Overview

The sedimentary record on Earth stretches back more than 4.3 billion years and is present in more abbreviated forms on companion planets of the Solar System, like Mars and Venus, and doubtless elsewhere. Reading such planetary archives correctly requires intimate knowledge of modern sedimentary processes acting within the framework provided by tectonics, climate and sea or lake level variations. The subject of sedimentology thus encompasses the origins, transport and deposition of mineral sediment on planetary surfaces. The author addresses the principles of the subject from the viewpoint of modern processes, emphasising a general science narrative approach in the main text, with quantitative background derived in enabling ‘cookie’ appendices. The book ends with an innovative chapter dealing with how sedimentology is currently informing a variety of cognate disciplines, from the timing and extent tectonic uplift to variations in palaeoclimate. Each chapter concludes with a detailed guide to key further reading leading to a large bibliography of over 2500 entries. The book is designed to reach an audience of senior undergraduate and graduate students and interested academic and industry professionals.

Full Product Details

Author:   Mike R. Leeder (University of East Anglia, UK)
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Imprint:   Wiley-Blackwell
Edition:   2nd edition
Dimensions:   Width: 18.80cm , Height: 3.60cm , Length: 24.40cm
Weight:   1.656kg
ISBN:  

9781405177832

ISBN 10:   1405177837
Pages:   784
Publication Date:   21 January 2011
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

