Eolian Sediments

• Eolian environments include those where wind is the major

agent of sediment deposition.
• Eolian sedimentary rocks are usually well-sorted, fine
grained sandstones and siltstones

Sand Dunes, White Sands, NM

Desert Systems
25% of the earth surface
• DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT
– DRY < 25 cm/yr
• leeward side of mountain ranges (rain shadow)
• 20 to 30°N & S, descending limbs of the Hadley cells
• episodic precipitation
• sparse vegetation
1. Dunes ~ 20% of desert surfaces
– Sand seas (ergs) - areal coverage > 125 km2
– Dune fields - smaller areas
2. Eroding mountains, rocky areas, desert flats -
Remaining 80% Sand Dunes, White Sands, NM

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 Desert Systems
• DEPOSITIONAL PROCESSES
Temperature, Wind are both highly variable
– water
rain episodic - debris and mud flows
– wind is the main transport agent
• Ineffective erosion force
• effective transport sand size & smaller grains
Modes of wind transport
• suspension (< 0.07 mm )
• saltation (0.07 to 1 mm)
• traction (>0.5 mm) impact of saltating grains
Sand Dunes, White Sands, NM

Major Aeolian
Depositional Features:
1. Loess
• silt deposits accumulating far
from source
thickest deposits associated w/ Alma, Wisconsin
glacial outwash plains
2. Sand Deposits
• well sorted
• texturally mature particles
• well rounded, pitted &
frosted, dominated by quartz
3. Deflation pavement - lag
deposits
gravel size particles too large to
be transported

Desert Pavement, Mojave Desert

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 Qaidam Desert Basin, China
• Northern edge of the Tibetan
Plateau

deflation

Courtesy Fletcher and Baylis

Depositional Features: windward leeward

• Ripples crest

• Dunes topset deposits

slipface
0.1 to 100 m high (>400 m)
Typical geometry -
wedge planar
• slip face cross beds tabular planar interdune
cross-beds deposits
• crest
• foresets
• topsets

Texture -
- well sorted
- well rounded
- quartz rich
exception: coastal dunes
(heavy minerals,
unstable rock fragments
White Sands, New Mexico

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 Transport and Deposition of Sand in Eolian Deposits
•Sediment accumulates at Crest
•Avalanche (Gravity Transport) down Slip face

Saltation Zone -10 cm

Depositional Features:
Structure - enormous cross bedding with laminae
• medium to large scale cross strata
• foresets dip at high angles, up to 34° (i.e., angle of repose)
• tabular cross-strata -meters thick
• individual beds of cross strata are long (10’s m)
• bounding planes between individual sets of cross-strata (horizontal or slightly
dipping leeward)
Cross Strata

Navajo Sandstone, UTAH

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 Eolian Facies: possible
bedding structures;
• Successions mostly random

Dune Morphology
• Unidirectional Winds:
single slip faces
– Barchans
– Barchanoid ridges
– Transverse
Transition reflects increasing
sand supply

White Sands, NM

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cresent-shaped barchan dune,
Qaidam Basin, China
Barchanoid Dunes & Transverse
Ridge, White Sands, NM

Transverse dune, Namib

Dune Morphology
• Multi-directional Winds:
– Linear
– Longitudinal
– Reversing
– Star
multiple slip faces

White Sands, NM

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Longitudinal dune, Namib

Qaidam Basin, China seif dune

Star shaped dune, Namib

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Key Criteria for recognizing
dune deposits:
• well sorted
• pitted, frosted grains
• thick cross bed sets
• high angle foresets

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 LACUSTRINE
SYSTEMS
• Minor component of
sedimentary rocks
– Economic importance
~ oil shale
– Archive of terrestrial
paleoenvironments
• Chemistry
• Mineralogy
• Pollen

LACUSTRINE SYSTEMS
• Environmental Setting:
– form in any depression: downwarped basins, fault grabens
– all latitudes and geologic settings (glacial, mountains, plains)
– Dry (Salt Lake) and wet climates

Impact Crater Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana Hvitarvatn, Iceland

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Sedimentation Processes:
• Open lakes - outflow balances inflow
1. stable shorelines
2. siliciclastic sediments

Sedimentation Processes:
• Closed lakes - no major outflow
1. fluctuating shorelines
2. evaporation (alkaline, chemical precipitates)
• Climate Influence:
1. water level
2. chemical sedimentation
3. sediment input - vegetation and aridity

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Physical processes:
• wind - small waves
• river inflow - sediment supply, density currents
atmospheric heating - density stratification, currents

Physical Processes:

depositional processes:
• similarities w/ marine environments
– waves (beaches)
– currents
– mass transport - turbidity currents, slumps
Suspension
- varve sedimentation - seasonal effects
• differences w/ marine environments
– Limited surface area (fetch) - small waves, low energy
– ratio of drainage area to lake area is high
•- high sedimentation rates (10 x marine)
– lakes are tideless - tidal currents are negligible

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Chemical Processes:
lake chemistry varies considerably Playa Lake, Mojave
• Arid regions: ground water/evap.
– inorganic carbonate sediments -CO2
outgassing - precipitation of calcite
(finely laminated beds)
– sulfates - gypsum/anhydrite
– chlorides - halite
• Humid regions:
– carbonates (both inorganic and organic)
– Silicates
Organic Processes:
1. Production of shells Corg clays
2. bioturbation
3. plant remains
– high concentrations of terrestrial plant
organic matter (low H/C ratios

Pleistocene - wet!

Pleistocene Lakes Otera,

Estancia,Trinity

Evaporation

wind

White Sands,
NM

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 Primary Characteristics of Lake Deposits:
• Composition:
– siliciclastic sediments (derived from
rivers) Beaverhill Lake Formation
• nearshore - gravels, sands (Middle Devonian), Alberta
• offshore - sands (turbidites, grain flows),
silts and clays (marl)
CaCO3 rich
– carbonate sediments C-org rich marl
• Fine grain - microscopic shells of algae
(also bivalves, ostracodes, gastropods)
• organic rich -
– Aquatic
– Terrestrial detritus

Clastic Sediment fluxes: River Plumes

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 Primary Characteristics of Lake Deposits:
• Structures:
–laminated bedding and varves
–thin, laterally continuous beds (as opposed to fluvial
sediments)
–other features are similar to those in marine sediments

Las Vegas Bay, Lake Mead

Salton Trough
• 3 to 6 km late Cenozoic continental
sediments (Mecca formation)
– Alluvial fan
– Braided rivers
– Lacustrine
– Aeolian

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 Mecca formation, California

Lake Sediments:

Hvitarvatn, Iceland

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 Eocene Green River Formation,
Colorado, Wyoming, Utah
• 3 large lakes (Uinta, Gosiute)
• Cyclical bedding
-orbital, annual
• Lithology (fine grain, organic rich)
– Oolititic grindstones
– Oil shales
– Mudstones

Laminated, Corg rich Shale, WY

Bedded Claystones, Green River, WY

Eocene Green River Formation,

Colorado, Wyoming, Utah
• Superb fossil preservation - anoxia?

gar Lepisosteus, predatory fish

Gryllidae - a cricket

Knightia

Dolichopodidae - a long-
legged fly

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