SUBJECT
Unconformity-related phenomena
lecture
master
2
Semester 3
Autumn semester
The aim of the course is to introduce the students to the problematics of submarine vs. subaerial unconformities occurring at sequence- and parasequence boundaries .A series of lectures gives an overview of the characteristics of submarine vs subaerial and long-lasting vs ephemeral unconformities and their possible identification in the sedimentary record. Diagnostic properties of hardgrounds, rockgrounds, paleosols and paleokarst phenomena, with particular emphasize on their relevance to the approximate duration of exposure. Additional topics to be treated:
- the concept of vacuity, hiatus and the apparent gap
- direct and indirect techniques to establish age/duration of the hiatus
- the effects of superimposition of subaerial and submarine exposure
- the phenomenology of drowning unconformities
- paleohydrological phenomena resulting in porosity anomalies along submarine and subaerial unconformities
- recent analogues and the preservation potential of diagnostic features
- Mesozoic/Tertiary case histories
Subsequent field excursion (3 days) in selected Mesozoic andTertiary localities will focus on field aspects of major regional unconformities and “intraformational” disconformities. Students interested (and previously trained) in micropetrography may volunteer for micropetrography lab-work to study unconformity related diagenetic phenomena (dissolution, cementation, pedogenic alteration, etc.) in thin sections.
Field excursion, lectures, seminars, laboratory-work (optional)
- Clari et al. (1995), Sedimentary Geology 100, 97-121
- Di Stefano, P. Mindszenty A.(2000) Sedimentary Geology, 132, 37-68
- Di Stefano et al. (2002), Facies, 46, 273-298, Erlangen
- Joachimski, M.M.(1994), Sedimentology 41, 805-824
- Mindszenty et al. (1996): Tectonophysics 252, (1-4), 137-162.
- James, N.P., Choquette, P.W. (Eds.) (1985): Paleokarst, Springer, 415 p.
- Martini, I.P., Chesworth, W.(Eds.) (1992): Weathering, Soils and Paleosols, Elsevier, 618 p.
- Thiry, M., Simon-Coincon, R. (Eds. (1999): Paleoweathering, Paleosurfaces and Related Continental Deposits, IAS Spec. Publ. No.27, IAS .Blackwell, 406 p