+

SILICICLASTIC SEDIMENTARY
Dwiharso NUGROHO ENVIRONMENT
0811 236 230
dwiharso@gc.itb.ac.id
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Sedimentary Environments

 Continental
• rivers, alluvial fan, lakes, desert, glaciers- mostly
detrital
 Transitional- coastal- along ocean shores
• Estuaries
• Deltas
• Beach
• Shoreline Sand (Shoreface; Shallow marine sand)
• Lagoons
• Offshore bar
+ Sedimentary Environments

 Marine
• Shallow marine environments (< 200m)
• Deep marine environments (beyond the continental
shelf)
Facies Model
Depositional
Environment
 ALLUVIAL FAN

Alluvial fans can basically be described as fan shaped deposits that are
fed by a channel emanating from a very narrow, steep valley in a region of
high topographic relief. This high relief is often due to the fact that most
alluvial fans are found in association with regions of active faulting.
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 Distal settings on alluvial
+ Alluvial Fan fans.
 Better sorting (sands can
be well sorted), fine-
Proximal settings: grained.
 Texturally immature,  Sandstones dominate with
very coarse-grained, thin gravel layers in
angular-subrounded channels.
clasts.  Minor mudstones
 Conglomerates, matrix possible.
supported clasts-  Unstable minerals still
supported fabrics. present, but amount
 Unstable minerals depended on climate and
present source composition.
 Debris flow deposits :  Main channel branches
massive, un-bedded, into many side channels
very poorly sorted, mud (braided channels).
matrix.  Periodic rainfall produces
 Usually there is a sheet flows over the flat
confined permanent surface and mudflows can
channel that may contain occur.
an intermittent stream.
+ Alluvial Fan : Debris Flow Fan
The characteristics of a bed deposited by
a debris flow are :

 conglomerate with a matrix-supported

fabric (clasts mostly are not in grains
contact and separated by the finer
matrix)

 sorting of the conglomerate into

different clast sizes within or between
beds is usually very poor;

 the clasts may show a crude alignment

parallel to flow in the basal sheared
layer but otherwise the beds are
structureless with clasts randomly
oriented; (Nichols, 2009)

 outsize clasts that may be metres across

may occur within a debris flow unit

 beds deposited by debris flows are dm

– m thick.
+ Alluvial Fan : Sheetflood Fan

The characteristics of a Sheetflood

deposit on an alluvial fan are :
 sheet geometry of beds that are
dm – m thick;
 beds are very well stratified
with distinct couplets of coarser
gravel and sandy, finer gravel;
 imbrication of clasts is common,
and up-stream cross-
stratification formed by
antidunes may also be
preserved;
 the sediment is poorly sorted,
but silt and clay sized material
is absent;
 beds may show normal grading
due to waning flow.
(Nichols, 2009)
+ Alluvial Fan : Stream-Channel Fan

The characteristics of a Stream-channel

deposit on an alluvial fan are :

 The river emerging from the feeder

canyon may continue to flow as a confined
channel on the alluvial plain.

 Deposition by a number of high-

discharge events will eventually cause the
channel to become choked with sediment,
and the active flow will move by a process
of gradual lateral migration or by
avulsion. The position of the braided river
channel then migrates over the whole fan
surface, depositing a continuous sheet of
gravel. o Sandstone Beds are sharp-based, with
clast-supported conglomerate fining up
 individual beds often have a sheet to sandstone:
geometry, the result of lateral o sedimentary structures are those of a
amalgamation of channel deposits. braided river, including imbrication and
cross-stratification in gravels and cross-
BRAIDED RIVER
 Formation of a Braided River :
+  Usually found in areas of high sediment influx, high
water influx, and high gradient
 Examples include glacial discharge plains, distal
portions of alluvial fans, and mountainous regions.
 During times of flooding the river is choked with a high
amount of sediment and a new channel is formed
 Mid channel bars is a result from sediment that too
large to be carried

Iceland

 a Braided River deposit :

 Contain gravel in lower portions of bars and
channels and sand throughout the rest of the
deposit
 mud is almost nonexistant
 Longitudinal bars present with some having
horizons of plant roots
 Linguoid and transverse bars also present
 Lateral bars possible, also with possible plants
roots
 Lateral extent of a braided river deposit can be
extensive because lateral migration of the system
and the high sedimentation rate
+

Brahmaputra River

The first order channel of the river encompassed the entire river which has an average width of 10
km (??) and a maximum depth of 45 meters. The channel is realtively stable and migrates within a
channel belt as much as 20 km wide. First order channel migration averages about 70 m per year.
The second order channels have widths of 5 km (??) and depths of up to 40 m, and they migrate up
to 1km/year.
MEANDERING RIVER
 Formation of a Meandering River :

+  Further down stream the river has a much less sediment influx, and
therefore, does not form bars as a result of sediment choking, but
starts to deposit the smaller sediment in its system and also erodes
the surrounding banks
 The cut bank will erode the outside bank and cause the river to
expand laterally while the point bar will deposit sediment from the
system and accrete the river laterally with sandy silt deposits and
sometimes mud
 A meander will sometimes meet another and then form a faster way
down stream so the abandoned channel will become an ox-bow lake
 During flooding stages the river will spill over its banks and deposit
on the levee and also on the flood plain depositing silts and muds

 a Meandering River deposit :

o The majority of the deposit will consist of the accretion of the point bar
o Some abandoned channels and deep channels will be preserved as dish
shaped structures, up to hundreds of meters wide, in the outcrop
o The point bar will have a fining upward succession starting from a channel
deposit rising through trough cross bedding and sand stone lenses up to
ripples and finally a flood plain deposit
o The flood plain forms by the deposition of fine material from the river
during flood stages
o Deposits are usually laminated and may be oxidized
o Paleosols may also be present on floodplain, levee, and point bar (though
much less common here)
o A crevasse-splay deposit will consist of a sheet flow with some cross
bedding towards the upper section with rip up clasts present in the
bottom of the section
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NUG-2006
DELTA (TRANSITION)
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Classification of coastlines
WAVES DELTA OR ESTUARY?

Land claiming
BEACHES the sea: DELTA
(prograding)

BARRIER
ISLANDS

DELTAS Sea claiming

TIDAL the land: ESTUARY
FLATS

TIDES FLOODS
+
Classification of deltas
WAVES

CUSPATE

LOBATE

TIDES DISSECTED BIRDFOOT FLOODS

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Allen & Chambers, 1998