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Can anyone explain to me what a clastic wedge is?
I've looked in books, and on google, but I can't find a simple explanation. I "get" that it's sediments eroded and deposited near an area of uplift, but does anyone have a better explanation that will help me understand what exactly it is?
3 Answers
- AmphiboliteLv 71 decade agoFavorite Answer
It has been awhile since I took Sedimentoloty, but here is what I remember. Clastic means rock fragments (from clays to boulders) and a wedge us a "ramp-shaped" feature. When a normal or reverse fault displaces rock layers a scarf is formed. Sediments start to slide down the scarf and continue this process till a wedge is formed an top of the downthrown block and against the scarf of the upthrown block. It is then called a clastic wedge.
- Nigel PLv 61 decade ago
When sediments erode from a mountain range and are transported into a basin they will accumulate in a typically lens shaped formation. Sediment will have sufficient energy to travel a small distance, so most will be deposited a short distance from the start of the basin, a small amount, usually finer material will travel further, and coarser material will generally be deposited nearer to the point of origin. Clastic just means "bits" and wedge just means wedge shaped so it is a regional scale sedimentary structure that is wedge shaped, and has the characteristics above.
As the Wikki article says, similar structures can also form at passive continental margins as well as in sedimentary basins
Source(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clastic_wedge - Anonymous6 years ago
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Can anyone explain to me what a clastic wedge is?
I've looked in books, and on google, but I can't find a simple explanation. I "get" that it's sediments eroded and deposited near an area of uplift, but does anyone have a better explanation that will help me understand what exactly it is?
Source(s): explain clastic wedge is: https://tr.im/TtEtx