sedimentologische

Sedimentology, occasionally referred to by the German term sedimentologie, is the science that studies sediments, the processes by which they form, and the rocks derived from them. It encompasses the origins of sediment, its transport by water, wind, ice, or gravity, the conditions under which it is deposited, and the diagenetic changes that turn loose sediment into solid rock. Sediments originate primarily by weathering and erosion of preexisting rocks, are moved and sorted according to grain size, density, and energy of the transport medium, and are deposited when transport energy decreases or environment changes.

Key concepts include grain size and sorting, mineral composition, and sedimentary structures such as lamination, cross-bedding, ripple marks, and bedding. Sedimentary rocks are commonly classified as clastic, chemical, or biochemical, reflecting their mode of origin. Deposition records past environments and can be reconstructed through facies analysis and sequence stratigraphy. Major depositional environments include fluvial, deltaic, lacustrine, coastal, shelf and deep-marine, as well as aeolian and glacial settings.

Methodologically, sedimentology relies on field observations, outcrop mapping, borehole cores, thin-section petrography, grain-size analysis, mineralogy (XRD), and geochemical or isotopic measurements. Applications span hydrocarbon exploration and production, groundwater and aquifer characterization, environmental geology, and reconstructions of past climate and sea-level change. The field intersects with stratigraphy, sedimentary petrology, and geomorphology, while remaining focused on processes at or near the Earth’s surface that produce and modify sediments.