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Unit 5 Lecture Assignment - Sediment Settlement - 2024

1) The document describes a sediment settlement experiment where students pour various sized sediments (gravel, sand, clay) into a container of water over 3 days to observe how they settle. 2) On the first day, gravel settles quickly while finer sediments remain suspended. Over subsequent days, sand and clay slowly settle in layers. 3) Disturbing the container replicates how sediment layers can be disrupted in nature, forming less uniform rock sequences. The experiment helps explain sediment deposition and rock formation.

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71 views

Unit 5 Lecture Assignment - Sediment Settlement - 2024

1) The document describes a sediment settlement experiment where students pour various sized sediments (gravel, sand, clay) into a container of water over 3 days to observe how they settle. 2) On the first day, gravel settles quickly while finer sediments remain suspended. Over subsequent days, sand and clay slowly settle in layers. 3) Disturbing the container replicates how sediment layers can be disrupted in nature, forming less uniform rock sequences. The experiment helps explain sediment deposition and rock formation.

Uploaded by

esoreader
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Unit 5 Lecture Assignment (2024): Sediment Settlement

Name: ____________________________ Date ______________

All answers should be in BLUE font.

Objective: To gain a better understanding of how sediment settles out of suspension specifically
in water, and how that sediment goes on to create layers and rock sequences. This assignment is
designed to be a hands-on learning experience to illustrate concepts learned in the Unit 5 module.

For this assignment you will need:


• Dirt/soil, various sizes:
A handful of gravel-sized material
A handful of sand-sized material
A handful of clay-sized material
***All of these materials should be something you can find around your home. If you
have decorative stones and want to use those, that is fine, but make sure that you have 3
distinct sizes. One of those sizes MUST be clay-sized grains, or else this project will not
work.
• A clear container, ½ - ¾ of the way full of water
***This container can be anything with clear sides: an expendable Tupperware container,
an empty pickle/mayonnaise jar, a clear bowl, etc. This will work best in a container with
a wide mouth, so if you use an empty water bottle cut the top off.
• A container for your dirt/soil/rocks
• The ability to take pictures of your project and upload them into this document

Estimated time to complete this assignment: 3 days (not full 24-hour days obviously)

Background:
*You should have completed reviewing all lecture materials before attempting to complete this
assignment*
There was an extensive amount of material on the different types of sediment, how sediment was
transported in currents, and how it settled out of suspension in this module. By now you should
know that coarse grains settle first and progressively finer grains will settle on top of those. What
about the rocks where we see variable grain sizes? What happens if the sediment is disturbed
before it is lithified? This “sediment settlement chamber” activity is designed to represent a more
realistic scenario of sediment settlement and the formation of rock layers.
The Experiment **Read all directions carefully before starting this experiment**

1) Dump all of your dirt/soil materials into a container different from your container of
water. Mix thoroughly. This mixture is representative of what you may see weathering
and eroding at Earth’s surface.
2) Let’s create something like a current or energy flow now. Take your bowl of earth
materials and pour the mixed materials into your container of water as quickly as you
can. When you are finished pouring, record what is happening each day in your container
in the space below. Leave your sediment settlement chamber sitting for 3 days and record
what is happening within the chamber each day. Once the 3 days are complete, you can
clear away the chamber and analyze your results.

DAY 1
Did any of your grains settle out of suspension when you finished pouring your materials into the
container? What size settled first? Was it the only grain size that settled? Why did this occur? If
this material were to suddenly lithify, what type of rock do you suppose would form?

Take a picture of what your chamber looks like immediately after the pour and place it in the
space below. Align image to “Top and Bottom” so the image doesn’t overlap with text or other
images.
DAY 2
What does your sediment settlement chamber look like today? Are all of the grains settled out of
suspension? Describe the layering on the bottom of your chamber.

Take a picture of what your chamber looks like today and place it in the space below. Align
image to “Top and Bottom” so the image doesn’t overlap with text or other images.

DAY 3
What does your sediment settlement chamber look like today? Are all of the grains settled out of
suspension? How does today differ from what this chamber looked like yesterday? How does it
differ from Day 1? Describe the layering on the bottom of your chamber.
Take a picture of what your chamber looks like today and place it in the space below. Align
image to “Top and Bottom” so the image doesn’t overlap with text or other images.

Analysis

1) Describe how you pouring a bowl of earth materials into a container of water is
representative of sediment being deposited. Include the role of the energy that you used to
pour that material into the water in your answer. Would the sediment have settled
differently if you had slowly poured it into the water? What role does energy play in
depositing sediments?

2) If you were to have shaken your container on day 2 or 3, what would’ve happened? Why?
Would the sediment grains have settled into the same layering as they were before? How
does this relate to what we see in sedimentary rocks at Earth’s surface?

3) In this settlement chamber, the water was likely murky on Day 1 and potentially still
murky up to Day 3. What size sediment contributes to the cloudiness of water? What type
of environment will this type of sediment settle in? What does the cloudiness of your
water tell you about the amount of time it takes for this type of sediment to settle?

4) Keeping in mind your answer to #3, think about the segments of the river system that are
brown: are the headwaters more likely to be brown, the mouth of the stream, or
somewhere in between? Provide a hypothesis as to why so many rivers and streams do
not have clear water in them today.
5) Thinking about your experiment overall and keeping in mind your answers to questions 3
and 4, write a brief summarizing description of how sediment is deposited from
continents into oceans. What sizes of sediments can we expect to see near the continental
margin? What types of sediments can we expect to see in deeper ocean water? How did
conducting this experiment help you to form your answer?

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