Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-wxvwp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T14:05:52.528Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cyclic Sedimentation: A Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Alan J. Wells
Alan J. Wells
Affiliation:
Broekmolenweg 20, Delft, Netherlands.
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The well-known Carboniferous cyclothems of North America and Europe are discussed as examples to illustrate the great extent and lateral variation of sedimentary cycles. Very many other instances of cyclic sedimentation, in rocks of most ages, in many parts of the world, are also characterized by a more or less regular lateral migration of simultaneously existing depositional environments, caused by repeated transgressions and regressions of the sea over an epicontinental platform. Theories of varying complexity which have sought to explain cyclic sedimentation are briefly summarized, and it is suggested that the two basic requirements are a slowly subsiding sedimentary basin and more or less regular eustatic changes of sea level. The former will decide the geographical location. The latter could be a natural, periodic and world-wide consequence of the combination of the continuous effects of sedimentation and sostatic or orogenic movements of the sea floor.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 97 , Issue 5 , October 1960, pp. 389 - 403
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1960

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Arkell, W. J., 1933. The Jurassic System in Britain. Oxford.Google Scholar
Baillie, A. D., 1955. Devonian System of the Williston Basin Area. Bull. Am. Asst. Pet. Geol., xxxix, 575–629.Google Scholar
Bornhauser, M., 1947. Marine sedimentary cycles of Tertiary in Mississippi embayment and Central Gulf Coast area. Bull. Am. Ass. Pet. Geol., xxxi, 698–712.Google Scholar
Bouroz, A., 1959. La formation des séries Houilléres dans leur contexte paléogréaphique. C.R. réunion de Sédimentologie, Arras,13th-15th 03.Google Scholar
Brückner, W. D., 1953. Cyclic calcareous sedimentation as an index of climatic variations in the past. Journ. Sediment. Petrol., xxiii, 235–237.Google Scholar
Cross, A. T., and Arkle, T., 1952. The Stratigraphy, sedimentation and nomenclature of the upper Pennsylvanian-lower Permian (Dunkard) strata of the Appalachian area. C.R. 3e Cong. Strat. et Géol. du Carbon., Heerlen, 101–111.Google Scholar
Dunham, K. C., 1950. Lower Carboniferous sedimentation in the northern Pennines (England). Rept. 18th Int. Geol. Cong., Pt. 4, 46–63.Google Scholar
Fiege, K., Lambrecht, L., and van Leckwijck, W., 1957. Zur Stratinomie des Oberkarbons des Aachener Gebietes und des belgischen Grenzlandes. Neues Jb. Geol. u. Paläontol., Abh. 104, 299–358.Google Scholar
Fuller, J. G. C. M., 1956. Madison Limestone in S.E. Saskatchewan. Oil in Canada, 08, 1956, 34–58.Google Scholar
Geikie, A., 1882. Text-book of Geology, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemingway, J. E., 1951. Cyclic Sedimentation and the Deposition of Ironstone in the Yorkshire Lias. Proc. Yorks. Geol. Soc., xxviii, 67–74.Google Scholar
Heide, S. van der, 1950. Compaction as a possible factor in upper Carboniferous rhythmic sedimentation. Rept. 18th Int. Geol. Cong., Pt. 4, 38–45.Google Scholar
Hudson, R. G. S., 1924. On the rhythmic succession of the Yoredale Series in Wensleydale. Proc. Yorks. Geol. Soc., xx, 125–135.Google Scholar
Jacob, K., 1952. A brief summary of the Stratigraphy and Palaeontology of the Gondwana System. 19e Cong. Géol. Int., (Symposium sur les Séries de Gondwana), 153–174.Google Scholar
