Middleton G.V. (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

Подождите немного. Документ загружается.

StDlMENT TRANSTOKT

WAVES

625

again promincnl; the flu.x rate is:

h = {p. -

f>t)

gii' Si = K Pi

(Eq. 8]

where K =

proportionality constant, //. = immersed weight

transport rate;

/),./),

= mass densities of solid and fluid

respectively; g = gravitational constant; a'

—

porosity:

5/,

= longshore transport volume, and:

/•*/. = EC /(cosxsin

(Eq. 9)

where »= ratio of group speed to wave speed. £,'= specific

energy density; r = wave speed: » = ratio of wave speed to

group speed; and a = thc angle of wave breaking at the

shoreline. F'or a recent detailed e\aluation of some well-known

models, see Bayram etal. (2001).

Brian Greenwood

Bibliography

Aagaard. T.. and Greenwood. B., 1995. Longshore and cross-sluirc

suspended sediment transport ;it fur intVagravily tVequencies in a

barred environment.

Oiiiliiit'iiUil Stu-ll

Rcscairh. 15: 12.'^5-124y,

Aagaard. T.. Black. K.P.. and Greenwood. B.. 2002. Cross-shore

suspended sedimejil transport in the surf zone: a field-based

paramcterlziitlon. MuriiivGeolngy. 185: 283-302.

Uagnold.

K..\..

1963. Mechanics ol' marine sedimentation, [n Mill.

"^M.N. (cd.), TheSea. Volume 3, Wilcy-iiucrbciencc. pp. 507-528.

Uagiiold. R.A.. l')66. An approach to tlie sediment transport problem

IVoni general physics. VS Geoln^iciil Survey Pro/cwicintl Paper

422

1.37pp.

Bailard, J.A.. 1981. An energetics model for a plane sloping beach.

JowiwKk-oiyhvsicitlResettrvh. 86; 10938-10954.

Bauer. B.O.. and Greenwood. B.. I'JsJO. Modification of a linear bar-

trough system by a standing edge wave. Marine denlogv. 92: 177

204.

Bayram. A.. Larson, M.. Miller. H.C.. and Kraus, N.C.. 2001. Cross-

shore distribution of longshore sediment transport: comparison

between predictive formulas and iicld measurements. Cottsui!

Hiiiiiin-eriii}',

44: 7')-99.

Bowen. A.J.. 1980. Simple models of nearshore sedimentation: beach

profiles and longshore bars. In MeC'ann. S.B. (ed.). TiifCoustiiiieof

Canada. Geological Survey ol~ Canada. Paper

10. pp. i It.

Bowen. A.J.. and llnntley. D.A.. iyS4. Waves, long waves and

nearshore morphology. MurineCccldgy. 60: 1 13.

Bowen. A.J.. and Hohnaii. R.A.. I9K9. Shear instabilities of the tncan

longshore current. 1. Theory. Jciirntit ffCiciplnsiail Rescarcli. 94:

18,023-18.030.

Butt. T., and Russell, P.. 20(10. Hydrodynamics and cross-shore

sedimeni transport in the swash zone of natural beaches: a review.

JouniiilfifCiHisliiiResifunti. 16: 255-268,

Cacchione. D.A.. and Drake. D.E.. 1990, Shelfsediment transport: an

overview wiUi applications to the northern Calitornia continental

shelf.

In Le Mchaule. B.. and liaiics. D.M. (eds.). TiieSea. Volume

9. Pan B, Chapter 21. Wiley-lnterscieiicc. pp. 729 773.

Chiton. H.F.. 1976. Wavc-fortiicd sedimentary striiclures—a concep-

Uial model. In Davis. R.A.. and Cthiiigton. R.L. (etis.l. Bciulitiiul

.\'fiiistitire SedlDiciihiikin. Sticiety Economic Paleontologists and

Mineralogists. Special Ptiblication. 24. pp. 126- 148.

Cliflon. H.E.. and Dingier. J.R.. 19X4. Wave-formed structures and

paleoenvirontnentiil reconstruction, MayineGvititigy. 60: I65-19S,

Conley, D.C.. and Inman, D,L.. 1992, Field observations of the (iuid

granular boundary layer under near-breaking waves. Jourtuil

i>f

Cieophv^icui

Research. 97: 9631

9643.

Cowell. P.J.. Roy. P.S.. Cleveringa. J.. ant! dc Boer. P.L.. 1999.

Simulating coastal systemstracts using the shoreface translation

modeL In^Harbaugh.'j.W,. Walney. W.L.. Rankey. E.C. Slinger-

land, R.. Goldstein. R.H.. and Franseen. E.K. (eds.).

Nunicriitil Experiments in Sireiiigrapliy: Rceem Advances in Sn-ali-

grapiiiiand Seilinifiiii'ia^ii- Conipiiter Siiniitatians. SEPM. Special

Publication 62. pp. idS' 175.

Davidson-Arnott, R.G.D.. and Greenwood. B.. 1976. Facics relation-

ships on a barred coast. Kouchibouguac. New Brunswick. Canada,

In Davis. R.A.. and Ethington. R.L. (eds.). Beach ami

Neaishori.'

Seilinieniiniim. Society Economic Piileontologists and Mitieralo-

gists.

Special Publication, 24. pp. 149 16K.

Dyer, K., and Souisby. R.L., I9KS. Sand transport on the continental

shelf,

.inmial

Rcvi'ew

of Fluid Mechanics. 20: 295-324.

Fredsoe, J., and Deigaard. R.. 1992. Mechanics of Cmistai Scditnenl

Tnnispiiii. Singapore: World Seientifie Publishing Cti.. Advanced

Series on Ocean Engineeritig. Volume 3. 3(S9pp.

Grant, W.D.. and Madsen, O.S., 1979. Combined wave and eurrent

interaction with a rouah bottom, .loiiinaltifGcuphvsiciti Rescaicli.

84:

I797-IK08.

Grant, W.D.. and Madsen. O.S., 1982. Movable bed roughness in un-

steady oscillatory ^o\\.

Jotiin(ih>fGci>physicitlResearch.

87: 469 481.

Gram. W.D.. and Madsen, O.S.. 1986. The continental-shelf bottom

boundary layer.

.Aiintial

Review if Fiitid

Mcciiatiic.s.

18: 265 305.

Greenwood, B.. and Zhiming Xu. 2001. Si/c fraetionation by

suspension transport: a large-scale tlume experiment with shoaling

waves. Marine Geoidgy. 176: 157 174,

Ciruszczynski, M.. Riidowski,S..Semil. J,.SIominski. J.,andZrobek. J.,

1993.

Rip currents as a geological tool. Si'dinifiiloiogy. 40: 217 236.

Guillen. J,, and Hoekstra, P., 1996. The "equilibrium" distribution of

grain size Tractions and ils implications lor cross-shore sediment

transport: a conceptual model. MaiineGeoio^y. 135: 15 33.

Guza. R.T.. and Thornton. t.B.. 1985. Velocity moments in nearshore.

Joiiinal lliitcrwars.

Ports.

Cua.stai.

Ocean

Ens;incerini^.

Ill: 235 256.

Herber>. T.M.C.. Elgar. S.. and Guza. R.T..' 1995. Generation and

propagation of intraiiravity waves. JourniihfGeophvsiatl Research,

100:

24683 24872,

Hunt lev. D.A.. 1976. Long period waves on a natural beach. Journal of

Geophywai Research. 81: 6441 6449.

Huntley. D.A.. and Hanes. D.M., 1987. Direct measurement ol'

suspended sediment transport. Proceedings. Coastal Seiliments

'H7.

.Veil Orleans. American Society of Civil Fnuinecrs, \)'^. 723 737.

JalTe. B.E . Stem^berg. R.W.. and Sallenger. k.W.. 1985. The role of

suspended seditnent in shore-normal beach profile changes, h-u-

cvcditi^s. P)ih liilenuaioiutl

Conjen-ncc on Coiisial

Fn^iim-cring.

Hous-

ton.

American Society of Civil Engineers, pp. 1983 1996.

Jensen. B.L.. Sutiier.

'B.M..

and Fredsoe. .1.. 1989. Turbulent

Oscillatory boundary layers at hiah Reynolds numbers, .fournaloj

Fluid

.Mcchanies.

206: 265-297.

Kauftiian. P.. Grot/iiiger. J.P.. and McCormick. D.S.. I'>y2. Depth-

dependent diffusion algorithms lor simulation of seditnentation

in shaliow marine depositional systems. In Eranseen. E.K..

Watney. W.L., Kendall. C.G.St.C., and.Ross. W. (eds.), Seiiinien-

lary Modeling; Conipnler Siniuialionsitnd Methodsfor Itnprovedl'aia-

nicler Definiliim. Kansas Geological Survey. Special Publication,

233.

PP.489-5OS,

Kinsman. B., 1965. Windwavcs. Prentice-Hall.

Komar. P.D.. 1978. Relative quantities ol" suspension versus bedload

transport on beacbes. .lounuilSeiliinentavy Petrology. 48: ^21 932.

