CHAPTER 3

STRATIGRAPHY
Introduction
As geologists gather information about the structure
and character of the rock formations, they arrange
it in graphic form. This not only helps them visualize
what they cannot see directly, but also provides a
way to communicate their findings to others. In
particular, it helps them visualize and display the
stratigraphy of the crustinformation that describes
the origin, composition, distribution, and succession
of rock layers.

Maps, Sections, and Diagrams

Geologic information can be arranged graphically to
show variation either horizontally or vertically. Horizontally arrayed data are maps; vertically arrayed data
are sections. Sometimes these two types of arrays are
combined in a simulated three-dimensional graph.
A geologist usually starts with a base map of the
area of interest, showing survey benchmarks, property lines, and such nongeologic surface features as
streams, roads, and buildings. Base maps are useful
for planning exploration, leasing, road building, well
placement, and other activities.
Another type of surface map, a topographic
map, displays land elevations as a series of contour
lines, each line connecting points of equal elevation
(fig. 30). A topographic map shows the geologist the
shapes of hills and valleys, often revealing subsurface geologic structure by the pattern of exposed
and eroded formations. The surface is described in
a different way by an outcrop map, which shows the
rock types at the surface or just beneath the layer of
soil (fig. 31). Elevations and rock types are sometimes shown on the same map.
A contour map showing elevations of a subsurface rock layer or structure is called a structure
contour map (fig. 32). This type of map is particularly useful in petroleum exploration because it
shows, among other things, the topographic highs
in porous formations where oil and gas are most
likely to accumulate. Similarly, formation thick-

Figure 30. Topographic contour map

Figure 31. Geologic outcrop map

Figure 32. Structure contour map

Figure 34. Lithofacies map

nesses can be delineated by an isopach map, on

which contour lines connect points of equal formation thickness (fig. 33).
Formation characteristics such as porosity, permeability, grain size, clay content, and cementation
change from one location to another. A map showing such variations is called a lithofacies map. Figure
34 is a lithofacies map of a reservoir formation in

which carbonates range from less than 20% to more

than 70% of total rock volume. A petroleum geologist would find this map helpful in locating the part of
the reservoir with the greatest production potential.
A section is a cutaway view showing the sequence
of rock layers beneath the surface (fig. 35). Different
formation characteristics can be displayed in a section, including rock type, vertical thickness, and
elevation. A section can be constructed along either
a straight line or a line connecting a series of points
not in a straight line, such as drilled wells.
A block diagram combines the vertical presentation of one or more sections with the horizontal data
normally displayed on a map. It may look very
realistic, as though a piece of the crust were lifted out
for examination (fig. 36). Usually, though, it is more
abstract. A block diagram is useful for showing threedimensional geologic data in the two dimensions of
a sheet of paper or a video display terminal.

Principles of Stratigraphy

Figure 33. Isopach map

As mentioned before, stratigraphy is the study of the

origin, composition, distribution, and succession of
rock layers. The term encompasses the techniques
used by the geologist to determine the succession of
depositional environments and the relative ages of
rocks.

Figure 35. Section

Figure 36. Block diagram

A sedimentary layer is deposited in a continuous,

unbroken sheet with an essentially horizontal upper
surface but a lower surface that conforms to a
previous land surface or seafloor (fig. 37). Its edges
"lap out" like water at the shore of a lake. Each layer
is deposited on top of older sediments; in an undisturbed series of rock layers, the youngest layer is at
the top and the oldest is on the bottom.
Once a sedimentary rock layer is formed, its continuity or horizontality may be disrupted in a number of

ways: it may be partly eroded; it may be fractured,

faulted, bent, or folded by crustal movement; it may
even be invaded by magma that cools to form a
subsurface body of igneous rock. Just as any formation is known to be younger than the formation
beneath, any event that disrupts the continuity or
horizontality of a formation is more recent than the
deposition of the layer affected. Similarly, any layer that
cuts across another layer must have been deposited
after the layer it cuts and is therefore younger (fig. 38).

Figure 37. Law of original horizontality: sedimentary layers are formed not as in A, but as in B

Figure 38. Block diagram showing relative ages of features: basement rock G is older than layers A, B, and
C, which are older than D, E, and F; angular unconformity H-H' is older than fault J-J'

Folding and Faulting

Tectonic plate motion is one of the events that can
change the shape and orientation of sedimentary
rock layers. Wherever plates converge, the crust is

subjected to enormous horizontal forces that can

gradually compress it by dozens or even hundreds of
miles, wrinkling and folding it like a giant throw rug
(fig. 39). Each upfold of the crust is an anticline; each
downfold is a syncline (fig. 40).

