Unit 4-Marine Sediments

Main Questions

1. What is sediment and how does it form?
2. What are the four types of marine sediments based on origin?
3. Compare and contrast the two types of marine sediment based on location.
4. What is the origin, composition, and distribution of the types of sediment?
5. Why do we study marine sediments?

Main Concepts

I. Sediments in cores disclose Earth's history

• A. Sediments lithified to sedimentary rocks (animation)
• B. Mineral composition and texture
• C. Sediments classified by origin

II. Lithogenous (made up of lithified) sediment

• A.  Rock fragments weathered and eroded from the land (movie)
• B.  Composition indicates original rocks-mostly quartz
• C. Texture
• D. Distribution
  • Neritic-River sediment, beaches, glaciers
  • Pelagic-Abyssal clay

III. Biogenous (made up of life) sediment

• A.  Origin-Hard parts of dead organisms (shells, teeth, and bones)
• B.  Composition-Diatoms (silica) and coccolithophore (calcium carbonate) can form chalk when ooze lithifies
• C.  Distribution
  • mostly pelagic-siliceous ooze and calcareous ooze
  • rarely neritic-diatomaceous earth, limestone, and stromatolites

IV. Hydrogenous (made from water) sediment

• A.  Precipitation of dissolved material in saltwater
• B.  Manganese nodules commonly layered about a core (mainly Manganese and Iron)
• C.  Phosphate sediments related to high biological productivity in surface waters
• D.  Inorganic carbonates precipitate without life
• E.  Metal sulfides related with hydrothermal vents
• F.  Evaporites form when seawater evaporates (halite, anhydrite, gypsum)
  • Devil's Golf Course-Close-Up, Panorama

V.  Cosmogenous (comes from the cosmos) sediment

• A.  Microscopic spherules and macroscopic meteorite debris from outer space     
• B.  Glassy tektites and Iron-Nickel micrometeorites

VI. Mixtures

• A.  Marine sediments are mixed
• B.  One sediment type is prevalent

VII.  Summary of distribution of neritic and pelagic deposits

• A.  Neritic sediments influenced by latitude
• B.  Pelagic sediments

Vocabulary

Abyssal clay, algae, aragonite, Biogenous sediment, calcareous ooze, calcite, calcium carbonate, carbonate, chalk, coccolith, core, cosmogeneous sediment, Deep Sea Drilling Project, diatom, diatomaceous Earth, eroded, evaporite mineral, Foraminifer, glacial deposit, grain size, hyrdrogenous sediment, ice rafting, limestone, lithogenous sediment, lysocline, macroscopic, manganese nodule, metal sulfide, meteor, meterorite, microscopic, nannoplankton, neritic deposit, oolite, ooze, pelagic deposit, phosphate, planktonic, precipitate, protozoan, quartz, radiolarian, red clay, rotary drilling, sediment, silica, siliceous ooze, sorting, spherule, stromatolite, tektite, terrigenous sediment, texture, turbidite deposit, turbidity current, upwelling, weathering, and Wentworth scale of grain size

Schedule

1. Week 8 Schedule
2. Week 9 Schedule

Documents

• Unit 4 Overview
• Grain Size of Lithogenous River Sediment Lab
  • (Lab Report Format and example)
  • 
• Biogenous Sediment Stations
• Notebook/Binder Check
• Microspoce Pictures of Sediment

PowerPoints

Unit 4 PowerPoint

Quizzes

• Self Check Quizzes
  • Regular Quiz-Click on "Understanding the Concepts" in the left pane
  • Visual Quiz-Click on "Visualizing Oceanography" in the left pane
  • Fill in the Blanks Quiz-Click on "Fill in the Blanks" in the left pane

Links

• Sedimentary Rock Investigation
• Sedimentary Rock Identification Lab
• Marine Sediments from Indiana University
• Single Asteroid Impact Killed Dinosaurs-National Geographic (word document)