Sedimentation

Sedimentology is a branch of geology concerned with the study of sediments such as sand, silt,
and clay, and the processes that result in their formation (erosion and weathering), transportation,
deposition and diagenesis.

The aim of sedimentology and studying sediments is to derive information on the depositional
conditions which acted to deposit the rock unit, and the relation of the individual rock units in a
basin into a coherent understanding of the evolution of the sedimentary sequences and basins,
and thus, the Earth's geological history as a whole.

Sedimentology is closely linked to stratigraphy, the study of the physical and temporal
relationships between rock layers or strata.

Sedimentologists apply their understanding of modern processes to interpret geologic history

through observations of sedimentary rocks and sedimentary structures.

Sedimentation means “settling” of solid materials from fluids flow (water or air).

Sediment is a natural friable solid material formed under normal surface conditions by normal
surface agents.

Sedimentary rocks cover up to 75% of the Earth's surface, record much of the Earth's history,
and harbor the fossil record.

Gravel, sand and mud are called sediments, Why?

Over long periods, these sediments accumulate; the materials near the bottom are compacted
and finally cemented together by mineral matter deposited in the spaces between particles
forming a solid sedimentary rock.

Types of Sediments
1. Clastic or Detrital or Mechanical
- The sediments are formed by the deposition of particles resulted from weathering processes.

2. Non-Clastic

• Chemical
- The sediments are formed by the precipitation of soluble materials by inorganic or organic
chemical and biochemical processes.

• Organic
- The sediments are formed by the effect of organic activities.
1. Clastic (Detrital) (Mechanical) Sediments
- The clastic (detrital) (mechanical) sediment consists of grains.
- Grain is the unit of clastic sediments.
- These grains are the products of weathering processes on any types of rocks.
- Examples: silt, clay "mud", sand, gravel.

Weathering

- Weathering is the breakdown of rocks or soil at the earth’s surface to form discrete particles.

Weathering occurs in situ (on site) in the same place, with little or no movement, and thus should
not be confused with erosion.
Erosion is the action of surface processes that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material involves
the movement them by agents such as water, ice, snow, wind, waves and gravity and then being
transported and deposited in other locations.

There are three types of weathering:

A) Mechanical (Physical) weathering

B) Chemical weathering

C) Biological weathering
A) Mechanical (Physical) Weathering

Mechanical weathering involves the physical breakdown (disintegration) of rocks into smaller
pieces without changing their mineralogical composition with atmospheric conditions, such as
heat, water, ice and pressure.

The agents (causes) of mechanical weathering:

- Frost wedging.
- Unloading.
- Insolation "Thermal Expansion".
- Hydration and dehydration.

1. Frost Wedging
- This is the repeated freezing and thawing of water in joints and fractures of rocks.
- When water freezes, it expands about 9% of its volume. As a result, ice exerts outward pressure
on the walls of fractures and joints causing their disintegration.
- Usually rocks are broken into angular (wedged) fragments, which accumulate into large piles at
the base of steep slopes (cliffs) and cone-shaped accumulations known as talus slopes.

2. Unloading
- Unloading is the reduction in pressures on rocks when the overlying rocks are removed by
erosion. This reduction in pressure causes the rock expansion and split into onion-like layers
called sheeting.
- Continued weathering causes the rock slabs to separate forming exfoliation domes.
- The process of sheeting and exfoliation occurs in granitic rocks when exposed at the surface.
3. Insolation (Thermal Expansion)
- Insolation or thermal expansion is the repeated expansion and contraction of rocks due to
variation in temperature between day and night.
- The repeated swelling and shrinkage of minerals with different expansion rates leads to the
disintegration of rocks.

4. Hydration and dehydration

- Hydration and dehydration processes "adding and removing water" occur in climatic zones which
characterized by wet and dry seasons.
- With hydration in wet seasons, clay expand by water.
- With dehydration in dry seasons, clay will expand and develop shrinkage cracks.
b) Chemical Weathering

Chemical Weathering involves the chemical transformation and alteration of the original
components of the rock into one or more new compounds and substances.

The new minerals produced, are stable in the new environment and remain unchanged.

Water is the most important agent of chemical weathering especially when it contains dissolved
materials.

The processes (causes) of chemical weathering:

- Dissolution.
- Oxidation.
- Hydrolysis.

1. Dissolution
- Dissolution is the process by which water dissolves the mineral constituents of the rocks.
- Water is effective in dissolving minerals especially when it contains small amounts of acids (an
acidic solution contains the reactive hydrogen ion, H+). Several common minerals dissolve in
water (halite and calcite).
- These acids are: Carbonic, Organic and Sulphuric acids.
- Limestone and marble contain calcite and are soluble in acidic water.

Chemical weathering causes corrosion of

the limestone from which the monuments are made.

2. Oxidation
- Oxidation is the reaction of metallic minerals with oxygen (in air or water).
For example, the reaction of iron-rich minerals with oxygen to form iron oxides (rusting). 4Fe
+3O2 2Fe2O3 (hematite).
- Oxidation is important in decomposing the ferromagnesian minerals as olivine, pyroxene and
hornblende.
- Oxygen reacts with iron in these minerals to form hematite (Fe2O3) or limonite {(FeO (OH))}.
- These products are responsible for the rusty color (reddish brown) on the surfaces of dark
igneous rocks such as basalt.
3. Hydrolysis
- Hydrolysis is the reaction of any substance with water.
- Water molecules dissociate to form H+ (very reactive) and (OH)- ions. H+ attacks and replaces
other positive ions found in the crystal lattice, destroying the internal regular arrangement of
atoms and so mineral decomposes.
- Water usually contains other substances like H2CO3 (carbonic acid) that contribute additional
H+ and (HCO3)- (bicarbonate).

- Hydrolysis of Granite, a common continental igneous rock consists mainly of quartz and
orthoclase (potassium feldspar). H+ attacks and replaces K in the feldspars thereby disturbing
the crystalline network This reaction produces kaolin or china clay.

- Bauxite: is a product of hydrolysis of clay minerals, principally kaolinite.

H2O + Al2O3 2SiO2.2H2O Al2O3nH2O + 2SiO2.2H2O
Bauxite formation is a final product of kaolinization.
Bauxite is a good source of Al3+
C) Biological Weathering

Biological weathering includes the chemical and physical effects of organism on rocks. The
activities of organisms like plants, burrowing animals and humans also contributes to weathering
of rocks.

Plant roots in search of nutrients and water grow into fractures and as the roots grow, they wedge
the rock apart.

Burrowing and boring animals: they break down rocks by moving fresh material to the surface
where physical and chemical processes can more effectively attack it.
ّ ‫ تح‬:‫حيوانات مختبئة‬
.‫طم الصخور بنقل مواد جديدة إلى السطح حيث يمكن أن تهاجمها العمليات الفيزيائية والكيميائية بشكل أكثر فعالية‬
Also decaying of organism produce acids that contribute to chemical weathering.

Humans: when rocks are blasted in search of minerals or for road construction, the new rock
surfaces are exposed to weathering.
Factors controlling weathering

Regolith is the layer of unconsolidated materials at the Earth's surface.

Effect of climate on weathering

- Climate controls the rates of mechanical and chemical weathering.
- In cool, humid climates, mechanical weathering, in particular frost wedging, is important.
- Chemical weathering is favored by: high humidity (more water as weathering agent), high
temperature (increases the rates at which chemical reactions proceed).

