Diastem
In geology, a diastem (plural: diastems) is a short interruption in sedimentation with little or no erosion.[1] They can also be described as very short unconformities (more precisely as very short paraconformities).[2]
Definition
The International Commission on Stratigraphy defines a diastem as
"[a] short interruption in deposition with little or no erosion before resumption of sedimentation"[3]
Duration
Studies indicate that the age contained in diastems ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand years in shelf settings as well as throughout the paleozoic.[4]
References
- ^ Catuneanu, Octavian (2006). Principles of sequence stratigraphy. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
- ^ Kowalewsky, Michal; Bambach, Richard K. (2003). Harries, Peter J. (ed.). High-resolution approaches in stratigraphic paleontology. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 24.
- ^ "Unconformity-bounded Units". International Commission on Stratigraphy. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
- ^ Kowalewsky, Michal; Bambach, Richard K. (2003). Harries, Peter J. (ed.). High-resolution approaches in stratigraphic paleontology. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 34.