Komar, P.D.. 1998. Beach Pwccsscs and Scdinioihtlion. 2nd cdn.

Prentice-Hiill.

Le Meluiute. B.. 1976. .-(/;

IntrocJuclion

lo llydrtidynmnies and Water

Waves. Part 3: Water Wave Theories. New York: Springer-Verlag,

pp.195 272.

List. J.H.. 1992. A model for the generation of two-dimensional surf

beat. Journaloj

Gcoplirsicat

Research. 97: 5263 5635.

List. J.H.. and Terwindt. J.H.J. (eds.). 1995. Large-Scale Coastal

Behaviour. Special

Issue.

Marine

Geology.

126, 331pp.

Longuet-Higgins. M.S.. 1953. Mass transport in water waves, Phiioso-

phicanhinsaciions Royal Society I.omlan. A245: 535 581.

Mtmk. W.H.. 1949, Surf beat. FOS.Transactions .AnieriianGvophvsicai

Utiinn. 30: 849-854.

Nielsen. P.. 1992. Coastal Binoidaiy Layers and Sediment Tran.sport.

Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company. Advanced Scries

oil Ocean Enuineering. Volume 4.

Oliman-Shay. C Howd. P., and Birkemcir, W., 1989. Shear

instabilities of" the mean longshore current. 2. Eield observations.

JourtiaiofGeopliv.sicaiRcscatrh. 88: 2579-2591.

Osborne, P.D., and Greenwood. B.. 1992. Erequcney dependent cross-

sbore suspended sediment transport. I. a non-barred shorelacc.

Marine

Geoloiiv.

106: 1-24.

626 SEDIMENTARY GEOLOGY

Osborne, P.D., and Greetnvood, B,, 1993. Seditnent suspension under

waves and currents: time scales and vertical structure. Sedimcnlol-

oi-y. 40: 599 622,

Ribberink. J.S.. and Al-Salem. A.A.. 1995. Sheet How and suspension

of sand in oscillatory boundary layers, (tiaslal Fn^ineeritni. 25:

205-225.

Roelvink, J,A,, and Stive, M.J.F,, 1989, Bar generating cross-shore

flow mechanisms on a bcaeh. Journal of Geophvsical Rescarcii. 94:

4785-4800,

Schoonees. J.S., and Theron. A.K.. 1995. Evaluation of 10 cross-shore

transport/trtorphological models. Coastal Engineering. 25: I 41,

Shi,

N.C., and Larsen. L.H.. 1984. Reverse sediment transport induced

by amplitude modulated waves. MarineGeolov,v. 54: ISI 200.

Sleath. J.E.A., 1984. Sea Bed Mechanics. Wiley Interscience.

Sleath. J.E.A.. 1990. Seabed boundary layers. In Le Mehaute. B.. and

Hanes, D,M, (eds.), Ftie Sea. Volume 9, Part B. Chapter 20, p,

69? 727. Wiley-[ntcrscicnce.

Sleath. J,E.A.. 1995. Sediment transport by waves and currents, Joitr-

milGctiphvsieai Research. 100: 10977 10986.

Souisby. R.. 1997. Dynamics tf Marine Sands. London: Thomas

Telfbrd Services,

Sternberg. R.W., Shi. N.C.. and Downing. J.P,. 1989, Continuous

measurements of suspended sediment. In Seymour. R.J. (ed.).

NearslunvScdimctil Transport. Plenum Press, pp. 231-257.

Storms. J.E.A.. Weltje. G.J., van Dijke. J.J.. and Kroonenberg. S.B..

2002.

Process-response modelling of wave-dotninated coastal

systems: simulating evolution and stratigraphy on geological

timescales. Journalof Sedinwnhiry Petrology. 72: 226 239.

Smith. J,D,. 1977. Modeling of" sediment transport on continental

shelves. In Goldberg. E.D.. MeCave, LN.. O'Brien. J.J., and Steele.

J.H. (eds). TheSea. Volutne 6. Chapter 13. Wiley-Interscience.

pp.

539-578.

Stokes. G.G., 1847. On the iheory of oscillatory waves. Transactions

Camividge Phiiosophiea! Soeieir. 8 and Supplementary Scientific

Paper I.

Symonds. G.. Huntley. D,A,. and Bowen, A.J,, 1982. Two-dimen-

sional surf beat. Long wave generation by a varying break point.

JourtiaiofGcopiivsicaiResearcii. 80: 492 498.

Swift, D,J,P., 1976."In Stanley. D.J., and Swift, D.J,P. (eds.). Marine

Sediment Transport and Fnvironmenlai Management. Wiley Inter-

science. pp. 311 350.

Traykovski. P., Hay. A.E.. Irish. J.D., and Lynch. J.E., 1999.

Geometry, migration and evolution of~ wave orbital ripples at

HL0-\5-'Journal of Geophysical Research. 104: 1505 1524.

Van Rijn, L.C.. 1993. Prhiciples<fSeiiititent

Transport

Rivers.

Estu-

aries and Cuaslai Seas. Amsterdam: Aqua Publications,

Watson, G.. and Peregrine. D.IL. 1992. Low frequency waves in the

surf

7O\K.

Proceedings

2ird Inlcrnational Conference on Coastal En-

gineering. American Society of Civil Engineers, pp. 818 831.

Wbitc. T.E.. 1998. Status of measuretnent techniques for coastal

sediment transport. Coastai Engineering. 35: 17-45.

Cross-references

Bar. Littorid

Bedding and Internal Structures

Coastal Sedimentary Eacies

Physics of Sediment Transport: the Contributions of R.A, Bagnold

Sediment Eluxes and Rates of Sedimentation

Sediment Transport by Tides

Sediment Transport by Unidirectional Water Elows

Surface Eorms

Swash and Backwash. Swash Marks

SEDIMENTARY GEOLOGY

The discipline devoted to the scientific study of sediments and

seditrtenlary rocks has been described by a number of names.

Petrology is the scienee Ihat studies rocks, particularly their

mineralogy, textures, and origins. From the beginnings of the

discipline, some petrologists devoted themselves to sedimen-

tary rocks, and texts on petrology included sections or volumes

devoted to Seditiientary Petrology: early examples include

Hatch atid RastalFs Petrology of the Sedimentary Rocks (1913)

and Milner"s Introducth>n to Sedimentary Petrography (1922)—

the latter being largely devoted to the study of heavy minerals

and size analysis. When the Society tor Economic Paleontol-

ogists and Mineralogists was founded in 1927, it derived its

name tVom two groups of specialized researchers, then largely

working in petroleum exploration: those who studied rnicro-

fossils (the "economic paleontologists") and those who studied

heavy tninerals ("the economic mineralogists"): it was thought

at thai titiie that heavy tninerals would be useful to correlate

oil sands that contained no microtbssils. In 1931. SEPM began

publication ot~the first journal devoted e.xclusiveiy to seditnents

and sedimentary rocks, under the name Journalof Sedimetitary

Petrology.

Before 1920 rnost authors did not ditTerentiate the study of

sedimentary rocks from Stratigraphy, which is the study of

stratified rocks, concerned "not only with the original

succession and age relations of rock strata, but also with their

form, distributton. lithologic composition, fossil content,

geophysical and geochemical properties- indeed, with all

characters and attributes of rocks as strata: and their

interpretation in terms of environment or mode of origin,

and geologic history." (AGI Gh.ssary of Geology, 2nd edn,

1980).

In the 1920s, however, most re.search in stratigraphy

consisted in classifying, dating, and correlating rock units, and

it became apparent that mot"e attention should be devoted to

understanding how sedimentary rocks had been deposited.

Accordingly, the National Research Council of the United

States established a Comtrtittee on Sedimentation, which

began gathering material for a Treatise on Sedimentation.

eventually published in 1926 (2nd edn, 1932). The term Sedi-

mentology was originally proposed by A.C. Trowbridge in

1925,

and published by Waddell in 1933: it was essentially

synonyrnous with "sedimentation" (as used by Twenhofel) and

may be defined as the study of natural sediments, both lithifted

and unlithified. and of the processes by which they were

formed.

Sedimentation and Sedimentology are distinguished from

Stratigraphy by the fact they they confine attention to

sediments, and do not concern themselves directly with dating

or correlating sedimentary strata, or with fossils, except in so

far as they contribute to the formation of sediment (e.g.. as

grains, or as organisms binding or burrowing into sediment:

see Bioerosion. Biogenic Structures, 'Ittphononiy). The temi

Sedlmentohigy was not widely used until the International

Association ot Scdimentologists was founded in Europe and its

first Congress held in Belgium in 1946.