Effect of mineralogical composition on chemical weathering

- The order in which the minerals breakdown by weathering is essentially reverse to Bowen's
reaction series in igneous petrology.
- The less stable minerals in the zone of weathering are the higher temperature minerals.
Soil

- Soil is a term applied for the friable upper part of the earth crust.
- Soil is a product of weathering.
- Soil consists of rock debris, minerals and humus.
- Soil may be classified as residual or transported soil.
- Examples of soil: Laterite, bauxite and kaolinite.

Soil Profile: Vertical and horizontal movement of materials in the soil system produces a distinct
soil layering or soil profile which divided into three horizons. These horizons rest on the bed rock
or parent material. The soil horizons include:

(A) Horizon or top horizon: It includes the upper part of the soil
profile which rich in organic materials with a zone of leaching at
its base.

(B) Horizon or subsoil: It is the zone of accumulation of the

materials which leached from zone (A).

(C) Horizon also called subsoil: It is partially altered fragments

derived from the bed rock (parent materials).

Laterites

- In hot, humid regions, intense chemical weathering leads to leaching of all elements except
aluminum and iron. Aluminum and iron are most insoluble components in soil.

- This produces Laterite: thick, clayey soils rich in Al and Fe oxide and hydroxide minerals, but
generally poor in other elements (calcium, potassium, magnesium, etc.) necessary for plant
growth.

- Laterite is red-brown earthy material, friable and can harden upon exposure to atmosphere.
Detrital sediments are the final products of weathering

•Finally, we can conclude that any type of weathering lead to the

formation of grains.
•Grain is the unit of detrital sediments.
•Accumulation of grains, in turn, lead to the formation of detrital
sediments.
2. Non-Clastic Chemical Sediments
- Chemical sediments are formed from material that is carried in solution to lakes and seas and
then precipitates as crystals.
- Crystal is the unit of chemical sediments.
- The precipitation occurs in two ways:
• Inorganic processes: such as chemical activity (e.g. carbonate sediments) and
evaporation (e.g. evaporites such as salt, gypsum).
• Organic processes: by organisms living in water which extract dissolved mineral
matters to form their skeletons. This type of sediment can be classified as biochemical
(e.g. siliceous sediments).
- Examples: Carbonates (limestone, dolostone), Evaporites (salt, gypsum, anhydrite, halite),
Siliceous "Biogenic Silica" (Chert).

3. Non-Clastic Organic Sediments

- Phosphate and coal are the most common organic sediments.
- The phosphate produced by the accumulation of hard parts of vertebrate marine organism.
- Coal formed by the accumulation of plant remains under reducing conditions.

Summary
Sediments are classified into the following according to their origin:
1.Clastic (detrital) (mechanical) formed by the effect of weathering (e.g. gravel, sand, silt, clay).
2.Non clastic formed by the effect of chemical process or organic activity such as calcium
carbonates, evaporite and siliceous sediments or pure organic activities such as phosphate
and coal.
 Transportation of Sediment Grains
- Sediment transport is the movement of solid particles (sediment), typically due to a combination
of:
✓ Gravity force acting on the sediment.
✓ Movement of the fluid (air, water, ice) in which the sediment is entrained.

- Sediment transport occurs in natural systems where the particles are clastic rocks: gravel, sand,
silt, boulders, etc.), mud, or clay.
• Sediment transport due only to gravity can occur on sloping surfaces in general, including
hillslopes, scarps, cliffs, and the continental shelf—continental slope boundary.
• Transport in terrestrial surfaces is under the influence of wind.
• Sediment transport due to fluid motion (air, water, or ice) occurs in rivers, oceans, lakes,
seas, and other bodies of water due to currents and tides.
• Transport is also caused by glaciers as they flow.

- Knowledge of sediment transport is most often used to determine whether erosion or deposition
will occur, the magnitude of this erosion or deposition, and the time and distance over which it
will occur.
The general term of “sediment transport” includes a number of environmental processes that
take place at a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. The full understanding of sediment
transport is fundamental to assessing a range of heterogeneous geological, engineering, and
environmental processes. Over the recent years, the development of sediment transport
research was transformed from descriptions of simple empirical\phenomena to more complex
numerical models in which the flow and the resulting sediment transport are detailed.

There are Two Types of Sediment Flow Boundary

1.Cohesionless:
The solid grains are kept in contact with adjacent grains by gravitational force.

2.Cohesive:
This type applied most commonly to clay mineral aggregates where the thin clay mineral flakes
are mutually attracted by electrolytic force.

Initiation of Particle Motion

The particles initially transport by fluid force which producing from two main component:
1. Drag force: this force due to the fluid velocity gradient at the bed experienced by each grain.
2. Lift force: this force due to current streamlines over projecting grain will converge, the velocity
will speed up and therefore the pressure must decrease above the grain.
Path of Grain Motion

Grains move downstream )‫ مع التيار (فى اتجاه مجرى النهر‬in three basic ways:

1.Rolling motion ‫لف‬

o It is simply defined as continuous grain contact with the bed.
o It includes some observed sliding motion.
o This motion most commonly occurs in coarse grain size.

2.Saltation motion ‫قفز‬

o Including a series of jumps characterized by steep angle (>45 degree) in regular path.
o This motion most commonly occurs in medium grain size.

3.Suspension motion ‫تعليق‬

o Involves grains moving in irregular path in suspension state.
o Generally, longer path and higher up from the bed than of saltation.
o This motion most commonly occurs in fine grain size.

❖ Example
In the river channel: Gravel will be rolled along bottom, Sand will be saltated, Silt and clay will
be carried and suspended.

Types of Transported Sediment Load

1.Bedload (Traction load)
- Includes rolling and saltating grains constitute 5-10% of the total sediment load in the stream
with lower velocities than the flow and spends most of its time on or near the stream bed.

2.Suspended load
- It includes all suspended grains kept above by fluid turbulence at middle parts of water flows
with its same velocity.

3.Washload
- It is a broad term use to describe the suspended clay (finer grains) present in the water flow.

4.Dustload
- It is a more suitable term for air flows.

5.Dissolved load
- No solid particles; just dissolved ions.
After we have known how water and air flows transport grains, we will now
discuss how the grain aggregates transport themselves with the aid of
gravity, without any help from the overlying stationary medium.
Sediment Gravity Flows

1. Grain flows
- They are characterized by grain/grain collisions between the flowing grains.
- They may occur only on steep sub-aerial or sub-aqueous slopes.

2. Debris flows
- Silt to boulder-size grains are set in a matrix of clay-grade fines and water.
- The matrix has strength and buoyancy to support the grains.
- Debris flow may occur on very gentle sub-aerial and sub-aqueous slopes, usually after heave
rainfall.
- Sediments can be transported for tens, even hundreds of kilometers by debris flows.

3. Liquefied flows
- They are very concentrated dispersions of grains in water.
- It results from the collapse of packed grains aggregates.
- The grains are suspended in their own upward-moving pore water and they settle downwards
into a new, tighter, packing.
4. Turbidity flows
- A turbidity current "underwater current" is a rapid, downhill flow of water caused by increased
density due to high amounts of sediment. Turbidity currents can be caused by earthquakes,
collapsing slopes, and other geological disturbances. Turbidity currents can also occur in other
fluids besides water.
- It is a flow of dense, muddy water moving down a slope due to turbidity currents.
- There are two categories of turbidity flows:
• Low concentration flow deposits at a short distance. The resulting flow deposits show good
sorting, well developed upward-fining of grain size.
• High concentration flow deposits. The resulting flow deposits show poor sorting, poor
grading and no primary internal sedimentary structures.

