Sedimentogenesis

common natural processes causing the formation of sediments on the bottom of various bodies of water and in basins on land. The concept of sedimentogenesis as an initial stage of lithogenesis was introduced by the Soviet geologist N. M. Strakhov in 1953. Strakhov distinguished three stages within sedimentogenesis: the concentration of the raw material of the sediments in the weathering mantle, the transportation of the material and the formation of sediments in drainage areas, and the formation of sediments in terminal runoff basins. Sedimentogenesis is followed by diagenesis—the conversion of the sediments into rock. Certain researchers, such as N. B. Vassoevich (1957), exclude the first stage from sedimentogenesis, organically linking it with supergenesis in the denudation area, where the decomposition of the rocks occurs (seeSUPERGENE PROCESSES). Many researchers restrict sedimentogenesis to just the third stage, sometimes listing the second stage as an independent stage of lithogenesis.