to left

Current Ripple Marks

• As the waves wash back and forth, – symmetrical

ripples form• The photo

shows wave-formed ripple marks – in shallow

seawater

Wave-Formed Ripples

• When clay-rich sediments dry, they shrink – and crack into polygonal patterns – bounded by fractures called mud cracks

• Mud cracks require wetting and drying to form,

Mud Cracks

– as along a lakeshore

– or a river flood plain

– or where mud is exposed at low tide along a seashore

• Mud cracks in ancient rocks – in Glacier

National Park, Montana

• Mud cracks can fill in– with sediment – when they are

preserved– as seen here

Ancient Mud Cracks

• Biogenic sedimentary structures include– tracks– burrows– trails

• called trace fossils• Extensive burrowing by organisms

– is called bioturbation– and may alter sediments so thoroughly – that other structures are disrupted or destroyed

Biogenic Sedimentary Structures

• U-shaped burrows

Bioturbation

• Vertical burrows

Bioturbation

• Vertical, dark-colored areas in this rock are sediment-filled burrows

• Sedimentary structures are important – for environmental analyses– but no single structure is unique to a specific

environment• Example:

– Current ripples are found• in stream channels• in tidal channels

• Environmental determinations – are usually successful with– associations of groups of sedimentary structures– taken along with other sedimentary rock properties

No Single Structure Is Unique

• Sedimentary structures and fossils– allow geologists to resolve the

history of an area– when rocks have been deformed

• Here, the mudcrack “V” opens toward younger strata,– and shape of current ripple marks

• Indicate that the youngest layer is lower right

Sedimentary Structures

• The three-dimensional shape or geometry – of a sedimentary rock body – may be helpful in environmental analyses– but it must be used with caution – because the same geometry may be found – in more than one environment.– Geometry can be modified by sediment compaction – during lithification – and by erosion and deformation

• Nevertheless, it is useful in conjunction – with other features

Geometry of Sedimentary Rocks

• Some of the most extensive sedimentary rocks – in the geologic record result from – marine transgressions and regressions

• The rocks commonly cover – hundreds or thousands of square kilometers – but are perhaps only – a few tens to hundreds of meters thick

• Their thickness is small compared – to their length and width

• Thus, they are said to have – blanket or sheet geometry

Blanket or Sheet Geometry

• Some sand deposits have an elongate or shoestring geometry– especially those deposited in

• stream channels • or barrier islands

Elongate or Shoestring Geometry

• Delta deposits tend to be lens shaped – when viewed in cross profile or long profile– but lobate when observed from above

• Buried reefs are irregular – but many are long and narrow – or rather circular

Other Geometries

• Fossils– are the remains or traces of prehistoric organisms– can be used to establish biostratigraphic units– are important constituents of rocks, sometimes

making up the entire rock– are important for determining depositional

environments• Some rocks, especially limestones, are

composed – largely of shells of marine-dwelling animals– or even the droppings of these organisms

Fossils—The Biologic Content of Sedimentary Rocks

• This variety of limestone, – known as

coquina, – is made entirely

of shell fragments

Fossils Are Constituents of Sedimentary Rocks

• Did the organisms in question live where they were buried?

• Or where their remains or fossils transported there?

• Example:– Fossil dinosaurs usually indicate deposition – in a land environment such as a river floodplain– But if their bones are found in rocks with – clams, corals and sea lilies, – we assume a carcass was washed out to sea

Fossils in Environmental Analyses

• What kind of habitat did the organisms originally occupy?

• Studies of a fossil’s structure – and its living relatives, if any, – help environmental analysis

• For example: clams with heavy, thick shells – typically live in shallow turbulent water– whereas those with thin shells – are found in low-energy environments

• Most corals live in warm, clear, – shallow marine environments where – symbiotic bacteria can carry out photosynthesis

Environmental Analyses

• Microfossils are particularly useful – because many individuals can be recovered – from small rock samples

• In oil-drilling operations, small rock chips – called well cuttings are brought to the surface

• These cuttings rarely – contain complete fossils of large organisms, – but they might have thousands of microfossils– that aid in relative dating and environmental analyses

Microfossils

• Trace fossils, too, may be characteristic of particular environments

• Trace fossils, of course, are not transported from their original place of origin

Trace Fossils In Place

• A depositional environment – is anywhere sediment accumulates– especially a particular area – where a distinctive kind of deposit originates – from physical, chemical, and biological processes

