Programme

Module 1. Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks: Archives of Earth's Surface (6 hours)
• Origin and composition of sediments.
• Components of sedimentary rocks.
• Textural characteristics and their genetic significance.
• Principles of sedimentary rock classification.
• Sedimentary resources of economic and environmental importance:
o biogenic deposits;
o evaporites;
o energy- and industry-related sedimentary resources.

Module 2. Sediment Transport and Depositional Processes (6 hours)
• Fundamentals of fluid dynamics applied to sediment transport.
• Sediment movement in unidirectional flows.
• Tractional transport processes.
• Hyperconcentrated and mass-flow deposits:
o granular flows;
o debris flows;
o turbidity currents.
Why It Matters
Understanding sediment transport is essential for interpreting the formation of rivers, deltas, beaches, alluvial fans, and deep-marine depositional systems, as well as reconstructing catastrophic geological events.

Module 3. Inside the Rock: Sedimentary Petrology Laboratory (6 hours)
• Microscopic analysis of thin sections.
• Identification of the principal components of sandstones.
• Petrographic investigation of samples from flysch successions.
Practical Experience
Students will examine sediment grains under the microscope and learn how mineralogical and lithological compositions can reveal sediment provenance and basin evolution.

Module 4. Sedimentary Structures: Traces of Depositional Processes (6 hours)
• Lamination and bedding structures:
o planar-parallel stratification;
o cross-stratification;
o low- and high-angle bedding.
• Current-generated and wave-generated ripple marks.
• Deposits associated with turbidity currents and gravity-driven processes.
• The Bouma Sequence.
• Storm deposits (tempestites) and event beds.
• Erosional, deformational, chemical, and biogenic sedimentary structures.
• Trace fossils, bioturbation, and bioerosion.
Questions We Will Learn to Answer
What was the direction of sediment transport? Was the environment fluvial, coastal, or marine? Was a deposit generated by a storm, a turbidity current, or a submarine landslide?

Module 5. A Journey Through Earth's Depositional Environments (6 hours)
Continental Environments
• Fluvial systems.
• Lacustrine systems.
Transitional Environments
• Deltaic systems.
• Coastal and shoreline environments.
Marine Environments
• Siliciclastic and carbonate shelves.
• Continental slopes.
• Deep-sea plains.
• Pelagic basins.
Evaporitic Environments
• Processes leading to evaporite formation.
• Characteristics of evaporitic deposits.

Module 6. Forensic Sedimentology: When Sediments Become Evidence (6 hours)
• Principles and methods of forensic sedimentology.
• Comparative analysis of sediment samples.
• Applications in criminal investigations, environmental studies, and land management.
• Discussion of real-world case studies.

Core Documentation

• Boggs S., Jr. (2012). Principles of Sedimentology and Stratigraphy. Pearson Education, Inc., Pearson Prentice Hall.
• Stow Dorrik A.V.. Sedimentary Rocks in the Field – A colour Guide. Manson Publishing. Fifth impression 2010. ISBN: 978-1-874545-69-9
• Any photographic atlas of structures and sediments.

Attendance

Face to face

Type of evaluation

Assessment of the achievement of learning outcomes (oral). Weighting: 80% Identification of sedimentary structures from rock samples. Weighting: 20%