Chs. 9, 12, 13: Stratigraphy, sequences and basin analysis
31. What is cyclic stratigraphy, how does it manifest and what can we tell from it?
1) Give 2 specific examples of the types of lithologies and stratigraphic processes
that repeat.
2) In each case what controls the lithology and bed thickness and what immediate
change in the sedimentary basin controls the cyclicity?
3) What is the overall forcing mechanism that drives the cyclic sedimentation
(seasonal, tidal, biological productivity, climate, tectonics, orbital, sea level etc.)
Discuss and give examples of sediment products and their variation. (10 points)
Chapters 3 and 8 Carbonate Rocks and Environments
32. Describe the general conditions required for or typical of carbonate sediment
formation, specifically: (10 pts total)
1) geographic location with respect to latitudes and continental margins
2) climactic conditions
3) seawater physical chemistry
4) physical oceanography and sediment supply
5) benthic biology
6) What is special about reef facies compared to adjacent carbonate environments?
7) How has reef formation varied during geological time?
8) What are the 2 principal carbonate components texturally and how are told
apart?
9) What is the “dolomite problem”, discussing what dolomite is and how it is
formed?
10) What are the sequence stratigraphic differences between carbonate and clastic
systems for TST & HST versus FSST and LST.
Chapters 6 and 8: Clastic facies and Depositional environments
33. What types of clastic facies might you expect to find along a short system in B.C.
as between the Coast Mountains and Tidewater. Sediment sources, types, maturity,
sorting, transport processes, past versus present facies, etc. How would you
recognize this setting in the sedimentary record a hundred Ma hence from its
geometry, isopach, structure contour and physical sedimentology? How might
sequential facies come to be superposed in this restricted setting? (10 points)
Chapters 10, 11 and 13. Sedimentary Basins
35. Describe by comparison and contrast 2 distinct basin types and how you might tell
them apart using examples of tectonic location, geological age and setting, lateral and
vertical extent, geological time span, underlying crustal type, subsidence controls,
sediment types, possible resources that might be associated. Hint it would help to use
real basins for your examples. (10 points)
Da whole book especially Ch’s 11, 12 and 14
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36. Discuss the uniqueness and importance of some particular geological process or
phenomenon that is not very uniformitarian, in that it only happened once or a very
few times in geological history. Pick a topic with sedimentary and environmental
consequences and discuss what happened, why this was unique and what the
consequences were. Eg. The appearance of photosynthetic organisms and iron
formations, Supercontinent breakup, Deglaciation, The Cambrian Explosion of life
and how this was fundamentally different than diversification following any
subsequent massive extinctions, The controls on Icehouse Earth and consequences
that feed back to other geological processes and environments. This is your chance to
expound on your own favorite big picture topic. (10 points)
37. Applications: Compare and contrast what you’d expect in terms of sediment
types, sedimentation rates, processes, basin formation mechanism, sediment
thicknesses and how you’d tell these apart if somehow the basins were preserved but
their tectonic context was lost to time. Near 2 different modern convergent margins:
(10 points)
1.) India against Asia (12 cm/yr) and
2.) The Atlantic against the Caribbean Plate by the Antilles Island Arc (6 cm/yr)
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