Bouma Sequence
Turbidity current deposits.
The ideal sequence of structures in turbidities beds is (from base to top):
1. Massive unit.
2. Planner laminated unit.
3. Small-scale cross laminated unit.
4. Interlaminated silt and mud.
5. Homogenous mud and silt.
 Textures
Texture and structures are two important characters of sediments. why?
Because sedimentary textures and structures are of depositional or diagenetic origin. So, they
reflect the sedimentary history of the rock such as mode of formation, mode of transportation,
depositional environment and diagenetic evolution.
Texture (or rock microstructure ‫ )نسيج أو بنية أو تركيب داخلى‬refers to the relationship between the
materials of which a rock is composed.

Texture of Clastic Sediments

It describes:
A. Grain-Size Parameters (size, sorting, skewness, kurtosis).
B. Grain-Morphology (shape "sphericity" and roundness).
C. Grain-Surface Texture (frosting, polishing, dullness, striation, etc.).
D. Sediment Fabric (packing, orientation, contact).

A. Grain Size Parameters

• They include size, sorting, skewness, kurtosis. And to determine these parameters you
have to do grain size analysis.

• Grain Size Analysis:

✓ Apply for clastic sediments and sedimentary rocks to determine their grain size
parameters.
✓ Useful to determine:
1.Texture parameters such as average grain size and sorting and their impact on
permeability and porosity of rocks.
2.Textural nomenclature of rocks.
3.The mechanism of transportation and deposition.
4.Depositional environments.

Graphical Representation of Tabulated Data to calculate the sediments size

1- Sediment Size
Grain size (or particle size): is the diameter of individual grains of sediment, or
the lithified particles in clastic rocks.
Calculated by using Median or Mean.
Median = grain size at 50% (middle number of the data).
Mean = average grain size.

✓ Interpretation of Grain Size

- Grain Mean (average of the data) = Grain Size
- Grain Size in turn is useful in determination of current direction.
- Whereas, finer grains are located away from the source and vice versa.
- Also, grain size is a good indicator for intensity of weathering.
2- Sediment Sorting
- Sorting measures the uniformity of grain-size distribution.

- Sorting Classes:
• Very well sorted < 0.35
• Well sorted 0.35 – 0.5
• Moderately well sorted 0.5 – 0.71
• Moderately sorted 0.71 – 1.0
• Poorly sorted 1.0 – 2.0
• Very poorly sorted > 2.0

✓ Interpretation of Sorting

- Heterogeneity of source rocks (Provenance) e.g. granite and reworked sandstone will provide
sediments of different grain sizes.
Also, sand-sized sediments are easier to sort than gravels or clays.
- Sorting is useful in determining the distance of transportation, e.g. well sorted grains mean
long distance of transportation.
- Depositional mechanism: quick deposition = poor sorting
- Sorting affect the reservoir quality, e.g. well sorted grains = larger pore spaces = higher
porosity.
3- Skewness ‫انحراف‬
- Skewness is a measure of the symmetry of grain-size distribution, visually best seen from the
smoothed frequency curve.

fine “tail”

coarse “tail”

- Skewness Classes:
o strongly fine-skewed Sk > +0.30
o fine-skewed +0.30 to + 0.10
o near symmetrical +0.10 to – 0.10
o coarse-skewed – 0.10 to – 0.30
o strongly coarse-skewed > – 0.30

✓ Interpretation of Sorting

Reflects the depositional process:

• In general, sediment becomes negatively skewed along its sediment transport path, where the
source sediment becomes positively skewed.
• Beach sands have a positive skewness (fine components have been carried off by the
persistent wave action)
• River sands are usually negatively skewed (since much silt and clay is not removed by the
currents).
4- Kurtosis ‫تفرطح‬
- Kurtosis is a measure of the peak strength of grain-size distribution curve.

- Kurtosis Classes:
• Very platykurtic KG < 0.67
• Platykurtic 0.67-0.90
• Mesokurtic 0.90-1.11
• Leptokurtic 1.11-1.50
• Very leptokurtic 1.50-3.00
• Extremely leptokurtic >3.00

Textural Nomenclature of Sediment from grain size parameters

Grain size parameters can be used in the nomenclature of sediment such as the classification
of Folk (1954).
B. Grain Morphology

1- Shape (Sphericity) is a measure of how closely the grain shape approaches that of a sphere.
It measures the relation between the long (L), intermediate (I) and short (S) axes of a grain.

2- Roundness is a measure of the curvature of the corners of a grain.

Grain roundness/sphericity is mainly a measure of transport distance.

Grain morphology is dependent on:

1. Mineralogy
» Different minerals have different grain morphologies.

2. Nature of the source rock

» Quartz derived from sediments = spherical, rounded
» Quartz derived from crystalline basement = angular

3. Degree of Weathering & Abrasion ‫ تأكل‬during Transport & Distance:

» Beach & desert sands are more rounded than river or glacial sands.
» Desert pebbles are flat-sided due to abrasion by moving sand (sand blasting), unlike beach
sands.
C. Grain Surface Texture

- Grain Surface Texture includes: Frosting, Polished Surfaces, Dull Grains, Striation.

1- Frosting
• Minute holes.
• Formed by chemical etching, tiny quartz overgrowths and/or aeolian abrasion. ‫تأكل من الرياح‬

2- Polished Surfaces
• Produced by smoothing of tiny irregularities on grain’s surfaces.
• Related to rubbing ‫ فرك واحتكاك‬of the grains in water.
• The first stage in rounding of aqueous ‫ مائى‬sands.
• Common on beaches and much less in neritic or river sands where the grains are not rolled
back and forth so much.
• Some polish surfaces may form chemically.

3- Dull Grains
• Dull grains have non-frosted or unpolished surfaces. They are chiefly found in river or neritic
(shallow) sands and indicate lack of much abrasive action.

4- Striation
• Striation are scratches on surface of soft pebbles (e.g. limestone pebble) and sometimes
produced by glacial action.

Grain Surface Texture and Depositional Environment

- Glacial deposits
Angular grains with striations, conchoidal fractures.

- Beaches, Rivers
Crescentic impact (or v-shaped grooves) marks.

- Desert sand
Dull, frosted sand grains with upturned plate marks.

well-developed
triangular groove Triangular groove (T), Curved linear grooves (G). Straight linear grooves (L) (T)
with silica pits (P) and cracks (C).
precipitates (S).
D. Grains Fabric

- Grains Fabric includes: Grains packing, Grains orientation, Nature of contacts between the
grains.

1- Grains Packing
• Packing is the distribution of grains and intergranular spaces (either empty or filled with
cement or fine-grained matrix).
• Grains packing depends on size, shape, sorting, compaction.
• Cubic packing, the loosest packing with 48% porosity.
• Rhombohedral packing, the tightest packing with 26% porosity

2- Grains Orientation
• Grains generally line up parallel to current direction.
• It gives information on depositional process.
• Permeability is greatest parallel to grain orientation (since this orientation is the fabric alignment
with least resistance to fluid movement).
• A special case is where oblate pebbles overlap each other, dipping in an upstream direction
(imbrication).

