Definition
Originally, an association of sedimentary rocks that is indicative of a specific depositional environment and/or set of depositional processes (Allaby and Allaby 1999) but later extended to:
Bodies of metamorphic rocks with mineral assemblages characteristic of particular temperature/pressure regimes during progressive metamorphism
Seismic facies which are units that have internal seismic reflection characteristics that contrast with those of adjacent reflection units
Synonyms
Metamorphic facies; Sedimentary facies; Seismic facies
Sedimentary Facies
The term was introduced in 1838 by Amanz Gressly for associations of sedimentary rocks that are characteristic of particular environments of formation. Johannes Walther later proposed a Law of the Correlation of Facies stating that a vertical sequence of facies is the product of a series of depositional environments, which initially lie laterally adjacent to each other, in situations where there is no break in the sedimentary...
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References
Allaby A, Allaby M (1999) A dictionary of the earth sciences. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Berton F, Vasely FF (2016) Seismic expression of depositional elements associated with a strongly progradational shelf margin; northern Santos Basin, southeastern Brazil. Braz Jl Geol 46(4):585–603. ISSN 2317-4692
Cross TA, Homewood PW (1997) Amanz Gressly’s role in founding modern stratigraphy. Bull Geol Soc Am 109(12):1617–1630. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1997)109<1617:AGSRIF>2.3.CO;2
Noori B, Ghadimvand NK, Movahed B, Yousefpour M (2016) Sedimentology and depositional environment of the Kazhdumi Formation Sandstones in the northwestern area of the Persian Gulf. Open J Geol 6(11):1401–1422. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojg.2016.611100
Roksandić MM (1978) Seismic facies analysis concepts. Geophys Prospect 26(2):383–398. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2478.1978.tb01600.x
Turner FJ (1948) Mineralogical and structural evolution of metamorphic rocks, Memoir, vol 30. Geological Society of America, New York
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Marker, B.R. (2018). Facies. In: Bobrowsky, P.T., Marker, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Engineering Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73568-9_120
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73568-9_120
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