BY: TESFAYE K.

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FACIES CONCEPTS
• Depositional systems are sets of depositional environments
linked by the process of sediment dispersal.
• Some of the large scale stratigraphic responses to tectonic
and eustatic factors.
• A hierarchy of depositional products based on scale exists
from facies/beds to assemblages of facies in parasequences,
to depositional systems and finally depositional sequences.
• Depositional systems and their sedimentary products
therefore reflect the integration of autogenic and allogenic
controls.
• Sedimentary basins with different driving mechanisms
consequently have distinctive assemblages of depositional
systems and facies. 2
 Cont’d…
• A facies model is an interpretive device used to
explain the association of facies.
• Facies models generally achieve this
explanatory function by linking observations on
modern processes and ancient deposits into a
coherent synthesis.
• It should incorporate large volumes of data into
a form which generalizes sedimentary processes.
• Most facies models depend on studies of
modern environments: it is therefore necessary to
assume that the present is an accurate reflection
of the past. 3
Lithostratigraphy
• Is the correlation of similar lithology, which are commonly
diachronous and have no time significant.
• Lithostratigraphy which correlates rocks of similar type.

• A lithostratigraphic correlation would correlate conglomerate

units 1 and 2, sandstone units 3, 4 and 5, and mudstone units 6, 7
and 8. A sequence stratigraphic correlation would correlate time
lines A-A’, B-B’ ’ and C-C’. 4
 Cont’d…
• Lithostratigraphic units are bodies of sedimentary,
extrusive igneous, metasedimentary, or metamorphic rock
distinguished on the basis of lithologic characteristics.
• A lithostratigraphic unit generally conforms to the law
of superposition, younger rocks lie above older rocks.
• Lithostratigraphic units are also commonly stratified and
tabular in form.
• They are recognized and defined on the basis of
observable rock characteristics.
• Boundaries between different units may be placed at
clearly identifiable or distinguished contacts or may be
drawn arbitrarily within a zone of gradation.
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 Cont’d…
• Lithostratigraphic units are defined strictly on the basis of lithic
criteria as determined by descriptions of actual rock materials.
Lithostratigraphic units
• There is a hierarchical framework of terms used for
lithostratigraphic units, and from largest to smallest these are:
‘Supergroup’, ‘Group’, ‘Formation’, ‘Member’ and ‘Bed’.
Formation: is a lithologically distinctive stratigraphic unit that is
large enough in scale to be mappable at the surface or traceable in
the subsurface.
• To classify and map layers of rock, geologists created a basic
unit called a formation.
• A formation is a rock unit that is distinctive enough in
appearance that a geologic mapper can tell it apart from the
surrounding rock layers.
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• It must also be thick enough and extensive enough to plot on a
map.
• Formations are given names that include the geographic name of
a permanent feature near the location where the rocks are well
exposed.
• If the formation consists of a single or dominant rock type, such
as shale or sandstone, then the rock type is included in the name.

