Sedimentologi

Kamal Roslan Mohamed

MARINE REALM:
MORPHOLOGY &
PROCESSES
INTRODUCTION

The oceans and seas of the world cover almost three-quarters of the surface
of the planet and are very important areas of sediment accumulation.

There is considerable variety in the sedimentation that occurs in the marine

realm, but there are a number of physical, chemical and biological processes
that are common to many of the marine environments.

Physical processes include the formation of currents driven by winds, water

density, temperate and salinity variations and tidal forces: these have a
strong effect on the transport and deposition of sediment in the seas.

Chemical reactions in seawater lead to the formation of new minerals and

the modification of detrital sediment.

The seas also team with life: long before there was life on land organisms
evolved in the marine realm and continue to occupy many habitats within the
waters and on the sea floor.
DIVISIONS OF THE MARINE REALM

The bathymetry, the shape and depth of the sea floor, is fundamentally
determined by the plate tectonic processes that create ocean basins by
sea-floor spreading.

The spreading ridges are

areas of young, hot basaltic
crust that is relatively
buoyant and typically around
2500m below sea level.
Away from the ridges the
water depth increases as the
older crust cools and
subsides, and most of the
ocean floor is between A cross-section from the continental shelf through the
continental slope and rise down to the abyssal plain.
about 4000 and 5000m
below sea level.
DIVISIONS OF THE MARINE REALM

At the ocean margins the transition from ocean crust to continental crust
underlies the continental rise and the continental slope, which are the
lower and upper parts of the bathymetric profile from the deep ocean
to the shelf.
The angle of the continental
slope is relatively steep,
usually between about 2
and 7, while the continental
rise is a lower angle slope
down to the edge of the
abyssal plain.

The continental shelf itself

A cross-section from the continental shelf through the
is underlain by continental continental slope and rise down to the abyssal plain.
crust, and the junction
between the shelf and the
slope usually occurs at about
200m below sea level at
present-day margins
INTRODUCTION

The shelf area, down to

200m water depth, is called
the neritic zone, the
bathyal zone corresponds
to the continental slope
and extends from 200m to
2000m water depth, while
the abyssal zone is the
ocean floor below 2000 m. Depth-related divisions of the marine realm:
(a) broad divisions are defined by water depth;
(b) the shelf is described in terms of the depth to which
different processes interact with the sea floor, and the
actual depths vary according to the characteristics of
the shelf.
INTRODUCTION

The shelf (neritic

environment) can be
usefully further divided into
depth-controlled zones
according to tidal
processes, waves and
storms affect the shelf.

The foreshore is the region Depth-related divisions of the marine realm:

between mean high water (a) broad divisions are defined by water depth;
(b) the shelf is described in terms of the depth to which
and mean low water marks different processes interact with the sea floor, and the
of the tides actual depths vary according to the characteristics of
the shelf.
The shoreface is defined as the region of the shelf between the low-tide
mark and the depth to which waves normally affect the sea bottom, and this is
the fair weather wave base.
INTRODUCTION

This deeper shelf area

between the fair weather
and storm wave bases is
called the offshore-
transition zone.

The offshore zone is the

region below storm wave
base and extends out to the
shelfedge break at around
200m depth.
Depth-related divisions of the marine realm:
(a) broad divisions are defined by water depth;
(b) the shelf is described in terms of the depth to which
different processes interact with the sea floor, and the
actual depths vary according to the characteristics of
the shelf.
TIDES

The Moon exerts a gravitational

force on the Earth and although
ocean water is strongly attracted
gravitationally to the Earth, it also
experiences a small gravitational
attraction from the Moon.
The gravitational force of the Sun and Moon act
The water that is closest to the
on the Earth and on anything on the surface,
Moon experiences the largest including the water masses in oceans.
gravitational attraction and this
creates a bulge of water, a tidal
bulge, on that side of the Earth.

The bulge on the opposite side,

facing away from the Moon, can be
thought of as being the result of the
Earth being pulled away from that
water mass by the gravitational
force of the Moon.
TIDES

During the diurnal tidal cycle the direction of flow reverses from ebb
(offshore) to flood (onshore). The current velocity also varies from
peaks at the mid points of ebb and flood flow, reducing to zero at
high and low tide slack water before accelerating again.
Sedimentary structures generated by tidal currents

An analysis of current directions

recorded by cross-bedding in sands
deposited by tidal currents may show
a bimodal (two main directions of
flow) and bipolar (two opposite
directions of flow) pattern.

bipolar cross-stratification may be

seen in a single ertical section
produced by alternating directions of
migration of ripples or dunes. This is Herringbone cross-stratification in
sandstone beds (width of view 1.5 m).
known as herringbone cross-
stratification
Sedimentary structures generated by tidal currents

At the time of high or low tide when the

current is changing direction there is a
short period when there is no flow. When
the water is relatively still some of the
suspended load may be deposited as a
thin layer of mud.