Table of Contents

Preface xi Acknowledgements xiii Part 1: Making Sediment Introduction 1 1 Clastic sediment as a chemical and physical breakdown product 3 1.1 Introduction: clastic sediments—‘accidents’ of weathering 3 1.2 Silicate minerals and chemical weathering 5 1.3 Solute flux: rates and mechanisms of silicate chemical weathering 12 1.4 Physical weathering 17 1.5 Soils as valves and filters for the natural landscape 18 1.6 Links between soil age, chemical weathering and weathered-rock removal 21 1.7 Provenance: siliciclastic sedimentsourcing 22 Further reading 25 2 Carbonate, siliceous, iron-rich and evaporite sediments 27 2.1 Marine vs. freshwater chemical composition and fluxes 27 2.2 The calcium carbonate system in the oceans 28 2.3 Ooid carbonate grains 31 2.4 Carbonate grains from marine plants and animals 35 2.5 Carbonate muds, oozes and chalks 37 2.6 Other carbonate grains of biological origins 37 2.7 Organic productivity, sea-level and atmospheric controls of biogenic CaCO3 deposition rates 38 2.8 CaCO3 dissolution in the deep ocean and the oceanic CaCO3 compensation mechanism 39 2.9 The carbonate system on land 41 2.10 Evaporite salts and their inorganic precipitation as sediment 43 2.11 Silica and pelagic plankton 47 2.12 Iron minerals and biomineralizers 48 2.13 Desert varnish 51 2.14 Phosphates 52 2.15 Primary microbial-induced sediments: algal mats and stromatolites 52 Further reading 54 3 Sediment grain properties 57 3.1 General 57 3.2 Grain size 57 3.3 Grain-size distributions 59 3.4 Grain shape and form 61 3.5 Bulk properties of grain aggregates 61 Further reading 62 Part 2: Moving Fluid 4 Fluid basics 69 4.1 Material properties of fluids 69 4.2 Fluid kinematics 73 4.3 Fluid continuity with constant density 79 4.4 Fluid dynamics 79 4.5 Energy, mechanical work and power 81 Further reading 82 5 Types of fluid motion 84 5.1 Osborne Reynolds and flow types 84 5.2 The distribution of velocity in viscous flows: the boundary layer 87 5.3 Turbulent flows 88 5.4 The structure of turbulent shear flows 90 5.5 Shear flow instabilities, flow separation and secondary currents 96 5.6 Subcritical and supercritical flows: the Froude number and hydraulic jumps 100 5.7 Stratified flow generally 102 5.8 Water waves 103 5.9 Tidal flow—long-period waves 109 Further reading 109 Part 3: Transporting Sediment Introduction 111 6 Sediment in fluid and fluid flow—general 113 6.1 Fall of grains through stationary fluids 113 6.2 Natural flows carrying particulate material are complex 115 6.3 Fluids as transporting machines 116 6.4 Initiation of grain motion 116 6.5 Paths of grain motion 120 6.6 Categories of transported sediment 121 6.7 Some contrasts between wind and water flows 122 6.8 Cohesive sediment transport and erosion 124 6.9 A warning: nonequilibrium effects dominate natural sediment transport systems 127 6.10 Steady state, deposition or erosion: the sediment continuity equation and competence vs. capacity 129 Further reading 130 7 Bedforms and sedimentary structures in flows and under waves 132 7.1 Trinity of interaction: turbulent flow, sediment transport and bedform development 132 7.2 Water-flow bedforms 132 7.3 Bedform phase diagrams for water flows 147 7.4 Water flow erosional bedforms on cohesive beds 151 7.5 Water wave bedforms 154 7.6 Combined flows: wave–current ripples and hummocky cross-stratification 158 7.7 Bedforms and structures formed by atmospheric flows 159 Further reading 169 8 Sediment gravity flows and their deposits 171 8.1 Introduction 171 8.2 Granular flows 172 8.3 Debris flows 177 8.4 Turbidity flows 184 8.5 Turbidite evidence for downslope transformation from turbidity to debris flows 192 Further reading 193 9 Liquefaction fluidization and sliding sediment deformation 198 9.1 Liquefaction 198 9.2 Sedimentary structures formed by and during liquefaction 200 9.3 Submarine landslides, growth faults and slumps 203 9.4 Desiccation and synaeresis shrinkage structures 205 Further reading 208 Part 4: Major External Controls on Sedimentation and Sedimentary Environments Introduction 209 10 Major external controls on sedimentation 213 10.1 Climate 213 10.2 Global climates: a summary 214 10.3 Sea-level changes 221 10.4 Tectonics 229 10.5 Sediment yield, denudation rate and the sedimentary record 231 Further reading 239 Part 5: Continental Sedimentary Environments Introduction 241 11 Rivers 245 11.1 Introduction 245 11.2 River networks, hydrographs, patterns and long profiles 245 11.3 Channel form 247 11.4 Channel sediment transport processes, bedforms and internal structures 252 11.5 The floodplain 265 11.6 Channel belts, alluvial ridges and avulsion 269 11.7 River channel changes, adjustable variables and equilibrium 271 11.8 Alluvial architecture: product of complex responses 274 11.9 Alluvial architecture: scale, controls and time 278 Further reading 280 12 Subaerial Fans: Alluvial and Colluvial 282 12.1 Introduction 282 12.2 Controls on the size (area) and gradient of fans 284 12.3 Physical processes on alluvial fans 285 12.4 Debris-flow-dominated alluvial fans 287 12.5 Stream-flow-dominated alluvial fans 288 12.6 Recognition of ancient alluvial fans and talus cones 289 Further reading 294 13 Aeolian Sediments in Low-Latitude Deserts 295 13.1 Introduction 295 13.2 Aeolian system state 297 13.3 Physical processes and erg formation 297 13.4 Erg margins and interbedform areas 301 13.5 Erg and draa evolution and sedimentary architecture 305 13.6 Erg construction, stasis and destruction: climate and sea-level controls 307 13.7 Ancient desert facies 312 Further reading 316 14 Lakes 319 14.1 Introduction 319 14.2 Lake stratification 320 14.3 Clastic input by rivers and the effect of turbidity currents 321 14.4 Wind-forced physical processes 322 14.5 Temperate lake chemical processes and cycles 323 14.6 Saline lake chemical processes and cycles 324 14.7 Biological processes and cycles 329 14.8 Modern temperate lakes and their sedimentary facies 331 14.9 Lakes in the East African rifts 331 14.10 Lake Baikal 333 14.11 The succession of facies as lakes evolve 335 14.12 Ancient lake facies 337 Further reading 342 15 Ice 344 15.1 Introduction 344 15.2 Physical processes of ice flow 345 15.3 Glacier flow, basal lubrication and surges 347 15.4 Sediment transport, erosion and deposition by flowing ice 350 15.5 Glacigenic sediment: nomenclature and classification 351 15.6 Quaternary