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• Formations can be lumped together into larger rock units
called groups, and divided into smaller units called members.
• Groups can be combined to form supergroups.
• Groups are useful rock units for small-scale mapping and
regional studies, and members are useful where it is important
to study or keep track of a particular subdivision of a
formation.
Stratigraphic Relations
• Different lithologic units are separated from each other by
contacts, which are planar or irregular surfaces between
different types of rocks.
• Vertically superposed strata are said to be either conformable
or unconformable depending upon continuity of deposition.
Conformable strata: are characterized by unbroken depositional
assemblages, generally deposited in parallel order. 8
 Cont’d…
• The surface that separates conformable strata is a conformity, that is, a
surface that separates younger strata from older rocks.
• A conformable contact indicates that no significant break or hiatus in
deposition has occurred.
• A hiatus is a break or interruption in the continuity of the geologic
record.
• It represents periods of geologic time (short or long) for which there
are no sediments or strata.
• Contacts between strata that do not succeed underlying rocks in
immediate order of age, are called unconformities.
• Thus, an unconformity is a surface of erosion or nondeposition,
separating younger strata from older rocks, that represents a significant
hiatus.
• Unconformities indicate a lack of continuity in deposition and
correspond to periods of nondeposition, weathering, or erosion, either
subaerial or subaqueous, prior to deposition of younger beds. 9
 Contacts between Conformable Strata
• Contacts between conformable strata may be either
abrupt or gradational.
• Abrupt contacts directly separate beds of distinctly
different lithology.
• Most abrupt contacts coincide with primary depositional
bedding planes that formed as a result of changes in local
depositional conditions.
• In general, bedding planes represent minor interruptions
in depositional conditions.
• Such minor depositional breaks, involving only short
hiatuses in sedimentation with little or no erosion before
deposition is resumed, are called diastems.
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 Cont’d…
• Conformable contacts are said to be gradational if the
change from one lithology to another is less marked than
abrupt contacts, reflecting gradual change in depositional
conditions with time (Fig. 6.1 ).
• Gradational contacts may be of either the progressive
gradual type or the intercalated type.
Progressive gradual contacts: occur where one lithology
grades into another by progressive, more or less uniform
changes in grain size, mineral composition, or other physical
characteristics.
Intercalated contacts: are gradational contacts that occur
because of an increasing number of thin interbeds of another
lithology that appear upward in the section.
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Figure 6.1. Schematic representation of the principal kinds of vertical and lateral
contacts between lithologic units. Vertical contacts include abrupt, progressive gradual,
and intercalated. Lithologic units may be laterally continuous or they may change
laterally by pinch-out, intertonguing, or lateral gradation. 12
 Unconformable Contacts
• Contacts between strata that do not succeed underlying rocks
vertically in immediate order of age are called unconformities.
• Four types of unconformable contacts (unconformities) are
recognized:
(1) angular unconformity, (2) disconformity, (3) paraconformity,
and (4) nonconformity (Fig. 6.2).
• Unconformities are recognized by an angular relationship
between strata (angular unconformities), the presence of a
marked erosional surface separating these strata.
• The first three types of unconformities occur between bodies of
sedimentary rock.
• Nonconformities occur between sedimentary rock and
metamorphic or igneous rock.
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Figure 6.2. Schematic
representation of four basic
kinds of unconformities.
Arrows indicate the
unconformity surface. For the
purpose of illustration, the
youngest strata below the
unconformity surface in each
diagram is shown to have a
(hypothetical) age of 100
million years and the oldest
strata above the unconformity
surface an age of 50 million
years, indicating a hiatus in
each case of 50 million years.
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1) Angular Unconformity
• An angular unconformity is a type of unconformity in which
younger sediments rest upon the eroded surface of tilted or
folded older rocks.
• The older rocks dip at a different, commonly steeper, angle
than do the younger rocks (Fig. 6.2A).
• The unconformity surface may be essentially planar or
markedly irregular.
2) Disconformity
• An unconformity surface above and below which the bedding
planes are essentially parallel and in which the contact between
younger and older beds is marked by a visible, irregular or
uneven erosional surface is a disconformity (Fig.6.2B).
• Disconformities are most easily recognized by this erosional
surface. 15
3) Paraconfonnity
• A paraconformity is an obscure unconformity
characterized by beds above and below the unconformity
contact that are parallel.
• No erosional surface or other physical evidence of
unconformity is discernible.
• The unconformity contact may even appear to be a simple
bedding plane (Fig. 6.2C).
• Paraconformities are not easily recognized and must be
identified on the basis of a gap in the rock record (because
of nondeposition or erosion) as determined from
paleontologic evidence such as absence of faunal zones or
abrupt faunal changes.
• Rocks of a particular age are missing, as determined by
fossils or other evidence.
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4) Nonconformity
• An unconformity developed between sedimentary rock and older
igneous or massive metamorphic rock that has been exposed to
erosion prior to being covered by sediments is a nonconformity
(Fig. 6.2D).
• Nonconformity surfaces probably represent an extended period of
erosion.

Uses of Lithostratigraphy
What lithostratigraphy can do for you?
 Place unit in geologic framework
 Establish stratigraphic relationship with units above and
below
 Aid in correlation between other lithologic units
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 SEDIMENTARY FACIES
• Both intertonging and lateral gradation indicate simultaneous
deposition in adjacent environments.
• A sedimentary facies is a body of sediment with distinctive
physical, chemical and biological attributes deposited side-by-
side with other sediments in different environments.
• On a continental shelf, sand may accumulate in the high-energy
nearshore environment.

