SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS/Depositional Systems and Facies 485

SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS

Contents

Depositional Systems and Facies

Alluvial Fans, Alluvial Sediments and Settings
Anoxic Environments
Carbonate Shorelines and Shelves
Contourites
Deltas
Deserts
Lake Processes and Deposits
Reefs (‘Build-Ups’)
Shoreline and Shoreface Deposits
Storms and Storm Deposits

to summarize those descriptive features of a rock that

Depositional Systems
and Facies
J Collinson, John Collinson Consulting, Beech, UK
ß 2005, Elsevier Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Introduction
The concept of facies as applied to sediments is a
means of classifying and grouping deposits in such a
way that objective differences, usually with genetic
significance, are highlighted. In present-day settings,
the relationships between processes and environ-
ments are self-evident, but in sequences of ancient
sediment various analytical procedures are needed
to reconstruct environments. ‘Facies analysis’ is such
a suite of techniques and is based on an assemblage of
facies and the relationships of the facies to one an-
other. The results of facies analysis may be expressed
as facies models, which summarize and, to some
extent, idealize the relationships and allow the facies
of a stratigraphical interval to be predicted in areas
where it cannot be directly observed. Facies analysis
also provides a major input to ‘sequence stratigraphy’
(see Sequence Stratigraphy), whereby facies succes-
sions are placed within a stratigraphical framework
defined by key stratal surfaces that are related to
changes in relative sea-level or base-level.
Facies
The concept of facies dates back to the early nine-
teenth century, when A Gressly introduced the term
distinguish it from other rocks. Historically, the con-
cept has been applied at a wide range of scales and,
therefore, with varying significance. At the largest
scale, ‘facies’ has been applied to major stratigraph-
ical units in particular tectonic contexts. ‘Flysch’ and
‘molasse’ are examples of this and are used particu-
larly in the description of the Tertiary fold belts of
Europe. At a large scale, ‘facies’ is also used to de-
scribe regional differences of depositional environ-
ment within a particular stratigraphical interval. For
example, in Britain, one might contrast the ‘basinal
facies’ of the Silurian of Central Wales with the coeval
‘shelf facies’ of the Welsh Borders. These usages are
generally accepted and understood but, in order to
arrive at an interpretation of the depositional envir-
onment, it is necessary to go through a process of
facies analysis. This involves establishing an appro-
priate facies scheme for the succession being studied
and then analysing the spatial relationships of those
facies.
Facies schemes are established using a variety of
physical, chemical, and biological criteria, and there
is no such thing as a universally applicable facies
system. Different sedimentary successions demand
different schemes because of their contrasting charac-
ter or because the intended end products of facies
analysis may differ. A simple facies scheme may
suffice for a rather basic interpretation, whilst a
more elaborate scheme may be appropriate for
a more refined interpretation. The facies scheme
therefore depends on the scale and detail of the study.
In successions of dominantly clastic sediments, a
facies scheme would commonly be based largely on
486 SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS/Depositional Systems and Facies

