The fundamental aim of this course is to learn how to use sediments and sedimentary rocks as archives of information about sedimentary processes, ancient sedimentary environments, and sedimentary basins.

The objectives of the course are to:

• Describe and interpret sedimentary facies
• Quantify sediment transport and deposition processes using the sedimentary record
• Understand the journey of sediment from erosional sources to depositional sinks, and place sedimentary deposits into their broader contexts (with a particular focus on sediment-routing systems and sedimentary basins)
• Learn conceptual models of sedimentary systems, processes, and environments across different spatial and temporal scales
• Collect and interpret accurate sedimentological data
• Understand some of the current frontiers in sedimentological science

EOSC 421, Advanced Sedimentology, is organised into three parts:

Part 1:  The world from a grain of sand

The first part of the course lays out the basics. What is sediment? Where does it come from, and how is it transported across the Earth's surface? When faced with sedimentary deposits in the field, what kinds of structures can we observe and -- more fundamentally -- what kinds of questions should we be asking?

Classes include:

• Sediment-routing systems
• Sediment sources
• Sediment fluxes
• Sedimentary structures

Part 2:  Processes in sedimentary environments

Part two delves into the details about the processes that move sediment around, and the environments that they occur within and record information about. You will learn how signals of Earth's ancient environments, processes, and events have been transmitted into the sedimentary record, and how to read that record.

• Sediment gravity flows
• Subaqueous and subaerial unidirectional flows
• Subaqueous oscillatory current and rotating flows
• Carbonates and evaporites
• Volcanic sedimentology
• Planetary sedimentology

Part 3:  The bigger picture

Finally, we will step back to ask (and answer) broader questions about sedimentology. What is the history of this exciting and cutting-edge science? How can we measure the ages of sediments and sedimentary rocks, and the rates at which sedimentary processes occur? How does sedimentology interface with plate tectonics and basin analysis?

• Dates and rates of sedimentary processes
• Formation and types of sedimentary basins
• Subsidence analysis
• Basins due to stretching, flexure, and strike-slip deformation
• Sediment provenance
• Diagenesis and alteration