In the 1980s there was a renaissance of Stratigraphy, largely

under the irnpetus of first Seismic Stratigraphy, and then Se-

quence Stratigraphy. When the Geological Society of America

decided to set up a section devoted to seditrtentary rocks,

therefore, they wished to emphasize that it would be devoted

not only to seditnentary petrology, or to sedimentology (in its

restricted definition) but also to the "new" stratigraphy and

the broader aspects of seditnentary basin analysis: the name

approved In 1985 was the Division of Sedimentary Geology, In

the next year SEPM fortnally changed its name, retaining only

the initials, and addini: "The Society for Sedimentarv

SFDIiVirNTAkY STKt.'( Tt.lRFS AS WAY-UP INDICATORS

627

Geology.'" In 1994. the Journal of Sedimentary Petroltigy

became the Journal of Sedimentarv Research.

Thus.

Sedimentary Geology incltidcs geological sedimentol-

ogy. stratigraphy, and geological (rather than geophysical)

aspects of basin analysis. Sedimentary Petrography and

Pcttology include descriptive and theoretical aspects of natural

sediments and sedimentary rocks. Sedimentology is somewhat

broader, in that it ineUtdes studies of all kinds of sediments.

and of the fundatrtenlal chemical, biological and physical

processes that lead lo their fortnation, but not all practitioners

would distinguish it frotn Sedimentary Petrtilogy. A few

authors hit\c interpteted sedimenlology in terms as broad as

seditnctitary geology, but most exclude those aspeets of

sttatigraphy that deal with the dating, correlation, atid

classification of large bodies of stratified rocks.

Gerard V. Middlcton

Cross-references

SodiniciHology. Hislory

Seditiietitology Orgatii/utions. Meetings. Publicatiotis

SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES AS WAY-UP

INDICATORS

Criteria for dctertnining the original stratigriiphic facing

direction or way-up in vertical or overturned strata are

itnportani both for detcrtnining correct stratigraphie succes-

sion and for correctly interpreting complex tectonic structures.

Any original feature of sedimentary or igneous rocks that

reflects the way-up during their I'ormation qualifies. Fxaniples

itichtdc fealurcs known to indicate unambiguously either the

bottotn or top of seditnentary beds or of lava Hows. Cross

bedding, synitneiric ripples, and graded bedding were among

the first seditnentary features lo be invoked for way-up

detertnination with the many kinds of sole marks coming into

play much later.

The value of cross-bedding was recognized in southwestern

Ireland in the mid-nineteenlh century. In 1856 Patrick Ganly

published clear diagrams showing that the truticated tops and

asymptotic bases of cross latninae in folded Silurian sand-

stones on the Ditigic Peninsula provide an unambiguous

criteritin of the original up direction.

le also emphasized that

individual cross laminae tend to (hin toward their bases. He

even showed sketches of ripple cross lamination in modern

fluvial sands for analogy. Ganly's shrewd insight was generally

ignored and soon forgotten, so had to be re-discovcrcd.

While mapping Precambrian strata in the Florence iron

district of Wisconsin in 1910, William O. Hotchkiss wrote in a

letter to C.R. Van Hisc (.June 26. 1910) that "an inspiration

catnc to tne that the cross-bedding gives the basal direction for

a fortnation as well as any other criterion." Way-up criteria

prior to that time included only such things as ripple tnarks.

drag folds, and cleavage-bedding relationships. Hotchkiss'

independent discovery (Figure SIS) might well have suffered

the satne fate as Ganly's, for he hitnself never published it.

Instead. Il was reported in publications by olher Wisconsin

workers (Cox and Dake. 1916: Shrock, 1948; Dott. 2001).

Figure S18 Field ncitelxxik sketch of cross beddinj; in overturned

quartzitt' by W.C). Hotchkiss 11910, FHotchkiss Notebook No. 1,

Wisconsin Geologit.il .lnrf

N.itur.il

History Survey).

"^i:^^-

A;.^'

Figure S19 Field notelxjok sketch of graded fjeckling in nverturned

strata by C.L. Dake 11910, Ddke Notebook Nn. 1, Wisinnsin

Geological and

N.iturttl

History Survey).

Hotchkiss also recognized the potential of graded bedding for

way-up determination as reported by his field assistant,

Charles L. Dake. who was assigned to test the value of graded

bedding with observations in the field (F^igure SI9) and in

oriented thin seetions (Cox and Dake, 1916. 50 52).

Ripple tnarks were cited as a way-up criterion altiiosl

as early as cross-bedding by Irish geologist J. Beetes Jukes in

The Students- Manual of Geology (1862. 192). It was but a

passing observation, however, with no distinction made

between symtnctric and asymmetric ripples for this determina-

tion: asymmetric ones are ambiguous because bottom and top

surfaces appear much the same. In 1896, Charles R. Van Hise.

one of Hotchkiss* mentors, cited Jukes and discussed how

ripples could distinguish way-up. Although Van Hise"s

illustration was of an unusual example of superimposed

symmetric ripples of two scales, he gave no overt indication

that asymmetric ripples are of no value. His protege, Charles

K. Lcith. did tnakc Uiis distinction clearly, however, when he

reproduced Van Hise' diagram in his 191.1 structural geology

textbook. Leith's book was the first widely available reference

to way-up criteria, although the discussion was

brief.

Included

were cross-bedding, symmetric ripple marks, and graded

bedding.

628

SEDIMENTOLOCY, HISTORY

Dissemination of the re-discovered value of sedimentary

way-up indicators had a complex history. In 1924 two young

University of Wisconsin graduates, Olaf Rove and Sherwood

Buckstaff,

showed an older Norwegian geologist, Thorolf

Vogt, that a complex succession at Ballachulish in the Scottish

Highlands must be inverted because of the orientation of

truncated cross-bedding (Vogt, 1930; Dott, 2001). Vogt

conveyed this revelation to the man who had mapped the

area, Edward B. Bailey, who received the news with skepti-

cism; he did not know of Leith's 1913 textbook, although

several of his countrymen had cited it. Bailey's edification did

not begin until 1927, when he was invited to accompany a

Princeton University field trip across Canada. In the Precam-

brian shield north of Lake Superior, Geological Survey of

Canada geologist Thomas L. Tanton, who had received his

PhD.

from Wisconsin (1915), showed the Princeton group how

both cross-bedding and graded bedding indicate way-up. In

1929,

Bailey hosted the Princeton field trip in the Highlands.

Tanton came, too, and finally convinced Bailey that, indeed,

the entire Ballachulish succession was inverted. Once con-

verted. Bailey quickly arranged for a joint publication in the

1930 Geological Magazine of companion papers by Vogt

(reinterpretation of the Ballachulish structure), by Tanton

(summary of way-up criteria), and one by himself (cross-

bedding and graded bedding as hallmarks of two fundamen-

tally different facies groups). Bailey's paper became a classic.

General recognition of the value of sedimentary structures

for way-up determination during the 1920s is evidenced by

brief notes in the

Treatise

on Sedimentation (Twenhofel, 1926)

about cross-bedding (p. 619) and symmetric ripples (pp. 665-

666).

Tanton's 1930 list of indicators included cross-bedding,

channelling, mud cracks, texture gradation (graded bedding),

pebble dints (depression of underlying laminae), symmetric

ripple marks, vesiculated tops of lava flows, pillow lavas,

curved fracture cleavage, drag folds, and cleavage-bedding

relations. In later years, such additional criteria as sole marks,

rain drop impressions, convexity of shells and of stromatolites

and the like were recognized and catalogued in detail by

Shrock (1948), who from 1928 to 1937 had been on the

University of Wisconsin faculty. The value of sedimentary

features for structural interpetation has never again been

forgotten.

Robert H. Dott, Jr.

Bibliography

Bailey, E.B., 1930. New light on sedimentation and tectonics. Geolo-

gical Magazine, 67: 77-92.

Cox, G.H., and Dake, C.L., 1916. Geological criteria for determining

the structural position of sedimentary beds. Bulletin of the Univer-

sity of Missouri School of Mines ami Metallurgy, 2: 1-59.

Dott, R.H. Jr., 2001. Wisconsin roots of the modern revolution in

structural geology. Buttetinofthe

Geological

Society of America, 113:

996-1009.

Ganly, P., 1856. Observations on the structure of strata. Journalofthe

Geological

Society of Dublin, 7: 164-166.

Jukes,

J.B., 1862. Student's Manual of Geology. Edinburgh: Adam and

Charles Black, 2nd edn.

Leith, C.K., 1913. Structural

Geology.

New York: Holt.

Shrock, R.R., 1948. Sequence

Layered Rociis. McGraw-Hill.

Tanton, T.L., 1930. Determination of age-relations in folded rocks.

Geological

Magazine, 67: 73-76.

Twenhofel, W.H., 1926. TreatiseonSedimentation. Baltimore: Williams

and Wilkins.

Van Hise, C.R., 1896. Principles of North American Pre-Cambrian

Geology. Sixteenth Annual Report of the United States

Geologicai

Sur-

vey (1894-95). Part 1, pp. 571-843.

Vogt, T., 1930. On the chronological order of deposition of the

Highland schists.

Geologicai

Magazine, 67:

68-73.

SEDIMENTOLOGY, HISTORY

Sedimentology may be defined as the study of natural

sediments, both lithified (sedimentary rocks) and unlithified,

and of the processes by which they were formed. The term

sedimentology was first used by A.C. Trowbridge in 1925

(Waddell, 1933), but did not come into common usage until

the 1950s (see Sedimentary

Geology).

