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facies
facies The term ‘facies’ was first used in 1838 by the Swiss geologist Amanz Gressly (1814–65) in reference to Jurassic rocks in the Jura Mountains. He found that the individual strata there change their characteristics laterally: they are not uniform throughout their extent and undergo facies change. Emile Haug (1907) gave the definition ‘a facies is the sum of lithologic and palaeontologic characteristics of a deposit in a given place’. This useful concept immediately caught on and was used in a great many different ways. Today the word is usually qualified by a descriptive term (for example, ‘sandy facies’, ‘graptolitic facies’), or by a genetic term (for example, ‘deltaic facies’, ‘pelagic facies’, etc.). The usage is also extended to cover associations and packets of rock units rather than single strata.
Several meanings have been attached to the word ‘facies’. It may refer to the petrology of a sediment: petrofacies e.g. quartz sandstone petrofacies; or it may refer to the lithology of the deposit: lithofacies, e.g. cross-bedded sandstone facies; to the inferred mode of deposition: e.g. aeolian facies; to the included fauna: biofacies e.g. algal-limestone facies; or to a deposit formed with a particular tectonic background: tectofacies e.g. stable-shelf sandstone. Alternatively, it can be used to describe the inferred environment if deposition: e.g. estuarine facies. Particular facies may together form a characteristic facies association or may succeed one another to form a characteristic facies sequence. Facies analysis is an important tool in the reconstruction of ancient environments of deposition and hence of palaeogeography. It has also proved invaluable in the prediction and exploitation of economic deposits. The boundaries between facies, either in the vertical or the horizontal direction, may be sharp or indistinct, depending to some extent upon how the facies are defined. Many writers have used definitions so vague as to bring the concept into disrepute; others have used them as synonymous with lithological units (rock bodies). Sedimentary facies commonly occur in associations typical of specific depositional environments, and the environments occur next to one another in sequence. This led Johannes Walther in 1894 to declare that facies that occur in conformable vertical successions also occur in laterally adjacent environments. This has been referred to as Walther's ‘law of correlation of facies’. Since the studies by the Finnish geologist P. Eskola (1915), the term facies has also been used to denote metamorphic rocks containing similar assemblages of minerals (for example, ‘greenschist facies’, ‘amphibolite facies’) that are interpreted as having formed under comparable conditions of temperature and pressure at depth in the Earth's crust. D. L. Dineley and and G. Evans Bibliography Reading, H. G. (ed.) (1996) Sedimentary environments: processes, facies, and stratigraphy (3rd edn). Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford. |
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PAUL HANCOCK and BRIAN J. SKINNER. "facies." The Oxford Companion to the Earth. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PAUL HANCOCK and BRIAN J. SKINNER. "facies." The Oxford Companion to the Earth. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O112-facies.html PAUL HANCOCK and BRIAN J. SKINNER. "facies." The Oxford Companion to the Earth. 2000. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O112-facies.html |
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facies
facies
1. Sum total of features that reflect the specific environmental conditions under which a given rock was formed or deposited. The features may be lithologic, sedimentological, or faunal. In a sedimentary facies, mineral composition,sedimentary structures, and bedding characteristics are all diagnostic of a specific rock or lithofacies. 2. See METAMORPHIC FACIES. |
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AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "facies." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "facies." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O13-facies.html AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "facies." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O13-facies.html |
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facies
fa·ci·es / ˈfāˌshēz; ˈfāshēˌēz/ • n. (pl. same) 1. Med. the appearance or facial expression of an individual that is typical of a particular disease or condition. 2. Geol. the character of a rock expressed by its formation, composition, and fossil content. |
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"facies." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "facies." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-facies.html "facies." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-facies.html |
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facies
facies (fay-shi-eez) n. facial expression, often a guide to a patient's state of health as well as his emotions. adenoid f. the vacant look, with the mouth drooping open, seen in adenoids. Hippocratic f. the sallow face, sagging and with listless staring eyes, that some read as the expression of approaching death.
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"facies." A Dictionary of Nursing. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "facies." A Dictionary of Nursing. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O62-facies.html "facies." A Dictionary of Nursing. 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O62-facies.html |
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facies
facies In geology, all the features of a rock or that show the history of its formation. Geologists often distinguish age by facies. The term is also applied to gradations of igneous rock.
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"facies." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "facies." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-facies.html "facies." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-facies.html |
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facies
facies
1. Aspect or appearance. 2. The sum total of the features that reflect the specific environmental conditions under which a given rock was formed or deposited. |
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MICHAEL ALLABY. "facies." A Dictionary of Ecology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MICHAEL ALLABY. "facies." A Dictionary of Ecology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O14-facies.html MICHAEL ALLABY. "facies." A Dictionary of Ecology. 2004. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O14-facies.html |
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facies
facies Aspect or appearance.
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MICHAEL ALLABY. "facies." A Dictionary of Plant Sciences. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MICHAEL ALLABY. "facies." A Dictionary of Plant Sciences. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O7-facies.html MICHAEL ALLABY. "facies." A Dictionary of Plant Sciences. 1998. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O7-facies.html |
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