• While mud and carbonate deposition takes place at the same time in offshore
low-energy environments. 18
 Marine Transgressions
• A marine transgression occurs when sea level rises
with respect to the land.
• During a marine transgression,
– the shoreline migrates landward
– the environments paralleling the shoreline
migrate landward as the sea progressively covers
more and more of a continent
• Each laterally adjacent depositional environment
produces a sedimentary facies.
• During a transgression, the facies forming offshore
become superposed upon facies deposited in
nearshore environments.
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Marine Transgression

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Marine Transgression
• The rocks of each facies
become younger in a
landward direction during a
marine transgression
• One body of rock with the
same attributes (a facies) was
deposited gradually at different
times in different places so it is
time transgressive
– meaning the ages vary
from place to place

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 Marine Regression
• During a marine regression, sea level falls with respect to the
continent.
– the environments paralleling the shoreline migrate seaward.

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Marine Regression
• A marine regression
– is the opposite of
a marine
transgression
• It yields a vertical
sequence with
nearshore facies
overlying offshore
facie sand rock
units become
younger in the
seaward direction

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 Walther’s Law
• Johannes Walther (1860-1937) noticed that the same facies he
found laterally were also present in a vertical sequence, now
called Walther’s Law.
• holds that
– the facies seen in a
conformable vertical
sequence will also
replace one another
laterally
– Walther’s law applies to
marine transgressions
and regressions

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Causes of Transgressions and Regressions

• Uplift of continents causes regression

• Subsidence causes transgression
• Widespread glaciation causes regression
– due to the amount of water frozen in glaciers
• Rapid seafloor spreading,
– expands the mid-ocean ridge system,
– displacing seawater onto the continents
• Diminishing seafloor-spreading rates
– increases the volume of the ocean basins
– and causes regression