An interest in sedimenta-

tion and the origin of sedimentary rocks dates back to the very

beginnings of geology. For an annotated list of earlier reviews

of its history, see Potter (1978). In the following discussion, the

history of the subject has been divided into six periods, divided

by the dates: 1830, 1894, 1931, 1950, and 1977.

The major developments marking the end of each period

were: (i) general acceptance of actualism as a basis for geology

(Lyell's Principles, 1830); (ii) the theoretical elaboration of

actualism as the basis of a specific science of sedimentary rocks

(the "comparative lithology" of Walther's Einleitung, 1893-

1894) and the practical demonstration of actualistic methods

by such major investigations as the Challenger expedition, and

the Funafuti boring; (iii) growth in professionalization

culminating in the founding of SEPM and the publication of

the first sedimentological journal {Journal of Sedimentary Pet-

rology, 1931); (iv) the beginning of large-scale studies of

modern sediments and introduction of many new techniques,

particularly in marine geology. These developments coincided

with major conceptual and instrumental advances in geochem-

istry, and in the interpretation of carbonate rocks, sandstones,

and sedimentary structures; and (v) the revival of interest in

stratigraphic interpretation and the large-scale geometry of

sedimentary bodies brought about by seismic stratigraphy.

Such a division is inevitably arbitrary, and the criteria used

to select the dates are not based on uniform criteria. The first

two dates are defined conceptually, the third date is defined

mainly in terms of a social phenomenon (the definition of

"sedimentation," "sedimentary petrology," or "sedimentol-

ogy" as a subdivision of geology, with its own professional

specialists), and the fourth and final dates by advances in both

concepts and techniques. Before 1894, sedimentology scarcely

existed, except as a part of stratigraphy. Only after 1950 was it

common to find specialists who studied sedimentary rocks, but

declined to be called stratigraphers, and since 1977 an

increasing number of specialists refuse to make a hard

distinction between sedimentology and at least some aspects

of paleontology and stratigraphy, which they include together

as "sedimentary geology"((/. v.)

First period (-1830)

The end of the first period is marked by the date when

uniformitarianism, or the actualistic method, became generally

accepted as the basis for geology. As with most changes in

science, this was a gradual process. Actualism ("the present is

SEDIMENTOLOCY, HISTORY

629

the key to the past") had been proposed before James Hutton

and John Playfair, and its general acceptance was not achieved

by them. It was not even achieved at first by Charles Lyell

(Cannon, t960; Hallam, 1989, Chapter 2) but the date of

appearance of the first volume of Lyell's Principles (1830) is a

convenient one with which to limit a history of sedimentology.

At some time not long after 1830, there was widespread

acceptance of the general actualistic paradigm: "that, during

the ages contemplated by geology, there has never been any

interruption to the agency of the same, uniform laws of

change. The same assemblage of general causes.. .may have

been sufficient to produce by their various manifestations, the

endless diversity of effects of which the shell of the earth has

preserved the memorials..." Since the beginning of the age of

solar system exploration (Sputnik 1, 1957) it became possible

to recognize the importance of some processes on earth that

had not previously been given much attention, such as impact

cratering, and to begin to speculate scientifically about the very

early history of the earth, when conditions were certainly very

different from the present. Since then, an exaggerated contrast

between "uniformitarianism" (the doctrine that the intetisity of

natural causes remained nearly constant in the past) and

"catastrophism" (that much of geological history was char-

acterized by much more intense causes than at present) is no

longer an issue.

After 1830, geology rapidly became professionalized, largely

by the establishment of state and national surveys, and the use

of geology as an aid in the search for and exploitation of coal

and mineral deposits. The central paradigm for professiona-

lization, however, was not actualism as much as it was the

concept of "strata identified by fossils," propounded slightly

earlier by William Smith, and by Georges Cuvier and

Aiexandre Brongniart. Many accomplished stratigraphers

continued to hold "nonuniformitarian" views on the origin

of sedimentary rocks.

Although actualism is a central paradigm for sedimentol-

ogy, the science itself can scarcely be said to have begun with

Lyell. Actualism only made the science possible, but Lyell and

his contemporaries did not develop its principles. They were

more concerned with establishing the basic working method of

historical geology as a whole, than they were with detailed

investigations of the origin of sedimentary rocks. Lyetl's Prin-

ciples contained many observations that we would now regard

as within the scope of sedimentology, for example, his

discussion (borrowed in part from C.E.A. Von

Hoff;

see

Hamm, 1993) of rivers, deltas, and coastal processes, but these

phenomena were presented more to prove uniformitarianism

than to form the basis for an interpretation of sedimentary

rocks.

Lyell's own systematic discussion of sedimentary rocks

(volume 3 of the Principles, which later became the Elemetits)

tended to follow Smith's stratigraphie paradigm, rather than

his own actualistic one. Most of the Elements could equally

well have been written by a eatastrophist, such as William

Smith

himself,

Georges Cuvier, or Adam Sedgwick.

For many years, the great success of stratigraphy diverted

the attention of geologists away from investigating sedimen-

tary rocks themselves, to the study of their correlation and

enclosed fossils, tt is, nevertheless, worth mentioning a few

exceptions. The Comte de Buffon (in his Natural History, t778)

recognized the vegetable origin of coal, and in the same year

von Beroldingen gave a more detailed account, proposing the

in situ (authochontous) origin and describing how peat was

formed and transformed into coal (see Moore, 1940). The

vegetable origin of eoal was also held by James Hutton, and

later confirmed by microscopic investigation (by W. Hutton,

no relation to James, and by Whitham, both in 1833, see

Moore, 1940). Abraham Werner (1786) gave precise descrip-

tions of many sedimentary rock types, including "graywacke".

Antoine Lavoisier (1789) proposed a model of how sediments

vary with distance from the shore, distinguished littoral from

pelagic deposits, and discussed the principles of transgressive

and regressive overlap (see Carozzi, 1965: unfortunately only

the littoral/pelagic distinction was known to most later

investigators). Dolomieu described dolomite (t79t; see Carozzi

and Zenger, t98l; and McKenzie, in Mliller etal., 1991 for the

long and complex history of this mineral). William Buckland

(1823;

see Cadee, 1991) investigated cave sediments in a

thoroughly actualistic manner, despite his reputation as a

eatastrophist. Thomas Webster (t826; see Cadee, 1991)

interpreted enigmatic "dirt beds" as fossil soils. Hutton's idea

of the "geological cycle" was neglected, then revived many

times,

perhaps most fruitfully in the form of geochemical

cycles, after the development of plate tectonics (Gregor, 1992;

Oldroyd, 1996, Chapter 12).

Second period (1830-1894)

Almost as soon as it was recognized that fossils characterized

sedimentary rocks of a given age, it was also realized that

different types of sediments, deposited at the same time, do not

all contain the same types of fossils, because of the different

environments in which they were deposited. The general aspect

of sediments deposited in different environments was called

facies, and the concept was developed particularly by the

Swiss geologist Amanz Gressly (1838; see Facies Models;

Wegmann, 1963; Nelson, 1985; Cross and Homewood, 1997).

Perhaps the first major success of the actualistic method

was,

however, the glacial theory developed by Louis Agassiz

(1840;

after earlier work by other Swiss geologists, see Hallam,

1989,

Chapter 3; Tinkler, 1985, Chapter 7) from observations

of modern Swiss glaciers and their sediments. It was early

supported by Buckland and, at first, by Lyell: but Lyell's

uniformitarianism later persuaded him that the role of

continental ice sheets had been exaggerated, and that most

glacial phenomena were better explain by the action of floating

ice.

After Agassiz moved to the United States he soon

persuaded most American geologists to adopt the theory of

continental glaciation, though there were some nonbelievers,

such as J.W. Dawson (Sheets-Pyenson, 1996, p.138-140).

Early investigations of modern sediments were limited to

accessible areas (e.g., the Mediterranean coast, Gressly, I86t;

see Cadee, t99t) but were extended by investigation of coral

reefs (Darwin, 1837, 1842; see Stoddart, 1976; see also Sedi-

mentologists: Vaughan, Murray, Walther), deserts (Walther,

1890;

see Sedimentologists: Walther), evaporites (Ochsenius,

1877,

see Kirkland and Evans, 1973), and deep-sea sediments

(Murray and Renard, 1891; see Sedimentologists:Murray). The

origin of coal was a subject of intense investigation (the

allochthonous versus autochthonous debate, essentially re-

solved by the recognition of the significance of "underclays"

by William Logan, 1840, confirmed by H.D. Rogers and

J.W. Dawson in America ; see Moore, 1940; Torrens, 1999).

The earliest microscopic observations, begun with the

investigation of coal, were extended to other types of

sedimentary rocks with spectacular results. Ehrenburg (1854;

see Jahn, in Gillispie, 1971, Volume 4) showed the organic

630

SEDIMENTOLOCY, HISTORY

origins of diatomite, radiolarian chert, and chalk. In 1850 H.C.

