Focus on Sedimentary Environments

A large saline lake

The Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA

	Thin section of beach sand from southern shores of the Great Salt Lake. Plane-polarized light view. Scale bar in mm.
	View in cross-polarized light
	View at higher magnification

The nature of the sediment

The nature of the carbonate beach sediment from Great Salt Lake should become apparent in these images. Look at the sample in plane-polarized light, and at different magnifications, then try to answer these questions:

• What name would you give to the well-rounded grains?
• What is their internal structure?
• Did they form on the beach, or elsewhere?

Page © ; last updated 30 July, 2002