the physical properties of the sediments. Grain size is

a common starting point for subdivision. Not only
dominant grain size but also secondary features, such
as sorting, might be considered. Any differences
in composition would also be used for primary sub-
division. A subdivision based on grain size may be
refined by considering sedimentary structures (e.g.
styles of lamination), so that facies such as ‘fine-
grained, ripple cross-laminated sandstone’ or ‘hori-
zontally laminated siltstone’ might result. Facies
defined in this way are called lithofacies, and they
can commonly be interpreted in terms of depositional
processes by applying knowledge of the relation-
ships between hydrodynamics, particle size, and sedi-
mentary structures. However, many depositional
processes occur in a range of sedimentary settings,
and, therefore, few lithofacies are fully diagnostic of
depositional environment.
Other features, formed soon after deposition,
permit more refined facies schemes. Bioturbation by
animals or plant roots can provide clues about the
environment, and highly distinctive facies such as
coal may also allow a specific environment of depos-
ition to be deduced. Where burrowing is important,
the assemblage of burrow types and the intensity of
burrowing may necessitate schemes of ichnofacies.
Early-formed concretions and textures in palaeosols
can indicate the drainage conditions of emergent
surfaces soon after deposition and can lead to pedo-
facies. If sediments are fossiliferous, the types and
Figure 1 Interbedded sandstones and mudstones showing the
diversities of the fossils may lead to biofacies, and distinction between the quiet background sedimentation of muds
consequent facies analysis may incorporate palaeo- and the high-energy events that delivered the sands. In this case,
ecological considerations. Analysis of very fine plant the high-energy events were turbidity currents in a deep-water
debris or spores may lead to palynofacies. marine setting. Paleocene, Zumaia, Spain.
For carbonate sediments, the nature of the con-
stituent grains is important in establishing the depos-
itional setting, and their characterization through fluctuation energy and the sand beds show evidence
petrographical description may lead to microfacies. of wave action, perhaps reworking their tops, then
In complex sequences, combinations of these different storm events on a shelf may be the appropriate infer-
approaches may be appropriate. ence. If the finer sediments show evidence of emer-
Where two contrasting lithologies are interbedded, gence, with soil textures, and the sands are current
it may be appropriate to recognize event deposition dominated, then river floods (crevasse events) on a
(Figure 1). In many successions of interbedded muds floodplain may be the appropriate interpretation. In
and sands, sand beds commonly have sharp bases and all these cases, it would be valid to regard the finer
may show internal grading and vertically changing and coarser components as separate facies, but it
styles of lamination. They were clearly deposited by may prove practical to use composite facies based
sudden high-energy events in otherwise low-energy on the thicknesses and proportions of the coarse
settings. Establishing the nature of the events may and fine components. This approach is particularly
depend on interpreting quite subtle features of both applicable to turbidite successions.
the sand beds and the finer interbeds. Where the
muddy component lacks evidence of higher energy
and the sands show only current-generated structures
Facies Analysis
and lamination, the events are likely to be turbidity Most facies defined according to the criteria outlined
currents in a deep-water setting. If the finer sedi- above may be interpreted in terms of processes
ments are strongly bioturbated and show signs of of deposition, but these are seldom unique to a
 SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS/Depositional Systems and Facies 487

particular environment. In order to identify the de-
positional settings of ancient sediments, it is necessary
to understand the processes active in present-day
environments and the ways in which sediments are
deposited and preserved there. In other words, it is
necessary to interpret the patterns of facies seen in the
rocks by comparison with the patterns of processes
established in modern settings. Understanding the
interrelationships of facies and processes allows en-
vironments of deposition to be inferred with greater
precision.
Process-based facies analysis, which began in earn-
est in the early 1960s, concentrated initially on under-
standing the vertical succession of facies observed in a
borehole core or stream section. Key to this approach
was an appreciation of the importance of the nature
of the contacts between vertically adjacent facies. In
some cases, the contact is a gradational transition,
whilst in other cases it is sharp or even erosive. These
distinctions are important in interpretation, which is
usually based on the application of Walther’s Law of
the Correlation of Facies, which was first formulated
in 1884, but has been applied critically only since the
late 1950s. This law, simply stated, points out that
facies that are laid down side-by-side in their depos-
itional environment will come to lie vertically on top
of one another in the same order as their lateral
distribution, or, conversely, only those facies that are
superimposed one upon the other without a break
can have been deposited in laterally adjacent settings
(Figure 2). The importance of the nature of the verti-
cal facies contacts is apparent in Figure 2, which
shows that an erosion surface can allow the super-
position of facies deposited in widely separated set-
tings. Sedimentary hiatuses can have the same result.
A rapid transgression can lead to shallow-water
facies being directly overlain by deep-water facies,
with facies representative of intermediate environ-
ments missing across the contact because of a lack
of deposition or condensation, though not necessarily
requiring a temporal break in sedimentation.
Some facies successions show systematic trends of
vertical change, expressed through grain size or other
properties. In other cases, a less organized succession
may occur. Trends of vertically increasing and de-
creasing grain size (coarsening-up and fining-up
units) are amongst the most common patterns en-
countered in clastic successions, and these may, for
example, be equated with prograding shorelines and
laterally migrating channels, respectively (Figure 3).
Such facies trends may occur as single examples or as
vertically repeated patterns. Where repetition occurs,
successions are commonly described as cyclic, and the
idea of cyclic sedimentation has a history extending
back to the early nineteenth century. In cyclic succes-
sions, it is important to distinguish between inter-
preting the facies sequence within cyclothems (i.e.
the environment) and explaining the cyclicity (i.e. the
repetition). Facies patterns may repeat vertically be-
cause of inherent properties of the depositional envir-
onment, such as the tendency for river or distributary
channels to switch positions on a floodplain or delta
top. Such processes are termed autocyclic. Where
external controls, such as fluctuating sea-levels or
subsidence rates, are thought to cause the repetition,
the processes are termed allocyclic.
In cyclic successions, it is rare for all cyclothems to
show an identical facies sequence. Rather, they are
variations on a theme (Figure 4). Various statistical
techniques can be employed to extract a ‘complete’ or
‘ideal’ cyclothem, the interpretation of which can be
developed into a facies model. However, it is also
instructive to consider the variations in the facies
successions of cycles and their relationships with
the ideal cycle, since the variability itself may help
to refine the model. For example, a series of
coarsening-up cycles may record successive prograda-
tions of a delta, whilst the differences between indi-
vidual cycles may reflect differences between
subenvironments of the delta, stacked in vertical suc-
cession through autocyclic delta-lobe switching.
Comparison of the facies in the upper parts of several