• Three broad areas of deposition include– continental– transitional– marine– each of which has several specific environments

Depositional Environments

Depositional EnvironmentsContinental environments

Transitional environments

Marine environments

• Deposition on continents (on land) might take place in – fluvial systems – rivers and streams– deserts– areas covered by and adjacent to glaciers

• Deposits in each of these environments – possess combinations of features – that allow us to differentiate among them

Continental Environments

• Fluvial refers to river and stream activity – and to their deposits

• Fluvial deposits accumulate in either of two types of systems– Braided stream system

• with multiple broad, shallow channels • in which mostly sheets of gravel • and cross-bedded sand are deposited• mud is nearly absent

Fluvial

• The deposits of braided streams are mostly – gravel and cross-bedded sand bodies

• Mud is nearly absent

Braided Stream

• Braided stream deposits consist of

• gravel– cross-bedded sand– but mud is rare or

absent

Braided Stream Deposits

• The other type of system is a meandering stream– with winding channels– mostly fine-grained sediments on floodplains– cross-bedded sand bodies with shoestring

geometries– point-bar deposits consisting of a sand body – overlying an erosion surface – that developed on the convex side of a meander

loop

Fluvial Systems

• Meandering stream deposits

Meandering Stream

– are mostly fine-grained floodplain – sediments with subordinate sand bodies

• In meandering stream deposits,– fine-grained floodplain

sediment is common– with subordinate sand

bodies

Meandering Stream Deposits

• Desert environments contain an association of features found in – sand dune deposits, – alluvial fan deposits,– and playa lake deposits

• Windblown dunes are typically composed – of well-sorted, well-rounded sand – with cross-beds meters to tens of meters high– land-dwelling plants and animals make up any

fossils

Desert Environments

• Alluvial fans form best along the margins of desert basins – where streams and debris flows – discharge from mountains onto a valley floor – They form a triangular (fan-shaped) deposit – of sand and gravel

• The more central part of a desert basin – might be the site of a temporary lake, a playa lake, – in which laminated mud and evaporites accumulate

Alluvial Fans and Playa Lakes

• Huge alluvial fans formed at the base of the Panamint Mountains, Death Valley

• Sand dunes also are present in Death Valley

Associations in Desert Basin

• This playa lake near Fallon, Nevada– has deposits of rock

salt forming

Playa Lake

• All sediments deposited in – glacial environments are collectively called drift

• Till is poorly sorted, nonstratified drift – deposited directly by glacial ice– mostly in ridge-like deposits called moraines

• Outwash is sand and gravel deposited – by braided streams issuing from melting glaciers

• The association of these deposits along with – scratched (striated) and polished bedrock – is generally sufficient to conclude – that glaciers were involved

Glacial Environments

• Moraines and poorly sorted till

Moraines and Till

• Glacial lake deposits show – alternating dark and light laminations

• Each dark-light couplet is a varve, – representing one year’s accumulation of sediment– light layers accumulate in spring and summer– dark layers in winter

Glacial Varves

• Dropstones – liberated from

icebergs – may also be

present

• Transitional environments include those – with both marine and continental processes

• Example:– Deposition where a river or stream (fluvial system) – enters the sea – yields a body of sediment called a delta – with deposits modified by marine processes,

especially waves and tides• Transitional environments include

– deltas– barrier islands and lagoons– tidal flats

Transitional Environments

Transitional Environments

Transitional environments

Simple Deltas

– topset beds– foreset beds– bottomset

beds

• The simplest deltas are those in lakes. They consist of

– As the delta builds outward, it progrades

– and forms a vertical sequence of rocks – that becomes coarser-grained from the bottom to top– The bottomset beds may contain marine (or lake) fossils, – whereas the topset beds contain land fossils

• Marine deltas rarely conform precisely – to this simple threefold division because – they are strongly influenced – by one or more modifying processes

• When fluvial processes prevail – a stream/river-dominated delta results

• Strong wave action – produces a wave dominated delta

• Tidal influences – result in tide-dominated deltas

Marine Deltas

• Stream/river-dominated deltas – have long

distributary channels

– extending far seaward

– Mississippi River delta

Stream/River-Dominated Deltas

• Wave-dominated deltas – such as the Nile

Delta of Egypt– also have

distributary channels

– but their seaward margin

– is modified by wave action

Wave-Dominated Deltas

• Tide-Dominated Deltas, – such as the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta

