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Earth and Space Sciences · Glossary

What is Compaction, decompaction?

Also known as: compaction · decompaction

Definition 23.2 University Earth and Space Sciences — Year 1 · Chapter 23 — Diagenesis and Sedimentary Basins

Compaction is the loss of volume of a sediment under the weight of the sediments above it, by the closer packing of its grains, the expulsion of its pore water and, deeper, the dissolution of grains where they touch. Decompaction is the calculation that restores a buried layer to the thickness it had at an earlier, shallower burial, most often at the surface, when it was laid down.

Left: porosity against depth by Athy’s law for sandstone, shale and chalk, with the parameters of . Right: 500\, m of shale between 3000\, m and 3500\, m, and the same layer decompacted to the surface: the grains (440\, m) are kept, the water is not.
Left: porosity against depth by Athy’s law for sandstone, shale and chalk, with the parameters of Table 23.1. Right: 500 m500\,\mathrm{m} of shale between 3000 m3000\,\mathrm{m} and 3500 m3500\,\mathrm{m}, and the same layer decompacted to the surface: the grains (440 m440\,\mathrm{m}) are kept, the water is not.
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