Figure 39. Rock layers folded by horizontal compression

Figure 40. Anticline and synclines

Anticlines and synclines are graphic proof that
solid rock can flow like the ice in a glacier. Like most
solid materials, rock is slightly plastic; under uniform
pressure over long periods, it will bend without
breaking. However, if stress is applied unevenly or if
it exceeds the rock's breaking strength, the rock
fractures. A fracture in the crust along which the
rocks on opposite sides have shifted relative to each
other is termed a fault.
A normal fault is one whose slip plane is at a
steep angle with the surface and along which the rock
on the upper side has slipped downward in the
direction of the dip (fig. 41A). (In geology, the dip of
any surface is the direction in which a marble would
roll if placed on it.) A reverse, or thrust, fault (fig.
41B) is one in which the rock on the upper side has
been displaced upward along the fault plane. A

normal fault allows extension of the crust; it is often

caused by forces that stretch the crust. A thrust fault
is caused by forces that squeeze the crust together,
causing a break where one piece overrides another.
An overthrust fault is a thrust fault whose slip
plane is nearly horizontal; its displacement is the
result of large horizontal movements of the crust (fig.
42). Along some overthrust faults, one slab has
slipped several miles over the top of another so that
a well drilled through the fault would penetrate the
same series of rock layers twice.
The opposite sides of a lateral, or strike-slip,
fault move horizontally past each other; the fault
plane itself may be vertical (fig. 43). The most familiar
example is California's San Andreas fault, where the
Pacific plate is slipping northward about 2 inches per
year past the edge oftheNorth American plate. If this

Figure 41. Normal (A) and reverse (B), or thrust, faults

curves toward the horizontal at depth, and total displacement at depth is greater than near the surface.
Curvature of the layers on the downthrown side often
creates a broad rollover anticline.

Unconformities
Figure 4 2 . Overthrust fault
slip occurred continuously, the San Andreas fault
would be merely a geologic curiosity. Instead, sections of the fault "lock up" for years, releasing the
strain all at once in a sudden, powerful earthquake.

Sometimes a sedimentary basin is uplifted so that

deposition ceases and erosion takes over. An erosion
surface is formed; the upper surface of the most
recent sediment layer, formerly smooth and
horizontal, is modified by running water or other
agents. Later, the region subsides and more sediments
accumulate. If the succession of sedimentary layers is
thought of as a chronological record, then the buried
erosion surface represents a time gap of indeterminate
length. Such a gap is called an unconformity.
There are several kinds of unconformity. If the uplift
is gentle, so that the rock layers are not tilted or
deformed, the gap in the geologic record is termed a
disconformity (fig. 45). Although the layers of sediment above are parallel with those below, the shapes
of ancient stream channels are often apparent in a
disconformity (fig. 45A). However, the disconformity
itself may be parallel with the layers above and below
and therefore not readily apparent (fig. 45B).

Figure 4 3 . Lateral, or strike-slip, fault

One type of fault common along the Gulf Coast is
the growth, or rollover, fault (fig. 44). Often invisible
at the surface, a growth fault is an active slip plane in
unconsolidated sediments where continued deposition
causes layers on the downthrown side to grow thicker
than those across the fault. The plane of a growth fault

Figure 44. Growth, or rollover, faults

Figure 45. Disconformities

Deposition of sediments on layers that have been

deformed and eroded produces an angular unconformity (fig. 46). Sedimentary layers below such an
unconformity are not parallel with those above, and the
gap in the record is obvious.
The most profound gap in the depositional record
is the one beneath the oldest sedimentary layers. A
nonconformity is an erosion surface on igneous or

metamorphic rock that has been buried beneath sediments (fig. 47). In the geology of petroleum exploration, the rock beneath a nonconformity is usually
referred to as basement rock.
Any unconformity is obviously younger than the
rocks beneath it and older than those above. It is thus
a useful tool in determining the relative ages of rocks and
the events that have affected them over geologic time.

Figure 46. Angular unconformity

Figure 47. Nonconformity