Mechanical and Chemical Diagenesis

Abstract

Freshly deposited sediments are commonly unconsolidated, have a relatively low bulk density and high permeability and, if accumulated under water, a high water content. However, with increasing burial depth under younger sediments, and occasionally shortly after deposition, the sediments become denser and more solid or lithified. All the processes involved in such a change of sediment state are summarized under the term diagenesis. It comprises both mechanical and chemical-mineralogical processes.