Geol 5, Lab #4: Ancient Sedimentary Environments

Question 1, page 32

A graywacke sandstone

Question 2, page 32

The "X" should be located at the foot of the continental slope, in what we call the continental rise

Figure 4.9, page 35

Alluvial fans
The sediment in the alluvial fans is immature. It is in general not sorted (gravel and sand of all sizes can be found together), not very well rounded (it is common to find angular to-sub-angular to sub-rounded grains) and compositionally immature (presence of many rock fragments with composition very similar to that of the source rock. Quartz is not a dominant component of this sediment.
Other non-marine environments in this image include a playa lake, with visible fine-grained (silt and clay) and evaporitic (mostly halite) sediment

Figure 4.10, page 36

The direction of the tidal current is from (upper) left to (lower) right. You can tell by observing the asymmetric pattern of the ripples: gentle slope to the left vs. steep slope to the right
These ripples are asymmetrical, the two sides have different slope angle.

Figure 4.11, page 36

Micrite
Horizontal, or plane bedding
The plant roots would cause loss of bedding. They would be agents of bioturbation

Figure 4.12, page 37

Marine. Associations of cherts and shale are typically pelagic.
This would be a deep marine environment. In shallow waters there would be plenty of clastic, or terrigenous, material from continents, or presence of shallow-water limestones.
The interbeds of shale suggest interruption of siliceous ooze deposition. This can be caused by variations in the productivity/dissolution/dilution rates in the ocean, which can in turn be originated by plate tectonics, climate change, sea level change, surface and deep ocean current circulation, etc.

Figure 4.13, page 37

Figure 4.14, page 38

Tabular-planar cross-bedding (compare to figure 4.4 A, page 32)
This sandstone was deposited in a nonmarine (terrestrial) environment, by aeolian processes (again, check the figure quoted above and text on page 30)

Figure 4.15, page 38

Symmetrical ripples
A relatively shallow water basin where currents were moving back and forth (waves at the beach)

Figure 4.16, page 38

Horizontal bedding
This sandstone was deposited in a nonmarine environment because it is a lens-shaped (fluvial) channel fill

Figure 4.17, page 39

Horizontal, or plane bedding
In a marine environment, because dolomite forms normally as alteration of calcite which, in layers like these, can only form in a marine environment

Figure 4.18, page 39

Cross-bedding (barely visible; notice faint bedding, at about 45°, in the upper left part of the picture)
In a fluvial environment, possibly an alluvial fan. Wind cannot pick up and move gravel-size clasts

Figure 4.19, page 40

Likely, breaks in sedimentation
Possibly a massive density flow, or simply continuous sedimentation without breaks

Figure 4.20, page 40

a
Graded bedding
This sandstone was deposited in a marine environment. In particular, it was a deep marine environment, and precisely in the continental rise at the foot of the slope. Graded bedding indicates it is a turbidite, which forms as a consequence of a density flow along the slope of a continent.