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If the beds are not horizontal, then that is an indication that they have been tilted or warped by geologic processes. [21] The Law of Lateral Continuity states that the bed deposits extend laterally in all directions. This implies that two places separated by erosional features with similar rocks may have originally been continuous.
Graded bedding is a sorting of particles according to clast size and shape on a lithified horizontal plane. The term is an explanation as to how a geologic profile was formed. Stratification on a lateral plane is the physical result of active depositing of different size materials.
A geologic map or geological map is a special-purpose map made to show various geological features. Rock units or geologic strata are shown by color or symbols. Bedding planes and structural features such as faults, folds, are shown with strike and dip or trend and plunge symbols which give three-dimensional orientations features.
Cross-beds are layers of sediment that are inclined relative to the base and top of the bed they are associated with. Cross-beds can tell modern geologists many things about ancient environments such as- depositional environment, the direction of sediment transport (paleocurrent) and even environmental conditions at the time of deposition.
These beds range from millimeters to centimeters thick and can even go to meters or multiple meters thick. Sedimentary structures such as cross-bedding, graded bedding, and ripple marks are utilized in stratigraphic studies. They help indicate the original position of strata in geologically complex terrains.
In geology, strike and dip is a measurement convention used to describe the plane orientation or attitude of a planar geologic feature. A feature's strike is the azimuth of an imagined horizontal line across the plane, and its dip is the angle of inclination (or depression angle) measured downward from horizontal. [1]
Also, sedimentary beds may pinch out along strike, implying that slight angles existed during their deposition. Thus the principle of original horizontality is widely, but not universally, applicable in the study of sedimentology, stratigraphy, and structural geology.
A contact can be formed during deposition, by the intrusion of magma, [2] or through faulting or other deformation of rock beds that brings distinct rock bodies into contact. [3] The geologic subdiscipline of stratigraphy is primarily concerned with depositional contacts, [4] while faults and shear zones are of particular interest in structural ...