Figure 2 An illustration of the operation of Walther’s Law of the Correlation of Facies. The subenvironments A–E lie side-by-side
and, through progradation, generate a vertical facies succession a–e. The development of an erosion surface through the migration of
a channel triggers a new facies sequence, x–z, which is independent of the earlier one. The erosion surface separates facies that were
generated in settings that have no predictable lateral relationship.
488 SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS/Depositional Systems and Facies

Figure 3 A large-scale coarsening-up unit generated by the

progradation of a major delta. The unit ends abruptly at a flooding
surface (arrowed), above which are stacked smaller-scale
coarsening-up units (parasequences). Namurian, County Clare,
Ireland.

cycles may lead to inferences about the variability of

the delta front and delta plain and hence allow a more
refined characterization of delta type. The validity of
such an approach depends, of course, on the succes-
sively prograding deltas having been of broadly simi-
lar character.
In successions where no cyclicity is apparent and no
patterns of vertical facies change can be identified,
mathematical investigation such as Markhov chain
analysis may help to detect an underlying pattern
beneath the random noise. However, the demon-
stration of statistical significance may be limited by
insufficient data.

Architectural Elements and

Bounding Surfaces
Where sedimentary successions are very well exposed
in extensive desert or coastal cliffs, it is clearly not
sensible to rely solely on the vertical sequence of Figure 4 The facies succession of an idealized model
facies to reconstruct the depositional environment. cyclothem compared with the observed facies successions
Lateral facies relationships, where they can be upon which it is based.
 SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS/Depositional Systems and Facies 489
observed, are highly instructive, and the two- and
three-dimensional shapes and sizes of facies units
may be highly diagnostic. Lateral changes in facies
or in the thicknesses of facies units (architectural
elements) may help to localize particular elements of
the depositional environment. For example, the
thickening of crevasse splay sands within a floodplain
succession may be linked to the proximity of a
channel sandstone.
Laterally extensive exposures may reveal subtle
low-angle dipping surfaces that would remain un-
detected in one-dimensional sections such as borehole
cores. Such surfaces may be confined within channel
sand bodies, indicating lateral accretion of the chan-
nel or downstream accretion of a channel bar. They
may also occur on a larger scale within coarsening-up
units such as progradational clinoforms deposited in
a delta-front setting. Such surfaces contribute to
facies definition and, more importantly, they aid in-
terpretation by constraining the context of the facies.
Within complex channel sandstones, the usefulness
of Walther’s Law is often limited by abundant erosion
surfaces. In a narrow one-dimensional section, the
significance of a particular erosion surface may be
difficult to establish. The basal erosion surface of a
channel sand body, where it rests on contrasting,
Figure 5 Examples of the various ‘architectural elements’ that can commonly be identified in alluvial channel deposits. The
architectural elements are the products, usually only partially preserved, of various morphological features (bedforms, bars, channel
fills) that occupied the channel floor.
probably finer-grained, facies, is likely to be exten-
sive, but erosion surfaces within the sand body, per-
haps picked out by pebble-lag or intraformational
conglomerates, may have more local significance.
Within large complex channel units, laterally exten-
sive exposures commonly show that erosion surfaces
fall naturally into a hierarchy of scale, lateral extent,
and genetic significance. The bodies of sediment that
they bound are termed architectural elements, facies
building blocks of differing genetic significance that
are linked to the geomorphology of the channel
system (Figure 5). Within aeolian dune deposits, simi-