Sorby (see Seditnentologists: Sorhy) began the use of the

petrographic microscope, and by the end of the period he had,

almost single-handedly, established the science of sedimentary

petrology, using a technique originally developed by Nicol to

study fossil wood.

In this period, sedimentary structures were first clearly

described. Sedgwiek (1847) distinguished between bedding and

cleavage, and Thomson

(1861:

see Durney, 1978) developed a

theory of pressure-solution. Sorby (1852; see Sedimentologists)

described how ripples were formed and their migration

produced ("ripple drift") cross-lamination, and his explana-

tion was independently rediscovered in America. George

Darwin (1883) studied current ripples experimentally, and

recognized the importance of flow separation. De la Beche and

others had earlier described cross-bedding, but early attempts

to explain its origin (by micro-delta growth and truncation) by

Sorby (1852) and W.M. Davis (1890) were less successful.

Eolian cross-bedding was well-known, but the connection

between subaqueous cross-bedding and dune migration was

not made until much later. The earliest observations on the

orientation of grains and fossils were made by Hall, Miller,

Gressly, and Ruedemann (see Potter and Pettijohn, 1973).

Observations made in several different disciplines advanced

our understanding of hydraulics and sediment transport (see

Miall, 1978; Dooge, 1987, for references in this paragraph).

Brahms (1753) had already developed the "sixth-power law"

(relating the weight of a grain to the sixth power of the velocity

needed to move it in water) and it was rediscovered

independently by Airy (1834). Humphreys and Abbott (1861)

produced a major study of the hydraulics of the Mississippi

River (used by Lyell in later editions of the Principles).

Sternberg (1875) described the exponential decline down-

stream of the weight of pebbles in some rivers, and Daubree

(1879) studied attrition (abrasion) of particles experimentally.

Du Boys (1879) developed the first theory of bed-load

movement, and Kennedy (1895) proposed a regime theory

for Indian canals.

The first work to draw together the many scattered

observations on modern sediments, to mark out clearly the

stages of the sedimentary cycle (weathering, transportation

and abrasion, deposition, and diagenesis: see Dunoyer de

Segonzac, 1968), and to document the actualistic method as

the basis for a specific science of sedimentary rocks ("com-

parative lithology") was Johannes Walther's Introduction to

Geology as Historical Science (1893-1894; see Sedimentologists:

Walther).

The method was demonstrated by major investiga-

tions,

including Walther's own studies of deserts, studies of

coral reefs including the report of the Royal Society of

London's expedition to Funafuti (Bonney, 1904), and, most

important of all, publication by Murray and Renard of the

sediment studies made by the Challenger expedition to the

deep seas (1872-1876; see Sedimentologists: Murray).

This period was also the "heroic age" of geomorphology,

which established not only the significance of glacial action

(thus solving a long-standing problem posed by the peculiar

properties of "drift"), but also the effectiveness of fluvial,

rather than marine, processes for erosion and sediment

transport (Tinkler, 1985, chapters 4-8). Notable contributions

were by G.K. Gilbert (on the Henry Mountains and the

concept oi grade, 1877, and on Lake Bonneville, and its deltas

and beaches, 1890; see Sedimentologists: Gilbert), and by W.M.

Davis (1884, 1889; see Chorley et al., 1973) on geomorphie

models and the "cycle of erosion." These studies established a

process, and/or model-based approach that changed the nature

of sedimentological studies and provided a firm foundation for

future work (Loewinson-Lessing, 1954; for contemporary

views see Cross, 1902; Teall, 1902). Thus, 1894, the date of

publication of the third volume of Walther's work, a volume

prophetically titled Modern Lithogenesis, seems an appropriate

one to choose as the beginning of a systematic science of

sedimentology.

Third period (1894-1931)

This period was marked by the further development of lines of

investigation established during the previous period. Investiga-

tions of modern sediments continued, and were summarized in

the Treatise on Sedimentation (edited by Twenhofel, 1926;

revised 1932), and in Recent Marine Sediments (edited by

Trask, 1939). Both volumes were produced under the sponsor-

ship of the US National Research Council, which set up a

Committee on Sedimentation in 1920. Important works

applying actualistic methods to the sedimentary record were

published by Sorby, C. Sehuchert {Paleogeography of North

America, 1910), J. Barrell (see Sedimentologists: Barrell), and

A.W. Grabau {Principles of Stratigraphy, 1913—dedicated to

Johannes Walther). Other manifestations of the power of the

actualistic method were the development of soil science and

from it the study of paleosols (see Retallack, 1990), and the

development of taphonomy and therefore of the processes of

fossilization and bioturbation (see Cadee, 1991, and Sedimen-

tologists: Richter).

The major new techniques developed were size analysis (by

Udden, Wentworth, and Atterberg (see Sedimentologists:

Udden; Krumbein and Pettijohn, 1938); and shape analysis

(by Wentworth, Waddell, and Zingg). The petrographic

approach developed in the previous period by Sorby, was

continued mainly by Lucien Cayeux in France (see Sedimen-

tologists: Cayeux). It was extended to include the study of

accessory minerals by separation using heavy liquids (a

technique pioneered by Thoulet, 1881), and applied by many

investigators early in the nineteeth century (see Milner, 1962;

Luepke, Heavy Minerals, in Good, 1998). The value of heavy

minerals to the study of provenance was early demonstrated by

Thomas (1902), Brammall and Harwood (1923) then by many

others (see Milner, 1962). Only in the 1920s did such studies

become popular in the petroleum industry, in the (misguided)

hope that heavy minerals would be useful for correlating oil

sands.

The foundations of coal petrology (coal types, the distinc-

tion between maeerals and phyterals) were established using

thin and polished section techniques by White and Thiessen

(1913) in America, Winter (1913) in Germany, and Stopes

(1919) in England (see Van Krevelen, 1961, appendix) and an

international agreement on petrographic nomenclature was

reached at the Heerlen conferenee in 1935.

A German tradition of chemical studies, already established

toward the end of the previous period by K.G.

Bischopf,

J. Roth and others, was continued by the monumental studies

of J.H. Van't Hoff on the evaporation of seawater (see

Eugster, in Ginsburg, 1973; and Kirkland and Evans, 1973).

Physical experimentation was carried to new levels of

sophistieation in the use of flumes by a German school

including Engels (from 1898; see Rouse and Ince, 1957),

Kramer (1932) and Shields (1936; see Dooge, 1987; Buffington,

SEDIMENTOLOCY, HISTORY

631

1999).

Gilbert's work in 1914 (see Sedimentologists: Gilbert)

was stimulated by his interest in the physiographic activity of

rivers and in the environmental problems produced by

hydraulic gold-mining in California, and was carried out in a

large, open-air flume on the Berkeley campus—these studies

together produced his distinctions between saltation and

suspension, and between the competence and capacity of

flows. They also led to his formulation of flow regimes, with

"dunes,"

formed in a lower regime, separated from plane bed

and antidunes, in an upper regime. Unfortunately, the flume

was not quite large enough to make clear the distinction,

eventually discovered in the 1960s, between ripples and true

subaqueous dunes.

Perhaps the main characteristic of the period, however, is

not to be found in the investigations themselves, so much as in

a tendency to define sedimentology as a distinct discipline

within geology. This process, of professionalization can be

traced through the appearance of textbooks, journals,

societies, and research institutes; and it took place in America,

Russia, and to varying degrees, in England and Germany

at about the same time, during the 1920s and 1930s. A

convenient date is 1931, making the appearance of the

first journal devoted exclusively to sedimentology, the

Journal of Sedimentary Petrology. This journal was published

by the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineral-

ogists, founded in 1927 as an offshoot of the American

Association of Petroleum Geologists (see Russell, 1970; for

more recent history, see Clinton, 2001). The first American

textbooks were by Krumbein and Pettijohn (1938) and

Twenhofel (1939).

In Russia, the influence of the Challenger reports and

Walther's work was strong. Strakhov (1970) dates the

"independence of lithology as a scientific discipline" from

1923,

the date when Y.V. Semoilov clearly expressed the

"endeavour to systematically develop lithology as a science..."

The main period of professionalization, however, was during

the 1920s and 1930s (Anonymous, 1967). The first textbooks

on sedimentology in Russian were produced by Nalivkin in

1932,

and by Shvetsov in 1934. National lithological confer-

ences were not held until 1952, and it was not until 1963 that

there appeared Lithology and Mineral Resources, a journal

devoted exclusively to sediments and sedimentary rocks.

In Germany, there were many early sedimentological studies

(reviewed in Brinkmann, 1948). Marine institutes existed in

Naples (Italy), Helgoland, and Kiel, but most of their work

was biological. In 1929 Rudoph Riehter (see Sedimentologists:

Richter) established the Senckenberg am Meer as an institute

for the study of modern shallow-marine sediments, to aid in

the study of sedimentary rocks. In 1937, Erich Wasmund

established a marine geologieal station at Kiel. In 1918,

Richter had begun publication of a journal Senkenbergiana, in

which most of the sedimentological work carried out at the

marine institute was published. But there is still no separate

national sedimentological journal or society of sedimentolo-

gists in Germany.

