Diastem Explained

In geology, a diastem is a short interruption in sedimentation with little or no erosion. They can also be described as very short unconformities (more precisely as very short paraconformities). In 1917, Joseph Barrell estimated the rate of deposition of succession from the available radiometric age. His outcrops showed that the strata accumulation was at the rate of thousands of years per foot rather than hundreds. He stated that diastems are universal in sedimentary rocks and explained them as a product of fluctuation of base level.

Definition

The International Commission on Stratigraphy defines a diastem as "[a] short interruption in deposition with little or no erosion before resumption of sedimentation".

Duration

Studies indicate that the time gap represented in diastems ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand years in shelf settings as well as throughout the Paleozoic.

References

^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: Unconformity-bounded Units . International Commission on Stratigraphy . 12 May 2018 .
2. Book: Kowalewsky . Michal . Richard K. . Bambach. Harries. Peter J. . 2003. High-resolution approaches in stratigraphic paleontology . Springer Science & Business Media. 34.
3. Book: Kowalewsky . Michal . Richard K. . Bambach. Harries. Peter J. . 2003. High-resolution approaches in stratigraphic paleontology . Springer Science & Business Media. 24.
4. Book: Catuneanu . Octavian . 2006. Principles of sequence stratigraphy . registration . Amsterdam . Elsevier.