Sediment deposition

Sediment deposition is the accumulation of transported particles when water, wind, or ice loses energy. It builds layers and landforms as particles settle or are dropped.

Sediment transport: The movement of mineral or organic particles by water, wind, ice, or gravity. Deposition is the settling phase that follows transport.
Grain size: A measure of the diameter of individual sediment particles. Grain size strongly affects how readily particles settle and where they accumulate.
Sedimentary facies: A body of sediment or rock characterized by features that reflect its depositional environment. Facies link deposited textures and structures to the conditions that formed them.
Sedimentary rock: Rock formed from accumulated sediment or from minerals precipitated from water. Burial, compaction, and cementation can turn deposited sediment into rock.
Settling velocity: The speed at which a particle falls through a fluid under gravity. It helps determine which particles settle as a flow slows.
Sorting (sediment): The degree to which sediment grains have similar sizes. Deposition often separates grains of different sizes, producing distinctive sorting.
Deltas: Landforms built where a river deposits sediment as it enters a standing body of water. A delta is a prominent landform produced by sustained deposition at a river mouth.
Lithification: The processes that transform loose sediment into solid sedimentary rock. It consolidates deposited layers through compaction and cementation.
Stokes' law: A relation describing the drag force on a small sphere moving slowly through a viscous fluid. It predicts settling rates for fine particles in calm water.
Sediment porosity: The fraction of a sediment or rock's volume occupied by open spaces. The arrangement of deposited grains determines the initial pore space.

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