The European countries were active in founding the

International Association of Sedimentologists, and the first

Congress was held in Belgium in 1946. The IAS journal Sedi-

tnerttology, appeared for the first time in 1962. TJie first major

French textbooks were by Cayeux (1916: see Sedimentologists:

Cayeux),

Carozzi (1953), and Vatan (1954). The first German

textbook, after Walther, was by Correns (1939: see Sedimen-

tologists: Correns), and this was followed, in 1964-1973, by a

major three-volume work by Von Engelhardt, Muller and

Fiichtbauer.

An active group of sedimentologists existed in Great Britain

at the beginning of the twentieth century, and the first

textbooks were by Hatch and Rastall (1913), Milner (1922;

see Milner, 1962), Marr (1929), and Boswell (1933). In the

1920s and 1930s, however, heavy mineral studies predomi-

nated, the Sorby tradition was neglected in favor of

elassificatory biostratigraphy, and the professionalization of

sedimentology had to wait upon the founding of IAS.

For developments in Japan, see Sedimentology: History in

Japan.

In summary, the professionalization of sedimentology took

place first in the USA in the 1920s and 1930s. The first results,

particularly the new journal and the two NRC-sponsored

symposia (which included many contributions from outside

the United States), exerted a profound influence on the

development of sedimentology elsewhere.

Fourth period (1931-1950)

The early professional period was characterized by the revival

of studies pioneered earlier (petrography, diagenesis) and the

development of new techniques (x-ray methods, particularly

for clay mineralogy, statistical methods, coring techniques).

Techniques were standardized for routine sedimentological

analysis, particularly of modern sediments. These techniques

and the dissemination of sedimentological observations and

ideas through the publication of the many books that appeared

at the close of the period (particularly Pettijohn, 1949) set the

stage for the rapid progress in and growth of sedimentology in

the next period.

An example is the book by Shrock (1948), devoted to the use

of sedimentary structures for "way-up" determination. There

were numerous scattered early references to such techniques,

as far back as the work of Ganly (1856) on the use of cross-

bedding (see Seditnentary Structures as Wdy-up Indicators) but

the technique itself was not widely used until the 1930s and the

literature was not fully known until Shroek's book was

published. The book had a much wider impact: it was the

first to give a systematic description and discussion of a wide

range of structures, and it did this by making extensive use of

block diagrams, which had rarely been used earlier for this

purpose. Their first application to sedimentary structures was

perhaps by Knight in 1929, though the technique itself has a

much longer history in the earth sciences (see Howarth, 1999).

Though Sorby was aware of the potential of measuring the

preferred orientation of structures to determine paleoeurrents,

the first systematic basin studies using this technique were

begun by R. Brinkmann and E. Cloos in Germany in the 1930s

(see Pettijohn, 1962). Statistical techniques to handle this type

of data were described by Reiche, Shotton, Brinkmann and

others, before being fully developed by R.A. Fisher (see Potter

and Pettijohn, 1963; Howarth, 1999). In England and

America, attention had earlier been focused mainly on

paleogeography (by Jukes-Browne and Schuchert; see Sehu-

chert, 1910), but shifted under Twenhofel's influence to the

recognition of sedimentary environments. The key concept of

facies iq.v.) long neglected by English-speaking geologists, was

rediscovered in Ameriea, and popularized at a meeting of the

Geological Society of America held in 1948.

The concept of geosynelines, though originated by Hall

(1859) and Dana in America (Dott, 1974, 1978) was developed

632

SEDIMENTOLOCY, HISTORY

after that mainly in Europe (see Hsu, in Ginsburg, 1973), along

with coneepts of "tecto-facies" such as flysch and moiasse,

until interest in geosynclines was revived in America by Kay

(1951).

Further interest in the tectonic control of sedimenta-

tion was stimulated by the revival of sedimentary petrology in

the broad sense, as opposed to heavy mineral studies. The

broader studies had been continued in the previous period

mainly by Cayeux (see Taylor, 1950). Shvetsov and others in

Russia developed theories of the control of sedimentary

mineralogy by tectonics, and these theories were further

developed and popularized in America by P.D. Krynine (see

Sedimentologists: Krynine), E.C. Dapples, W.C. Krumbein

(see Seditnentologists: Krumbein) and L.L. Sloss, who later

became better known as one of the founders of sequence

stratigraphy (Miall and Miall, 2001).

X-ray techniques established the crystalline nature of even

the finest clay fractions beginning with the work of L. Pauling

in 1930 on kaolin, chlorite and talc and a complete summary of

sueh studies was first published by G.W. Brindley in 1951 (for

other contributors, see Grim, 1942; and Sedimentologists: Cor-

rens).

Clay mineralogists rapidly formed a separate discipline,

with their own societies and journals {Clay Mineral Bulletin—

later. Clay Minerals, 1947;

Clays

and Clay Minerals, 1952; also

see Volume 34, number 1 of Clay Minerals for historical

papers celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Clay Minerals

Group). The sedimentological significance of this work was

elucidated by Millot (1964, summarizing work from the 1940s

and 1950s; see Carozzi, 1975, 162-165 for a brief history of

this,

largely French, series of environmental studies).

Statistical techniques were developed for the processing of

petrographic and particularly grain-size data (see Sedimentol-

ogists: Krumbein: Statistics Applied to Sediment.^). Heavy

mineral and insoluble residue studies continued but began to

wane in popularity, as their use in the petroleum industry was

replaced by geophysical logging techniques.

Studies of physical processes of sedimentation were carried

out mainly by hydraulic engineers, using the boundary layer

concepts developed at the beginning of the twentieth century

by Prandtl and Von Karman (e.g.. Shields, 1936; Rouse, 1937;

Einstein, 1937; Vanoni, 1946: see Middleton and Southard,

1984 for references), but most of these studies were not well-

known to geologists. Exceptions were the work of Rubey (e.g.,

1933,

1938; see Ernst, 1978), Hjulstrom (1935, summarized by

him in Trask, 1939), and particularly the work of Bagnold on

wind-blown sand (see Sedimentologists: Bagnold).

Fifth period (1950-1977)

A number of books appeared at the close of the fourth period

(Shrock, 1948; Shepard, 1948; Pettijohn, 1949; Twenhofel,

1950;

Trask 1950; Kuenen, 1950; Krumbein and Sloss, 1953),

and a re-reading of these books is a simple way of establishing

the "state of the art" just before the beginning of the major

expansion of sedimentological studies in the 1950s and 1960s.

During this period, courses entitled "sedimentology" became

widespread in university curricula (many of them using

Pettijohn's book as a text), and many new staff were hired

specifically to teach sedimentology, rather than stratigraphy.

By the late 1970s, probably "sedimentologists" outnumbered

"stratigraphers" in university geology departments. Many

sedimentologists were also hired by oil company research

laboratories. For some "personal perspectives" of this period,

see Pettijohn (1984), Van Houten (1989), Picard (1989) and

Friedman (1998). The influence of Pettijohn's book, strongly

oriented toward sedimentary rocks, rather than processes,

continued until the appearance of a new, more process- and

facies-oriented text by Blatt etal. (1972) and the classic text by

Bathurst (1975) on carbonate roeks (see Sedimentologists:

Bathurst).

The first major change in this period was the great

expansion in the number and scale of investigations of modern

sediments, due partly to the interests of petroleum companies,

partly to the spectacular growth in oceanography (stimulated

by submarine warfare in World War II), and partly to the

renewed interest in facies. For example, the American

Petroleum Institute project on the Gulf Coast, and most of

H.N. Fisk's work on the Mississippi alluvial plain and delta

postdate 1950.

L.V. IUing's work on the Bahama Banks in 1954 was the

first of many investigations of modern carbonate sediments in

the Caribbean and Persian

Gulf.

These investigations and a

renewed interest in carbonate petrography had a revolutionary

effect on the study of ancient limestones, dolomites, and

evaporites. Notable advances included the first modern

classifications of limestones by Folk and Dunham (see Ham,

1962;

Folk, in Ginsburg, 1973; and Morse and Mackenzie,

1990,

p.599-602, for the historical background to modern

carbonate studies), the discovery of modern, early-diagenetic

dolomites (see Pray and Murray, 1965), and the discovery of

sabkha gypsum and anhydrite (see Kirkland and Evans, 1973).

Coneepts derived from these studies strongly influenced the

interpretation of ancient carbonates and evaporites.

The second major change was in both the techniques and

theory of sedimentary geochemistry. Analytical advances

included electromagnetic and centrifugal techniques for

mineral separation, flame photometry, colorimetric analysis,

optical emission spectroscopy and atomic absorption spectro-

scopy, for both trace and major element analysis, all of which

became widespread in geology in the 1950s (see summaries in

Smales and Wager, 1960; and for later developments,

particularly ICPMS developed in the 1980s, see Gill, 1997).

