Glossary: Sedimentary facies and processes
Companion glossaries Ablation: The removal of ice and snow by melting, evaporation, wind erosion, sublimation (solid to vapour phase without […]
Interpreting ancient environments
Accretionary prisms and forearc basins
Forearc basins are kinematically linked to accretionary prisms. Forearc basins and accretionary prisms are located in the arc-trench gap
Thrust faults: Some common terminology
Some terminology for Thrust faults, duplexes, imbricate fans, and fold-thrust belts. Thrusts are reverse faults having fault plane dips <45o,
Basins formed by lithospheric flexure
Basins formed by flexure of oceanic and continental lithosphere; foreland basin exemplars. What is flexure? The way we define the
Faults – some common terminology
A fault is a plane or linear zone of displacement, where rocks on one side of the plane slip past
Nascent conjugate, passive margins
Progression of continental rifting to sea floor spreading creates paired (conjugate) passive margins over which post-rift successions accumulate across crust
Stretching the lithosphere; Rift basins
Rift basins, ocean basins, and passive margins form a dynamic continuum within the framework of plate tectonics. This post looks
Classification of sedimentary basins
The rationale for classification of sedimentary basins The formulation of plate tectonic theory in the late 1960s led to a
The thermal structure of the lithosphere
The thermal structure of the lithosphere influences its strength and rheology, and the diagenetic-metamorphic changes in sedimentary basins. Temperature is
Isostasy: A lithospheric balancing act
Isostasy describes the state of balance between the lithosphere and asthenosphere. Isostasy describes the state of gravitational equilibrium in the