Sediment
* All sediments originate from the weathering and erosion of older rocks.
* Is the soil, sand, and materials washed from land into waterways.
* Many sediments are anoxic below the sediment-water interface.
* Most sediment is transported from volcanically-disturbed watersheds during periods of heavy rain.
* Most sediments are formed by chemical precipitation
  - generated by erosion
  - made up of a mixture of different par- ticle sizes
* Most sediments are shelly with less plant fibers
  - plant fibres
  - collect liquids
* Most sediments consist of fine sand
  - minerals
  - contain matter
* Most sediments enter rivers
  - flow into waterways
  - reach coasts
  - settle to bottoms
* Some sediment comes from natural erosion.
* Some sediments absorb heat
  - solar heat
  - sunlight
* Some sediments accelerate bank erosion
  - affect humans
  - are tiny grains of sand
  - become water
  - build up in canals
  - bury oysters
* Some sediments cause destruction
  - diseases
  - clog fish gills
* Some sediments contain climatic indicators
  - decay plant materials
  - spores
* Some sediments enter gills
  - streams
  - float in water
  - flow into oceans
  - inhibit growth
  - kill fish
  - pass through gills
  - produce silts
  - provide energy
  - reflect energy
  - saturate with seawater
* accumulate very slowly into the ocean bottom.
* actually release nutrients under certain conditions.
* affect retention.
* also accumulate very slowly relative to snow on an ice sheet
  - bind other pollutants that are transported in runoff
* also can carry and store toxic pollutants and nutrients that can poison habitat
  - high concentrations of certain toxic materials
  - carry nutrients and other pollutants in the eroded soils
  - decrease the water quality by blocking light needed for plant photosynthesis
  - transports other pollutants, like phosphorus and nitrogen
* analyses such as grain size, mineralogy, calcium carbonate and organic carbon contents.
* are accumulations of silt, sand, or gravel that settle out the atmosphere or out of water.
* are also repositories and natural processing sites for a range of anthropogenic wastes
  - rich in nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen
  - carbonate rich and organic carbon poor
  - coarser in shallower water, e.g. on a beach
  - deposited over a large area in a continuous sheet
  - deposited, pressed and cemented in layers
  - earth materials that are deposited in particulate, unconsolidated form
  - highly mobile in moderate to high energy exposure areas
  - loose particles of former rocks
  - massive with local thin bands, planar laminae, flaser laminae, and silt laminae
  - naturally high in organic matter
  - red and brown because of better oxygenation
  - soil particles carried by rainwater into streams, lakes, rivers and bays
  - substances
* are the deposits that harden into sedimentary rock
  - matrix of the archaeological record
  - typically sand and gravel with some clay
* become a mass of material saturated with water and with no strength
  - rock when buried, subjected to pressure, and cemented by mineral precipitates
* becomes rock when it is buried and compacted by huge overlying loads of other sediment.
* build up at the bottom of oceans, lakes and rivers.
* can also abrade the corals
  - cover the corals directly and kill it
  - damage the gills of adult steelhead
  - decrease river bottom infiltration, reducing the yield of nearby wells
  - harm dams and reservoirs
  - increase the likelihood and severity of floods
  - result from chemical precipitation or secretion by organisms
  - stress aquatic organisms when it is suspended in the water
* can be a food source for corals, as well as a stressor
  - different sizes depending upon the location in the floodplain of the river
  - very reactive and their activity increases with decreasing particle size
  - block sunlight from reaching underwater grasses and suffocate shellfish
  - clog or irritate fish gills, so that they are unable to function
  - collect at the bottom of water heaters
  - come from the erosion of soil or from the decomposition of plants and animals
  - contain substantial amounts of total arsenic
* can cover fish eggs and the gravel nests they rest in
  - spawning beds, destroying fish populations
  - damage fish habitat and degrade water quality in streams, rivers, and lakes
  - either improve or degrade the soil upon which it is deposited
  - erode stream beds made of soft rock, such as sandstone or limestone
  - even preserve plant life
  - expand when they freeze, get wet or are heated up in the sun
  - harm aquatic organisms including fish
  - move around quickly, but it takes a long time to break down bedrock
  - reach non-tidal areas through many sources
  - refer to particles ranging in size from microscopic to several meters in diameter
  - sort by size when they settle out from water
* can suffocate fertilized eggs
  - the developing embryos before they hatch
  - wash into storm drain causing pollution
* carried by the water fill the voids in the rock.
* carries adsorbed nutrients into water and displaces regular water flow.
