The characteristics of sedimentary rocks and their depositional environments and how they vary through time, including the processes that control deposition, and the diagenetic processes which affect them. The course develops advanced field skills in sedimentology.

Three classes per week for 4 weeks (1.5 hr lecture and 1.5 hr lab per class - held as workshop). Four days content of a 1-week residential UK-based field class. Two local one day field classes.

EARTH4023 - Sedimentary Geology

EARTH4024 - Stratigraphy

Written exam (50%)

Integrated practical exercise (25%) 

Portfolio of field-based activities and report (25%) 

The aim of this course is to introduce students, in both the class and the field, to the principles of the stratigraphic expression of sedimentary depositional environments (clastic and carbonate), and how they may vary through time and space to fill sedimentary basins.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Analyse key characteristics (facies) that allow the interpretation of depositional environments of sediments;

■ Examine key processes and depositional characteristics for a suite of depositional environments and determine basin fill histories and the role of tectonics in forming sedimentary basins;

■ Explain the controls on sediment diagenesis, their influence on porosity and permeability, and their importance in industrial applications;

■ Critically evaluate the application of sequence stratigraphy in basin analysis; 

■ Synthesise and interpret sedimentary data in the context of graphical logs in the field and laboratory;

■ Synthesise and interpret sedimentary data in the context of geological maps, gross-depositional maps and cross sections in the field and laboratory;

■ Construct a geological map of a suite of sedimentary rocks in the field and evaluate the depositional and structural history of the area in a written report.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.