lar hierarchies of bounding surfaces are critical to
the discrimination of dunes and larger compound
bedforms.
It is clear that the more fully the three-dimensional
patterns of facies are established, the more precise can
be the environmental interpretation. Where only sub-
surface data are available, the one-dimensional facies
information provided by boreholes may sometimes be
suitably supplemented by three-dimensional seismic
data. However, in most cases, the lateral extent of
facies units and lateral facies relationships must
be predicted intuitively using Walther’s Law and
judiciously chosen analogues, usually from extensive
outcrop exposures.
490 SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS/Depositional Systems and Facies
Facies Models
Facies models are attempts to summarize the essential
aspects of facies sequences and relate them to inferred
depositional environments. They are usually most
effectively conveyed graphically as three-dimensional
block diagrams that relate the environment and its
behaviour to the facies pattern. Facies models have
been proposed for most major depositional environ-
ments, and there is a large measure of consensus
about their general aspects, particularly for fluvial,
aeolian, deltaic, and other shallow-water settings. For
deep-water sand settings, differences of opinion
about what constitutes a ‘submarine-fan model’
have largely been resolved by recognizing that there
is a whole spectrum of fan types and, accordingly, a
spectrum of valid models. General rather idealized
models of major depositional settings have their
place as educational tools. They also form a basis
with which to compare an actual sedimentary succes-
sion, where differences between the ideal and the
actual may be important in refining the interpret-
ation. However, it is important to recognize that
some settings are inherently more organized and pre-
dictable than others and that lateral variation takes
place on a variety of scales. This is important when a
model is used to predict the nature of a succession
between or beyond known data points. In a well-
organized setting, it may be appropriate to build a
predictive model that is deterministic, and predicted
interpolations and extrapolations can be expected to
Figure 6 A major erosion surface (arrowed) at the base of a thick multistorey channel complex. The erosion surface is regional in
extent and has a mapped relief of several tens of metres. It is inferred to be the base of an incised palaeovalley and would be regarded
as a sequence boundary, related to a major fall in base level (relative sea-level). Namurian, County Clare, Ireland.
reflect reality closely. In more complex, less organized
settings, the stochastic component means that such
predictions must be generalized and expressed in
probabilistic terms.
Sequence Stratigraphy and Key
Surfaces
At outcrop or in a borehole section, the establishment
of a sequence stratigraphical framework depends
on distinguishing key surfaces of potentially wide-
spread significance that can be related to episodes of
rising or falling base level, which in marine settings
is relative sea-level, in lacustrine settings is lake level,
in fluvial settings is the graded fluvial profile, and in
aeolian settings is the water table.
Erosion surfaces at the bases of channel units or
elsewhere in a sequence are, in many cases, simply
consequences of the depositional processes operating
within the environment, for example the migration of
a river channel on a flood plain. Such surfaces are
autocyclic and have only local significance. Other
channel bases may have much more widespread
stratigraphical significance and may be related to
valley incision caused by a fall in base level (i.e.
allocyclic control) (Figure 6). These are one expres-
sion of sequence boundaries in sequence stratigraph-
ical terminology. Distinguishing between the two
types of erosion surface can be difficult, based on
features of the erosion surface alone, especially
 SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS/Depositional Systems and Facies 491
where local channel bases are nested within a larger-
scale palaeovalley. However, deeper incision as a