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 Seismic, Sequence, and Magnetic Stratigraphy
• Seismology is the study of earthquakes and the structure of
Earth on the basis of the characteristics of seismic waves.
• Exploration seismology deals with the use of artificially
generated seismic waves to obtain information about:
 the geologic structure, stratigraphic characteristics, and
distributions of rock types.
• Seismic methods can also be applied to stratigraphic
problems.
Seismic stratigraphy: is the study of seismic data for the
purpose of extracting stratigraphic information.
• Because of its wide applicability to subsurface study both
on land and at sea, where other types of stratigraphic data
are few. 26
Sequence stratigraphy: is an outgrowth of seismic stratigraphy,
although the practice of sequence stratigraphy is not limited to
study of seismic records.
• Sequence stratigraphic concepts can be applied also to outcrop
and well data.
• A sequence represents one cycle of deposition bounded by
nonmarine erosion, deposited during one significant cycle of rise
and fall of base level.
• Because base level in marine basins is controlled by sea level, a
sequence is thus the product of a cycle of rise and fall of sea level.
Magnetostratigraphy: is also a relatively new branch of
stratigraphy.
• It is based on the principle that iron-bearing minerals such as
magnetite become magnetized at the time they crystallize in a
magma or lava flow.
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• The magnetized minerals acquire magnetic polarity (north
and south pole alignments) in keeping with Earth's magnetic
polarity, a property called remanent magnetism.
• Geologists discovered in the 1960s that the remanent
magnetism of some volcanic rocks displays reversed polarity,
indicating that Earth's magnetic field has reversed at times in
the geologic past.
• Sedimentary rocks can also become magnetically polarized
because small iron-bearing minerals are mechanically aligned
with earth's magnetic field as they settle in water.
• Patterns of magnetic reversals in ancient sedimentary rocks
constitute a powerful tool for stratigraphic subdivision.
• Applied to a variety of geologic problems such as
correlation, geochronology (study of time in relation to Earth
history), and paleoclimatology. 28
 SEISMIC STRATIGRAPHY
• The use of seismic methods for obtaining information
about subsurface rocks and structures involves the natural or
artificial propagation of seismic (elastic) waves.
• These waves pass downward into Earth until they
encounter a discontinuity and are reflected back to the
surface, where they can be picked up by detectors.
• The waves then travel along these discontinuities before
being refracted back to the surface.
• Their arrival is picked up by detectors placed at various
distances away from the explosion (shot) point.
• The time that elapses during passage of the seismic waves
downward to the discontinuity and back to the surface is
used to compute the depth to the discontinuity. 29
Reflection method
 waves created by an explosion are reflected back to the surface
directly from subsurface rock interfaces without being refracted and
traveling laterally along discontinuity surfaces.
• Therefore, detectors can be located at relatively short distances from the
shot points, and reflection seismic techniques can be used for delineating
very deep structures.
• The reflection seismic method for delineating the structure of
subsurface rock units is based on the principle that elastic or seismic
waves travel at known velocities through rock materials.
• These velocities vary with the type of rock (typical average velocities:
shale = 3.6 km/s; sandstone = 4.2 km/s; limestone = 5.0 km/s; Christie-
Blick, Mountaiun, and Miller, 1990).
• Seismic detectors, called geophones, are laid out in arrays extending
outward from the shot point.
• Seismic waves reflected back from subsurface discontinuities are
picked up by these detectors and fed electronically to a recording device.
• The principal discontinuities that reflect seismic waves are bedding
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planes and unconformities.
Figure. Diagram illustrating the equipment and procedures used in
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seismic exploration in the 1940s.
 Application of Reflection Seismic Methods to Stratigraphic
Analysis
• Seismic reflections are generated by physical surfaces in
subsurface rocks.
• In the conventional structural application of seismic
data, seismic reflections are used to identify and map the
structural attitudes of subsurface sedimentary layers.
• Seismic stratigraphy uses seismic reflection patterns:
 to identify depositional sequences,
 to predict the lithology of seismic facies by interpreting
depositional processes and environmental settings, and
 to analyze relative changes in sea level as recorded in
the stratigraphic record of coastal regions.
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 Parameters Used in Seismic Stratigraphic Interpretation
• Fundamentally, primary seismic reflections occur in response
to the presence of significant density-velocity changes at either
unconformity or bedding surfaces.
• Reflections are generated at unconformities because
unconformities separate rocks having different structural
attitudes or physical properties, particularly different
lithologies.
• Reflections are generated at bedding surfaces because, owing
to lithologic or textural differences, a velocity-density contrast
exists between some sedimentary beds.
• The seismic records produced as a result of primary
reflections from unconformities or bedding surfaces have
distinctive characteristics that can be related to depositional
features such as lithology, bed thickness and spacing, and
continuity.
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 Magnetostratigraphy
• Magnetic iron-rich minerals in igneous and sedimentary rocks can
preserve the orientation or field direction of Earth's magnetic field at the
time the rocks were formed.
• During the cooling of molten rock, iron-bearing minerals become
magnetized in alignment with Earth's magnetic field as they cool through
a critical temperature of about 500°C- 600°C (for magnetite), the Curie
point.
• As they approach this temperature, the influence of the magnetic field
exerts itself.
• The atomic-scale magnetic fields within the crystal lattices of the
minerals begin to line up parallel to one another and to the
direction of the magnetic lines of force around Earth.
• These magnetic properties are retained for geologically long
periods of time unless the rocks are again heated to near the Curie
point.
• Therefore, this residual magnetism is called remanent
magnetism, or thermal remanent magnetism (TRM). 34
• During deposition of sediments, small magnetic mineral grains are able
to rotate in the loose, unconsolidated sediment on the depositional
surface.
• Thus align themselves mechanically with Earth's magnetic field.
• This (statistically) preferred orientation of magnetic minerals in
sedimentary rocks imparts bulk magnetic properties to the rocks, referred
to as depositional remanent magnetism or detrital remanent magnetism.
• The study of remanent magnetism in rocks of various ages to determine
the intensity and direction of Earth's magnetic field in the geologic past
is called paleomagnetism.
• When Earth's magnetic field has the present orientation, it is said to
have normal polarity.
• When this orientation changes 180°, it has reversed polarity.