Tide-Dominated Deltas

– have tidal sand bodies

– along the direction of tidal flow

• On broad continental margins – with abundant sand, long barrier islands lie offshore – separated from the mainland by a lagoon

• Barrier islands are common along the Gulf – and Atlantic Coasts of the United States

• Many ancient deposits formed in this environment

• Subenvironments of a barrier island complex: – beach sand grading offshore into finer deposits– dune sands contain shell fragments

• not found in desert dunes– fine-grained lagoon deposits

• with marine fossils and bioturbation

Barrier Islands

• Subenvironments of a barrier island complex

Barrier Island Complex

• Tidal flats are present – where part of the shoreline is periodically covered – by seawater at high tide and then exposed at low tide

• Many tidal flats build or prograde seaward – and yield a sequence of rocks grading upward – from sand to mud

• One of their most distinctive features – is herringbone cross-bedding– or sets of cross-beds that dip in opposite directions

Tidal Flats

• Tidal-flat deposits showing a prograding shoreline– Notice the distinctive cross-beds – that dip in opposite directions

Tidal Flats

• Marine environments include– continental shelf– continental slope– continental rise– deep-seafloor

• Much of the detritus eroded from continents – is eventually deposited in marine environments

• but other sediments – are found here as well

Marine Environments

Marine Environments

Marine environments

• The gently sloping area adjacent to a continent – is a continental shelf

• It consists of a high-energy inner part that is – periodically stirred up by waves and tidal currents

• Its sediment is mostly sand, – shaped into large cross-bedded dunes

• Bedding planes are commonly marked – by wave-formed ripple marks

• Marine fossils and bioturbation are typical

Detrital Marine Environments

• The low-energy part of the shelf – has mostly mud with marine fossils, – and interfingers with inner-shelf sand

• Much sediment derived from the continents – crosses the continental shelf – and is funneled into deeper water – through submarine canyons

• It eventually comes to rest – on the continental slope and continental rise – as a series of overlapping submarine fans

Slope and Rise

• Once sediment passes the outer margin – of the self, the shelf-slope break, – turbidity currents transport it

• So sands with graded bedding are common• as well as mud that settled from seawater

Slope and Rise

• Shelf, slope and rise environments• The main avenues of sediment transport

– across the shelf are submarine canyons

Detrital Marine Environments

Turbidity currents carry sediment to the submarine fans

Sand with graded bedding and mud settled from seawater

• Beyond the continental rise, the seafloor is– nearly completely covered by fine-grained deposits

• pelagic clay and ooze– with no sediment at all

• near mid-ocean ridges– sand and gravel are notably absent

• The main sources of sediment are– dust from continents or oceanic islands– volcanic ash– shells of microorganisms that dwelled in surface

waters of the ocean

Deep Sea

• Types of sediment are– pelagic clay,

• which covers most of the deeper parts • of the seafloor

– calcareous (CaCO3) and siliceous (SiO2) oozes • made up of microscopic shells

Deep Sea

• Sediments on the deep seafloor consist of– calcareous foraminifera and coccolithophores– siliceous radiolarians and diatoms

Deep Sea

• Carbonate rocks are – limestone, which is composed of calcite– dolostone, which is composed of dolomite

• most dolostone is altered limestone• Limestone is similar to detrital rock in some

ways– Many limestones are made up of

• gravel-sized grains • sand-sized grains• microcrystalline carbonate mud called micrite

– but the grains are all calcite – and are formed in the environment of deposition, – instead of being transported there

Carbonate Environments

• Some limestone form in lakes, – but most limestone by is deposited – in warm shallow seas– on carbonate shelves and– on carbonate platforms rising from oceanic depths

• Deposition occurs where – little detrital sediment, especially mud, is present

• Carbonate barriers form in high-energy areas and may be – reefs – banks of skeletal particles – accumulations of spherical carbonate grains known

as ooids • which make up the grains in oolitic limestone

Limestone Environments

• Deposition of limestone is taking place in southern Florida and the Persian Gulf

Carbonate Shelf

• Reef rock tends to be – structureless– composed of skeletons of corals, mollusks, sponges

and other organisms• Carbonate banks are made up of

– layers with horizontal beds– cross-beds– wave-formed ripple marks

• Lagoons tend to have– micrite– with marine fossils – bioturbation

Carbonate Subenvironments

• Evaporites consist of – rock salt– rock gypsum

• They are found in environments such as– playa lakes– saline lakes– but most of the extensive deposits formed in the

seas• Evaporites are not nearly as common

– as sandstone, mudrocks and limestone, – but can be abundant locally

Evaporite Environments

• Large evaporite deposits– lie beneath the Mediterranean Seafloor

• more than 2 km thick – in western Canada, Michigan, Ohio, New York, – and several Gulf Coast states