result of base-level fall may cause the erosion surface
to cut down into facies that differ from those beneath
autocyclic channel bases. Outside the confines of an
incised valley, the long-term emergence of the sedi-
mentary surface and the resulting nondeposition may
allow highly mature soil profiles to develop, so that
recognition of palaeosol facies in interfluve areas
may have widespread stratigraphical significance.
Non-erosive sharp contacts at the bases of coarser
facies may also indicate that regressions were
forced by falling base level. Falling base level or rela-
tive sea-level, therefore, may be manifested in a
variety of different ways leading to uncertainty in
discrimination and correlation.
Rises of base level or relative sea-level produce more
uniform facies expressions, as they tend to be associ-
ated with transgression and a cut-off of sediment
supply to more distal settings owing to sediment being
trapped closer to its source. The results are flooding
surfaces (Figure 3) characterized by condensation,
often to the point of nondeposition. In marine settings,
such surfaces are commonly characterized by intense
bioturbation, reflecting the increased time available for
animals to rework the sediment before burial. When
flooding occurred in humid near-emergent settings,
peat developed as plant productivity balanced increas-
ing accommodation space. Coal seams, the compacted
products of peat, may be of local or regional signifi-
cance. Where flooding occurred through autocyclic
processes, for example by cut-off of sediment supply
through distributary switching on a delta plain, the
seam extent reflects the area of an interdistributary
bay or floodplain lake. Where the control was allo-
cyclic, coal seams may be regionally important
stratigraphical markers. Flooding surfaces, however
expressed in the sediments, commonly mark the bases
of coarsening-up units, termed parasequences, that
record the progradations that eventually filled the
resulting bodies of water. Where flooding is associated
with the transgression of a high-energy shoreline, the
transgressive surface may be an erosional pebble lag
ravinement surface, separating nearshore sediment
below from more offshore sediment above.
See Also
Sedimentary Environments: Alluvial Fans, Alluvial
Sediments and Settings; Deltas. Sedimentary Pro-
cesses: Depositional Sedimentary Structures; Post-De-
positional Sedimentary Structures; Aeolian Processes.
Sedimentary Rocks: Mineralogy and Classification. Se-
quence Stratigraphy. Soils: Palaeosols. Trace Fossils.
Further Reading
Anderton R (1985) Clastic facies models and facies
analysis. In: Brenchley PJ and Williams BPJ (eds.) Sedi-
mentology: Recent Developments and Applied Aspects,
pp. 31–47. Special Publication 18. London: Geological
Society.
Galloway WE (1989) Genetic stratigraphic sequences in
basin analysis. 1. Architecture and genesis of flooding-
surface bounded depositional units. Bulletin of the
American Association of Petroleum Geologists 73:
125–142.
Leeder MR (1999) Sedimentology and Sedimentary Basins.
Oxford: Blackwell Scientific.
Nichols G (1999) Sedimentology and Stratigraphy. Oxford:
Blackwell Scientific.
Reading HG (ed.) (1996) Sedimentary Environments:
Processes, Facies and Stratigraphy, 3rd edn. Oxford:
Blackwell Scientific Publications.
Reading HG (2001) Clastic facies models, a personal per-
spective. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark
48: 101–115.
Scholle PA and Spearing D (eds.) (1983) Carbonate Depos-
itional Environments. Memoir 33. Tulsa: American
Association of Petroleum Geologists.
Scholle PA, Bebout DG, and Moore CH (eds.) (1983) Sand-
stone Depositional Environments. Memoir 31. Tulsa:
American Association of Petroleum Geologists.
Selley RC (1996) Ancient Sedimentary Environments and
their Subsurface Diagnosis, 4th edn. London: Chapman
& Hall.
Tucker ME (1985) Shallow-marine carbonate facies and
facies models. In: Brenchley PJ and Williams BPJ (eds.)
Sedimentology: Recent Developments and Applied
Aspects, pp. 147–169. Special Publication 18. London:
Geological Society.
Walker RG and James NP (eds.) Facies Models; Response to
Sea Level Change. Waterloo, Canada: Geological Society
of Canada.