 Note that during a time of normal polarity the magnetic lines of force
appear to "flow" out of Earth at the geographic South Pole, bend around
Earth, and reenter at the geographic North Pole. 35
• Thus, a compass needle hinged vertically (swings up and
down) would point down (into Earth) at the North Pole and up
(out of Earth) at the South Pole.
• The flow direction of the magnetic lines of force, and the
direction of a compass needle, would reverse during an
episode of reversed polarity.
• Reversals of Earth's magnetic field are recorded in sediments
and igneous rocks by patterns of normal and reversed
remanent magnetism.
• The direction of magnetization of a rock is defined by its
north-seeking magnetization.
• If the north-seeking magnetization of rocks points toward
Earth's present magnetic north pole, the rock is said to have
normal-polarity magnetization.
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• If the north-seeking magnetization points toward the present-day south
magnetic pole, the rock has reversed-polarity magnetization, or reversed
polarity.
• Thus, sedimentary and igneous rocks that display bulk remanent
magnetic properties of the same magnetic polarity as the present
magnetic field of Earth have normal polarity.
• Those that have the opposite magnetic orientation have reverse
polarity.

Figure. Schematic
representation of
Earth's magnetic
field during
episodes of (A)
normal and (B)
reversed polarity.
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Applications of Magnetostratigraphy and
Paleomagnetism Correlation
• The primary application of magnetostratigraphy
lies in its use as a tool for global correlation of
marine strata.
• The first significant application of
magnetostratigraphic techniques to correlation and
age determinations of rocks was correlation of
linear ocean-floor magnetic anomalies to on-land
sections of volcanic strata whose ages had been
determined by radiometric methods.
• These correlation techniques were subsequently
extended to cores of oceanic sediments.
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Biostratigraphy
• The characterization and correlation of rock units on the basis
of their fossil content is called biostratigraphy.
• Stratigraphy based on the paleontologic characteristics of
sedimentary rocks is also referred to as stratigraphic
paleontology.
• The concept of biostratigraphy is based on the principle that
organisms have undergone successive changes throughout
geologic time.
• Thus, any unit of strata can be dated and characterized by its
fossil content.
• That is, on the basis of its contained fossils, any stratigraphic
unit can be differentiated from stratigraphically younger and
older units.
• A biostratigraphic unit is a body of rock that is defined or
characterized by its fossil content. 40
• Biostratigraphic – based on the principles of faunal succession
and superposition

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• The occurrence of fossils in beds of sedimentary rocks
provided the basis for correlation of strata.
• The evolution of organisms through time and the formation
of new species provide the basis for the recognition of
periods in the history of the Earth on the basis of the
fossils that are contained within strata.
• In this way Earth history can be divided up into major
units that are now known to represent hundreds of millions
of years, some of which are familiarly known as ‘the age
of fish’, ‘the age of reptiles’ and so on, because of the
types of fossils found.
• Correlation between biostratigraphic units and the
geological time scale therefore provides the temporal
framework for the analysis of successions of sedimentary
rocks.
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• Life evolves over time and leaves
recognizable traces in rocks called
fossils.
– actual preserved body parts, casts
or impressions of body parts, or
traces left by the passage of an
organism (e.g., a worm burrow or
footprint)
• A distinctive species or assemblage
with a limited age range and a wide
geographic range is an index fossil and
can be used for correlation
– In general, biostratigraphy is a
vastly better tool for correlation
than lithostratigraphy, since
evolution imprints a timestamp on
fossils, whereas rock deposition
environments move around but do
not really evolve with time (except
where biologically controlled).
– Some care is required: organisms
migrate, and biostratigraphic zones
can be time-transgressive. 43
 Chronostratigraphy
• Establishing the time relationship among rock units is called
chronostratigraphy.
• Stratigraphic units defined and delineated on the basis of time
are geologic time units.
• Chronostratigraphy is the arrangement of rocks into units
based on their age, oldest first, youngest last.
• Chronostratigraphic units were formed during a specific
portion of geological time and their boundaries are time
significant.
• A chronostratigraphic unit is a body of rock established to
serve as the material reference for all rocks formed during the
same span of time. Example: Devonian System
• A geochronologic unit is a division of time distinguished on
the basis of the rock record preserved in a chronostratigraphic
unit. Example: Devonian Period 44
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Geochronologic Unit - a division of time distinguished on the
basis of the rock record as expressed by chronostratigraphic
units.
• The beginning of a geochronologic unit corresponds to the time
of deposition of the bottom of the chronostratigraphic unit.
• The ending corresponds to the time of deposition of the top of
the reference unit.
• The hierarchy of geochronologic units and their corresponding
geochronostratigraphic units are:

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