and modern glacial environments and facies 354 15.7 Ice-produced glacigenic erosion and depositional facies on land and in the periglacial realm 354 15.8 Glaciofluvial processes on land at and within the ice-front 357 15.9 Glacimarine environments 358 15.10 Glacilacustrine environments 361 15.11 Glacial facies in the pre-Quaternary geological record: case of Cenozoic Antarctica 362 Further reading 365 Part 6: Marine Sedimentary Environments Introduction 367 16 Estuaries 371 16.1 Introduction 371 16.2 Estuarine dynamics 371 16.3 Modern estuarine morphology and sedimentary environments 376 16.4 Estuaries and sequence stratigraphy 379 Further reading 385 17 River and Fan Deltas 386 17.1 Introduction to river deltas 386 17.2 Basic physical processes and sedimentation at the river delta front 387 17.3 Mass movements and slope failure on the subaqueous delta 390 17.4 Organic deposition in river deltas 392 17.5 River delta case histories 392 17.6 River deltas and sea-level change 405 17.7 Ancient river delta deposits 412 17.8 Fan deltas 412 Further reading 415 18 Linear Siliciclastic Shorelines 417 18.1 Introduction 417 18.2 Beach processes and sedimentation 418 18.3 Barrier–inlet-spit systems and their deposits 426 18.4 Tidal flats, salt marsh and chenier ridges 431 18.5 Ancient clastic shoreline facies 436 Further reading 438 19 Siliciclastic Shelves 19.1 Introduction: shelf sinks and lowstand bypass 440 19.2 Shelf water dynamics 443 19.3 Holocene highstand shelf sediments: general 447 19.4 Tide-dominated, low river input, highstand shelves 447 19.5 Tide-dominated, high river input, highstand shelves 451 19.6 Weather-dominated highstand shelves 453 Further reading 459 20 Calcium-carbonate–evaporite Shorelines, Shelves and Basins 461 20.1 Introduction: calcium carbonate ‘nurseries’ and their consequences 461 20.2 Arid carbonate tidal flats, lagoons and evaporite sabkhas 464 20.3 Humid carbonate tidal flats and marshes 467 20.4 Lagoons and bays 470 20.5 Tidal delta and margin-spillover carbonate tidal sands 472 20.6 Open-shelf carbonate ramps 474 20.7 Platform margin reefs and carbonate build-ups 482 20.8 Platform margin slopes and basins 493 20.9 Carbonate sediments, cycles and sea-level change 499 20.10 Displacement and destruction of carbonate environments: siliciclastic input and eutrophication 502 20.11 Subaqueous saltern evaporites 504 Further reading 509 21 Deep Ocean 514 21.1 Introduction 514 21.2 Sculpturing and resedimentation: gullies, canyons and basin-floor channels 515 21.3 Well caught: intraslope basins 525 21.4 Resedimentation: slides, slumps, linked debris/turbidity flows on the slope and basin plain 526 21.5 Continental margin deposition: fans and aprons 530 21.6 Continental margin deposition: turbidite pathway systems connecting slopes and basin plains 543 21.7 Continental margin deposition: thermohaline currents and contourite drifts 543 21.8 Oceanic biological and chemical processes 547 21.9 Oceanic pelagic sediments 550 21.10 Oceanic anoxic pelagic sediments 551 21.11 Palaeo-oceanography 553 Further reading 557 Part 7: Architecture of Sedimentary Basins Introduction 561 22 Sediment in Sedimentary Basins: A User’s Guide 563 22.1 Continental rift basins 563 22.2 Proto-oceanic rifts 574 22.3 Coastal plains, shelf terraces and continental rises 574 22.4 Convergent/destructive margin basins: some general comments 576 22.5 Subduction zones: trenches and trench-slope basins 578 22.6 Fore-arc basins 580 22.7 Intra-arc basins 581 22.8 Back-arc basins 583 22.9 Foreland basins 585 22.10 Strike-slip basins 597 22.11 A note on basin inversion 599 Further reading 599 Part 8: Topics: Sediment Solutions to Interdisciplinary Problems Introduction 601 23 Sediments Solve Wider Interdisciplinary Problems 605 23.1 Sediments, global tectonics and seawater composition 605 23.2 Banded Iron Formations, rise of cyanobacteria and secular change in global tectonics 607 23.3 Tibetan Plateau uplift; palaeoaltimetry and monsoon intensity 609 23.4 Colorado Plateau uplift and Grand Canyon incision dated by speleothem carbonate 614 23.5 River channels and large-scale regional tilting 614 23.6 Regional drainage reversal 617 23.7 Sediment budgeting and modelling of foreland basins 617 23.8 Lengthwise growth and fault amalgamation 618 23.9 Rivers, basement uplifts, tilting and fault growth 622 23.10 Unsteady strain and the sedimentary response 623 23.11 Tectonics and climate as depositional controls 626 23.12 River equilibrium, incision and aggradation—away from the knee-jerk of tectonic explanation 628 23.13 Integrated sedimentary systems: modelling tectonics, sediment yield and sea level change 629 23.14 Extraterrestrial sedimentology—atmospheric and liquid flows on Mars 635 23.15 Suborbital surprises: reefs and speleothem as fine-scale tuners of the Pleistocene sea-level curve 638 23.16 Speleothem: Rosetta stone for past climate 641 Further reading 644 Cookies 646 Maths Appendix 697 References 702 Index 753 Colour plates fall between pp. 402 and 403

Reviews

The book is designed to reach an audience of senior undergraduate and graduate students and interested academic and industry professionals. (Solid Waste & Recycling, 8 March 2011)

For them, I cannot recommend it too highly, this being alifetime of scholarly endeavour encapsulated in one volume. Itwill, I am sure, be a standard reference for years tocome. (Geology Today, 1 May 2011) The book is designed to reach an audience of senior undergraduateand graduate students and interested academic and industryprofessionals. (Solid Waste & Recycling, 8 March 2011)

The book is designed to reach an audience of senior undergraduate and graduate students and interested academic and industry professionals. (Solid Waste & Recycling, 8 March 2011)

Author Information

Mike Leeder is Professor Emeritus at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England. A geologist by training, at the University of Durham, he has researched and taught sedimentology since 1969, beginning as a graduate student at the Sedimentological Research Laboratory, University of Reading under the legendary Perce Allen and as faculty member at the Universities of Leeds and East Anglia. He is particularly interested in sedimentological fluid dynamics, basin analysis and the links between sedimentary processes and climate change.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions