Because sedimentary rocks units contain a record of changing environmental condi

Question

Because sedimentary rocks units contain a record of changing environmental conditions, cross-bedded sandstone might be a record of a period of dry desert conditions, while limestone might be a record of a transgression of the sea over the land. Now try your best to think like a geologist, and explain simply why changes in depositional environments can be seen both vertically in a sequence of sedimentary rocks and also laterally within a single sedimentary unit. (It’s just simple everyday logic, applied in this case to geology.)

Explanation / Answer

Due to sea level change, Laterally-adjacent sedimentary environments shift back and forth through time, facies boundaries also shift back and forth .Vertical relationships between facies are explained by changes in sea level, or changes in subsidence and sedimentation rates

A conformable sedimentary sequence (i.e., one without unconformities), sedimentary units which lie in vertical succession represent the deposits of laterally adjacent sedimentary environments migrating over one another through time.

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