Sedimentology

Duration

Theory : 30h Th
Practical work : 20h Pr

Number of credits

Lecturer

Theory : Anne-Christine Da Silva
Practical work : Anne-Christine Da Silva

Coordinator

Anne-Christine Da Silva

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

General Positioning of the Course

Understand how sedimentary processes produce deposits, and use the characteristics of sediments and sedimentary rocks to reconstruct depositional environments and sedimentary systems.

 

Course Structure

1. Processes Leading to the Formation of Sedimentary Rocks. The course first reviews the various processes involved in the formation of sedimentary rocks:

• Weathering (physical, biological, and chemical weathering);
• Transport (mass movements, gravity-driven flows, and fluid flows);
• Deposition (sediment grain size and sedimentary structures);
• Post-sedimentary evolution (pedogenesis, fossilization, compaction, and diagenesis).

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

Knowledge

By the end of the theoretical course, the student will be able to:

• Explain the main processes responsible for the production, transport, deposition, and preservation of sediments.
• Describe the principal continental, coastal, and marine depositional environments and systems.
• Characterize the main types of clastic, carbonate, and evaporite sediments.
• Characterize the principal fluvial, evaporitic, deltaic, coastal, marine, and carbonate systems, and distinguish their different depositional settings.
• Describe the main sedimentary structures and explain the processes responsible for their formation.
• Explain the factors controlling the spatial and temporal distribution of sedimentary facies.
• Explain the relationships between sedimentary processes, facies, depositional environments, and the architecture of sedimentary bodies.
• Explain the principles used for the classification and description of sedimentary rocks.

• Identify the main constituents of clastic, carbonate, and evaporite sedimentary rocks.
• Describe the texture, composition, and structures of sedimentary rocks at both macroscopic and microscopic scales.
• Identify sedimentary structures, determine the original depositional orientation of a sample, and provide an interpretation.
• Identify the depositional environment of a sedimentary sample.

• Identify and describe the main sedimentary structures.
• Recognize the diagnostic characteristics of different depositional environments.
• Establish a vertical facies succession.
• Identify lateral and vertical facies variations.
• Reconstruct a depositional environment or depositional system from a sedimentary succession.
• Interpret a sedimentary succession in terms of sea-level change, climate, subsidence, sediment supply, or basin dynamics.
• Justify a sedimentological interpretation using multiple independent observations.

• Identify the principal mineralogical and bioclastic constituents of sedimentary rocks.
• Characterize the texture of a sedimentary rock.
• Identify the main types of grains, matrix, and cements.
• Recognize the principal microstructures of clastic, carbonate, and evaporite rocks.
• Apply appropriate petrographic classification systems.
• Propose an interpretation of the depositional environment based on microscopic characteristics.
• Distinguish characteristics related to deposition from those resulting from diagenesis.

• Develop an interpretative approach based on the identification and integration of multiple sedimentological indicators.
• Distinguish field or microscopic observations from the interpretations derived from them.
• Formulate and test a sedimentological interpretation hypothesis.
• Assess the degree of confidence in an interpretation and identify the observations that support or contradict it.
• Estimate the level of confidence that can reasonably be placed in an interpretation, recognizing the limits of the available evidence and avoiding conclusions that go beyond what the data support.
• Move between observations at different scales, including thin section, sample, outcrop, stratigraphic section, and basin scale, in order to build a coherent interpretation.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

General Geology 

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The course slides will be available on eCampus before each session.

 

Theoretical lectures are supported by multimedia materials (photographs, videos, and rock samples).

Observation and identification of different types of sedimentary structures using hand specimens.

Photo-based exercises to identify sedimentary processes.

Practical microscopy sessions using thin sections.

Theoretical lectures rely on a variety of teaching methods, including traditional lectures (using both the blackboard and PowerPoint presentations), group work, and in-class exercises. Some parts of the course will be studied by students in advance through a flipped classroom approach, with the time required for this work allocated within the course schedule. Within this framework, students are asked to submit assignments that are not mandatory but may be used as supporting material during the examination. Failure to submit an assignment simply means that the student will not have access to this supporting material. Consequently, students are not permitted to use another student's work or complete the assignment after the deadline.

Practical sessions include the observation, description, and interpretation of sedimentary structures and thin sections.

 

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face course


Further information:

Face-to-face. Lectures in lecture rooms of buildings B18 or B20.

Recommended or required readings

Platform(s) used for course materials:
- eCampus


Further information:

Platform(s) used for course materials:
- eCampus


Textbook :

• Boulvain, F., 2022. Pétrologie sédimentaire: des roches aux processus. Ellipses, Paris, https://www.editions-ellipses.fr/accueil/14550-petrologie-sedimentaire-des-roches-aux-processus-geologie-2e-edition-9782340073951.html

Assessment methods and criteria

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

written exam AND oral exam


Further information:

The assessment focuses on the student's ability to apply and integrate the knowledge acquired during the course and practical activities. The questions require students to connect multiple parts from the theoretical and practical courses. 

The assessment is primarily based on a written examination consisting of four to five questions. Students also have the opportunity to defend one question orally, either to clarify their understanding in cases of uncertainty or to demonstrate the breadth of their knowledge. In addition, students must identify sedimentary structure and two thin sections + interpretations 

 

The final grade is weighted as follows:


Written examination and possible oral discussion: /40

Thin sections and sedimentary structure : /30

 

Participation to the practical courses is mandatory (except in cases of a valid medical certificate), and students who are absent without a certificate will not be permitted to sit the examination.

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

Contacts

A.C. Da Silva
SediCClim, Bât. B20, 4000 Liège 1 (Sart Tilman)
Tél. : 04/366.22.58 - e-mail : ac.dasilva@uliege.be 

Assistante: Laura Darimont Laura.Darimont@uliege.be 

Secrétariat: Mme J. Schmetz, Tél. : 04/366.22.51 - joelle.schmetz@uliege.be

Association of one or more MOOCs