3- Grain Contact
•Point contacts: grains are just touching each other = grain-supported fabric.
•Concavo-Convex contacts: grains penetrating each other.
•Sutured contacts: irregular saw-like contact
•No grain contact: grains floating in the matrix = matrix-supported fabric.
Textural Maturity

- Maturity describes the composition and texture of grains in clastic rocks, most
typically sandstones, resulting from different amounts of sediment transportation. A sediment is
mature when the grains in a sediment become well-sorted and well-rounded due
to weathering or abrasion of the grains during transport. There are two components to describe
maturity, texture and composition. Texture describes how rounded and sorted the sample is
while composition describes how much the composition trends toward stable minerals and
components.

- The textural (physical) maturity is greatly related to the sorting and roundness of the grains
with the matrix percentage.

- The terrigenous (clastic) sedimentary rocks can be subdivided into three classes according to
the textural. These classes are: 1. Immature 2. Mature 3. Supermature

✓ Minimal current activity and/or short distance of transportation lead to immature

sediments (e.g. many fluvial and glacial deposits).

✓ Maximum current or wind activity and/or long distance of transportation lead to super-
mature or mature sediments (desert, beach, shallow-marine deposits).

✓ Primary porosity & permeability (better reservoir quality) is directly proportional with
the maturity.

Texture of Non-Clastic Chemical Sediments:

• Crystal size: Macrocrystalline (over 0.75 mm), Mesocrystalline (0.75-0.2 mm),
Microcrystalline (0.2- 0.01 mm) and Cryptocrystalline (less than 0.01 mm).
• Crystal shape: euhedral, subhedral and anhedral.
• Crystal habit: equidimensional, fibrous, tabular and prismatic.
❖ Coated Grains
They made up of spherical bodies with concentric internal structure and include: ooliths,
pisoliths and oncoliths.

Ooliths
• spherical to ellipsoidal grains.
• 2 - 0.25 mm in diameter.
• formed in beach sediments with high energy conditions.

Pisoliths
• similar to ooliths in shape.
• but with larger diameter (more than 2mm).
• Formed under low energy conditions

Oncoliths
• spheroidal coated grains.
• of algal origin.
• with irregular lamination.
• formed in low energy and protected area.
 Sedimentary Structures
- Large-Scale Features of sedimentary rocks ( three-dimensional physical features of sedimentary
rocks) studied in the field (are best seen in outcrop or in large hand specimens rather than
through a microscope).

- Sedimentary structures are formed mainly by physical and mechanical processes whereas
others result from organic and chemical processes.

- Such as: Bedding, Cross beds, Graded beds, Mud cracks.

- Importance of sedimentary structures:

o Deducing the paleoclimate and paleogeography.
o Determination of the way up of a rock sequence in an area of complex folding.
o Interpretation of the depositional environment characteristics in terms of processes, current
strength, current direction, water depth etc.

- Sedimentary structures are classified into:

• Erosional
• Depositional
• Post-depositional
• Biogenic

A. Erosional Sedimentary Structures

- Erosional Sedimentary Structures are formed through erosion by aqueous and sediment-laden
flows before deposition of the overlying bed.

- Examples: 1. Flute marks.

2. Groove marks.
3. Gutter casts.
4. Impact marks.
5. Channels and scours.

1) Flute Marks
- Shape: Heel-shaped feature (5-10 cm x 10-20 cm), Characterized by pointed or rounded
upstream end, Occur in groups.
- How form: By the effects of localized erosion of sand currents passing over mud surface.
- Where: Mainly at the turbidites.
- Importance: Give a reliable indication of the flow direction.
2) Groove Marks
- Shape: Linear ridges on the sandstone beds, single or group.
- How form: Formed by a clast cutting into the underlying mud rock before filling with sand.
- Where: Mainly at turbidites. Flood plains. Shallow-marine clastic shelves. Carbonate ramps
(slopes).
- Importance: Paleocurrent indicators.

3) Gutter Casts
- Shape: Similar to groove marks, they are U- or V-shaped in cross section, they are straight to
sinuous and may persist for many meters.
- How form: Small channels cut into clay sediments and filled with carbonate rich sand.
- Where: Common in shallow marine sediments
- Importance: attributed to fluid scour by storm currents.

4) Impact Marks
- Shape: Spheroidal marks.
- How form: Produced by objects striking the sediment surface as they carried out along by a
current, these objects are fossils, pebbles or lump of sediments.
- Where: Common in turbidites sequences.
- Importance: Current indicator.

5) Channels and Scours

- Shape: Channels structures are on the scale of meters; Scours are generally oval to elongate
with smooth to irregular concave-up shape.
- How form: Recognized by the cutting of bedding planes and laminations in underlying
sediments.
- Where: Found in sediments of all environments.
- Importance: Scours represent short-lived erosion; Channels may be pathways for sediments
and water for a longer time.
B. Depositional Sedimentary Structures
- Depositional Sedimentary Structures are resulted from the depositional processes.
- They depend on many factors such as flow regime, grain size.
- These structures are used to deduce the environment of deposition of the sediments.

- Examples: 1. Bedding and Lamination 2. Planar Laminations

3. Lenticular Structure 4. Graded Bedding
5. Current Ripples 6. Other Ripples
7. Cross Stratification 8. Mud Cracks or Shrinkage Cracks
9. Rain Prints 10. Geodes

1) Bedding and Lamination

- The occurrence of sedimentary rocks in the form of layers called beds (strata) or laminae.
- Bed is thicker than 1 cm, meanwhile, laminae (finer scale layering) less than 1 cm.
- Bedding is used as a horizontal reference frame (original horizontality), So, it can help to map
stratigraphic Contacts, identify large structures "folds, faults" and stratigraphic facies.
- They produced mostly by changes in the pattern of sedimentation. So, they differ from each
other in grain size, mineral composition, texture.

- The planes (surface) separating or breaking the beds or laminae are called bedding or lamination
planes.
- Each bedding plane marks the end of one episode of sedimentation and the beginning of another
or represent erosional surface.
- Bed thickness is related to depositional rate. So, bed is deposited:
over hours to days (turbidites and storm beds).
over years (marine shelf sandstones and limestones).
2) Planar Laminations

- They are parallel, flat, horizontal laminations.

- Formed from:
1.Slow-moving sediment clouds (suspension mode) or low-density turbidity currents.
2.Chemical precipitation (evaporites).
3.Effect of stromatolites (common in tidal limestones).

3) Lenticular Structure

- A special case of bedding.

- It is a lens shaped bed.
- Formed by irregular topography of the depositional basin and/or irregular supply of sediments
within the basin.

4) Graded Bedding

- The particles within a single layer shows a size gradation from coarser near the bottom toward
finer near the top.
- It is characteristic of rapid deposition from water containing sediments of varying sizes (turbidity
flow).
- As the energy of water decreases, coarse grains deposit first, and in time smaller particles settle
to produce graded bedding.
- Progressive fining of clastic grains upward through the bed form as a deposition by turbidity
currents. So, it provides information about stratigraphic facing.
- It useful to determine the true position of bed.
5) Current Ripples

- Ripple marks are undulations of sand that develop on the surface of a sediment layer.
- Ripple marks formed by water or wind moving in one direction are called current ripple marks.
- They are asymmetric.
- They are common in desert, rivers, estuaries, tidal flats, delta channels, along shorelines and
on shallow-marine shelves; even on the deep-sea floor.
6) Other Ripples (Ripple Marks)

- Ripple marks formed by the back- and forth movement of waves in a shallow near shore
environments are called oscillation ripple marks and are usually symmetric.
- Dunes are sometimes termed large–scale ripples or mega ripples and don’t form in sediments
of coarse silt grade and finer.

