Molasse

Molasse
Not to be confused with molasses.
Nagelfluh-molasse, Speer, Appenzell Alps

The term "molasse" refers to the sandstones, shales and conglomerates formed as terrestrial or shallow marine deposits in front of rising mountain chains. The molasse is deposited in a foreland basin, especially on top of flysch, for example that left from the rising Alps, or erosion in the Himalaya. These deposits are typically the non-marine alluvial and fluvial sediments of lowlands, as compared to deep-water flysch sediments. Sedimentation stops once the orogeny stops, or once the mountains have eroded flat.[1]

The molasse can sometimes completely fill a foreland basin, creating a nearly flat depositional surface, that nonetheless remains a structural syncline. Molasse can be very thick near the mountain front, but usually thins out towards the interior of a craton; such massive, convex accumulations of sediment are known as clastic wedges.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Stanley, Steven M., Earth System History, New York: W.H. Freeman and Company, 1999, p.243 ISBN 0-7167-2882-6

See also

External links

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