Controls in sedimentation from a study of sediment geometry

Abstract

The WESTPHALIAN coal- bearing successions of central England provide an excellent opportunity for investigating the controls which govern the accumulation of shallow water sediments. Classical and statistical studies, supplemented by a deterministic model of compaction, suggest that the principal large scale control was DOWNWARPING of the Pennine Basin, and that the principal moderate scale control was by the DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT, which was dominated by the location of BARRIER SAND BARS and catalysed by the unstable compaction of PEAT. Tectonism, differential compaction, delta distributary- switching and the breaking of barrier bars probably made no significant contribution to the development of the sedimentary sequences of the East Midlands Coalfield, England.