- Antidunes are sinusoidal form commonly seen in very fast, shallow water rapid flows. They occur
in long trains with stationary or steepen wave form. Faint laminations are characteristics of
antidunes and formed by the effect of grain sorting not by avalanching.

- So, Ripple Marks are ridges and troughs developed on the surface of a bed. They formed due
to current flow in one direction:
(1) Oscillation or Symmetric Ripple Marks
•Oscillation wave produced symmetrical ripples.
•Good facing indicator
(2) Current or Asymmetric Ripple Marks
- Asymmetric cross stratification produced by current moving in one direction; i.e., uniformly
flowing current.
- Dunes result with increasing flow strength. These large bed forms are similar to current ripples
in general shape but are dynamically distinct.
7) Cross Bedding (Cross Stratification)

- Normally, most beds are originally deposited horizontal. in some case, the layers within a bed
are inclined to the horizontal.
- Cross-beds "sets" are the groups of inclined layers, which are known as cross-strata during
deposition on the inclined surfaces of bedforms such as ripples and sand dunes; it indicates that
the depositional environment contained a flowing medium (typically water or wind).

- There are two common types of cross stratification:

Planar cross strata, mostly forms tabular sets, although wedge-shaped sets also occur,
produced by two-dimensional bedforms (those with straight crests).
Trough cross strata, they are scoop-shaped beds produced by three-dimensional bedforms
(those with curved crests).
8) Mud Cracks or Shrinkage Cracks

- Mud cracks composed of several polygons.

- Mud cracks are thin (typically sand filled) fractures that taper down in cross section.
- Formed by the dehydration of wet clayey sediments (mud or clay drying).
- Good indication of change of paleoclimate into hot and arid.

9) Rain Prints

- Composed of rounded shallow holes.

- Good indication of rainy paleoclimate.

10) Geodes

- Geodes are essentially spherical masses of mineral matter that were deposited syngenetically
within the rock.
- Geodes have a chalcedony shell containing various minerals, usually quartz.
- Geodes deposited from groundwater or hydrothermal processes.
- Geodes are found mostly in limestones.
C. Post Depositional Sedimentary Structures
- Post Depositional sedimentary structures are formed by the effect of sediment deformation
which occurs after deposition as result of sediment movement or loading.

- Examples: 1. Slides and slumps.

2. Convolute bedding.
3. Load Casts, flame structure, load ball.
4. Stylolites

1) Slides and Slumps

- Slide: downslope mass movement of sediments with little internal deformation.

- Slumps: downslope mass movement of sediments with significant internal deformation.
- Initiated by earthquake shocks or movement along faults, mostly in deep-water slope and basin-
margin; and shallow-water slope and shelf-margin.

2) Convolute Bedding

- Deformed laminated strata (in the form of folds) developed in the uppermost part of a bed due
to differential flow of soft strata affected by currents.
- Common in turbidite beds; also, in fluvial, tidal-flat and other sediments.

3) Load Casts, flame structure, load ball.

- Load Casts are bulbous, downward directed protuberances of a sandstone bed into underlying
sediments normally mudstone.
- They result from the vertical density contrast of more dense sand overlying less dense mud.
- They show considerable variation in size and shape.
- Flame structure is common feature produced by squeezing of mud into the sand.
- Load balls are lobes of sand detached in mudstone.
4) Stylolites

- Stylolites are sutured surfaces that cut grains, cement and matrix.
- They are produced by the effect of pressure-dissolution which resulted from the overburden and
tectonic stresses.
- Clay, iron minerals and organic matter (the insoluble residue from the limestone's dissolution)
are usually concentrated along the stylolites.

D. Biogenic Sedimentary Structures

- Structures formed by organisms = trace fossils and bioturbation.

1) Tracks and Trails

- Formed by organisms on the sediment surface.

2) Burrows and Boring

- Formed by organisms within the sediment both on horizontal and vertical sections through beds.
Hint: Turbidity Current

A turbidity current "underwater current" is a rapid, downhill flow of water caused by

increased density due to high amounts of sediment. Turbidity currents can be caused by
earthquakes, collapsing slopes, and other geological disturbances. Turbidity currents can
also occur in other fluids besides water.

Secondary Sedimentary Structures

Secondary sedimentary structures form after primary deposition occurs or, in some cases, during
the diagenesis of a sedimentary rock. Common secondary structures include any form of
bioturbation, soft-sediment deformation, teepee structures, root-traces, and soil mottling.
Liesegang rings, cone-in-cone structures, raindrop impressions, and vegetation-induced
sedimentary structures would also be considered secondary structures.

Bioturbation

Bioturbation is defined as the reworking of soils and sediments by animals or plants. In many
sedimentary rocks, the bedding is broken by cylindrical tubes a few centimeters in diameter that
extend vertically through multiple beds. These sedimentary structures are remnants of burrows
and tunnels excavated by marine organisms that live on the ocean floor. These organisms churn
and burrow through mud and sand a process called bioturbation. They ingest the sediment, digest
the organic matter, and leave behind the remnants which fills the burrow.
 Depositional Environments
"Sedimentary Environments"

• Sedimentary environment "Depositional environment" is an area of the earth's surface where

sediments are deposited. It can be distinguished from other areas on the basis of its physical,
chemical, and biological processes and characteristics.
• It describes the combination of physical, chemical and biological processes associated with
the deposition of a particular type of sediments.
 Types of Sedimentary Environments

A. Continental
B. Transitional
C. Marine

A. Continental "Terrestrial" Environments

Continental environments are those environments which are present on the continents and
include:

1. Alluvial Fans
2. Fluvial (Rivers)
3. Lacustrine (Lakes)
4. Swamps (Paludal)
5. Glacial
6. Desert

1) Alluvial Fan "Continental Fan"

- It is a fan shaped deposits "canyon" generally form at the margin of an uplift area, such as a
mountain range front, due to seasonal water "rains".
.Sediments ‫ وترسب ال‬Flooding ‫أمطار موسمية بتتحبس عند الجبال تعمل‬
- The deposits are generally texturally and compositionally immature.
- Fans generally do not form as a single body, but are built up over time as a complex of coalescing
and overlapping deposits (Bajada).

- They most commonly form under semi-arid and glacial climate conditions.
- Facies:
✓ Fan axis
✓ Proximal Fan
✓ Mid Fan
✓ Distal Fan

✓ Fan axis
o Apex "center" of the fan
o Alluvial fan can have more than one axis according to area relief and slope

✓ Proximal Fan
o Near to the source
o High energy, fast flow
o Coarse sand grains
o Poor sorting
o 30% porosity, 0 permeability

✓ Mid Fan
o At the middle to the source
o Intermediate energy, medium flow
o Medium sand grains
o Well sorting
o 30% porosity, good permeability

✓ Distal Fan
o Far to the source
o Low energy
o Fine grains (sand, shales)
o Poor sorting
o 60% porosity, 0 permeability

*The sediments become finer grained away from the apex (center) 'axis' of the fan*
- The best place to drill in the alluvial fan is at the mid fan due to:
Well sorted sediments
Good Porosity
Good Permeability

- Alluvial: Configurations in the desert only even if the river.

Fluvial: Configurations in the marine rivers.

