The course is a basic and essential complement to the knowledge of sedimentary petrology, with further deepening in the types and nature of physicochemical and biological processes that are responsible for the formation of sedimentary rocks, as well as the composition of surface-subsurface fluids in which the diagenetic alterations take place, after the deposition, during burial, until final uplift of the rocks. At the same time, it plays a crucial role in the design of a study in the research and exploitation of energy- and mineral resources -which sedimentary rocks themselves may constitute or even host- but also in their various industrial uses and applications.
Sedimentary rock-forming minerals (chemistry, physicochemical and optical properties, forms and occurrence); Depositional (primary) and diagenetic (secondary) textures and features of sedimentary rocks; Diagenetic realms – stages and processes; Types and composition of diagenetic fluids and modifications of pore fluids. Solubility and stability fields of the main authigenic minerals; Diagenetic sequences – paragenesis (order of diagenetic events in time); Evolution of porosity (types, origin, and diagenetic modifications); External factors controlling deposition and diagenesis (tectonic setting, climate, sea level changes); Petro- / microfacies analysis and depositional environments; Depositional and diagenetic models of siliciclastic rocks; Methods of study for provenance and tectonic setting of the detrital components of coarse siliciclastic rocks with emphasis on their heavy mineral content; Crystal structure, composition, origin, diagenesis, paleoclimatic and economic importance of clay minerals; Black shales (formation, distribution, paleogeographical and economic importance); Origin, depositional and diagenetic processes, and tectonic settings of volcaniclastic deposits; Depositional and diagenetic models of limestones; Dynamics of carbonate depositional systems and tectonic settings of carbonate platforms; Petrogenesis of dolomites (dolomitization processes, conditions, and models); Evaporites (primary and secondary evaporites, mechanisms, and genetic models); Cherts (origin of the source, and diagenesis of SiO2, conditions and depositional environments of bedded cherts); Phosphorites (Textural/petrographic classification – conditions, processes, and environments of their formation); Occurrence, genetic characteristics and tectonic settings of the most widespread sedimentary rocks and formations of Greece.