Sedimentology / Седиментология

Sedimentology, which deals with the geology of sedimentary deposits, has become an actively studied discipline parallel to the development of academic and industrial drilling programs, research on plate tectonic concepts and environmental considerations. Continuous series such as those provided by the Deep Sea Drilling Project or the Ocean Drilling Program constitute outstanding archives to reconstruct environmental conditions governing past seas and adjacent landmasses. Fruitful information arises from investigations performed on thick submarine or exposed series deposited during the successive stages of ocean initiation, deepening and widening (e.g. lithostratigraphy, diagenesis, volcanic and hydrothermal impact). Subduction processes and sea level changes determine renewed interpretations of the sedimentary record on continental margins (e.g. fluid migrations, sequential stratigraphy). Numerous studies involving the dynamics of sedimentary particles are developing in order to better manage the modifications of the shoreline and shelf areas and the commercial use of sedimentary bodies, or to avoid excessive disruptions of natural ecosystems. 
"Sedimentology" is especially intended for undergraduate students. The handbook constitutes an introduction to the basic concepts of sedimentation. Chapters 1 to 4 are devoted to the description of the main factors governing the sedimentary processes, and follow the major steps of the surficial geodynamic cycle: terrigenous, biogenic and chemical origins of sedimentary components, characteristics of sedimentary particles, mechanical processes of sedimentation, diagenetic modifications. Chapters 5 to 7 describe the sedimentary environments encountered from high-altitude continental domains to deep-sea areas: glaciers, deserts, lakes, alluvial fans and rivers; deltas and estuaries, coastal and shelf environments; marine environments where various deposits accumulate, such as biogenic oozes, deep-sea clays, nodule-rich and metal-bearing oozes, volcanic and hydrothermal materials, aeolian or glacio-marine sediments. The different environments are described as much as possible with the aid of concrete examples. References are systematically made to present-day situations, and short comparisons are proposed with past geological environments. <..>