- Other Fan Types:

• Subaqueous Fans (Submarine Fan) "Turbidities": Deep Marine Basin Floor Fans, have the
gas discoveries in the Mediterranean Sea.
• Fan Delta: The extension of the alluvial fan at the sea after the shoreline. So, its source is the
alluvial fan "seasonal water rains not rivers".
2) Fluvial (Fluvial Channels) "Rivers"

- The river channels include two types:

• Braided Stream.
• Meandering Stream.

Braided Stream

- Network of channels (multiple channels) cut each other at which water flows in a braided pattern.
- With low sinuosity and frequent flow.
- Form by high continuous water discharge which causes deposition of sediments forming bars
(longitudinal, transverse) and islands.
.sediments ‫ مياه متوصلة مش موسمية بتحفر فى األرض ترسب تقريبا نفس ال‬،‫ بيقطعو بعض‬channel ‫كذا‬
- Uncommon.
- Mostly granular sediments (sand and gravel bars), usually absence of fines.

- Braided stream is divided into three subsystems:

Collecting system (branches).
Transporting system (trunk).
Dispersing system (roots).
- Facies:
✓ Channel Fill
o Sand equal size
o Sand equal thickness
o Sand equal porosity, permeability, other properties
o Good reservoir
o Straight line logs (nearly constant pattern)

- If there are shales at the braided system channels, they are localized shales, their clays are from
continent not from marine. S, if we have a log response for shale it most probably be in one well
and doesn't exist in other wells.
Channel 1 = Fining upward
Channel 2 = sand over shale over sand

- Amalgamated Channel: Group of channels combined together and deposited on top of each
other.

Braided is a high active channel with a high energy has mostly sand with a very low amounts of
clay.
Meandering Stream

- Single channel with a with high sinuosity streams makes a distinct channel and a broad
floodplain.
- Form where streams are flowing over a flat landscape.
.sediments ‫قناة واحدة بتحفر فى أرض مسطحة ترسب ال‬

- Meander has a very low gradient "slope" and a weak river stream. It has clay and mud much
more than braided, deposition more than braided "braided more in erosion", slope much lower
than the braided.
- Facies:

✓ Channel Fill
o Sand fill with clay and mud
o Fining Upward

✓ Point Bar
o Develops where stream flow reduced due to frictions and reduced water
depth.
o Erosion at outside bend and deposition of point bar at inside bend.
o Point bar composed of cross-bedded sand.
o Extends laterally "thickness increases laterally not vertically".
o Fining upward sequence.
✓ Oxbow Lake
o As the channel migrates, parts of it may become abandoned and left behind
as oxbow lakes which made up of fine-grained sand to silt (lake sediments).
.‫ لما تكبر وتنفصل‬point bar ‫ال‬
o May be from facies or not.

✓ Levees
o Ridges at the sides of the channel composed of fine sand and silt.
o Form at flood conditions.
✓ Crevasse Splay
o Form when stream breaks the levee and deposits the sediments on the flood
plain.
o Sand fining upward to Mud.

✓ Flood Plain
o It is a plain that subjected to periodic flooding and composed of fine-grained
materials which are very fertile soil.
o The water has covered the whole area.
All facies of the meandering system are good reservoirs and the best one is the point bar due to
large thickness of sand.
3) Lacustrine "Lakes"

- A lake is a body of fresh or salty water of considerable size that is surrounded by land. It is larger
and deeper than a pond.

- Lakes are well‐suited to the development of deltas. Deltas are built up by sediment‐laden
streams

- Continental lakes have a great variation in size (small or large), depth (deep or shallow) and
salinity (fresh or saline).

- The lakes sediments may be terrigenous, carbonates and/or evaporites.

- The most common sedimentary structures in lakes are mud cracks and symmetrical wave
ripples.

- The major factors control water dynamics in lakes includes:

o Climate: control water chemistry, shoreline fluctuations, organic productivity and water
temperature.
o Water depth: control lake stratification, current effectiveness.
o Solute sediments: nature and amount of clastic sediments and solute sediments from the
lake drainage basin.

- Playa Lake:
A shallow intermittent lake in an arid or semiarid region formed in the wet season but drying in
summer. Playa sediments are fine-grained clastic and evaporites.
4) Paludal (Swamps)

- A swamp is a wetland characterized by:

o Sufficient water supply with poor drainage.
o Plant life is dominated by trees or shrubs.
o Mineral soils and coal deposits.
o The water of a swamp may be fresh water, brackish water or seawater.
o Marsh is a type of swamps, in which plant life consists largely of grasses.

5) Glacial

- A glacier is a large, slow moving river of ice.

- Formed from compacted layers of snow, which slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity.
- Sediment deposited directly from glacier is called till or tillite (diamictites) if lithified.
- They have extensive lateral distribution, several tens of meters thick, lack of stratification, much
matrix which supports clasts.
- Loess
o It is a homogeneous, very well sorted, silt-dominated unstratified sediment that is deposited
from suspension.
o It is commonly associated with ice sheets that produce large quantities of source materials
(rock flour).
- Cold Glaciers: are dry‐based & have much rock debris
- Temp. Glaciers: are wet‐based & have less sediments, but more powerfully erosive
6) Deserts

- Deserts are regions of intense aridity where the average rate of evaporation exceeds the
average rate of precipitation.

- Deserts occur in both hot and cold climate areas of the world.

- Fossils in deserts are absent apart from local vertebrate bones and footprints.

- Aeolian processes are the main processes in desert environments and responsible for the
formation of sand sheet and sand dunes.

- Apart from areas of wind-blown sand; alluvial fans, ephemeral streams, salt and playa lakes
occur in a desert region.

- Frosted and polished sand grains with wedge shape together with moderately good sorting of
the sand-sized grains and large-scale cross-stratification are diagnostic of aeolian processes.
Many of these grains are red through hematite pigmentation.

Sand Dunes
- They are the most common aeolian landforms; their geometry and resulting sedimentary
structures depend primarily on sediment supply and prevailing wind direction.
- Eolian sand sheets develop when sediment supply is limited and are characterized by planar
stratification.
- Vegetation can contribute to dune formation under such circumstances.
- Desert dune sands are characterized by a grain size of fine to coarse sand (0.1-1.00 mm), good
sorting and a negative skewness.
- Characterized by large-scale, high angle cross bedding.
- The interdune areas are filled with lag deposits and sabkha.
- Geomorphologically, sand dunes include:
•Barchan dunes.
•Transverse dunes.
•Linear (longitudinal) dunes.
•Star dunes.
B. Transitional Environments

- Transitional environments are those environments at or near the transition between land and
sea, they include:

1. Delta
2. Tidal Flats
3. Beach
4. Barrier Islands
5. Lagoons

1) Delta

- Delta is a landform that is created at the mouth of a river where a river transporting significant
quantities of sediments into a receiving basin such as: sea, ocean, lake or other body of water.

- Over long periods of time, this deposition builds the characteristic geographic pattern of a river
delta.

- Name from the Greek letter ‘Δ’, from the shape of the Nile Delta.