The electron microscope was another powerful tool, first

applied in sedimentology to clays and cherts (see Sedimentol-

ogists: Folk), and, after the development of scanning electron

microscopy, to microfossils and grain surface textures (see

Surface Textures of Grains). X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy

developed rapidly and led in the 1960s to the electron

microprobe. Radioactivation analysis allowed analysis of trace

elements in the ppb range. Carbon-14 dating, developed by

Libby (beginning in 1949; see Taylor, 2000) allowed accurate

dating of sediments up to about 50,000 years BP, and in the

1980s, use of accelerator mass spectrometry allowed the

sample size to be reduced. Mass-speetrometric methods were

applied to radioactive elements (e.g., K-Ar dating, and later

Ar-Ar dating) present in sedimentary minerals such as illite

and glaueonite, and in the 1980s, the Uranium series method

has been developed to fill the gap in dating between K-Ar and

Carbon-14. The most important applications of mass spectro-

scopy in sedimentology, however, were on the natural

distributions of the stable isotopes of hydrogen, carbon,

oxygen and sulfur (see Epstein, 1997; tsotopic Methods in Sedi-

tnentology). The first modern review of the analytical

geoehemistry of sediment was published by Degens in 1965.

Mason's paper on oxidation and reduction, in 1949, and

Krumbein and Garrel's paper of 1952 on the use of Eh and pH

set the stage for many subsequent theoretical, experimental

SEDIMENTOLOGY, HISTORY

633

and field studies of weathering, chemical sedimentation and

diagenesis under low-temperature, aqueous conditions (see

Garrels and Christ, 1965; Eugster, in Ginsburg, 1973; Berner,

1971;

Morse and Mackenzie, 1990).

The third major change was a conceptual one: the

experimental development of the hypothesis of high-density

turbidity currents by Kuenen in 1948 (see Walker, in Ginsburg,

1973).

This was the first entirely new theory of sediment

transport and deposition developed since the glacial theory,

and it revolutionized the study of flysch sediments, and made

possible a deep-water interpretation of sands and gravels

previously thought to be necessarily deposited in shallow

water, because they were too coarse to be carried by wave-

action into deep water. It also made possible an interpretation

of submarine canyons, which had been a long-standing enigma

since their discovery in the nineteenth century. Since the

hypothesis could not be tested by direct observation, it also

stimulated the observation, explanation, classification, and

mapping of sedimentary structures, and the further develop-

ment of basin analysis using paleocurrent techniques (Bouma,

1962;

Potter and Pettijohn, 1963; Pettijohn and Potter, 1964;

Conybeare and Crook, 1968; Ricci Lucehi, 1970).

The fourth major change was the revival in tectonic control

of sediment types, and the use of sedimentary mineralogy to

determine provenance, brought about by the development of

plate tectonics in 1963-1967 (see Provenance). Plate tectonics

also led to the Deep Sea Drilling Project, begun in 1968, which

led to greatly increased understanding of the deposition and

diagenesis of deep-sea calcareous and siliceous sediments (see

Warme etal., 1981) and threw new light on the old controversy

about the depth of ancient evaporite basins (see Cita, in Miiller

etal., 1991).

The fifth major change was that experimental work on

sediment transport and bed forms, carried out largely by

engineers since the 1930s, was reintroduced to geologists at an

SEPM symposium on sedimentary structures (Middleton,

1965;

and Middleton, 1977 for later developments). The

revolution in understanding of cross-bedding, in particular,

began earlier in Germany with work that finally recognized

the link between dune migration and cross-bedding (based in

part on observations of intertidal dunes; see Hulsemann,

1955),

but in the English speaking world it was largely due to

work carried out by US Geological Survey hydraulicians in a

newly constructed large flume in Colorado (see Simons, in

Middleton, 1965). After this, there was a rapid increase in

the number of experimental studies carried out by geological

sedimentologists, and more recently by geomorphologists.

New theoretical and experiment studies of sediment transport

were published in the 1950s by Bagnold (see Physics of

Sedimetit Transport: the Contributions of R.A. Bagnold). Re-

education of sedimentologists in fluid mechanics was pro-

moted by Allen (1968, 1985) and Middleton and Southard

(1978,

1984), and the application to sedimentary structures was

exhaustively reviewed by Allen (1982).

Finally, toward the end of this period there was a major

change in interest from textural or mineralogical studies of

sediments ("sedimentary petrology") toward the recognition

and explanation of sedimentary facies in terms of their

environment of deposition (Reineck and Singh, 1973); these

studies were further organized into a number of models (see

Facies Models), based largely on concepts dating back to

Walther's "comparative sedimentology." Crucial works in-

cluded Van Straaten (1955) and others on tidal sediments (see

Middleton, 1991), Bernard, LeBlanc and Major (1962, on the

Brazos River and Gulf Coast barriers) ; De

Raaf,

Reading and

Walker (1965, on Pennsylvanian cycles), and the work by

Shearman (1965, on modern evaporites). This work was

systematized by Walker (1976; see 1979) and Reading (1978,

and later editions: which may be consulted for detailed

references). By the time that Walker and coauthors came to

revise their volume in 1989, the influence of the new "sequence

stratigraphy" was strongly felt, to the point that an entirely

new volume was thought necessary (Walker and James, 1992;

and see Moore, 2001).

Final period (1977-present)

This period is too recent to be reviewed as history, but its

characteristics will become apparent, I hope, from the articles

contained in this encyclopedia. For the history of sequence

stratigraphy see Miall and Miall (2001).

Gerard V. Middleton

Bibliography

Agassiz, L., 1840. Etudes .lur les Glaciers. Neuchatel, Petitpierre

(Reprinted 1966, London, Dawson of Pall Mall; translated and

edited by Carozzi, A.V., 1967, Hafner).

Allen, J.R.L., 1968. Current Rippies. North Holland.

Allen, J.R.L., 1982. Sedimentary Structures. Elsevier,.2 volumes.

Allen, J.R.L., 1985. Principies of

Physical

Sedimentoiogy. George Allen

and Unwin.

Anonymous, 1967. The development of lithology in the USSR and its

immediate objectives. Litliologv and Mineral Resources, 1967 (5)'

527-544.

Bathurst, R.G.C, 1975. Carbonate Sediments anil their Diagenesis.

Elsevier.

Berner, R.A., 1971. Principles of Chemical Sedimentology. McGraw-

Hill.

Blatt, H., Middleton, G., and Murray, R., 1972.

Origin

of Sedimentarv

Rocks, 2nd edn, Prentiee-Hall, 1980.

Bonney, T.G. (ed.), 1904. The Atollof Funafuti. London: Royal Society.

Boswell, T.G.H., 1933. On the Mineraiogy of

the

Sedimentary Rocks.

Thomas Murby.

Bouma, A.H., 1962. Sedimentology of Some

Ftysch

Deposits. Elsevier.

Brindley, G.W. (ed.), 195L X-ray Identification and

Crystal

Structures of

Clay Minerals. Mineralogical Society [of London]. Second edition,

edited by Brown, G., 1961.

Brinkmann, R., 1948. Die allgemeine Geologie (inbes. die exogene

dynamik) in letzten Jahrhundert. Zeitschrift der Deutchen Geolo-

gischen Gesellschaft, 100: 25-49.

Buffington, J.M., 1999. The legend of A.F. Shields. Journal of Hydrau-

lic Engineering, 125: 376-387.

Cadee, G.C., 1991. The History of Taphonomy. In Donovan, S.K.

(ed.).

The

Process

of Fossilization. Chapter I. Columbia University

Press.

Cannon, W.F., 1960. The uniformitarian-catastrophist debate, fsis, 51:

38-55.

Carozzi, A.V., 1953. PetrographiedesRoches Sedimentaire. Neuchatel:

Griffon.

Carozzi, A.V., 1965. Lavoisier's fundamental contribution to strati-

graphy.

Ohio

Journal of Science, 65: 71-85.

Carozzi, A.V. (ed.), 1975. Sedimentary Rocks. Stroudsberg PA,

Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross.

Carozzi, A.V., and Zenger, D.H., 1981. Sur un genre de pierres

calcaires tres-peu effervescentes avec les aeides, & phosphores-

centes par la collision, by Deodat de Dolomieu, 1791. Translation

with notes of Dolomieu's paper reporting his discovery of

dolomite. Journal of

Geological

Education, 29: 4-10.

Chorley, R.J., Beckinsale, R.P., and Dunn, A.J., 1973. The History of

the Study of Landforms. 2 The Life and

Work

of WM. Davis. London:

Methuen.

634

SEDIMENTOLOCY, HiSTORY

Clinton, H.E., 2001. A history ofthe society from 1976-2001. Journal

of Sedimentary Research, 71 (6): 1040-1055.

Conybeare, C.E., and Crook, K.A.W., 1968. Manual of Sedimentary

Structures. Bulletin 102, Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources,

Geology and Geophysics.

Cross,

T.A., and Homewood, P.W., 1997. Amanz Gressly's role in

founding modern stratigraphy. Geological Soeiety of America

Bulletin, 109: 1617-1630.

