625-202 Sedimentary Basins to Mountain Belts

Special Requirements: Geological hammer, hand lens and magnet. Students should consult the Earth Sciences web site for dates, charges for excursions, accommodation and food and other information including safety requirements.

Credit cannot be gained for both this subject and 625-224 (prior to 2004).

Earth sciences 625-102.

Earth sciences 625-222.

This subject will evaluate the processes that operate to create sedimentary rocks that fill sedimentary basins, and that operate on these rocks during the formation of mountain belts, deforming them and metamorphosing them. Topics to be covered include:

• tectonic settings in which sedimentary basins and mountain belts develop;

• sedimentary processes of transportation, deposition and diagenesis; formation of sedimentary structures and sequences;

• response of rocks to stress: descriptive treatment of strain, folds and cleavage;

• mechanical aspects of rock deformation, stress and strain behaviour of rocks;

• examination of deformed rocks in the laboratory and in the field;

• response of rocks to elevated temperature and pressure; relationship between mineral assemblages in metamorphic rocks and their conditions of formation;

• metamorphic rocks in thin section and in hand specimen; and

• the evolution of pressure, temperature and deformation during orogeny.

At the end of this subject, students will have acquired an understanding of tectonic settings, the effects of elevated pressure, temperature and stress on rocks; be able to recognise, describe and interpret rocks formed as a consequence of these effects in the laboratory and in the field; and understand their applications in establishing and testing tectonic models.

A 2-hour practical examination during the semester (20%); a 1500-word field report due at the end of semester (20%); a 2-hour written examination in the examination period (60%).