- Requirements for delta forming:

o Source of sediments (continuous water) "River".
o Shoreline.
o Receiving Basin "sea, ocean".
‫ بتنزل أكتر مبتترسبش‬Sediments ‫ فال‬Tectonic ‫ اتعرض ل‬Basin ‫ أجزاء دول لو ال‬3 ‫ممكن الدلتا متتكونش حتى فى وجود ال‬
.‫بشكل مناسب لتكون الدلتا‬

- Facies:
✓ Delta Plain
✓ Delta Front
✓ Delta Slope
✓ Pro Delta
 ✓ Delta Plain
o Flat area
o Fluvial Processes
o Dominated by alluvial deposition
o The resulting vertical deposits include alluvial channel fills and fine-grained
sediments (include channels, bays & flood plains)

✓ Delta Front
o Located at the edge of the delta plain
o Fluvial and Marine Processes (river emerge into the sea deposits) "subaerial and
subaqueous"
o Includes Sand Bars at the mouth of distribution
o Most important part in oil and gas exploration

✓ Pro Delta
o Most distal part of the delta
o Marine processes (subaqueous delta)
o Finest grained sediments

Ebb delta: From land to marine and distribute mud.

- Controls on Delta Environment and Facies:

- Types and Classifications od Delta:

Deltas are classified according to the main control on deposition "river, wave, tide"
depending on the strength of each one.

River (Fluvial) Dominated Delta

o River: high energy
o Multiple channels
o Low distance between the channels
o Steep gradient
o Delta mouth bars are merged and connected
o Delta Bars are perpendicular on the fluvial river channel and parallel to the shoreline
o Ex: Mississippi River Delta
Tide Dominated Delta
o Tide: high energy, so sediments are dispersed into the basin by tidal currents while
rivers and waves have low energy
o Erosion is also an important control in tide dominated deltas
o Moderate number of channels
o High distance between the channels
o Moderate gradient
o Delta mouth bars aren't connected
o Delta bars are parallel to the fluvial river channel and perpendicular on the shoreline
o Ex: Ganges Delta, India

Wave Dominated Delta

o Waves: high energy, the wave currents is more than the sediments quantities
deposited by the river as river and tide have very low energy
o Low number of channels
o Gentle gradient
o Delta mouth bars are individual aren't connected
o Delta bars are perpendicular on the fluvial river channel and parallel to the shoreline
(in Egypt waves from west to east)
o Ex: Nile Delta
2) Tidal Flat

- The tidal flat is a broad flat area, very close to sea level that is form by flooded and drained of
tidal channels with each rise and fall of the tide.

- It consists of unconsolidated sediments of laminated or rippled clay, silt and fine sand.

- The shoreface comes after the tide.

- Facies:
✓ Tidal Channel
o Path from marine to land
o Massive sand
o Fining Upward
‫ بعد كدا يرجع ببطء ياخد‬fine ‫ ثم‬medium ‫ ثم‬coarse ‫ بسرعة كبيرة‬shoreline ‫ ينقلها لل‬sediments ‫البحر بيتقدم ياخد ال‬
.fine sediments "mud" ‫معاه ال‬
✓ Tidal bar
✓ Mud Flat
o Mud flats are common around the lagoon.
o If conditions are favorable, mud flat shows intense burrowing and algae.
o Low thickness
o Low quality
✓ Mixed Flat
o Medium thickness
o Medium quality
✓ Sand Flat
o High thickness
o High quality
Tidal ‫ قرب وكون‬Shoreline ‫ اتكون بعدها ال‬Tidal Flat ‫ يبقى‬،Tidal Flat ‫ ثم‬Tidal Channel ‫ ثم‬Tidal Flat ‫لو‬
.‫ تانى‬Tidal Flat ‫ وبعدها اتكون‬Channel
.Shoreline ‫اللى بيتحكم فى كل ده هو ال‬

So, the tidal flat on gamma ray log shows an accordion or zigzag log due to sand layer has a
shale in it "sand shale sand shale".
3) Beach

- Beach is a sedimentary environment that extends from the landward of the high tide to the point
offshore (low tide) where water depth reaches 10m. Seaward from it, there is the continental
shelf.

- The actual width of the beach is highly variable.

- Beach deposits are usually formed of loose particles of rock such as gravel, sand.

- The particles of which the beach is formed can sometimes instead have biological origins, such
as shell fragments or coralline algae debris.

- In beach sands, fine-grained sands are removed by winnowing "air current".

- The constant washing back and forth in wash zone causes all of the sand grains to be extremely
well rounded and well sorted.

- The dominant mineral on the beach is quartz.

- If beach sands are lithified, they would be converted into quartz arenite.
4) Barrier Island

- Barrier islands are coastal landforms made up of relatively narrow strips of sand that parallel the
mainland coast.

- A continuous supply of sand and a moderately stable, low-gradient coastal plain favors barrier-
island formation.

- They usually occur in chains.

- The length and width of barriers and overall morphology of barrier coasts are related to
parameters including:
1.Basement controls.
2.Sediment supply.
3.Wave energy.
4.Tidal range.
5.Sea-level trends.

5) Lagoon

- Lagoon is enclosed body of water behind a barrier reef or barrier islands and
connected to the open sea by tidal inlets or enclosed by an atoll reef.

- It is a body of comparatively shallow salt or brackish water.

- Lagoon sediments are evaporites, silt and clay.

C. Marine Environments

- Marine environments are those environments in seas or oceans.

- Marine environments may be shallow or deep.
- The shallow marine environments include:
1. Reefs
2. Continental shelf
- The deep marine environments include:
3. Continental slope and Continental rise
4. Abyssal plai

- Life of the Sea zones:

Littoral or Tidal Zone: Difficult living
conditions because of the strong wave
action so organisms must be attached or
buried.
Neritic Zone: It is the most life area in
marine, Sea in this area is lighted &
abundance of food.
Bathyal Zone: No light or very little, so plant
life is rare but it has animal population
which called Bottom Living Seavengers.
Abyssal Zone: No light, near freezing temp.
& pressure reach to 1 Ton/inch2
(specialized creatures can live at this
depth).

- Marine Sediments:
• Marine Shoreline Environments:
Much siliclastic sediments can be deposited in marine shoreline. Beaches & Barriers developed
in areas of high wave action. Beaches are linear belts of sand along beach where Barriers are
separated from land by lagoon.
• Shallow Marine (Neritic Zone):
Coarser materials are deposited near shore & grade into finer deposits upward. Shallow marine
sediments are made of sediments derived from land by ways of Stream, Glaciers or Aeolian.
Sediments may consist of remains of organisms & chemical precipitates. Structural features:
usually lenticular beds. Ripple, currents marks have great variation in trend & extension. Sea
floor has steep slopes, so sediments may slump & develop crimpled & irregular bedding planes
• Intermediate Seas (Bathyal deposits):
At the continental slope, & covered by fine sediments of land origin which called Blue Muds. The
presence of Blue Muds color is due to presence of organic matter & also to De‐Oxide conditions
of Iron. Blue Muds may cover over 20 million Km2 of the ocean basin.
• Deep Marine (Abyssal Deposits)
Many sediments are Volcanic, pelagic & meteoric origin. Very poorly sorted, Set in motion by
storms and quakes, Calcareous and siliceous oozes. In greatest depth of ocean, the bottom is
covered by Fine Red Clay which composed of Calcareous to siliceous to terrestrial clay, Shells
& other organic matters.
1) Reefs

- Reefs are mound-like, wave resistant structures made up of calcareous skeletons of organisms
such as: corals, bryozoa, etc.

- Reefs are growing in the photic zone of warm, clear, shallow seas.

- Factors affecting reefs formation:

o Warm, clear shallow water
o Depth, Temperature
o Salinity (PH)
o Solid ground (hard platform "base"), as if it is soft, they will sink

- Ancient reefs buried within stratigraphic sections are of considerable interest to geologists
because they provide paleoenvironmental information about the location in Earth's history.

