Molasse
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2008-06-30T03:14:27Z
Thijs!bot
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robot Adding: [[sk:Molasa]]
{{Distinguish|molasses}}
[[Image:Nagelfluh.jpg|thumb|right|150px|''Nagelfluh''-molasse, Speer, [[Appenzell Alps]]]]
'''Molasse''' refers to the [[sandstones]], [[shales]] and [[conglomerate (geology)|conglomerate]]s formed as terrestrial or shallow [[marine (ocean)|marine]] deposits in front of rising mountain chains 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.(Stanley, 243)
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, [[wikt:convex|convex]] accumulations of sediment are known as ''[[clastic wedge]]s''.(Stanley, 243)
==References==
*Stanley, Steven M. ''Earth System History''. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company, 1999. ISBN 0-7167-2882-6
==See also==
*[[Geology of the Himalaya]]
*[[Molasse basin]]
==External links==
*[http://earth.leeds.ac.uk/alps/map/molasse.htm earth.leeds.ac.uk/alps/map/molasse.htm ''Molasse'', definitions and examples, simplified geological map of the western Alps. School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds]
[[Category:Sedimentology]]
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