• How some of these deposits originated – is controversial, but geologists agree – that high evaporation rates of seawater – caused minerals to precipitate from solution

• Coastal environments in arid regions – such as the present-day Persian Gulf – meet the requirements

Evaporites

• Jurassic-aged Navajo Sandstone – of the Southwestern United states – has all the features of wind-blown sand dunes:

• the sandstone is mostly well-sorted, well-rounded quartz • measuring 0.2 to 0.5 mm in diameter• tracks of land-dwelling animals, • including dinosaurs, are present• cross-beds up to 30 m high have current ripple marks • like those produced on large dunes by wind today• cross-beds dip generally southwest • indicating a northeast prevailing wind

Interpreting Depositional Environments

Interpreting Depositional Environments

• Jurassic-aged Navajo Sandstone

• Lower Silurian strata exposed in New Jersey and Pennsylvania– We can use combined features of sedimentary

rocks– and comparisons with present-day deposits

• Conclusion: – Sediments were deposited in braided streams– that flowed from east to west

Interpreting Depositional Environments

• Probable lateral relationships for the Green Pond Conglomerate

Interpreting Depositional Environments

• Geologists have also evaluated – vertical facies relationships– rock types– sedimentary structures– fossils

• in Ordovician rocks in Arkansas• and conclude they formed as transgressive

shelf carbonate deposits

Interpreting Depositional Environments

• Vertical stratigraphic relationships and inferred environments of deposition

• The trend was trangressive although several regressions occurred

Interpreting Depositional Environments

• Paleogeography deals with – Earth’s geography of the past

• Using interpretations – of depositional environment

• we can attempt to reconstruct – what Earth’s geography was like

• For example, – the Navajo Sandstone shows that a vast desert – was present in what is now the southwest – during the Jurassic Period

• and from Late Precambrian to Middle Cambrian – the shoreline migrated inland from east and west – during a marine transgression– in North America

Paleogeography

• Detailed studies of various rocks – in several western states – allow us to determine – with some accuracy – how the area appeared – during the Late Cretaceous

• A broad coastal plain – sloped gently eastward – from a mountainous region – to the sea

Paleogeography

• Later, vast lakes, – river floodplains, alluvial fans – covered much of this area – and the sea had withdrawn

from the continent

Paleogeography

Summary• The physical and biological features

– of sedimentary rocks reveal something about – the depositional processes that form them

• Environmental analysis – of sedimentary rocks uses – mainly sedimentary structures and fossils – but also textures, rock body geometry– and even composition

• Geologists recognize – three primary depositional areas– continental, transitional, and marine– each with several specific environments

Summary• Fluvial systems might be braided or

meandering – Braided streams deposit mostly sand and gravel, – whereas deposits of meandering streams are

mostly mud and subordinate sand bodies with shoestring geometry

• An association of alluvial fan, sand dune, – and playa lake deposits – is typical of desert depositional environments

• Glacial deposits consist mostly of till – in moraines and outwash

Summary• The simplest deltas, those in lakes,

– consist of a three-part sequence of rocks – grading from finest at the base, – upward to coarser-grained rocks

• Marine deltas dominated by – fluvial processes, waves, or tides – are much larger and more complex

• A barrier island system includes beach, – dune, and lagoon subenvironments, – each characterized a unique association – of rocks, sedimentary structures, and fossils

Summary• Inner shelf deposits are mostly sand,

– whereas those of the outer shelf are mostly mud; – both have marine fossils and bioturbation

• Much of the sediment from land – crosses the shelves and is deposited – on the continental slope and rise as submarine fans

• Either pelagic clay or oozes – derived from the shells of– microscopic floating organisms– cover most of the deep seafloor

Summary• Most limestone originates in shallow,

– warm seas where little detrital mud is present • Carbonate rocks (just as detrital rocks)

– may possess cross-beds, ripple marks, – mud cracks, and fossils – that provide information – about depositional processes

• Evaporites form in several environments, – but the most extensive ones were deposited– in marine environments

• In all cases, evaporites formed – in arid regions with high evaporation rates

Summary

• With information from sedimentary rocks, – as well as other rocks, – geologists determine the past distribution – of Earth's surface features