* carries the nutrient phosphorus to lakes, causing algae blooms and excessive weed growth
* carry to different places with wind and water.
* cause increased suspended solids in streamwater.
* causes problems to the aquatic habitat by covering up gravel for fish spawning
  - various damage to water resources and to water users
* chokes the water, killing fish and disrupting other aquatic life.
* clearly cause nitrogen to undergo a number of changes.
  - sand, silt, and clay particles
* consist of sands, silts and clays from shelf
  - interlayered by meandering streams
  - terrace gravel
* consists largely of silts and clays, with rock cropping out in places.
* consists of particles of all sizes, including fine clay particles, silt, sand, and gravel
  - two visually distinct floc layers
* contain elevated levels of heavy metals and polyaromatic hydrocarbons
  - heavy metals such as zinc and lead
  - high amounts of phosphorus iii
  - mostly elemental mercury
* containing the cell walls remains of ancient diatoms frustules.
* deposited in a delta are laid down in layers known as beds.
* dominate the miogeosyncline, whereas volcanic rocks are predominant in the eugeosyncline.
* drifts and contourites on the continental margin of northwest Britain
  - on continental margins collect sediment transported to the site by bottom currents
* eventually settle out in a lake or pond, but they start to fill in the lake or pond.
* fall to the bottom of the ocean, too.
* fills streams, rivers, reservoirs, lakes and roadside ditches, reducing their useful life.
* find their way to our surface waters from many sources.
* form in either marine or terrestrial environments.
* generally accumulate in continuous sheets within a given region
  - result from erosion of cropland and grazing land
* harden to form sedimentary rock through the application of pressure.
* have to accumulate over the organism in order to preserve it.
* impair quality
* includes clay, silt, and other components of soil.
* increase in thickness toward the center of a basin.
* increases the turbidity, or cloudiness, of water.
* indicate shoreline and near-shore of shallow seas.
* is also a common pollutant washed from pastures and livestock facilities
  - any soil or rock material present in the lake transported by wind, water, or glaciers
  - by far the most significant pollutant of the Northeast Region's streams
  - coarse sand and gravel
  - harmful to fish and small aquatic animals
  - important to determining the morphology of river systems
  - made of rocks, dirt, and earth
* is moved and redeposited to increase the size of continental shelves
  - down rills and gullies and deposited on the beach as fan-shaped deposits
* is one of the most damaging pollutants to our drinking water source and life in the river
  - significant pollutants resulting from agriculture practices
  - rock debris such as clay, silt, sand, gravel, or even larger material
  - several feet deep in places
  - somewhat like sand dunes, in that it's dynamic
  - the greatest pollutant, by volume, in Iowa
* is the largest pollutant by volume of Midwest surface waters
  - of surface water in Iowa
  - water pollutant by volume in North Carolina and the United States
  - most prevalent pollutant impairing water quality in the Virgin Islands
* is the number one pollutant, by volume, of surface water in the state of Indiana
  - water pollutant from nonpoint sources in Indiana
  - result of an accumulation of minerals in the water mains
  - stuff that is transported by wind, water or ice to a site of deposition
  - transported by the glacier and deposited where the ice melts
* makes up most of the pollutant carried by runoff.
* occupy areas
  - extensive areas
* occur in water bodies both naturally and as a result of various human actions.
* often carries organic matter, animal or industrial wastes, nutrients, and chemicals
  - collects in the bottom of a hot water heater
  - contains bits of plant leaves and other debris
  - settles in intertidal mudflats which are extremely difficult to colonize
* particles themselves have two methods of transport.
* presses down and sand hardens to rock forming a fossil.
* prevent subsidization, drowning and even disappearance of deltas and marshes.
* prime carrier of phosphorus
  - factor limiting fish production
* product of erosion.
* reduces light penetration, making photosynthesis more difficult for water plants
  - the productivity of aquatic plant and animal communities
* refers to any unconsolidated or loose material.
* remain unconsolidated in the environment of deposition and on the sea floor.
* routing in channels is described by the one-dimensional sediment continuity equation.
* serious threat to spawning and rearing grounds for steelhead, salmon, and other fish.
* settle and accumulate in shallow areas like the edges of the continental shelf and slope
  - around the cells and mineralize
  - the bottom of surface water
* show evidence.
* smothers the plants and animals that live in the water.
* take various forms.
* tend to collect at low elevations and in depressions in the earth.
* travel to different places that both harm wildlife and the water.
* vary from siliciclastic to interbedded mixtures of biogenic and siliciclastic components
  - in texture across the extensive lake bed
* washes back into the water, causing turbidity.