GEOLOGIC TIME
part III
lateral rela0onships, facies, sea-level change
Alessandro Grippo, Ph.D
El Paso, Texas, from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua
© Alessandro Grippo
a review
• Rela@ve Time methods
– Stra@graphy
– Outcrops
– Layers (strata) and contacts (bedding planes)
– Steno’s principles
– Inclusion and Cross-CuNng Rela@onships
– Unconformi@es
– Correla@on
– Significance of Fossils
• Numerical Time methods
– Radioac@ve methods (including 14C)
– Fission Tracks
– Tree Rings
– Varves
Layers and their Contacts, Steno’s principles,
Cross-CuNng Rela@onships and Correla@on at work
Normal faul@ng, House Rock Junc@on, Arizona
© Alessandro Grippo
Lateral Rela0onships
• Lateral Con@nuity
(Steno’s)
– Layers may terminate
laterally because:
• they are cut by a fault or by
erosion (aYer deposi@on)
• they are deposited at the
end of a basin
• they pinch out
• they intertongue with
adjacent rocks
• they change by lateral
grada@on
Why would layers change laterally?
• Sedimentary rocks reflect the environment of
deposi@on
• If environments are found side by side, then
sedimentary rocks also change side by side
• Sediments then would have dis@nc@ve,
different characteris@cs, in every single
environments
Facies
• By studying today’s environment, we understand
why and how sedimentary rocks change laterally
• We then apply what we learn from today’s
environment to environments of the past
(Uniformitarianism)
• A Sedimentary Facies is a body of sediment with
dis@nc@ve characteris@cs, and that points to a
specific sedimentary environment
Facies
• A facies can be broad in its meaning
– for instance, a “deep-marine facies”
• A facies can be narrowed down to a very small
environmental niche
– for instance, a “low-energy, inter@dal temperate
facies”
• In general, a facies is based on how a rock
associa@on “looks”, and it indicates an
environment of deposi@on
Environmental Change and Facies Migra0on
• Environments are not fixed (in place or in @me)
• When an environment changes, so do the rocks that
are deposited in that environment
• So, at the same loca@on you might have different
environments
• And at the same @me your original environment
migrates, or moves, somewhere else
Facies changes
This area was affected by a rise in sea level, caused by climate change. At @me 1, loca@on A
was a coastal beach area, and as such, sand was deposited. At @me 2, sea level rose and
sand deposi@on moved away from A (sand can only be a coastal beach sediment): the facies
moved, or change laterally.
What happened at loca@on A? It was originally a coastal shallow water area, it is now a
deeper marine area, where the only sediment can be mud. Mud is then deposited on top of
sand
Lessons learned
• Facies migrate laterally in @me
– Lateral con@nuity exists, but rocks might change
• Facies migrate ver@cally in @me
– That is why we have different layers on top of each other: at that loca@on, the environment
has changed
• The same facies (e.g. the sand) might be con@nuous as a layer, but does was not
deposited at the same @me (rock units do not represent @me, but just the
environment)
• Knowing the horizontal and ver@cal sequence of rocks (facies) allows us to know
about climate change
– If mud is on top of sand at loca@on A, then sea level rose
– If we were to find sand on top of mud, then sea level fell at that loca@on
• The lateral distribu@on of facies is equivalent to the ver@cal distribu@on. This is
called Walther’s Law (from Johannes Walther)
An example from
the Grand Canyon, Arizona
• In here you can see:
– lateral facies change
– ver@cal facies change
– intertonguing of
facies
– lack of @me
significance of rock
units
– Walther’s Law
– evidence of
Transgression
from: © Steven Stanley, Earth System History (2nd ed.), Freeman and Company, 2005
Transgression and Regression
• A transgression is a
rela/ve rise in sea
level
• A regression is a
rela/ve sea level fall,
or drop
• They can be iden@fied
in the field by looking
at sedimentary
sequences:
– fining-upward:
transgression
– coarsening upward:
regression
fining upward sequence coarsening upward sequence
A Marine Transgression as seen in the rock record
Cadiz, San Bernardino county, California
© Alessandro Grippo
What are high-energy and low-energy environments?
• High-energy environments:
– those where the velocity of the transporta@on agent is high enough
that coarse sediments (gravel and sand) can be deposited
• mountain streams, stream beds, alluvial fans, sand dunes, channels of
submarine fans
• beaches, proximal parts of con@nental shelves
• Low-energy environments:
– those where the velocity of the transporta@on agent is low enough
that only fine sediments like mud (silt and clay) and salts * can be
deposited
• swamps, lagoons, marshes, lakes, floodplains
• distal parts of con@nental shelves
• deep oceans, close to land (muds), submarine fans
• deep oceans, away from land (carbonates)
* under certain condi@ons, salts can be deposited also in agitated waters
Why does sea-level change?
• There could be more or less water in the
oceans
• There could be more or less space where the
water could go
• The same amount of water can expands or
shrinks with changing water temperatures
More or less water in the oceans?
• During Greenhouse Times, there is no ice at
sea level
– Ice melts and flows into the ocean
– Sea level rises (transgression)
• During Icehouse Times, there is ice at sea level
– Snow does not melt and turns into ice, preven@ng
water from going back into the ocean
– Sea level drops (regression)
Isn’t the space at the ocean boiom always the same?
• No, it depends on expansion rates at mid-ocean ridges
• A fast spreading ridge produces a lot of oceanic crust in a short
amount of @me
– That would cause more oceanic crust to be at high temperature, that
would be expand and be more buoyant
– There would be less space for water, which would flood con@nents
(transgression)
– example: North America in the mid-Cretaceous
• A slow spreading rate would see a quickly cooling oceanic crust
around mid-ocean ridges
– The crust would then sink, or stay at a lower level
– This would generate more space for the water, that would retreat from
con@nents (regression)
– example: North America in the Pleistocene
past North America
peak Greenhouse: Cretaceous peak Icehouse: Pleistocene