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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Interbedding</span></span>
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<p>In <a href="Geology" title="Geology">geology</a>, <b>interbedding</b> occurs when <a href="Bed_(geology)" title="Bed (geology)">beds</a> (layers of rock) of a particular <a href="Lithology" title="Lithology">lithology</a> lie between or alternate with beds of a different lithology.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> For example, <a href="Sedimentary_rocks" class="mw-redirect" title="Sedimentary rocks">sedimentary rocks</a> may be interbedded if there were <a href="Sea_level" title="Sea level">sea level</a> variations in their <a href="Sedimentary_depositional_environment" class="mw-redirect" title="Sedimentary depositional environment">sedimentary depositional environment</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Harper2004_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Harper2004-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p><b>Intercalation</b> is a special case of interbedding where a layer is variably inserted into an already existing sequence; or where two separate <a href="Depositional_environment" title="Depositional environment">depositional environments</a> in close spatial proximity migrate alternately across the <a href="Contact_(geology)" title="Contact (geology)">contact</a>.
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<p>While interbedding has layers that are horizontally flat (or aligned with the angle of the entire stratum), intercalated rock on the other hand has slanted layers that streak through each other (even when it aligns with the stratum). For example intercalated <a href="Conglomerate_(geology)" title="Conglomerate (geology)">conglomerate</a> and <a href="Sandstone" title="Sandstone">sandstone</a> looks like ripples of different material networked through each other somewhat off the horizontal, as the beds are deposited in a gradient. This is likely due to differing <a href="Fluvial_processes" class="mw-redirect" title="Fluvial processes">fluvial conditions</a> and gradual changes in <a href="Sediment_transport" title="Sediment transport">sediment transport</a> over time.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Features">Features</h2></div>
<p>Typical alternation sequences include sequences of <a href="Marl" title="Marl">marl</a> and <a href="Limestone" title="Limestone">limestone</a>. In its most conspicuous form, such an interbedding as seen on a quarry wall can look like the stripes of a zebra: a dark gray marl layer, for example twenty centimeters thick, is followed by a half-meter-thick light limestone bench, which in turn is overlaid by a marl layer and this again by limestone and so on. Such evenly banded layers can consist of hundreds of alternating layers and can be several hundred meters thick.
</p><p>Interbedding often reflects a cyclical change in sedimentation conditions. Lime-marl interbeddings represent the cyclical detachment of a high carbonate production due to the stronger influence of the terrestrial background sedimentation, which is usually attributed <a href="Sedimentology" title="Sedimentology">sedimentologically</a> to an increase in sea depth and distance from the coast at the time of deposition at the corresponding deposit location. But these can cause alternations by recurring special events, such as the deposition of coarse turbidity current sediments on what would otherwise be a quiet and continuously running background sedimentation. For example, a river that sees regular interrupts in the form of flash floods.
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>
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<li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/glossary_I.html">UCMP glossary</a> ucmp.berkeley.edu Retrieved on- March 2008</span>
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</style><cite id="CITEREFHarper,_John_A.Christopher_D._LaughreyJaime_KostelnikDavid_P._Gold2004" class="citation web cs1">Harper, John A.; Christopher D. Laughrey; Jaime Kostelnik; David P. Gold; Arnold G. Doden (2004-05-26). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060328021706/http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/tbr/tbrintro.aspx">"Trenton and Black River Carbonates in the Union Furnace Area of Blair and Huntingdon Counties, Pennsylvania : Introduction"</a>. <i>Field Trip Guidebook for the Eastern Section AAPG Annual Meeting, September 10, 2003 and the PAPG Spring Field Trip, May 26, 2004</i>. Pennsylvania Geological Survey. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/tbr/tbrintro.aspx">the original</a> on March 28, 2006<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2008-06-14</span></span>.</cite></span>
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<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Intercalated-conglomerates-and-sandstones-ICS-northern-margin-fan-complex-The-ICS_fig1_233754230">"Fig. 6. Intercalated conglomerates and sandstones (ICS), northern..."</a> <i>ResearchGate</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2019-12-22</span></span>.</cite></span>
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This article is issued from <a class="external text" title="Last edited on 2025-08-08" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?title=Interbedding&oldid=1304806893">Wikipedia</a>. The text is available under <a class="external text" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0</a> unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.
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