A Comparative Study of Shale Sedimentology: Relationships Between Sedimentary Environment and Shale Fabric

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This a comprehensive study of shale meso- and microfabrics on a suite of shale units from a variety of climates and basin types. All shale units contain a wide range of sedimentary environments from terrestrial to basinal. The units under study were selected on the basis of good stratigraphic control and prior sedimentological studies. Shale fabrics represent the cumulative record of the history of transport, deposition, and burial of these fine-grained rocks. There is presently a severe deficiency of comprehensive petrographic and sedimentological case studies of shale units, and the environmental significance of shale fabric features is still poorly understood. Comparing the full range of meso- and microfabric features from equivalent sedimentary environments in a suite of well studied shale units will allow us to identify environmentally significant features (or combinations thereof), and to filter out local factors (due to climate, biological control, basin type etc.). Data from this study will benefit efforts of fabric classification, will establish correlations between mesofabric and microfabric features, will probably lead to the recognition of environmentally specific fabric associations and relate fabric features to basic processes, and will ultimately lead to considerable refinements in basin analysis studies.