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Biography
dablink|This article is about the geologic use of the term, for other uses see Stratum (disambiguation) dablink|The plural, "strata" redirects to this page. For other senses of that word, see Strata (disambiguation) .In geology and related fields, a stratum (plural: strata ) is a layer of sedimentary rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers. The "stratum" is the fundamental unit in a stratigraphic column and forms the basis of the study of stratigraphy .
When planning civil engineering projects or other large constructions, the strata of the area where the construction takes place is a significant factor in design decisions. For example if a canal is to be built on a route where the strata are not watertight, the canal will have to be lined with some form of waterproof material (usually clay).
Characteristics
Each layer is generally one of a number of parallel layers that lie one upon another, laid down by natural forces. They may extend over 1 E11 m²|hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of the Earth 's surface. Strata are typically seen as bands of different colored or differently structured material exposed in cliff s, road cuts, quarry|quarries , and river banks. Individual bands may vary in thickness from a few millimeter s to a kilometer or more. Each band represents a specific mode of Deposition (sediment)|deposition : river silt , beach sand , coal swamp , sand dune , lava bed, etc. it also is very important
Naming
Geologist s study rock strata and categorize them by the material of beds. Each distinct layer is typically assigned to the name of sheet, usually based on a town, river, mountain, or region where the formation is exposed and available for study. For example, the Burgess Shale is a thick exposure of dark, occasionally fossil iferous, shale exposed high in the Canadian Rockies near Burgess Pass. Slight distinctions in material in a formation may be described as "members" (or sometimes "beds"). Formations are collected into "groups" while groups may be collected into "supergroups".