- Reef structures within a sequence of sedimentary rocks provide a discontinuity which may serve
as a trap for oil or ore deposits.

- There are three principle reef types:

o Fringing Reef (Transitional)

❖ A reef that is directly attached to a shore or borders it with an intervening shallow
channel or lagoon.

o Barrier Reef (Shallow Marine)

❖ A reef separated from a mainland or island shore by a deep lagoon.

o Atoll (Deep Marine)

❖ An annular reef enclosing a lagoon.
❖ Grow up along the volcanic mountain "island" and formed by tectonics.
Barrier Reef

Facies:

Fore Reef
- Best reservoir quality
- Face the current and waves which make the reef fragments "talus" move to the
back reef
- Talus: reef fragments fall from cores in fore reef due to compact waves which
fracture the fore reef
- Large framework of reefs
- Coarse corals

Coral Reef (Crest)

- Medium size
- Gastropods fossils "many fossils"

Back Reef (Algae)

- Fine Mudstone
- Weak small fossils

o Ras Fanar has two reefs the are far from each other and has an in-between gab. As,
different types of reefs form barrier (buffer) zone between them and built up vertically in
layers.

o Wadi Kharaza is the best world place to study the reefs in Hurghada.
2) Continental Shelf

- The continental shelf is the flooded edge of the continent and lies between shoreline and
continental slope.

- This shelf is relatively flat (slope < 0.1o), shallow (less than 200 m), and may be up to hundreds
of miles wide.

- Continental shelves are exposed to waves, tides, and currents.

- The shelf area is commonly subdivided (toward deep water) into three zones each with their
specific geomorphology and marine biology:
o The inner continental shelf (neiritic zone).
o The mid continental shelf.
o The outer continental shelf.

- The continental shelves are commonly covered by terrigenous sediments, in addition to non-
clastic sediments such as carbonates, phosphates.

- Terrigenous sediments usually become increasingly fine with distance from the shoreline
whereas, sand is limited to shallow, wave-agitated waters, while silt and clays are deposited in
quieter, deep water far offshore.

- The carbonates of the continental shelf (carbonate factory) are rich in algae, larger foraminifera.

- These shelf sediments accumulate at an average rate of 30 cm/1000 years, this rate is much
faster than that for deep-sea pelagic sediments.
3) The Continental Slope and Continental Rise

- They are located seaward of the continental shelf and may reach a depth of 4000 m.

- The continental slope passes seaward into the continental rise, which has a more gradual
slope.

- The continental slope is the steep (5- 25o) part at the edge of the continent.

- The continental rise is the site of deposition of thick accumulations of sediment, much of which
is in submarine fans, deposited by turbidity currents.

- Submarine fans are essentially turbidites dumps most typically at the mouths of the submarine
canyons that feed them.

4) Abyssal Plain

- It is flat or very gently sloping areas of the deep ocean basin floor.

- It covered by very fine-grained sediment, consisting primarily of clays and the shells of
microscopic organisms (such as small foraminifera, radiolarians, and diatoms).

- The carbonate rocks of the deep marine water (above the CCD) are formed mainly by the
accumulation of tests such as planktonic foraminifera.

- The Carbonate Compensation Depth (CCD) is the depth below which no carbonate sediments
can accumulate. Below CCD, the deep marine environments are cold, with high PCo2, due to
the decay of the few organisms that may be buried there.
Therefore, this environment is not suitable for the direct precipitation of carbonates from
seawater. As a matter of fact, below the depth of about 5000 m, no carbonate sediments can
accumulate.
Shoreface

- Shoreface is a narrow steeply sloping zone "steep slope zone of sandstone bodies slopes
away from the low tide shoreline".

- Consists mainly of sandstone (clastic coasts).

- It slopes away from the low tide shoreline.

- The shoreface comes and form after tide part.

 Environments Prediction and Interpretation
- Field Analogy
- 3D Seismic and Seismic Attributes (Gradient, RMS) "Amplitude Map" "Geo-body extraction"
- Wireline Logs (GR, sonic, resistivity, neutron, density) "Facies Detection"
- FMI "Cross Bedding Sedimentary Structures"
- Core Data
- Sedimentary Structures
- 3D Wells Correlation (Facies correlation not lithology) "Depositional Units Distribution"
- Conceptual Depositional Model
- Reservoir Engineering Data (Pressure, Relative Permeability)
- Geo-statistics
- Integration Workflow
Core Data "Core Descriptive Items"
o Color
o Textures
✓ Grain-Size Parameters (grain size, sorting, skewness, kurtosis).
✓ Grain-Morphology (shape "sphericity" and roundness).
✓ Grain-Surface Texture (frosting, polishing, dullness, striation, etc.).
✓ Sediment Fabric (packing, orientation, contact).
✓ Crystal size, crystal shape, crystal habit, coated grains.
o Mineral Contents
o Clay Contents
o X-Ray Diffraction (XRD)
o Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
o Sedimentary Structures and Depositional Environments
o Density, Porosity and Permeability Determination "Permeability is the most important
parameter to determine from the core"

Color
- Green Glauconite Sandstone indicates a Reducing Eenvironment (Marine, Lacustrine. etc.).
- Grey, Dark Grey, Black Shale and Laminated and Cross Laminated Sandstone also indicate a
Reducing Environment (Marine, Lacustrine, etc.).

As, these main colors that didn't transformed to others denote that no oxidation had been there.
- Yellow, Brown, Red, Violet Colors of Rocks indicate an Oxidizing Environment (Alluvial,
Fluvial, etc.).

But this doesn't indicate that the rock has been formed in an oxidizing environment, it might be
formed in a reducing environment and eroded, uplifted transported and exposed to diagenetic
processes.
Textures
Grain Size
- The grain size indicates the energy of the transport source.
Mineral Contents
- High percentages of feldspars and lithic fragments is related to short distance.
- High percentages of clay matrix is related to short distance.
- High percentages of quartz is related to long distance.
Clay Contents
- Clay minerals are very sensitive and indicative to depositional environments.

Octahedral: one aluminum atom and six oxygen atoms.

Tetrahedral: one silicon atom and four oxygen atoms.
X-Ray Diffraction (XRD)
Scanning Electron Microscope "SEM"
- SEM take a high-quality pictures of clay minerals to identify the clay contents with a
very high specialty.

- Kaolinite is better than smectite in reservoir.

- We can't treat with a reservoir containing smectite with water as it will swell filling
the pores with water atoms and affect the reservoir.

- illite is a very destructive minerals in reducing the porosity in reservoir rocks.

Cross Bedding Sedimentary Structures
- A paleo current indicator that shows the direction of flow "from to in the channel, ...".

A: wind - deposition - east

B: another wind with a different direction – deposition - west

1) Trough Cross Bedding

- Hard to say there are two directions easily.
- Facies of: Braided System or Meander System

2) Planar Cross Bedding

- We can detect the two directions of current easily.
- Facies of: Marine Shoreface
3) Tabular (Trough & Planar) Cross Bedding
- Facies of: Sand Dunes

4) Lenticular Cross Bedding

- Facies of: Tidal Flat "Mud Flat"
5) Wave Cross bedding
- Facies of: Tidal Flat "Mixed Flat"

6) Flaser Cross Bedding

- Facies of: Tidal Flat "Sand Flat"
7) Bundles Cross Bedding
- Facies of: Tidal Flat Environment

8) Herringbone Cross Bedding

- Facies of: Tidal Flat, Tidal Channel