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Lamination identification and geology

Very thin bedding layers, typically less than 1 cm thick, formed by subtle changes in grain size, composition, or organic content during sediment deposition. Laminations are common in fine-grained sedimentary rocks such as shale, mudstone, and varved lake sediments. Individual laminae record short-duration depositional events and are important for interpreting environmental cycles. Field: sedimentology. Example: Varved lake sediments in glacial Lake Hitchcock in New England consist of alternating light summer silt and dark winter clay laminae, each couplet representing one year of deposition.. Related terms: Bedding, Varve, Lamina, Shale.

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  • Bedding
  • Varve
  • Shale

Sources, scope & corrections

These authoritative resources support category-level nomenclature, terminology, identification methods, and safety. When a specimen-specific safety warning appears, the public-health source listed here directly supports that precaution. They are not line-by-line citations for every other property on this entry, and natural specimens vary.

Editorial owner
GeoMiner
Last updated
2026-03-30T15:19:42.027557+00:00
Review status
Published; not independently peer-reviewed
  • USGS Thesaurus — U.S. Geological Survey. Controlled earth-science terminology used to describe USGS information resources.
  • Glossary of Geologic Terms — U.S. National Park Service. Geologic definitions prepared by the NPS Geologic Resources Inventory.

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Common questions

What does Lamination mean in geology?
Very thin bedding layers, typically less than 1 cm thick, formed by subtle changes in grain size, composition, or organic content during sediment deposition. Laminations are common in fine-grained sedimentary rocks such as shale, mudstone, and varved lake sediments. Individual laminae record short-duration depositional events and are important for interpreting environmental cycles.
What is an example of Lamination?
Varved lake sediments in glacial Lake Hitchcock in New England consist of alternating light summer silt and dark winter clay laminae, each couplet representing one year of deposition.
Which earth-science field uses the term Lamination?
Lamination is used in sedimentology.
Which terms are related to Lamination?
Related terms in this reference are Bedding, Varve, Lamina, Shale.

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