Sedimentology

Sampling from an aqueous suspension for a grain size analysis at the Naval Oceanographic Office of the US Navy

The Sedimentology is the geoscience particular science of the origin, composition and distribution of loose sediments and sedimentary rocks (for. Example, sand or limestone) and their relevant properties (eg. B. porosity ).

Sedimentologists examine the processes and conditions of sediment formation (rock destruction and transport) and the subsequent diagenesis (rock formation). It comes to the rock formation and the lateral (planar) differences ( facies ) and vertical (time) differences (in undisturbed storage, the lower layers Liegendes earlier than the upper layers ( slope end ): storage control of Nicolaus steno ) to capture, understand and finally be able to predict. An important approach is to draw conclusions from the formation conditions of certain current types of sediment on deposit environments and climatic conditions in the geological past ( paleoclimatology ) (principle of actualism ); in this way geological processes can be reconstructed.

Sediment is understood to be loose material ( geologically speaking of " loose rock ") that has been mobilized through physical or chemical weathering , transported through water, air or ice and then deposited (" sedimented ") or chemically / biochemically precipitated . Remains of living things can also be embedded in the sediment. The processes involved are highly dependent on the area of ​​the deposit ( ranging from high mountains to the deep sea ) and the climate . If the loose material is solidified by various physical and chemical processes, known as diagenesis, sedimentary rocks (solid rock) are created and parts of the body of dead living beings can become fossils . The formation of a sediment takes place in a relatively short period of time, on the other hand, diagenetic processes can record and change the rock over and over again - often in a highly variable sequence - during the following sections of the earth's history up to the present. While the formation processes take place on or near the earth's surface, diagenetic processes can take place down to depths of several thousand meters.

See also

• Stratigraphy (geology)

Web links

Wiktionary: Sedimentology  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Commons : Sedimentology  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Animations of the formation of sediments

• Animation sediments: Transgression - Regression (English-language explanations; Flash ; 54 kB)
• Animation sediments (2) (English-language explanations; Flash ; 56 kB)