When the current becomes stronger during

the next tide, the mud layer is not
necessarily removed because the clay-rich
sediment is cohesive and this makes it
resistant to erosion.
Mud drapes formed in this way can be
seen in wave and current ripple laminated
sands deposited in shallow water in places
such as tidal mud flats.
Features that indicate tidal influence of
transport and deposition:
(a) herringbone cross-stratification;
(b) mud drapes on cross-bedding
formed during the slack water
stages of tidal cycles;
(c) reactivation surfaces formed by
erosion of part of a bedform when
a current is reversed.
Sedimentary structures generated by tidal currents

Cross-bedded sandstone in sets 35 cm thick

with the surfaces of individual cross-beds
picked out by thin layers of mud. Mud drapes
on cross-beds are interpreted as forming
during slack water stages in the tidal cycle.
WAVE AND STORM PROCESSES

The depth to which surface waves affect a water body is referred to as

the wave base and on continental shelves two levels can be
distinguished.

The fair weather wave base is the depth to which there is wave-
influenced motion under normal weather conditions.

The storm wave base is the depth waves reach when the surface
waves have a higher energy due to stronger winds driving them.

Below the storm wave base the sea bed is not normally affected by
surface waves.
MARINE FOSSILS

Shelves are areas of oxygenated waters

periodically swept by currents to bring in
nutrients.

As such they are habitable environments for

many organisms that may live swimming in
water (planktonic) or on the sea floor (benthic),
either on the surface or within the sediment.

Plants and animals living in the marine realm

contribute detritus, modify other sediments and
create their own environments.

Modern shelf environments team with life and it

is rare to find an ancient shelf deposit that
does not contain some evidence for the
organisms that lived in the seas at the time.
TRACE FOSSILS

Although body fossils provide physical evidence of an

organism having lived in the past, trace fossils are evidence
of the activity of an organism.

Traces include tracks of walking animals, trails of worms,

burrows of molluscs and crustaceans, and are collectively
called ichnofauna.
TRACE FOSSILS

Trace fossils are usually

found on or within sediment
that was unconsolidated but
with sufficient strength to
retain the shape of the
animals trace.

Contrasts in sediment type

between a burrow and the
host sediment are a
considerable aid to
recognition.
The characteristics of trace fossils are influenced by the
A distinction is made nature of the substrate. Boring organisms cut sharp-
sided traces into solid rock or cemented sea floors
between burrows formed in
(hardgrounds). Semiconsolidated surfaces
soft sediment and borings (firmgrounds) result in well-defined burrows.
made by organisms into hard
substrate.
TRACE FOSSILS

The different forms of trace fossils are given names similar to

those used in the classification of animals and body fossils:
so, for example, smaller vertical tubes in sands are called
Skolithos and a crawling trail produced by a multilimbed
organism is known as Cruziana.
TRACE FOSSILS

Assemblages of trace fossil forms and their relationship to the major divisions
of the marine realm. The assemblages are named after characteristic
ichnofauna and the type ichnofossil does not need to be present in the
assemblage.
 TRACE FOSSILS

Examples of common trace fossils:

(a) bird footprint;
(b) bivalve borings into rock;
(c) vertical burrows in sandstone
(Skolithos);
(d) large crustacean burrow
(Ophiomorpha);
(e) complex burrows
(Thalassanoides);
(f) Zoophycos;
(g) Palaeodictyon;
(h) Helmenthoides.
MARINE ENVIRONMENTS: SUMMARY

The physical processes of tides, waves and storms in the marine realm
define regions bounded by water depth changes.

The beach foreshore is the highest energy depositional environment where

waves break and tides regularly expose and cover the sea bed. At this
interface between the land and sea storms can periodically inundate low-
lying coastal plains with seawater.

Across the submerged shelf, waves, storms and tidal currents affect the sea
bed to different depths, varying according to the range of the tides, the fetch
of the waves and the intensity of the storms.

Sedimentary structures can be used as indicators of the effects of tidal

currents, waves in shallow water and storms in the offshore transition zone.

Further clues about the environment of deposition are available from body
fossils and trace fossils found in shelf sediments.
SEKIAN