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flysch
flysch Flysch is a dialect word used in the Alpine Oberland to describe shaly rocks with intercalated sandstones. It probably derives from the tendency of the rocks to slip down hillsides. It was introduced into the geological literature by Studer in 1827 and was later used by Boussac in 1909 as a stratigraphical term for a sequence of Late Cretaceous–Tertiary rocks deposited in the sea during the growth and deformation of the Alpine mountain chains, but before the main climax of the earth movements.
The term is now widely used outside Switzerland for rocks of a recurrent facies consisting of sandstones or calcarenitic limestones (clastic limestones) of uniform thickness over large areas interbedded with shales deposited in a tectonic setting similar to that of the Alpine flysch. The Chinese geologist Kenneth Hsu, working in Zürich, recommended in 1970 that when the term is used in this way it should be written with a small f—flysch—to distinguish it from the Swiss term Flysch, which has stratigraphical overtones. The sandstones or calcarenitic limestones have graded bedding and bottom structures, and generally contain shallow-water fossils that have been transported a long way from where the animals lived. These characteristics, together with the associated trace fossils and nektonic–planktonic fossils of the intercalated shales, indicate deposition by turbidity currents into a deep-water environment. Although the term is sometimes used without reference to tectonic setting, some have argued that it should then be replaced by ‘flyschlike’ of ‘flyschoid’. G. Evans |
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PAUL HANCOCK and BRIAN J. SKINNER. "flysch." The Oxford Companion to the Earth. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PAUL HANCOCK and BRIAN J. SKINNER. "flysch." The Oxford Companion to the Earth. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O112-flysch.html PAUL HANCOCK and BRIAN J. SKINNER. "flysch." The Oxford Companion to the Earth. 2000. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O112-flysch.html |
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flysch
flysch Sedimentary facies term used to describe a thick succession of redeposited, deep-sea, clastic material of synorogenic character.
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Cite this article
AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "flysch." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "flysch." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O13-flysch.html AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "flysch." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O13-flysch.html |
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