Sedimentology And Stratigraphy

The record of tectonic and climatic processes through geological time is held within sedimentary rocks along with evidence for the evolution of life on Earth. The study of the formation, transport and deposition of material to form sedimentary rocks and the temporal and spatial relationships between strata is a fundamental part of the Earth sciences. Sedimentology and Stratigraphy aims to provide students who are starting to study geology at university level with an introduction to the continuum of scales of observation and interpretation which lie between the formation of a grain of sand and a fill of a sedimentary basin. In the first section of this book, the author treats the formation and transport of sediment in a largely descriptive manner and introduces the concepts of environments and fades. The full spectrum of continental and marine sedimentary environments is then covered in a series of chapters which consider the depositional processes and products which may be considered to be characteristic for each setting. In the final part, the principles of stratigraphy and interpretation of the fill of sedimentary basins are considered. The text and illustrations are designed to be accessible to those completely new to the subject whilst at the same time the book covers the concepts and terminology used in more advanced work.