Cross,

W., 1902. The development of systematic petrography in the

nineteenth century. Journalof Geology, 10: 331-376, 451-499.

Darwin, G.H., 1883. On the formation of ripple-mark in sand. Pro-

ceedings

ofthe Royal Soeiety [of London],

18-43.

Davis,

W.M., 1890. Structure and origin of glacial sand plains. Bulletin

of the

Geological

Socieiy of America, 1: 195-202.

Degens, E.T., 1965. Geochemistry of Sediments. Prentice-Hall.

Dooge, J.C.I., 1987. Historical development of concepts in open

channel flow. In Garbrecht, G. (ed.). Hydraulics and Hydraulic

Research: A Historical Review. A. A. Balkema, pp. 205-230.

Dott, R.H. Jr., 1974. The geosynclinal concept. In Modern and Aneient

Geosynclinal Sedimentation. Society of Economic Paleontologists

and Mineralogists, Special Publication, 19, pp. 1-13.

Dott, R.H. Jr., 1978. Tectonics and sedimentation a century later.

Earth Science Reviews, 14: 1-34.

Dunoyer de Segonzac, G., 1968. The birth and development of

the concept of diagenesis (1886-1966). Earth Seienee Reviews, 4:

153-201.

Durney, D.W., 1978. Early theories and hypotheses on pressure-

solution-redeposition. Geology, 6: 369-372.

Epstein, S., 1997. The role of stable isotopes in geochemistries of all

kinds.

Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Scienees, 25: 1-21.

Ernst, W.G., 1978. William Walden Rubey. Biographieal Memoirs of

the National Academy of Sciences, 49: 204-223.

Eriedman, G.M., 1998. Sedimentology and stratigraphy in the 1950s

to mid-1980s: the story of a personal perspective. Episodes, 21:

172-177.

Garrels, R.M., and Christ, C.L., 1965. Solutions, Minerals and Equili-

bria. Harper and Row.

Gill, R. (ed.), 1997. Modern Analytieal Geochemistry: An Introduction to

Quantitative Chemical Analysis Techniques for Earth, Environmental

and Material Scientists. Longman.

Gillispie, C.C. (ed.), 1970-1981. Dictionary of Scientific Biography.

Charles Scribner's Sons, 18 volumes.

Ginsburg, R.N. (ed.), 1973. Evolving Concepts

Sedimentology. Johns

Hopkins University Press.

Good, G.A. (ed.), 1998. Seiences of the Earth. Garland Publishing,

2 volumes.

Gregor, B., 1992. Some ideas on the rock cycle: 1788-1988. Geoehimi-

et Cosmoehimiea Acta, 56: 2993-3000.

Grim, R., 1942. Modern concepts of clay minerals. Journatof Geology,

50:

225-275.

Hallam, A., 1989. Great Geologieal Controversies, 2nd edn, Oxford

University Press.

Ham, W.E. (ed.), 1962. Classification of Carbonate Rocks. American

Assciation of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 1.

Hamm, E.P., 1993. Bureaucratic statistik or actualism? K.E.A. Von

Hoffs History and the history of geology. History of Science, 31:

151-176.

Hatch, F.H., and Rastall, R.H., 1913. Petrology of the Sedimentary

Rocks. Thomas Murby.

Howarth, R.J., 1999. Measurement, portrayal and analysis of

orientation data and the origins of early modern structural geo-

logy (1670-1967). Proceedings of the Geologieal Assoeiation, 110:

273-309.

Hulsemann, J., 1955. Grossrippeln und Schragschichtens-Gefuge im

Nordsee-Watt und in der Molasse. Senekenbergiana, 36: 359-388.

Kay, G.M., 1951. North American Geosynclines. Geological Society of

America, Memoir 48.

Kirkland, D.W., and Evans, R. (eds.), 1973. Marine

Evaporites:

Origin,

Diagenesis, and Geoehemistry. Dowden, Hutchinson, & Ross.

Krumbein, W.C, and Pettijohn, F.J., 1938. Manual of Sedimentary

Petrology. Appleton-Century.

Krumbein, W.C, and Sloss, L.L., 1953. Stratigraphy and Sedimenta-

tion.

W.H. Freeman.

Kuenen, Ph.H., 1950. Marine

Geology.

Wiley.

Loewinson-Lessing, E., 1954. A Historical Survey of Petrology.

Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. Translated from the Russian by

S.I.

Tomkieff.

Marr, J.E., 1929. Deposition of the Sedimentary Roeks. Cambridge

University Press.

Miall, A.D., 1978. Eluvial sedimentology: a historical review. In

Miall, A.D. (ed.). Fluvial Sedimentology. Canadian Society of

Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 5, pp. 1-47.

Miall, A.D., and Miall, CE., 2001. Sequence stratigraphy as a

scientific enterprise: the evolution and persistence of conflicting

paradigms. Earth-Science Reviews, 54: 321-348.

Middleton, G.V. (ed.), 1965. Primary Sedimentary Structures and their

Hydrodynamic Interpretation. Society of Economic Paleontologists

and Mineralogists, Special Publication, 12.

Middleton, G.V., 1977. Introduction—progress in hydraulic inter-

pretation of sedimentary structures. SEPM Reprint Series, 3:

1-15.

Middleton, G.V., 1991. A short historical review of clastic tidal

sedimentology. In Smith et at. (eds.) Clastic Tidal Sedimentology.

Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 16, pp. ix-xv.

Middleton, G.V., and Southard, J.B., 1984. Mechanics of Sediment

Movement. SEPM Short Course 3, second edition.

Millot, G., 1964. GeologiedesArgiltes. Paris: Masson. Translated into

English as The Geology of Clays. Springer-Verlag, 1970.

Milner, H.B., 1962. Sedimentary Petrography. George Allen and

Unwin, 4th edn, 2 volumes.

Moore, CH., 2001. Carbonate Reservoirs: Porosity Evolution and Diag-

enesis

a Sequenee Stratigraphic Framework. Elsevier.

Moore, E.S., 1940. Coal, 2nd edn. John Wiley and Sons.

Morse, J.W., and Mackenzie, F.T., 1990. Geoehemistry of Sedimentary

Carbonates. Elsevier.

Muiler, D.W., McKenzie, J.A., and Weissert, H. (eds.), 1991. Contro-

versies in

Modern Geology. Academic Press.

Nelson, CM., 1985. Eacies in stratigraphy: from "terrains" to

"terranes". Journalof

Geological

Education, 33: 175-187.

Oldroyd, D.R., 1996. Thinking About the Earth. Harvard University

Press.

Pettijohn, F.J., 1949. Sedimentary Roeks. Harper and Row. 2nd edn,

1957;

3rd edn, 1975.

Pettijohn, F.J., 1962. Paleocurrents and paleogeography. American

Association of Petroleum

Geologists

Bulletin, 46: 1468-1493.

Pettijohn, F.J., 1984. Memoirs of an Unrepentant Field Geologist.

University of Chicago Press.

Pettijohn, F.J., and Potter, P.E., 1964. Atlas and Glossary of Primary

Sedimentary Structures. Springer-Verlag.

Picard, M.D., 1989. The education of a sedimentary petrologist.

Journal of

Geologieal

Education, 37: 232-234.

Potter, P.E., 1978. Sedimentology—yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

In Encyclopedia of Sedimentology. Stroudsburg PA, Dowden:

Hutchinson & Ross, pp. 718-724.

Potter, P.E., and Pettijohn, F.J., 1963. Paleoeurrents and Basin

Analysis, 2nd edn, Springer-Verlag, 1977.

Pray, L.C., and Murray, R. (eds.), 1965. Dolomitization and Limestone

Diagenesis. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralo-

gists,

Special Publication, 13.

Reading, H.G. (ed.), 1978. Sedimentary Environments and

Facies,

2nd

edn, 1986; 3rd edn, 1996, Blackwell Scientitic.

Reineck, H.-E., and Singh, I.B., 1973. Depositional Sedimentary

Environments, 2nd edn 1980, Springer-Verlag, .

Retallack, G.J., 1990. Soils ofthe Past. Boston: Unwin Hyman.

Ricci Lucchi, F., 1970. Sedimentografia. Bologna, Zanichelli, 2nd

English edn, 1995, Columbia University Press.

Rouse, H., and Ince, S., 1957. History of Hydraulics. Dover edition,

1963.

Russell, D., 1970. History ofthe SEPM Journal of Sedimentary

Petrol-

ogy, 40: 7-28.

Schuchert, C, 1910. Paleogeography of North America. Geological

Societyof America Bulletin, 20: 427-606.

Sheets-Pyenson, S., 1996. John William Dawson. McGill-Queen's

University Press.

Shepard, F.P., 1948. Submarine

Geology.

Harper and Row.

Shrock, R.R., 1948. Sequenee

Layered Rocks. McGraw-Hill.

Smales, A.A., and Wager, L.R. (eds.), I960. Methods

Geoehemistry.

Interscience.