Jessen, W., 1956. Das Ruhrkarbon als Beispiel für extratellurisch verursachte Zyklizitäts-Erscheinungen. Geol. Jb., lxxi, 1–20.Google Scholar
Johnson, G. A. L., 1958. Lateral variation of marine and deltaic sediments in cyclothemic deposits, with particular reference to the Visean and Namurian of northern England. C.R. 4e Cong. Strat. et Géol. du Carbon, Heerlen (in press).Google Scholar
Johnson, G. A. L., 1959. Palaeogeography of the northern Pennines and part of northeast England during the deposition of Carboniferous cyclothemic deposits. Paper submitted to section 12, 21st Int. Geol. Cong., Copenhagen, 1960.Google Scholar
Kuenen, Ph.H., 1950. Marine Geology, New York.Google Scholar
Leckwijck, W. van, 1949. Sur la sedimentation dans le terrain houiller de la Campine belge à l'époque du Westphalien B inférieur (Zone d'asch). Ann. Soc. Géol. de Belg., lxxii, B439–468.Google Scholar
Leckwijck, W. van, 1952. Étude géologique du gisement houiller d'andenne-Huy. Le Namurien dans le basin d'andenne. Publ. Ass. Étude Paléont. et Strat. houillères, II, (Brussels, 1952).Google Scholar
McKee, E. D., 1954. Relationship between Fauna and Lithology in the Moenkopi Formation. Journ. Sediment. Petrol., xxiv, 136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, D., 1958. The Yoredale Series of upper Wensleydale and adjacent parts of north-west Yorkshire. Proc. Yorks. Geol. Soc., xxxi, 91–136.Google Scholar
Moore, R. C., 1936. Stratigraphic classification of the Pennsylvanian rocks of Kansas. Geol.Surv. Kansas, Bull. 22.Google Scholar
Moore, R. C., 1950. Late Palaeozoic cyclic sedimentation in central United States. Rept. 18th Int. Geol. Cong., Pt. 4, 5–16.Google Scholar
Pannekoek, A. J. et al. , 1956. Geological History of the Netherlands. Staatsdrukkerij en Uitgeverijbedrijf, 's-Gravenhage.Google Scholar
Robertson, T., 1952. Plant Control in rhythmic sedimentation. C.R. 3e Cong. Strat. et Géol. du Carbon., Heerlen, 515–521.Google Scholar
Simpson, G. C., 1934. World climate during the Quaternary Period. Quart. Journ. Roy. Met. Soc., lx, 425–478.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stamp, L. D., 1921. On cycles of sedimentation in the Eocene strata of the Anglo-Franco-Belgian Basin. Geol. Mag., lxiii, 108–114, 146–157, 194–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trueman, A. E., 1946. Stratigraphical problems in the Coal Measures of Europe and North America. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., cii, 49–93.Google Scholar
U.S. Army Engineers, 1958. Geology of the Mississippi River Deltaic plain. Tech. Rept. No. 3–483, Waterways Experiment. Station, Vicksbury, Miss.Google Scholar
Wanless, H. R., 1950. Late Palaeozoic cycles of sedimentation in the United States. Rept. 18th Int. Geol. Cong., Pt. 4, 17–28.Google Scholar
Wanless, H. R., and Shepard, F. P., 1936. Sea level and climatic changes related to late Palaeozoic cycles. Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., xlvii, 1177–1206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wanless, H. R., and Patterson, J., 1952. Cyclic sedimentation in the marine Pennsylvanian of the south-western U.S. C.R. 3e Cong. Strat. et Géol. du Carbon., Heerlen, 655–664.Google Scholar
Weller, J. M., 1930. Cyclical sedimentation of the Pennsylvanian period and its significance. Journ. Geol., xxxviii, 97–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weller, J. M., 1956. Argument for Diastrophic Control of late Palaeozoic cyclothems. Bull. Am. Ass. Pet. Geol., xl, 17–50.Google Scholar
Wheeler, H. E., and Murray, H. H., 1957. Base level control patterns in cyclothemic sedimentation. Bull. Am. Ass. Pet. Geol., xli, 1985–2011.Google Scholar
Young, R. G., 1957. Late Cretaceous cyclic deposits, Book Cliffs, eastern Utah. Bull. Am. Ass. Pet. Geol., xli, 1760–1774.Google Scholar